Litvir had still felt sad and a bit bruised, but as soon as they saw their beloved mama and dada, sitting on a golden glass beach under a beautiful clear night sky, that sadness and pain very quickly faded. It faded completely as their colossal adopted mother staggered to their feet, stomped over and wrapped their arms around Litvir.
“My darling little angel! Happy birthday! How are you-”
Gath suddenly paused and inspected Litvir properly. Litvir knew why.
“Someone hurt you.”
“They did. But old mama Elkay says that Kyr Epani fixed things. Being a deity of protecting things, sometimes I get hurt. But it is alright. I will be alright.”
“Who hurt you?”
That voice was a lot angrier. Normally Gath was the parental figure who would fly off the handle in rage at the sight of their kid being hurt, but having seen Litvir up close (and having far better nighttime eyesight than Gath), Relkir had spotted the bruises, particularly the purple splotch around Litvir’s eye, and Relkir was failing to remain calm. Litvir noticed those half-Defensive Stance mental bubbles and quickly held Relkir in a bid to stop them from going full Defensive Stance.
“The big mean dragon hurt me. Old mama Elkay told me that Kyr Epani is dealing with it though.”
“Is that why that old Skyavok came by, shook your hand and left a gift here?” Gath suddenly asked.
Relkir blinked, then seemed to calm down. “Gath, that old Skyavok was Elkay Athanasion, the former All-Ksa and now the god of shadows.”
“Huh. They do not look how I remember them. I thought they always wore black with a gold trim, that Skyan was wearing dark green.”
“Elkay is not the All-Ksa any more, they can wear any colour!” Relkir exclaimed.
“Also old mama Elkay is my old mama who I accidentally bonded with because they were the first person I saw when I hatched!” Litvir perked up as well. “Wait, did you say that old mama Elkay left a birthday present here for me?”
“They did, yes. Do you want to open your presents?”
“I… I have multiple presents?” Litvir trailed off. “Wait, I have realised, I do not really know how birthdays work.”
“Uh… why?” Gath asked.
“This is my first ever birthday…” Litvir frowned. “I am both technically 17 yeas old and a year old and it does not make sense. Also I have never done a birthday party before, I have just given gifts to people. Also my body still feels a little sore.”
Gath hugged Litvir again, then led them down to the blanket. There was a small cooler filled with drinks and sweets, and a small cake awaited Litvir. There was also a pile of boxes, all wrapped up in shiny white paper and purple ribbons.
“Are those… all for me?” Litvir’s eyes widened.
“Of course!” Gath sat Litvir down. Relkir joined them and started going through the gifts. “You are a good kid, Litvir, so people got you presents to celebrate you becoming a big kid.”
“Hah… a big kid… I am a year old now…” Litvir paused. “Feels like… a very long time.”
“A year is…” Relkir also paused. “Well, I was going to say that a year is not a long time, but it is a long time, and it is also a very long time for you, because it is your entire life. So your thoughts make sense… But this is not time for philosophy, it is time for opening presents! Which one would you like to open first?”
“I… I have a choice?”
“Of course you do. You are the birthday kid today, you choose all the things!”
Litvir looked at all the gifts. There were a few. They didn’t know who they were from. “Do I have to open gifts now?”
“You do not want gifts?”
“Feels weird.”
“How comes?” Relkir asked. “Is something wrong?”
“No, I am just… a little overwhelmed. Mean old Kairos was mean to me, but then Miisa was nice to me and now you are being nice to me.”
“Well, of course we are being nice to you!” Gath patted Litvir on the shoulder reassuringly. “You deserve niceness, and we should all be nice to each other. And today is a day where we get to be extra nice to you, because it is your special day.”
“Mean old Kairos ought to remember that…” Litvir sighed. “Still, you are right. I deserve nice things occasionally.”
“Actually, you deserve nice things all the time.”
“That… that is very true, mama…” Litvir turned to all the presents again. “Those are all for me?”
“Yes! More gifts than we expected too!” Relkir smiled. “Kyr Elkay left a gift for you in particular.”
“Which gift is from you?” Litvir asked. “I want to open that one first. After all, you are my mama and dada, you are the most important to me and I love you both more than everything.”
Gath glanced at Relkir, doing their best to hide a tear of love and joy. Relkir continued to smile, then moved several gifts to one side and picked out a somewhat large box. They handed it to Litvir, who hesitated before inspecting it.
“What is it?”
“Open it and find out, silly!”
Litvir hesitated, then did as they were told. The box came in two separate parts and the bottom was layered with paper strips. Sitting in the centre of the box was a large stuffed toy in the shape of a cat. A pitch black cat with yellow eyes and a silver collar. The fluffy kitty plushie had a little medallion on the collar.
“You… you got me a fluffy kitty?”
“I will be honest, I wanted to get you an actual fluffy kitty, but Relkir thought it was too much responsibility for you. And I kept on freezing up when we went to the animal shelter to look at fluffy kitties.”
“Admittedly, you are right, I am a bit young to look after a real fluffy kitty. But I like this fluffy kitty very much! Does it have a name?”
Relkir nodded. “It does, yes. It is called Arkay.”
“It… is named after the Dead God?”
“Yes. He sometimes pretended to be a fluffy kitty so He could watch us and protect us. You work in His memory, as our Deity of Protection. But we wanted you to be protected, so we got you a fake fluffy kitty in His honour. As a lucky charm. Do you like the fluffy kitty?”
Litvir didn’t answer at first. They sniffed, rubbed their eyes then clutched the stuffed animal tightly, letting tears drip down their face. “I… I love the fluffy kitty… thank you… thank you so much…”
Both Gath and Relkir immediately hugged Litvir.
“You do not need to thank us, Litvir. We love you. You are wonderful. You deserve love.”
“We all do…”
Relkir nodded. “We all do, yes. But today, you deserve extra love. Will you let us give you that love?”
Litvir sniffed some more, then settled down a bit. “Yeah… thank you… Can… can I have cake now, before I open more presents and get accidentally sad?”
“Of course, our angel. Of course…”