“I do not think I have ever seen Itaviir so damn terrified before…”
“Considering that you’ve known Itaviir for a while, that sounds bad.”
Retvik had just finished burning some corruption out from a patient, while Kayel had watched on and assisted somewhat, mostly by holding a bottle of Life Goddess blood, which Retvik had used to heal the burns his fire powers had caused. The patient, a Phantai Decay Lord who had gotten infected while on border patrol, was rather grateful, but didn’t really understand what Retvik was talking about, or why a third of the purification centre at Savepoint was currently closed.
“Uh, you mean Shatterblade, right?”
Retvik nodded, then helped the Beh’en to their feet. “Indeed. But either way, you are clear now. Take an hour to recuperate in the recovery area, have a quick chat with Akah in the reception and then you can head back to work.”
The Decay Lord bowed, then did as he was told, leaving the room and heading outside. Once he was gone, Kayel looked up at Retvik.
“So what they found is actually a baby?”
“Yes. And despite Litvir and Elksia confirming the kid is not Itaviir’s, Itaviir is feeling very guilty about this.”
“Why though?” Kayel asked. “Also why is Vikalos doing most of the looking after the baby stuff with Galyn?”
Retvik shrugged as he started cleaning up. “From what I can tell, male Beh’evok do not actually raise kids, it is solely the female’s duty to do so.”
“But Galyn is male.”
“Galyn was born as a mortal, the same way you and I were. And inside the universe he was born in, the Behe’vok there raised kids in a more traditional family unit.”
Kayel blinked. “That’s weird. But how comes Vikalos knows stuff?”
“Vikalos just seems to know everything.”
Kayel blinked some more, then started helping Retvik with clean up. “How comes?”
“He is ancient. Utterly ancient. He just… knows a lot of stuff. But I really hope we find a more permanent solution to this baby problem.”
“You don’t trust the big guys?”
Retvik grunted. “Raising a kid is hard enough. Doing it out here, in the eternal darkness? It is so much more dangerous out here. A massive commitment in a place so full of randomness, chaos and death. And apparently it takes a century to raise one single Beh’en to adulthood.”
Kayel was somewhat surprised, but changed their tone. “So they age a bit like Spasts then? I mean, Tenuk’s 58, and he’s still technically a teenager.”
“I… I guess. But we do not have anyone around here with actual motherly instincts, who also knows how to raise a Beh’en properly. None of us here can really teach them either.”
“Says you!” Kayel tutted. “I’m a licensed teacher.”
Retvik paused, then looked down at Kayel. “You are a teacher?”
“Yeah. When I left K-Class, I joined L-Class and became a teacher. I taught physical education and sex education for six to twelve year olds.”
“I thought you were a gladiator?”
“Well… being a gladiator was a bit of a fluke since… well… the centre I worked at was… uh… Alright so basically there was a Spast cult going around and causing a ton of terrorist attacks. One of them involved shooting a Skyan family education and planning centre. The kids were all made into orphans and I was the only adult survivor via sheer dumb luck. I worked as a gladiator for a bit because Ret thought we had the skills for it, hoping that one day, I’d not have a massive stigma from what happened and could go back to being a teacher. But that… never happened in the end.”
“I… I am sorry to hear that, Kayel.”
Kayel shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m mostly over it. But sometimes it catches me off guard… Either way, are we done here?”
“We are, yes.”
“Can I go now?”
“Yes.”
Kayel grinned, then leaped through a nearby shadow, disappearing off elsewhere. Retvik grunted to himself, then decided to go and see what Litvir was doing. As he stepped outside though, he was met with another yellow-plated being.
“Hey love, you alright?” Arkay asked.
“Somewhat. I am concerned about the baby Beh’en.”
Arkay snorted. “We all are. Doubly because no one here knows exactly what to do. But Litvir is chatting with Thyel, who does have some sort of idea, and he knows someone who knows how to communicate with the nearby warm thingies.”
“Oh. That is good news.”
“You really don’t want a baby around here.”
“No, I just do not want a Beh’en child around here. We deal with Corruption and we attract chaos, that baby is at risk being here.”
“Ah… That is fair…” Arkay trailed off. “But you’re fine with Elksia having a kid?”
“Elksia is different. She is a Time Drake, she can avoid danger. We know what to do with a baby Vrkean, we do not know how baby Beh’evok work.”
“Yeah but… that’s still an 18 year commitment at minimum.”
Retvik eyed Arkay. “You seem uneasy.”
“So do you. But I feel uneasy because I don’t have a motherly bone in my body. I’m a former avatar of death and decay, babies go completely against my old existence.”
“That is… understandable, I guess…” Retvik frowned. He seemed like he wanted to say something more, but didn’t. And Arkay suddenly worked out what the problem was.
“I’m sorry. You… you kinda wanted a kid. And now you can’t have ever one.”
Retvik growled in annoyance. “I do not like it when Litvir reads my mind, and I do not like it when you read my mind too.”
“I’m not reading your mind though. Back when I was pretending to be mortal, you told me, on multiple occasions, that you couldn’t wait for the war against my asshole dragon step-sibling to end so that you and Gath could try and have kids. You were hoping that your heroism would allow you to break the rules of your bloodline, but that never happened.”
“… Basically, yes. But also, Litvir has plainly stated he does not want to have kids, you cannot have kids in any way because you were spayed and neutered, and raising a kid out here is too dangerous. And in all honesty? Litvir and I are too old.”
Arkay shrugged. “Those are all reasonable points. But Kuta is the same age Litvir is but-”
“Kuta’s genetics make them physically way younger than they should be, and Ret is of perfect child-bearing age. But the other points all still apply. It is dangerous out here. Too dangerous to have a baby.”
“Yeah, fair enough…” Arkay muttered. “I’m sorry about Gath, by the way.”
“You do not need to apologise. I could have put down my blade at any time and adopted a kid with Gath. That is all on me. And I still have not quite let go of that guilt yet.”
Arkay floated up to Retvik’s level and put a hand on his shoulder. “I understand that guilt all too well… But in the mean time, we need to help this baby and protect it. Sure, most of us here don’t know how to raise baby Beh’evok, or babies in general, but we’ll work something out. We always do.”
Retvik sighed. “You are absolutely right, Arkay. We will work something out. That baby is in safe hands for now…”