Gath never thought they would have ever said this, but they had ordered way too much pizza. Normally Relkir made pizza, kneading their own dough, making their own sauce and picking out toppings, but the last few days, in the evenings, Gath and Relkir were celebrating with their nearly-adopted kid Litvir, so they got takeaway pizza.
The celebration had gone on for quite a bit. Litvir had finished school and was now spending time with Relkir and Gath and mostly just chilling out and eating naughty food whenever Litvir wasn’t on patrol. And Litvir didn’t even mind patrolling any more, because now, they were no longer missing lessons or anything whenever they were summoned by the other deities. They had one job they could focus on, and that made Litvir very happy.
Having (adoptive) parents also made Litvir happy. Most of the Twelve Anew had family in one way or the other, and now Litvir did too. It made Litvir feel more like an actual person, and not just some mass of cells put together in a lab.
That thought made Litvir pause. While biology wasn’t Litvir’s best lesson, learning about the Rethan body had assisted Litvir in working out where they had come from.
Something distracted Litvir. Noise from downstairs. Admittedly, the plan was to stay at Gath’s home for a day, but Relkir insisted that Litvir stay for longer. Mostly for two reasons: Relkir had a lot of advice when it came to work and stuff, and, secondly, Relkir just really liked having Litvir around. And Litvir had enjoyed their time here as well, especially since Gath had set up a spare bed for Litvir to sleep in.
The something distracted Litvir again. Litvir knew who it was, of course they did, Litvir was a (baby) deity and knew stuff. Also, the something was quite soft.
Kicking the duvet off themselves, Litvir decided to get up and head downstairs. They were getting hungry anyway. However, Litvir decided to be sneaky and float downstairs. Being able to fly was a power Litvir rarely used indoors, but Litvir wanted to be sneaky.
Of course, the noise was coming from Relkir, who was tidying up a bit, mostly by moving slices of leftover pizza into one box rather than four. Litvir smiled to themselves and sneaked down even closer, until they were behind Relkir.
“Hi!”
Relkir jumped for a moment, then smiled. “Hi, Litvir! Did you sleep well?”
“I think so, yes.”
“Good!” Relkir continued with the tidying. “Do you have border patrols today?”
“I will on Friday and Monday. Mostly Monday. But also on Monday, I have the meeting with General Tessar and General Ritlir.” Litvir got bored of floating and stood up properly. “General Tessar is grumpy, but I think General Ritlir is nice. We also kinda have similar names.”
Relkir shrugged. “Rethan first names are not particularly imaginative, most names come from a handful of consonants they like and throwing a few vowels in, with the letters I and E being the most common. Our surnames are not much better, they are very similar to Skyavok surnames, because we always used the same list of them left behind by the former Lady of Light and now Lady of All.”
“Oh! That is very interesting!” Litvir beamed. “Is my surname on the big list?”
“I… honestly do not know. But since you were… somewhat made, I assume the Lady of All chose one for you.”
“Huh… That is also very interesting…” Litvir trailed off for a bit. “How do you know so much? You are like Kyr Elkay, he knows a lot. So does Miisa.”
Relkir thought for a moment, then decided they wanted a slice of pizza. “Miisa is your school friend, yes?”
“They are my always-friend now! We send messages to each other all the time. Miisa is always full of interesting facts. And…” Litvir paused, then lowered their voice. “I… I like Miisa a lot. But I am still a baby. Not a stupid baby. I proved that I was not stupid. But… I am not ready for these things.”
“That is fine!” Relkir put a hand on Litvir’s shoulder. “You are allowed to not be ready. And you are making an adult decision.”
“So, me not being ready is… fine?”
“Yes.”
Litvir thought for a moment. “And I can… be not ready for a lot of things?”
“Yes, of course!” Relkir explained, noticing that Litvir was ever so slightly nervous. “When it comes to relationships and friends and all that, you can ALWAYS say “no”, you do no want to do something. But do you want to tell me about Miisa?”
“I would like to.”
Relkir smiled, then led Litvir to the sofa so they could talk properly. “That is nice. What is Miisa like?”
“They are pretty. Lilac plating and lighter lilac strips. But more importantly, very, very smart. Definitely smarter than me. They want to put their lots of knowledge to good use. But they want to use all their knowledge, not just focus on one thing. They want to-”
Litvir very abruptly stopped. Relkir had no idea why. After a few seconds, Litvir slapped the side of their head, then turned to Relkir and sighed.
“Am stupid baby again.”
“Stop calling yourself a stupid baby.”
“I am, though!” Litvir exclaimed. “Miisa wants to join the 99th Legion. You are the General of the 99th Legion!”
“I see…”
Relkir got up, then headed into the office/spare room. They rummaged around for a bit, then brought back several sheets of paper, which they handed to Litvir. “If Miisa is interested in joining my Legion, then they will need to fill in an application form, before I can consider hiring them. The next time you see Miisa, let them know, then give them these forms. I also have an online version of the form, which I can give you the URL to. The 99th Legion is not really looking to hire anyone, but if Miisa is as smart as you say they are, then I am happy to give them an interview.”
Litvir smiled, then hugged Relkir tightly, and for quite a while. “Thank you! I will tell Miisa! They will be pleased!”
“I am glad. Can you let go of me now, please?”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“It is fine!” Relkir decided to change the subject. “Do you have today off?”
Litvir nodded.
“Do you want to play the cute animal game?”
“Yes, please.”
“Alright,” Relkir beamed. “Put some armour on, and we will go for a nice, long walk.”
“Yay.”