“You are up late again, my dear. Are you well?”
Rethais grunted as Lysar made her way over, carrying a plate of small, freshly cooked meatballs. The High General had been staring out towards the city for a while now, feeling rather conflicted about, well, lots of things.
“Am I well? I cannot truly say…”
Lysar smiled a little, then gently pushed the plate of food into Rethais’s hand. The smell was quite tempting, a basic bovine mince mixed with fresh herbs, all swiftly fried in hot oil.
“You have not eaten. You should eat.”
Rethais glanced at Lysar, then nodded. “I have been skipping meals, yes. Most likely due to my mood.”
Lysar stepped closer, then gazed out of the window. It was quite late, 8pm, with a slowly setting sun, but there was still traffic on the streets below. Various Rethans were changing their work shifts, with the night crew coming in and day workers making their way home.
“Something is bothering you. I can sense it. The Voidborn may have destroyed our Secret, but the empathy is still there.”
The High General didn’t respond at first. He picked up one of the small meat balls and took a rather dainty bite out of one. Satisfied with the taste and temperature, Rethais threw the rest of the meatball into his maw, then turned back to Lysar.
“These are very nice.”
“Trismit made them. He did make a few too many, though, so we will be eating these for the next few days. Assuming you decide you want to come home.”
There was a hint of annoyance in Lysar’s voice. Rethais lowered both his voice and his head, choosing his next sentences carefully.
“I… feel like I have made the wrong decision. That I should not have accepted the Allbirther’s offer.”
“This has been bothering you for weeks.”
“Feels like months, or even years.”
Lysar shrugged. “I will be honest with you, I do not at all see things the way you do. A deity came by and magically fixed everything and gave everyone what they wanted, all in exchange for a small workforce and little else.”
“That part is not actually the… thing that bothers me…” Rethais sighed, staring off into the sky. The sun was just setting, and darkness was creeping across the streets below.
Lysar glanced at Rethais, a confused look on her face. “You do not worry about the deitic-run workforce? What is it then?”
“The workforce does bother me a little, but I believe overall, that workforce is fair, as we are chosen by random. I am just as likely to be picked as any normal Rethan. No, what bothers me is something far worse.”
“I… do not follow.”
Rethais took a long, deep breath, then glanced up into the night sky. “The sky used to be filled with delicate points of light. Ship traffic passing through, satellites drifting by, the odd occasional rock burning up in the atmosphere. Above all of that though, we had the stars. They were numerous and magical, providing light to other worlds. We do not see these stars any more, because they were all destroyed.”
“I… I guess?” Lysar shrugged. “But we got a lot of things fixed.”
Rethais grunted, turning his attention back to Lysar. “Ninety percent of the entire universe no longer exist. It was all destroyed in a singular explosion. The only reason we are even having this conversation is because most of the universe is dead now. And this little piece of knowledge is… very distracting.”
Lysar deflated slightly. “I suppose, when you put it like that… We truly are… horribly lucky…”
The two Rethans fell silent for a moment.
“I do not like these existential crises…” Lysar eventually muttered.
“No, me neither…” Rethais sighed, before gently changing his tone. “Are there any more of these meatballs?”
Lysar snickered, amused by the change of topic. “Yes. Far more than you would expect.”
Rethais extended his hand towards Lysar, then pulled her into a small hug. “Then we shall have a feast. Shall we head home, darling?”
“That would be lovely, my dear…”