“This place is pretty!”
Helkas seemed excited as he floated out of the ship that had just landed, somewhat unaware that he had floated through a wall. Thankfully, Arkay had seen where he had gone, and also thankfully, Helkas hadn’t gone too far. What confused Arkay though was just how happy Helkas was, even if he had no memories. Every other Synaisthyn Arkay knew was kinda miserable. Then again, Arkay only really knew himself and Elkay, and Elkay was only miserable whenever he wasn’t with Teekay.
Helkas floated around a little bit, mostly distracted by the lake. He then flew up to get a proper look at the whole floating island, finding himself enthralled by the view and the feeling of the pink Athatan winds blowing across his body. After a good proper look around, Helkas made his way back down to solid ground and turned to Arkay, who had just finished sorting the ship out. Retvik and Litvir had returned to their normal duties already, mostly because both of them needed to clear their heads. But Arkay didn’t mind. He wanted to keep an eye on Helkas.
“You live here?”
“I do, yes.”
“And I get to live here?”
“Yep. Do you want me to show you around?”
Helkas bounced some more. “I’d love that!”
“Wonderful. Take my hand and come with me, please!”
Helkas excitedly took Arkay’s hand, and Arkay started leading him around. He showed him first the patient areas, explaining what the Thantir normally did. Arkay made sure to say that, if Helkas ever felt ill, he’d be looked after straight away, and he didn’t need to hide being sick.
After that, Arkay took Helkas to the open air canteen area, showed him how the magic food generators worked and asked Helkas if he wanted anything to eat. Helkas immediately picked a strawberry ice cream, which Arkay fetched for him. As he did so, Arkay told Helkas that he was free to get himself food and drink whenever he wanted. As long as Helkas was at Savepoint, he’d never go hungry, he’d never go without.
Up next, Arkay took Helkas to the classroom, which had been reopened because of the more normal Decaylings. Since it was late, the classroom wasn’t being used right now, and there wasn’t really anyone around anyway, but Arkay made sure to set up a desk for Helkas, for the Decayling lessons happening tomorrow. Arkay took a moment to explain that, if Helkas ever had any questions about himself, if there was something he wanted to know or learn, Arkay and the rest of the Thantir would help him to learn.
The next step was to show Helkas his new room. Kal had helpfully already set up a room for Helkas before he’d arrived. It was a little bare, consisting of only a bed, desk, chair and places to store things, but it was quiet and private and it all belonged to Helkas. Arkay explained that Helkas ought to keep his room clean and tidy, but this room was nonetheless Helkas’s own private space, with which he could do anything with. If he wanted to paint the walls, he could do so, if he wanted blankets or cushions or anything like that, Arkay would help. And at the same time, if Helkas needed to be alone, he could come here and have his privacy and safety.
Once they were done with the bedroom, Arkay led Helkas back outside. They headed down to the shore of the lake, but they took a long, twisting path, through the trees and gardens around Savepoint. As they walked, Helkas took in the beauty of the grass, the flowering plants, the moss-covered rocks, but what amazed him the most was the glimmer of vastly distant stars and the shimmer of pink clouds, which he could see though the gaps in the trees.
They eventually reached the beach, and Arkay quickly sat down next to the lapping shore, inviting Helkas to join him. Helkas sat down quite cheerfully, but he noticed that Arkay seemed uneasy.
“Are you alright, mister Arkay?” Helkas asked.
“You don’t need to call me mister.”
“Oh. Well… Are you okay anyway?”
Arkay sighed, not answering straight away. He watched the waves for a moment, still not answering, trying to work out what to say. When no answer came, Helkas decided to speak on his own.
“You’ve been very kind to me. Overly kind.”
“Because I have to be kind.”
“But why?”
Arkay sighed again. “I suffered a lot when I was a Decayling. No one really knew what a Synaisthyn was. People didn’t know how to deal with me. They thought I was dangerous and scary. And things generally went badly for me, to the point that… well… bad things happened. When Elkay was a Decayling, things were a bit better, and we managed to keep Elkay stable enough that he would occasionally be happy. He’s built an identity for himself now, but he’ll always have underlying trauma, he’ll always hurt in some way.”
“And I am not like that?”
“I think… you were. You were definitely, and I’m putting this politely, fucked up majorly. After all, your memories are non-existent. But Syklas or whoever made you tried to fix their mistakes, then let you to be a free, happy being. So, basically, the way I see things, I have a chance to help a Synaisthyn become a Decay Lord, without all the stress and agony that Elkay and I went through. It’s my moral duty to make sure you are safe and happy.”
“You… are doing for me what others failed to do for you.”
Arkay nodded. “Yeah.”
Helkas shrugged. “That’s very kind of you. But it seems weird.”
“I can see that. But I am being honest, all I want is for the third ever Synaisthyn Decay Lord to be happy and stable. “
Helkas was about to speak, but paused briefly. “You think I will become a Decay Lord?”
“Of course you’ll become a Decay Lord.”
“And once I am a Decay Lord, I can go out and turn rocks into paradises like this place?”
“Yep. And you’ll be happy as well. That all starts here though.”
“Huh, cool… Until then, what do I do?”
“Right now, you can just relax. Tomorrow though, you start lessons, alongside our normal Decaylings.”
Helkas smiled. “Yay. I look forward to that!”
Arkay smiled back. “Wonderful.”