Kairos had been knocking on the door and tapping on the windows for several hours now. Ever since the Thantophor had abruptly run off, leaving him with unanswered questions. A quick check with Kenon told him that Arkadin had gone back home, locking himself in his house.
“Please, Arkadin, tell me what’s wrong?”
There was no answer. There hadn’t been any answers to any of Kairos’s calls. All the curtains were closed and all the lights were off. The only light Kairos could see was the flickering of a screen, but he couldn’t tell if Arkadin was sitting in front of it or not.
Of course, being the personification of time, Kairos probably could have found some other way into the house. He could have broken in but that could have been the last thing he ever did. Arkadin would have certainly murdered him if he forced his way inside.
No, Kairos needed to be smart about things. He needed to get Arkadin to open the door to him.
With a flap of his wings, Kairos zipped off to the nearest Skyavok settlement. Arkadin had taken a form similar to that of the Skyavok for a very long time. He clearly had some sort of affinity for them. More so than other races. This settlement was like most other Skyavok settlements. They were all basically the same due to the weird way their society was built, and if they weren’t such pacifists, Kairos would have certainly enjoyed supporting them in battle, and he was pretty sure that Arkadin would have been lenient on them too.
Like all those other settlements, there were a handful of fast food stores. Kairos knew that, above all else, Arkadin was always hungry. It was part of his whole death and decay thing. What better way to make Arkadin happy than to bring him some fresh Skyavok food?
The question was, which food? Skyavok food in general was weird, a mixture of things carried over from other species. The heavy boiled meats from Temthan territories combined with the more bread and stew-based meals from the Rethavok, with a fine helping of rice and wheat from Vrekan diets, all topped off with a small serving of that old Kronospast sweet tooth. All crushed up and easy to swallow, as to not damage Skyavok teeth.
Kairos decided to go with the bread-cake one place was selling. A soft, doughy base with a cream sauce on top, topped with various soft, smoked and boiled meats. He wasn’t in the mood to actually do things properly though. He couldn’t be bothered to shapeshift into a Skyavok, make the order, pay and leave. So he just nicked some bread-cakes from the kitchens and left some pretty gems in their place.
Satisfied with the food he had picked, Kairos went back to Arkadin’s little house. Everything was still shut, but Kairos could get a better glimpse at the screen. The Thantophor had been playing that familiar video game again. Kairos walked up to the window and knocked on it to grab Arkadin’s attention.
“CAN YOU NOT TAKE A HINT?”
“I brought apology food.”
The Thantophor hesitated. After a few moments, a patio door to Kairos’s side opened up.
“What sort of food?”
“I don’t know. Some Skyavok thing. I just want to know why you didn’t answer my question.”
Arkadin growled. “I told you. I can’t tell you why.”
Kairos used this opportunity to barge into Arkadin’s house. He pushed Arkadin onto the nearest soft item, in this case his bed, then shoved the stolen bread-cake into his hands.
“Then I will have to guess! Is it because you don’t want me to date her? You think it’s immoral for a god to sleep with a mortal? Maybe you just hate me? Maybe it’s…” Kairos trailed off. “Do… do you love her?”
Arkadin growled. “No! It’s none of those things!”
“Well what is it?”
The Thantophor sighed. “It’s… well… Do you know how old Phovos is?”
Kairos shrugged in confusion. “Kinda? What does.. that.. uh…”
“She’s over a thousand years old. Most Ksithans only live to about 80 or 90 years old.”
The Whenvern didn’t seem to understand. Arkadin sighed again.
“She’s the next step. Phovos and her family are the next step Yisini is looking for. I wanted to keep Phovos out of view though because if Yisini finds out… It won’t end well. Aside from Phovos, the rest of her family are reproducing. The genetics won’t be lost if Yisini doesn’t intervene. They may be lost if she does. You know what Yisini’s like!”
“So you’ve been hiding Phovos from Yisini?”
“Yes.”
“Because you don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Yes.
Kairos smiled. “That’s really sweet of you. Sounds like you fancy her.”
Arkadin grunted as he sat up straight, placing the bread-cakes onto the desk next to him. “Not as much as you fancy her. She’s kinda out of my league anyway.”
“You’re the Lord of Death. If anything, she’s out of your league…” Kairos shook his head. “I’m going to go and tell Phovos the truth and arrange a date. When I’m done, I’m coming back here and we’re going to work on your self esteem, because I can’t believe you fucking said that.”
The Whenvern kicked off the ground and flew off, leaving Arkadin alone once more.
“Good luck with that…” Arkadin tutted.
With one last sigh, he looked at the bread-cake, then shoved the whole thing in his mouth.