“Why are you still pestering us with this shit?”
Rethais eyed Panos, who seemed weirdly angry for some reason. “Um, why do you think?”
“Every time we meet, you bring up that stupid attempt and ask if we have any more information! We don’t! You need to shut your mouth.”
Rethais eyed Panos some more, trying to decipher the Prime Minister’s current emotional state. Normally Rethais didn’t have any problems understanding the emotions of other races, but Rethais had only made a short statement and Panos seemed genuinely very angry. His advisors seemed to be unable to calm Panos down, but Rethais’s own advisors seemed unsure how to proceed.
“I was just curious. Our only leads on the attempted assassination back in the 9th are from the Spasts and the Torr and both sides have come up with pretty much nothing. I wondered if you had found anything new since I asked last month.”
Panos glared at Rethais. “No. We haven’t. There’s nothing TO FIND. Whoever did it vanished. And was probably murdered by whatever cult sent them for failing. You just need to accept that we won’t ever find out who tried to kill you!”
Rethais frowned slightly. “I do not wish to accept that. The previous time someone tried to assassinate me, we discovered a hidden cloning lab, one of the most despicable and illegal practices one can do. While I doubt we will find something as bad this time, I think we can both agree that letting an attempted assassination go unpunished is, well, bad in general, yes?”
Panos snarled, then leaned across the table. “We have nothing. You have nothing. The Spasts have nothing. There’s nothing. I suggest you drop it and let it remain a mystery.”
Rethais didn’t answer at first. They thought to themselves, then shrugged. “The way you are acting suggests you do have information but you do not wish to share it.”
“I told you already, if we had info, we’d share it. But we don’t. So stop fucking asking.”
“I have only asked a handful of times. We all routinely collect new information as time goes on. After all, after that attempted hostile takeover you suffered, us Rethans supplied you with information on a hidden base for their leader a few weeks later, which you used to flush out further violent usurpers. Information changes. I asked a month ago, new information could have come up in that time.”
Panos stood up from his chair. “We. Have. Nothing. Now shut up.”
Rethais tilted their head to one side. “Have I done something to upset you, Panos?”
“Your existence upsets me.”
“Why?” Rethais asked. “I have done nothing against you.”
“You are a thorn in the side of the universe. Too busy trying to strengthen yourselves when the Rethans should be a subservient protective army to everyone else. But worse, you’re just weak. You rose to power based on a stupid bloodline thing, kept your smaller sister as a slave in servitude to you and exiled your much more powerful and far more likeable and also thankfully now dead older brother. You’re a stupid, weak diplomat in a seat that should belong to a warrior. You’ve never been to war, you’ve never fought anything and every attempt against your life has been a weak-ass attempt which you survived because of pure luck, or because your stupid siblings took the hit for you. You’re a weakling. Probably weaker than your stupid little sister over there. You’re nothing. I bet you can’t even fight. I could probably put a mech suit on right now and kick your ass in an arena match.”
No one in the room really knew how to take Panos’s sudden rather insulting ramble. Well, no one apart from Rethais. Again, they didn’t say anything, not straight away, but they leaned across the table and smiled.
“Your reasoning is very amusing. Completely wrong, but amusing. However, that last statement, I would like to take you up on it.”
Rethais glanced behind them, to see whether any of their advisors, namely their sibling Relkir, were reacting negatively. They all seemed too shocked to really say anything though.
“What?” Panos hissed.
“I accept your challenge to an arena battle. We can keep things interesting and restrict it to melee only as well, so you can… prove how weak I supposedly am.”
Panos suddenly realised what he had just said. He stuttered slightly, then snarled and accepted his own words. “Fine. Let me arrange a date. We’ll fight. In front of a live audience. I’ll beat the shit out of you.”
With one last snarl, the Prime Minister of the Torr stomped out of the room. His guards and advisors all hesitated, then silently filed out. Once the room was bereft of Torr, Rethais dropped their vaguely friendly demeanour and growled.
“Hmph. Do vok really think that little of me?”
“No, just the Torr…” Relkir sighed. “Are you really going to fight Panos?”
“He challenged me, believing I am a weakling. I ought to prove otherwise. And in all honesty? An utter asshole just served themselves on a plate to me, for me to beat up. How can I not accept such a nice offer? Either way, do we have anything else that needs doing right now?”
One of Rethais’s captains sorted through a notebook, then shook their head. “No, all done for today.”
“Alright. You are all dismissed. But Relkir, I would like a word with you, before you go.”
As requested, all the Rethans left apart from Relkir. Relkir sighed some more, then pulled a chair round so they could sit next to their sibling.
“None of what Panos said was true, you know…”
“I know…” Rethais grunted. “I should not let words hurt me but that… that did sting a little. That Panos, a fellow leader, hates me so much for no real reason, to the point of wanting to genuinely hurt me. And it also makes me regret not waiting until Kyr Aesop and little Litvir were both present to help out.”
“None of us were to know…” Relkir suddenly trailed off. Rethais quickly noticed the silence.
“Relkir?”
“Sorry. I… I had a thought. But I need to do some research before I reveal said thought. Is there anything else you need from me?”
“Not really… Are you and Gath free tonight?”
“Probably.”
“Do you wish to come to the mansion? I will invite Lysar and their sibling if they are also free, and we can order takeaway?”
Relkir smiled. “That sounds nice. You deserve takeaway.”
Rethais smiled slightly too. “I do. I need something to make myself feel a bit better. But I will feel much better once I have fought Panos.”
“You will win, no problem. I am sure of it.”