The Twenty Below Cafe was built and catered for Rethans that worked in the Below Twenty Legions or for the Legion of the High General, but since it was the middle of the day, the place was pretty much empty apart from one table in the corner. Relkir was very thankful for this, because they were very concerned that someone would judge them. Not only was their date not a Below Twenty Legion member or a member of the 47th Legion, but Relkir themselves wasn’t either. Technically, Relkir was a captain of the 47th Legion, but only on a temporary basis, and only because the High General granted them that position. Sure, they were allowed here, but Relkir never felt comfortable being here.
Still, their date, the colossal Rethan hero Gath Tsoriou, known by pretty much everyone as the Keeper, didn’t seem to mind at all. Gath was happy to have some peace and quiet. Being rather famous, Gath often got a lot of unwanted attention, and right now, they just wanted to spend some time listening to their new friend.
As Relkir and Gath walked in, Relkir recognized the lone Rethan in the corner, but decided to ignore them, even as that other Rethan waved at them. They sat at the large booth in the opposite corner, where a waiter immediately brought over a jug of water and two large glasses.
“Would you like to order drinks while you browse?” the waiter asked, offering two menus.
Gath swiftly nodded. “Yes, please. I would like the largest diet cola you have, with no ice, please. What do you want, dear?”
Relkir blinked, wondering why Gath had called them ‘dear’. Either the Keeper called everyone ‘dear’ or they were being a little too friendly already. Relkir didn’t know the Keeper well enough to know with any real certainty.
“Uh… um… can I have… a lemonade please?”
The waiter smiled briefly. “Of course, Kyrs. One moment.”
Relkir did want this time to inspect the menu, but the waiter came back insanely quickly and handed them both their drinks. The waiter also seemed to be aware that this was some sort of date, and left a plate of complimentary cookies on the table as well, before disappearing again. Since Rethans didn’t drink coffee or tea like most other races, cookies were generally the food of choice for social gatherings.
“So, how has your day been?” Gath asked. “You admittedly look rather tired. So I assume you were busy before I dragged you out here?”
Relkir nodded. “I was. But the High General said I work too hard and forced me to take time off.”
Gath snorted. “I am sure General Rethais is correct. You have been glued to their side most of your life. Still, it is nice seeing you away from your sibling for once. I take it you do not… do much on your own?”
“No, not really…” Relkir shook their head. “I… I admittedly do not have friends. I do my work, I follow the High General around for the occasional social gathering I am required at, I do my daily prayers, cook myself the same meals, do my daily writing then go to bed.” With a sigh, Relkir decided to flick through the menu, looking for something less awkward and boring to talk about. They weren’t hungry, they ate lunch not too long ago, but perhaps a meal would calm Relkir’s nerves.
“What do you write about?”
“Pardon?”
Gath repeated their question. “What do you write about? Clearly something interesting, since you do it daily!”
“I, uh, write about a lot of things. Nothing particularly interesting.”
“Oh. Why do you think that?”
Relkir’s nerves were beginning to spike. They could not understand why the Keeper was asking them questions. Mostly because this was the second ever date they had ever been on, and during their first date, Relkir had said very little. They were too scared to. The colossal being before them was the Keeper after all.
“It is not interesting. Ramblings about the deities. Historical notes. Political writings. Notes and speech-writing studies. Awkward fiction. Occasionally some articles about a silly mobile Spast game I play. A lot of complaints about the Lady of Light that will never see the light of day. None of it worth discussing.”
“I would like to discuss it!” Gath smiled some more as they bit into a cookie. Like pretty much everything else, the cookie was tiny in Gath’s gigantic claws. As Relkir watched them take another cookie, they realized that Gath could probably wrap a single claw around Relkir’s neck and have room to spare.
“Why?”
“Because I find it and you interesting.”
“Why would you find me interesting?”
Gath blinked in confusion. “You are the High Advisor of the Rethavok, you are the same rank I am, and I am a General of a mostly ceremonial Legion. Plus, no one really knows about you, you keep to yourself. I did not know you did daily writing!“
“It is nothing special.”
“It is to me. I very much struggle to write anything. I am a big dumb, lumbering soldier-caste Rethan, anything that requires much thinking does not come naturally to me!”
“I… I do not think you are dumb…” Relkir muttered as they sipped their drink.
“Oh, dear, I very much am. I heavily rely on my captains to not do anything stupid, and basic things like multiplication tables and calculating taxes regularly slip my mind. You and General Ritlir over there could probably recite the 12x tables before I even got through my sixes.”
Relkir paused and glanced over their shoulder. Ritlir, the other Rethan in the cafe, waved at them cheerfully, before returning to their tablet and their food.
“You know General Ritlir?”
Gath nodded. “I know most of the Below Twenty Generals. I know a lot of Generals, actually, as I am one myself, but almost all of them are higher-caste Rethans like you. However, General Ritlir and their friend and General Kuta were the ones who recommended I ask you out in the first place.”
“They… they did?” Relkir grunted. “I… I feel like I am being set up.”
“Uh, why?”
“I do not like General Kuta.”
Gath hesitated. “Uh, again, why? The few times I have met Kuta, they have been a bit… childish and leering, they only seem to be in their thirties after all, but they seem perfectly normal.”
Relkir stared at Gath. “Kuta is older than both of us. They are a weird, freakish Rethan with unholy powers, a former member of the 606th Legion and they have a horrible uncanny ability to… know things. Plus, I see them as competition. There are few short Rethans working in the Kentron and Kuta is one of them and I hate them.”
“How old are they?”
“According to my siblings, about 100 years old. I do not understand what Retvik sees in that freak.”
Gath shrugged, glancing at the menu some more. “I think you, General Kuta and myself all deal with our freakishness in different ways. You shy away from your strangeness, I do enough to accommodate for myself but otherwise do not care, and General Kuta clearly embraces how weird they are. And considering how Captain Retvik considers themselves strange due to having been an exile for so long, that is most likely why they get along with the fanged General.”
“You call yourself soldier-caste, but that was very eloquent…” Relkir muttered, shrinking into their seat. “Also, you, uh, speak to my sibling Retvik?”
“Of course I do. I have to check in on my captains, and Retvik is one of them now. They are a good kid. You are a good kid too. You are small and cute and shy and you have spent a lot of time buried under the shadow of the High General. So no one really knows you. I would like to get to know you better.”
“Really?” Relkir asked.
“Is that not the entire point of this date?”
“I do not understand why…”
“… Why I am interested in you?” Gath smiled. “Why not? You are a curious person, even if you do not think so yourself. And I do admittedly find you cute. Anyway, what do you want to eat?”
Relkir was very thankful that Gath had changed the path of conversation. They glanced at the menu, which consisted of standard Rethan dishes. A vast amount of heavy carbohydrates like pasta, rice or potatoes, with some sort of meat or protein on top and a heavy sauce, generally cream or tomato.
“Hm… I always liked noodles, chicken and cream. I think I will have that.”
“I think I will have mashed potatoes and shredded chicken. I need to avoid anything too chewy…” Gath waved the waiter over so they could order. The waiter happily wrote everything down, as well as a second round of drinks, then disappeared again, only returning with a fresh cola and lemonade for both of them.
“Why are you avoiding chewy things?”
That smile faded away slightly. “Unfortunately, I have been plagued with health problems for years. Both because of the incident and because of my size. I was shot through the jaw, the teeth in the back of my mouth, some of them are damaged and my gums never healed properly. So I stick to softer foods, just in case.”
“Oh. Fair enough.”
The gentle giant and the shy imp both fell silent. Relkir fiddled with their fork, while Gath glugged down their drink and swiftly ordered a third. Eventually, their food arrived, but it also came with two non-alcoholic strawberry granitas, both topped with pink heart sprinkles.
“Did you order that?” Relkir asked.
Gath snorted and took a gulp of the drink. They liked it, but they did just briefly give themselves brain freeze as well. “I did not. But it is rather sweet. In both senses of the word. So, after this, what are you up to?”
“Uh… I do not know yet. Maybe go for a walk?”
“May I go on a walk with you?”
Relkir hesitated, then smiled. Properly, for once. “Yes. That would be nice.”