“I need you at the Palace, right now.”
Rethais took a deep breath, a vague attempt to contain the anger that was boiling up inside him. He was only three hours into the first day off he’d had all month, he was just about to sit down and have a nice meal with the family, but no, there it was. A call from his boss. Not just any boss, but the High General of the Rethavok.
“Ser, today is my day off.”
“I need you here.”
Rethais closed his eyes, trying to focus. He was furious. He was exhausted. He needed this break.
“Why, Ser? What is the problem?”
“I need your diplomatic experience.”
With a snarl, Rethais got up from the table and made his way over to a nearby cabinet. He rummaged around in one of the drawers, pulled out a wristband and put it on, checking the calendar as he did so.
“We have no diplomatic meetings today.”
“One came up.”
“With who?”
“The Banikans.”
Rethais sighed. Banikans were… a messy race to deal with. Very powerful, very easy to anger.
“How are you communicating with them? Can this not wait until tomorrow, or when we have full staff?”
“Potentially not.”
Across the room, the rest of Rethais’s family was waiting for him. His partner Lysar had prepared a lovely meal and his three kids, one of whom had been recently adopted, were all looking rather worried.
“What is the actual problem that you need me for? Can you explain the situation over comms?” Rethais asked.
“It is complicated.”
“Can you give me an id-HEY!”
In a brief moment of not paying attention, Rethais found that someone had snatched his communicator. It was now in the hands of his younger kid Revan, who was smiling like a lunatic.
“Hey, sorry, the home office of Rethais Rethianos is closed until Friday 17th. If you have any issues, please speak to Vaxavius or Veeksiar or any of the advisers you have that have names that begin with V! They will be more than happy to help you out! Have a good day!”
Revan grinned as he closed the connection, then handed the communicator back to Trismit. Trismit smiled too, then teleported the communicator back into Rethais’s hand. Relkay just seemed to be stifling his laughter.
“Kids…” Rethais grunted. “You mean a lot to me, but you should not do that.”
“Hey mum!” Revan mocked Rethais’s displeasure. “You mean a lot to us, but you shouldn’t let that asshole push you around.”
“You just called the High General of the Retha an asshole.”
“That is because he is!” Trismit beamed. Revan and Relkay both nodded in agreement.
“You cannot just…”
“It is true though…” Lysar interrupted. “Today is our family day. The High General has plenty of other advisors and you have no speciality when it comes to Banikans anyway. Now listen to your kids and sit your tail down.”
Rethais took a long, drawn out breath, slowly calming down. With a nod of his head, he did as he was told and sat down at the table.
“You are all absolutely correct…” Rethais finally smiled. “Thank you all for putting up with me…”
“Can we have dinner now?” Revan asked, holding up a plate. “I am fucking starving.”
“Of course!” Lysar got up, grabbing a knife, ready to carve the large piece of meat she had spent all day cooking. “How much meat do you all want?”