“Bloody darkness, you and Nyssi haven’t been right since you got back.”
Ret wasn’t sure why he was suddenly surrounded by Skyans. He had just finished his guard shift and was waiting for Kuta to finish up, when Kayel sat down next to him. But also Psiksi, Kaytee and Eksi all sat down next to him too.
“Little Retvik here has too many conflicting thoughts!” Eksi grinned. He’d brought drinks for everyone, but was making the drinks float telekinetically around the table before he handed them out. “And Nyssi’s even worse. If it wasn’t for the fact that she’s a stupidly good telepath, not far below Kuta in terms of power, and is shielding her thoughts very hard, I’d be able to to write a book about how she’s been feeling.”
Kayel nodded in agreement. “Yep. Even I’m picking up on your unease, Retvik, and I don’t have telepathy at all.”
Kaytee nodded too, but paused. “I thought we were calling this guy Ret?”
“Big old fiery Retvik isn’t here, so we can call my Retvik by his proper name. Right?”
“Fair. But I did expect old Retvik, Litvir and Arkay to stick around for a bit longer…” Kaytee mumbled. “They did fuck off pretty damn quickly.”
“They’re busy people!” Eksi wasn’t bothered in the slightest. “And they’re happy. Sure, they weren’t here long, but Arkay in particular seemed really happy, and big old fiery Retvik also seemed more relaxed too. You though, little Retvik, you seem very unhappy.”
Ret grunted. “It turned out that Allbirther Sini built her oasis thing really close to our universe, close enough that I managed to message Relkir on General Talks. I am sad because I cannot speak to Relkir again. Also Sini has six guardians and one of them was a Vrekan the same way Elksia is, and one of them was a very big Temthan that Nyssi likes.”
“Like-likes?” Kayel asked.
“Yes, like-likes. Nyssi said she missed seeing other Temthans. It is fine for us, Tenuk never had Spast friends and somewhat hated Spast society, I have Kuta and you have, well…” Ret gestured at Psiksi, Eksi and Kaytee. “You have a… I think Nyssi called it a harem.”
Kaytee frowned, but Psiksi and Eksi both shrugged.
“Can’t argue with that.”
“I can. I’m not part of a harem!” Kaytee tutted.
“Dude, we all sleep with each other!” Kayel also shrugged. “I wouldn’t quite call it a harem, it’s more of a polycule or something, but we do all have each other. From what I’ve seen, unless you’re a kinda, I dunno, godly species? Most folks seem lonely and only have a few people to rely on…” Kayel turned to Ret. “You didn’t tell me that Nyssi saw a Temthan.”
“She did not want to talk to me about it either…” Ret frowned. “She told me her emotions were bothering her and she has gone to lie down. I think Nyssi and I are grumpy for the same reason – we discovered that the universe went on without us, and we cannot go back.”
“Ah…” Kayel also frowned. “Alright, yeah, I can see why you’re upset. You texted Relkir though, right? Are they doing well?”
“They?” Kaytee asked.
“When it comes to new-universe Rethans, Retvik here is the weird one. He genders himself, almost all other Rethans are like Kuta and use neutral pronouns,” Kayel explained. “Big and small Rethans. Relkir and their poten-partner Gath both use “they”, just like Kuta.”
“Wait, did you say “Gath”?” Kaytee exclaimed. “Because, like, my Retvik was married and had a kid with someone called Gath. Pretty sure big on fire Retvik was also-”
Psiksi raised his hand. “We don’t talk about big Retvik’s Gath.”
“Big fiery Retvik isn’t even here!” Kaytee protested.
“Still. It’s mean. A Voidborn fucked up his 50 year partnership, and, despite having been with Litvir for a while, it still clearly hurts Retvik, and, while sure, he isn’t here right now, it’s best to keep on top of things for when Retvik does come back, so we don’t accidentally upset him.”
Kayel and Ret both turned to Psiksi.
“How long have big Retvik and Litvir been together now?” Kayel asked.
Psiksi shrugged. “I assume they were Decaylings together, so, what, five years now?”
“Hmph…” Ret grunted. “I have only been with Kuta for a year. I wish we could have been together sooner.”
“How comes?”
Ret stared at Eksi, clearly annoyed at Eksi’s question. “It is not fun, being an exiled Rethan and also not allowed to have any relationships at all. Apart from a brief relationship with someone who suddenly disappeared and I never saw again, I spent the last three decades completely on my own. The number of Rethans who were willing to even talk to me, I could count on one hand. If Kuta had not found me, I would still be completely alone and unable to occasionally drop my overly masculine ways.”
None of the Threan-likes said anything at first.
“Retvik, are you alright?” Kayel eventually muttered.
“No. I miss my little sibling and want to go back to Sini’s island so I can talk to them some more and so they can tell me about their new, better life. And Nyssi wants to go back so she can talk to Fragiir some more because they had a lot in common.”
The Skyavok all shrugged. Kaytee didn’t get it but remained silent at first, and the Skyans were quiet too. Up until Psiksi had an idea.
“I suppose the fix is pretty simple. I can call some of my, uh, coworkers from the Alsyr, Kaytee can check in with the Phantai, we’ll see if they’ve got any Voidborn or Corruption things that need dealing with that are further north, close to Yisini’s oasis, then use those as an excuse to stop by once you’re done.”
Kaytee grabbed his communicator and immediately started tapping on it. After a few moments, he looked up at Ret and Kayel. “Five says he can ask around, he’s pretty sure the Phantai saw some odd Voidborn movements along the border between our sectors, so we’ll get an answer pretty quickly.”
Ret grunted, then stood up and bowed. “I appreciate the assistance. But I must apologise, I want to go and see if Kuta is finished. Thank you for the chat, I apologise for being grumpy.”
With another grunt, Ret headed off. The Threan-likes all noticed that he quickly perked up as he noticed that Kuta was done with their work.
“Bloody darkness, I never realised how different your Ret is to our Retviks…” Psiksi muttered. “He’s a vastly different person.”
“Of course he is!” Kayel tutted. “We all are different people. We forget that sometimes.”
Kaytee nodded in agreement. “You’re absolutely right, mate… But anyway, you lot want to do something less depressing?”
“Like what?”
“Making a cushion fortress in the old classroom and snuggling?”
Everyone glanced at each other, then shrugged.
“Sure, why not?”