“Hello, sibling. May I join you?”
Retvik sighed but quickly relented, shifting across the bench so that Rethais could sit down. They had been sitting on their own, staring out of a nearby window, looking down at the streets of the city of Phos. It was a very large, pretty and square city, with wide roads, wider pavements and plenty of trees to provide shade. Very different from the mixed species city of Palaestra, where everything was far less uniform and bumpy.
“Yes, sure, of course.”
Rethais glanced out of the window briefly. Every time Rethais looked upon their city, they couldn’t help but feel both pride and concern. After all, Rethais was the High General, they were in charge of every single person not just in Phos, not just on the planet, but almost every single Rethan alive. And Rethais liked to think that they had done a reasonably good job. But at the same time, Rethais was well aware that they had… missed a few people.
“You have something on your mind, Rethais.”
“So do you, Retvik.”
Retvik grunted. “You should go first.”
“No, no. You are the guest around here. You go first.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Retvik sighed some more. “Well… you… already somewhat already mentioned it. You called me a guest. And that is what I am. I am a Rethavok in the capital city of the Rethavok, yet I feel I do not belong. I am a stranger.”
“You are not a stranger.”
“I am. I have a stigma, even if I am no longer an exile. Other Rethans get… funny with me. They think I talk too much, that I am clingy and overprotective, that I am annoying and weird. I do not catch social cues properly. Even though I noticed I have already started using standard pronouns and have been saying less. Back at home, even though I am a Rethan, I am still considered somewhat approachable. Here, among my own, I am not.”
Rethais looked Retvik up and down. “Well, to be fair, you do still trim your strips.”
“That is both partially force of habit and muscle memory, and the fact that my gladiator gear is so much easier to put on without my stupidly sharp strips. But still, I do not belong. I… I hoped I would fit back in, but I do not.”
With a sigh, Rethais put an arm around Retvik. “Understandable. But it might not be as bad as you think. You have not been among other Rethans outside of short bursts, and most of those bursts were with higher-caste Rethans like ourselves, who are more… open, I guess. But we only make up about 3% of the population. The average Rethan is… quiet and does not want to talk, and you have not spent enough time with soldier-caste Rethans to pick up the cues you lost.”
“I guess, but it feels awful, still being unwanted. I built a new life for myself as an exile and it is incompatible with the life I could have had here.”
“Hmph. I assume you do not want to give up the life you have…” Rethais sighed. “I will be blunt, I had a feeling that you may have some trouble reintegrating. After all, it is my fault that you ended up exiled and cut off from the rest of us in the first place.”
Retvik growled, a reaction that Rethais didn’t expect.
“You came here to apologize to me. Well, I do not… I was going to say I do not accept your apologies, but, well, none of this was ever your fault. The upper echelons of our society allowed the barbaric bloodline traditions to exist, and it took a bloodline tradition Rethan working their way up to the top, to literally become the High General, to end that insanity!”
“I take it you are angry, sibling.”
Retvik took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. “I am. I have two unaccepted friend requests on General Talks. From our egg layer and sperm donor. They want to talk to me. I do not want to talk them. I am angry at them. THEY could have ended the traditions. Literally any of the previous generations could have ended the traditions?”
“I did not do enough.”
“No, Rethais. You did enough. You were slow to act, but you freed me in the end. And when I could no longer protect Relkir, you made sure that Relkir was safe. You did so in a bit of a weird way, but Relkir is allowed to live their life now. My sacrifice finally feels like it was worthwhile, seeing Relkir and General Gath together.”
Rethais looked Retvik up and down again. “That right there, what you just said, you should have been the Bearer all along. You have always been the best of the three of us.”
“No, I just have a permanent desire to protect others, like most Rethavok except stronger and more annoying and awkward. Another thing that makes other Rethans avoid me…” Retvik closed their eyes and rubbed them briefly. “Sure, I have done a lot with my life, despite being an exile, but there are many, many times where I wish I had just been executed that day. Kuta does their best to make me feel like a normal Rethan, but despite everything, I am so, so alone.”
“I understand, and I want to try and fix that. Sibling, you were alone, but you are not any more. From what Kuta has told me, this year has been… absolutely insane for you. You do really just need some time to adjust though. Thirty four years separated from everyone is going to badly affect you, you cannot expect everything to instantly come back together after so long. But I promise, with more exposure, you will start picking things up.”
Retvik grunted. “I do not want to now. I just want Relkir to get better, so I can go back home to my normal life, where beings judge me slightly less. And I want to see Kuta. I accepted your stupid invite so I could spend time with Kuta, and they have done nothing but work.”
Rethais grunted back. “I keep on telling Kuta to take breaks, but they are not listening to me. We should both talk to Kuta. And… I am going to have to force Kuta to take time off, same way I did with Relkir. Either way, I know it was not technically my fault, but I am sorry that our cute little family get-together turned out so damn awful. And if our parents continue to pester you, let me know and I will tell them to fuck off. They do not deserve your presence.”
“I… I appreciate that, Rethais. Thank you.”
Rethais smiled, then patted Retvik on the back. “Unfortunately, I do have work. But I know Relkir wants some time alone, so do you want to tag along with me for a bit?”
Retvik glanced at Rethais, then shrugged. “Sure, why not? I could do with some more exposure anyway…”