The Waterfall Cafe was always quiet in the evenings. It was built and run for the office staff who worked in the main Palaestra government buildings, meaning that after 9pm, everyone would have gone home aside from a handful of emergency staff. The cafe, aside from the small, indoor waterfall in the centre of the seating area, was very basic, providing mostly just wooden stools and plastic tables to sit at, each one decorated with a simple menu, a fake Cassian rubber plant and some napkins.
Why Retvik had brought Phovos here, she wasn’t too sure. She used to get her lunch here all the time back when she was in charge of Palaestra. Now the city was being run by Retvik and the Dessaron, the only beings Phovos trusted aside from her assistant Lokmah. She didn’t think she’d be kidnapped and missing for more than a month, but the Dessaron, Retvik and Tenuk mostly, had done a good job so far.
“So… What now?” Phovos queried as Retvik picked a table right by the waterfall. “Is this to go over…”
“That is for more private times. No, I just wish to talk.”
“About something private?”
“Just… Things…” Retvik took a deep breath. “We lost contact with each other. You ran the city while we got caught up in fame and politics. We are supposedly friends, but I feel I do not know you any more.”
“You’re still you though,” Phovos smiled. She sat down on the stool and started fiddling with a menu. “Drinks first though, right?”
Retvik nodded. “Water for you?”
“Actually, I fancy a caramel soda. Diet, of course.”
“Adventurous…” Retvik mocked a little. He walked over to the counter where the lone waitress was standing and ordered their drinks, then swiftly returned. “I just want to talk. Nothing fancy. A converasation between friends.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Because I feel I neglected you over the years. And you could do with some kinship after what you went through.”
Phovos shrugged. “I feel like you need to get something off your chest and you want someone blunt to talk to. Because you scare most beings. Myself included.”
Retvik nodded. The drinks arrived and he immediately paid the waitress, then started sipping his own drink, a simple lemonade.
“I do not scare vok intentionally. Vok see who I am then run. They never hear me. I feel it is because I am a Rethianos…”
Phovos looked slightly blank. “What even is a Rethianos?”
The Rethan General grunted. “An ancient experiment in genetic purity. A single family line running through centuries.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Very basically, it is a family lineage, with two children in every new generation, one of which goes on to have two more children. The idea was to breed the perfect Rethan by breeding two powerful Rethans together and making sure the lineage goes onwards. Each generation has two Rethianos children, the first of which mates with another strong, powerful, famous Rethan and has exactly two more children. The other Rethianos must remain childless unless the first cannot procreate. Both Rethans must work hard and become notable beings, deemed powerful and worthy by society and history.”
“How long has this been going on for?”
“About two thousand years. My brother Rethais and I are the 30th generation.”
“And I guess you’re the younger one who can’t have kids.”
Retvik nodded solemnly. “Rethais has two amazing little kids. They will grow up into fine young Rethans. My only option, if I want kids, is to adopt under Gath’s name.”
“How is Gath, by the way?” Phovos remembered that Retvik had a partner, something he had been oddly quiet about recently.
“He wants kids. More than he wants me.”
“I’m… Sorry to hear that…”
Retvik snorted, then changed the subject. “But what about you? You have secrets within secrets. You have been hiding in the dark as of late.”
“If I told you,” Phovos warned, “you would think I was sick in the head.”
“Your thoughts cannot be that awful.”
“They are if you’re a thousand year old Raptorian who is supposed to be pure…” Phovos sighed. “It’s complicated. Especially with the weird dreams lately. Makes my worship particularly hard, even though I ditched most of it.”
“You are losing faith in your religion.”
“I already did. 26 years ago. I still make offerings but I only really pray to Kairos and Arkay, occasionally Kayra if it’s family related. I’ve lost faith in the Two.”
“Well, times are changing…” Retvik smiled as he sipped his drink. “They are changing for the better now.”
“I’ll drink to that…” Phovos smiled back as she raised her glass. “Cheers.”