“You’re late.”
Elksia rolled her eyes. “By half a second.”
“You’re not supposed to be late.”
Elksia rolled her eyes some more. “There was a fricking black hole! I had to fix it! You’re talking a lot of shit, Kairos!”
The Whenvern paused, staring at his student. Elksia had never spoken back to him before. They both knew that he had saved her life, that she owed him. So this outburst was rather unusual.
“Is something wrong, Elksia?” Kairos asked as he landed on a velvet-covered perch, looking down at Elksia. “You seem angry.”
“I feel like you are judging me!” Elksia crossed her arms, tutting. “Every time I come back from work, you say something! It makes me feel bad!”
Kairos grunted. “Because you are always half a second late.”
“It is half a second!”
“Those seconds add up.”
Elksia snarled, still rolling her eyes. “But those seconds only apply to me, right? Not you? You are never perfectly on time either!”
“So? I am in charge around here.”
“You are a hypocrite!”
“I am not.”
“You are! I can’t be late but you can!” Elksia hissed. “You are late more often than you think! Always sneaking off to bang that Life Goddess chick! But you judge me! When I do the same, but on my break!”
Kairos growled, getting rather defensive. “That is none of your business.”
“It is all of my business!” Elksia snapped. “You are fucking someone else! From outside the universe! And I am covering your ass! I cover you from Kinisis! But you judge me for my love! As if we are unequal!”
The Whenvern sighed. “I judge you because-”
“No! You should not judge!” The younger Time Drake interrupted, not allowing Kairos to state his reasoning. “Tenuk and I have always been close! And we are not tied up by species any more! We are both consenting adults! And we’re gods! No different from you and Seimeni! But I do not judge you! Even though you ask me to cover for you!”
Elksia paused for a moment, then looked up at Kairos.
“Are you… embarrassed about you and Seimeni?”
Kairos blinked. “What?”
“You seem embarrassed. That you and Seimeni should not be together.”
“I…” Kairos hesitated. “I perhaps care a little too much about what others think. Particularly Kinisis.”
“And you project that. Onto me.”
“I… I guess…” Kairos frowned, lowering himself down onto the ground next to Kinisis. “Kinisis would not improve. Especially since she and I… well, our relationship is complicated. Back before… this universe, Kenon and I fought each other for Kinisis’s affection. Kenon won, I ended up their servant. But now Kenon is gone and Kinisis is alone, I feel like she’d be angry at me for having moved on.”
Elksia stared at Kairos. She tried to think of something nice or calming to say, but that was not what came out of her mouth.
“That’s… fucking stupid.”
“What?”
“That’s stupid!” Elksia repeated herself. “Kinisis does her own shit! You do your own shit! You need to go be happy! Kinisis does her own thing, you go do your own thing too!”
Kairos grunted. “Yes, that is fair.”
“Seriously!” Elksia continued, patting Kairos on the hand, because she couldn’t really reach anywhere else on the colossal dragon. “You are happy with Seimeni. Kinisis is happy with her projects. That is all that matters.”
“I know…” Kairos sighed. “I am sorry for projecting onto you, Elksia. But you should try to be on time more often though.”
Elksia shrugged. “Yes, and I shall! As long as you stop judging me and Tenuk.”
“Yes, of course…” Kairos sighed again, before taking off once more. “Now, please excuse me, I have work to do…”