Everyone knew to move out of the way of the gigantic Rethan who would regularly stomp through the 99th Legion office. Not because the gigantic Rethan was a threat or anything. The opposite in fact. General Gath may have looked terrifying, but the 99th Legion had swiftly learned that Gath was in fact very soft and gentle, if a little clumsy because of their size. Gath was also the forever-partner of Relkir, the General of the 99th Legion, and because Gath was semi-retired, they would routinely come by to interrupt, chat with the staff and occasionally be a little silly before going to check on their partner.
Today though, Gath very briefly waved hello to everyone present and immediately asked Captain Skeftin if Relkir was in, before glancing at the back of the room, spotting the glass-walled office and spotting their forever-partner going through a pile of books. Gath patted Skeftin on the head, then rushed through the office, being careful not to knock anything over, before knocking on the door to the office.
Relkir was clearly preoccupied, so it took a moment for them to look up. As they did so, they grinned, got up and let Gath in. Weirdly, Gath seemed to be holding a large catalogue.
“Hello, my tiny little angel! My little baby forever-partner! How are you today?” Gath seemed very excited as they sat Relkir down, placed the catalogue on Relkir’s desk, then brought a stool round so they could sit next to Relkir.
Relkir glanced at the pile of books. They were rather old and dusty. “Um, I am a little busy.”
“Do you have time to talk?”
“I… I guess?” Relkir pushed the books to one side. “It is not that important. Well, it is, but it is not urgently important.”
Gath suddenly got curious. “What are you doing?”
“I am reading about old laws regarding elections in Torr territories. It is all very convoluted but I am slowly learning how the Torr leadership have remained in power for so long. But right now, my dear, you are more important. Is something bothering you?”
“Oh no, not at all!” Gath grinned. No longer working meant that Gath was more animated and energetic now. And Relkir was pretty sure that spending so much time with a higher-caste Rethan meant that Gath was picking up some higher-caste traits, allowing themselves to be more emotional. In Relkir’s eyes, this was amazing, because they had always wondered whether the colder, more quiet emotional states of standard-caste Rethans were completely genetic or partially learned.
“So what… uh…” Relkir trailed off and glanced at the catalogue Gath had brought in. “Oh! You want to look at houses?”
“We are married now, we can get a shared house together! I am getting tired of my current place and would like to move somewhere else, and since we are also planning on having kids, we could get a much larger house with a proper extra bedroom so Litvir no longer has to sleep in my office… Actually, we will probably need two bedrooms. One for Litvir and one for the kid we are going to have. I suppose maybe an office would be nice too, but I do not think we need that so much any more.”
Relkir picked up the catalogue and started flicking through, before realising that the catalogue was probably already out of date, considering it had been published a month ago. Since Rethan housing was mostly socialised, properties rotated in ownership based on who needed them. The 599th Legion, the Legion of Home Development, was always busy, both in moving and building new properties. With a grunt, Relkir turned to their computer, minimised their work programs and opened up an olanet browser.
“Oh, you want to look online?” Gath asked.
“Yes. It will be more up to date, and the website often has floor plans and videos. Plus, we can use the search filters to narrow down what we want. After all, we need to find a property in central Phos.”
“You do not want to live on the outskirts?”
Relkir shook their head. “I work here at the Kentron five to six days a week, and routinely need to come in to deal with emergencies. I do need to be able to get here nice and fast, especially since I cannot drive, no one owns a car around here and I am reliant on public transport mostly. Sure, public transport is great but-”
“I get it. You want a place in the city centre…” Gath frowned a little. “I will be honest, I… I somewhat want what my mum and dad have. A colourful detached house. There is not much of that in Phos.”
“Oh… Well then, we can have a look…” Relkir started typing in search criteria. “So… detached or semi-detached, ground floor, four bedrooms, located in Phos… there has to be something…” Relkir trailed off. There was definitely something. There were lots of somethings. And the first result was pretty much exactly what Gath had wanted. A home just like their parents had.
“I… I admittedly forgot about the fancy district…” Gath muttered. “Are we, like…”
“You are literally the General of Rethan Heroes, and I am a Below Two Hundred General. We both want kids. I am certain we have a high enough priority! I am sure we can apply for a properly like this!” Relkir exclaimed. “It even has roof access, you could make a roof garden the same way Kazim has! And there are a few of them as well. It is a little further away than I would like, but I honestly do not mind too much.”
“So…” Gath hesitated for a moment. “Do you… want to arrange a date? So we can go looking at houses?”
Relkir switched back to their email and calendar app. They swiftly located their first free day, then added a note. “How about next week? Soon as possible?”
“That sounds good!” Gath smiled. “I am excited. Our next big step!”
Relkir pecked Gath on the cheek. “I am excited too. Everything is going so well right now!”