Rethais had planned to just head home after yet another tedious day of pointless work. But as he closed the door to his office, he noticed someone sitting outside. A small, black and yellow, familiar Skyavok.
“Uh, what are you doing here, All-Ksa Kayel?”
Kayel folded up the pamphlet he had been reading and placed it in his satchel, before standing up, bowing slightly an offering an explanation.
“Was supposed to have a bunch of meetings here. Your dumbass High General cancelled them all. Definitely think he is trying to piss me off and make me retaliate in some way, so he can claim that I’m unruly. How about you, General Rethais? I thought you quit?”
“I tried to. They begged me to come back. My working here has prevented… a few casualties.”
Kayel laughed awkwardly. “Mind if I, uh, follow you back down to the exit?”
“Why?”
“That is where my guards are waiting for me. Every bloody time I come here, I have to leave my guards down at the entrance in the main grand hallway thingy. My options are “do as I am told” or “lose all funding and assistance and let my people struggle” so I tend to opt for the former.”
Rethais sighed as he started walking. He made sure to walk slowly, so Kayel could keep up. “Sounds… like the exact sort of thing Kenon does to everyone. You must be sick of it.”
“Oh, I am!” Kayel tutted. “But at the same time, well, it ain’t gonna be my problem for much longer.”
“Pardon?” Rethais blinked as he slowed down further, then stopped at an intersection. “Also, would you prefer the elevators or the stairs.”
Kayel shrugged. “Stairs. I could do with the exercise. Keeps the heart pumping, you know?”
“It does…” Rethais grunted, turning left towards the small stairwell. Being a member of a rather heavily built race, Rethais normally didn’t take the stairs. Few Rethans did. “What were you saying? About this not being your problem any more?”
“Ah that…” Kayel replied slowly, mulling over his words as he followed Rethais down the stairs. “Well, next year, next March is election season, with the elections being at the end of the month. Same time you would be having elections if you didn’t have a dictator ruling over you.”
Rethais snorted at Kayel’s comment. It was hurtful yet true and also vaguely amusing. “Fair point. Are you not going to run for re-election?”
“Fuck no.”
“Oh.”
Kayel grunted, stifling a small laugh. “I ain’t getting elected again. I did my best. I did a lot to help my fellow Skyans. But the whole fucking universe died while I was in power, and we lost a huge chunk of our population. As far as every other Skyavok is concerned? I’m the bad guy. And the best thing I can do now is to step aside and help someone popular and with similar ideals to my own get elected in my place…” Kayel trailed off briefly. He had realised that they had gone down a lot of steps. Too many. “Uh, what floor were we on again?”
“Tenth floor.”
“Should have taken the lift…” Kayel tutted. “Oh well. At least I’ll get to retire and put all of this behind me. Just thought it’d be… well, fun. Didn’t think I’d end up with the Skyavok homeless and looking at potential extinction.”
“None of that was your fault though.”
Kayel sighed, deciding he’d had enough of stairs and exiting the stairwell. Rethais grunted and led him to the nearest elevator. Luckily, the doors were already open and they could just step inside.
“Seriously, none of what happened…” Rethais started, as the doors slid shut. Kayel quickly pressed the button for the ground floor, holding onto the rail on the side as the elevator started descending.
“You get that. Most vok get that. Only the… most ill-informed will believe I genuinely wanted or caused this apocalypse. But, you know, vok want someone to blame. I’m that someone. And I accept that, right Rethais? I gladly accept that vok want to blame me. It’s a grand unifier, and if I play my cards right, I can still make things better via whoever replaces me.”
“That is wise but also… are you really that unpopular right now?”
Kayel nodded. “Mhm. Why do you think my guards were willing to let me travel alone? Not that we have many left. The K-Class was nearly completely destroyed by this. Most of us were. I just hope that I have enough goodwill left to stop some sort of Kenon-like being from getting into power come April next year.”
“I have faith in you. You are a good leader, you were just dealt… well, probably one of the unluckiest hands possible.”
“Thank you…” Kayel smiled weakly. “I appreciate that.”
“In the mean time though…” Rethais decided to change the conversation briefly. “You should make the most of your power.”
“What do you mean?”
“Accept all the invitations for feasts and parties and things like that. Make sure you have a parachute before you leave. Get yourself settled down and in good care before you get kicked out.”
“True, true…” Kayel shrugged. “Maybe I will accept that invite to Kenon’s Macromera thing. Was going to skip it, like I’ve been skipping everything else non-essential, but you do have a good point. I’m sure Veeyel will love it.”
The elevator stopped moving and the doors slipped open, revealing a rather empty hall. A gaggle of Skyavok could be seen, most of whom had just spotted Kayel and Rethais.
“I’d better get going.”
Rethais bowed. “No problem. If you want to talk, you know where to find me.”
“Thank you. See you round…”