“So you didn’t see anything?” Kohra asked as he puffed up his fur in a bid to protect himself from the cold.
Litvir shook their head, and shuddered slightly. Normally, they had no problem with the depths of space, but Litvir felt uneasy today. “Uh, no, not on… normal light. In the, uh, infrared light, I saw where the corruption stuff came in but I do not see where it went. But in the… the weird time vision stuff… I… I sensed, uh, time stuff.”
“Time stuff?”
Litvir glanced around. “I think… I think maybe Kairos was here. But I cannot see what he did or anything, and the… the infrared trail of Corruption is gone.”
“So you think Kairos dealt with it?”
More glances around. Litvir then checked their current position. Kairos’s last palace wasn’t too far away from where they were.
“Maybe. Kairos is angry but Kairos also does not want the universe to get eaten.”
“Because he cares about the universe?”
“Because Kairos does not want to get eaten…”
Kohra shrugged, then pulled out his little Corruption detecting device. However, all it did was confirm what Litvir had said. There had been Corruption here. But someone else, seemingly Kairos, had dealt with it. And, from checking with the schedules of the rest of the Twelve Anew, none of them had been here within the time that Kohra and Litvir had detected anything.
“Well… I guess Kairos did something positive for once. Maybe what Aster said about Epani’s ultimatum actually… did something? Like, maybe convinced him to not be an asshole?”
Litvir didn’t have an answer. They were still looking around for anything suspicious. But they couldn’t sense anything. Even the hole through which the Corruption had broken in, that had been patched up. Litvir couldn’t remember if Kairos normally did that or not.
Eventually, Litvir gave up and sighed. While they felt something was wrong, they couldn’t see or sense anything wrong.
“You alright, Litvir?” Kohra asked. Clearly Kohra had come to the same conclusion as Litvir, but they seemed a lot more relaxed.
“Not really…” Litvir couldn’t lie. And Kohra could tell Litvir wasn’t right. That was why Kohra had asked.
“You want to talk? You seem like you have a lot on your mind.”
Litvir frowned for a moment, but quickly calmed down. “I would, yes.”
“Alright!” Kohra smiled. “What’s up?”
Litvir checked their wristband some more.
“You really don’t seem right, Litvir. Did Kairos bite you again?”
“No. It is… awkward.”
“You can tell me!” Kohra remained perky. “I’ll keep it secret, if you want?”
“Uh… I do not need to keep it secret… It is just…” Litvir hesitated. “I… I will be a big sibling soon.”
Kohra blinked. “You’re going to have a little brother or sister?”
“A little sibling.”
“Like, blood-related or…”
“Mama Gath and dad Relkir did the thing that is gross and then mama Gath wanted to go to see their mama and dada but then they laid an egg and went to the doctors and then the nursery and soon the egg will hatch and there with be an actual baby around and…” Litvir trailed off. “There will be a real, actual kid. A kid that is mama Gath’s actual kid.”
Kohra wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “Well, uh, first, off, congratulations! You get to be a big sibling! Secondly… you’re worried that your parents won’t care for you as much because they have a baby to deal with.”
Litvir eyed Kohra. “How do you know that?”
“Apart from your blatantly obvious phrasing? Been there, done that. Except I was the new baby and Tanos and Levik ended up suffering because of me. But in all honesty, Tanos was already suffering because he was the oldest and dad was constantly pressuring him to learn how to be the next Lord King. But it was only for a short time, until I could walk and talk. And at the same time? Your parents actually properly care about you and your little sibling won’t accidentally kill your mum. So you’ll be fine.”
Litvir seemed to agree, up until that last sentence. “Uh… what?”
Kohra’s smile faded. “Well… when I was born… my mum had… complications… and… died of internal bleeding a few days later…”
Litvir hesitated, then rushed up to Kohra and hugged him tightly. “I am sorry.”
Kohra wanted to free himself from the hug, but Litvir was rather strong but also nice and warm, so he relented and let Litvir continue to hug him. “It’s okay. I accept now that it wasn’t my fault. It was just bad luck. No one’s fault. And you Rethans don’t have the same problems as Spasts because you lay eggs.”
“I am still sorry though.”
“Like I said, it’s okay. And, like, you’ll be fine too. Your little sibling will have the best big sibling ever. And I don’t think your parents will ignore you like my dad did with Levik. You’re a good kid, and you’ll want to help out as well. Plus, when the kid is big enough, you can play games with them and stuff.”
Litvir loosened their grip on Kohra. “Play games?”
“Yeah. Okay, like, you need to wait a bit until they can move and stuff, but having a brother to play with is always a joy!”
“I guess. Maybe it will not be so bad. But it is still worrying. Especially since dada Relkir is stressed and mama Gath has been very cautious.”
Kohra shrugged. “I’m sure everything will be fine. And speaking of fine, everything is fine here as well. So I suggest we head back to the castle at the centre of the universe, send a report to Epani and Elkay and go out for coffee or whatever it is you Rethans do.”
“We do cookies.”
“Cookies? I love cookies!”
Litvir smiled briefly. “Me too. But I need to finish my patrol first.”
“Well, how about you do that, and then we go out for cookies?” Kohra suggested.
“I like that. Can we do that? I will be about four hours though.”
“That’s fine. I’ll wait for you! Meet me at the stupid castle when you’re done?”
Litvir smiled properly. “Yes, I will. See you soon, Kohra.”
Kohra waved as Litvir drifted off. “See you soon!”