“There’s shit going on.”
Aesop’s appearance didn’t catch Aster off guard, but his sentence did. Aster had just finished up in a meeting, talking with a rogue group of former Perpetual Abyssians. He had managed to convince them to rejoin Lanex society, mostly by offering them a job, safety and home on solid ground. Aster assumed that Aesop had just been nearby or something, but from the heat emanating off of Aesop’s body, he had detected Aster first and flown over to him.
“I thought you were supposed to be on guard duty?” Aster asked as he checked his program. He had time. His next meeting was with a group of Spasts that were arguing with some Banikans over a small moon but that was quite a few hours off and on the other side of the universe.
“Just swapped with Litty. Poor blighter is all over the place right now. Did you see him… them when we had that meeting with Epani this morning?”
Aster thought for a moment. The meeting they had was somewhat routine, with the Allmaker giving everyone schedules for next week and making a few requests. The only real outlier was Epani asking Murum’Va to do more patrols and visit each of Kairos’s palaces at least once a day, but everything seemed normal. Right?
“I… I don’t recall.”
“Litty wasn’t paying attention. Not to us at least. They were twitching and looking at Epani as if they were trying to translate something. I had to nudge Litty to get them to pay attention.”
“They paid attention in the end though.”
Aesop grunted. “The blighter did, but he clearly wasn’t right.”
Aster thought some more. “Maybe it’s because their mum is… uh… whatever the Rethan version of being pregnant is. That was something Litvir did mention to me and Elkay the other day.”
“Maybe? But I don’t think that’s what Litty’s problem was today. He… they were focused on Epani and doing that thing where they accidentally read minds. You know Epani went and spoke to Kairos the other day, right?”
“About his meeting with Kohra and Murum’Va. Didn’t Kairos also corner Elkay or something?”
It was Aesop’s turn to pause. “What? What happened to grandma Elkay?”
“I don’t know. I just know that Kairos was hovering around the Great Library and pestered Elkay about that prophecy that Kairos is scared of. Elkay has been trying to translate it and has gotten somewhere, but Kairos keeps on demanding updates.”
“What… what prophecy?” Aesop blinked. “Is this tied to when Kairos attacked Elkay last year and hinted that he was worried Elkay would try to kill him or something?”
“Yes.”
“That prophecy is fucking stupid though!” Aesop snarled. “Elkay’s just an old lady who likes knowledge, he wouldn’t dare lay a finger on a dragon.”
“Elkay is a former assassin.”
“… Still! Doesn’t matter what Elkay is or was, he’s just a kindly old granny doing his job as the god of knowing shit. Kairos can’t just accuse the guy of trying to murder him, and he definitely ain’t going to instantly fix up and translate a stupid prophecy that has been bothering the Whenvern since before our universe fucking existed!”
All Aster could do was nod in agreement. “You’re completely right. Kairos has been… dangerous lately. Maybe that’s why Litvir is on edge, because they can sense some sort of danger and don’t know how to protect us from it.”
“Poor fucker spends all their time trying to protect us and everyone around them, little Litty doesn’t save any protection for themselves.”
“I can see that being the case. But at least Litvir’s home life is better now!” Aster was more optimistic. “They’ll have a little sibling soon. And according to Elkay and Maresia, there’s some of Litvir’s adopted father’s genetics in Litvir, somehow.”
“Huh… I admit, I forget that little Relkir was part of some sort of bloodline thing. She’s so tiny that you wouldn’t know from looking.”
Aster eyed Aesop. Aesop realised why.
“Sorry, can’t help it. I’m a Torr. We’re hateful bastards. The anger sticks around. But in all honesty? I’m angry at other things. Mostly Kairos. I dunno how you all put up with that cunt.”
“You worked with that Prime Minster Panos guy.”
“I did, yes, but that’s different. Panos is an asshole but he also isn’t a god or in charge of time across the whole universe. Kairos is… bothering me and I don’t know what to do about it. Doubly so since Dalosisaar ain’t reading my emails about building a time-stable chamber where time is consistent and also powered by Dalosisaar’s time powers and not Kairos’s time powers.”
Aster went back to eyeing Aesop.
“Whaaaatttt?”
“That is weird.”
“Yeah but I honestly think we need it. Because, what if Kairos does lose his shit or whatever?”
“Have you suggested the idea to anyone else?”
Aesop grunted. “Pretty much everything has to go through Dalosisaar or Epani.”
“Yeah, true, but maybe Elkay has some suggestions?”
“Elkay hasn’t had time to piss. He hasn’t left his library in like a week.”
Aster frowned. “That is true. Maybe we need to convince Elkay to take a break. And maybe do the same for Litvir as well.”
“Well, you should deal with Elkay. I tend to just accidentally piss him off. But I can, I dunno, invite Litty out to do some manly things. They seem to enjoy that, and it’s a good distraction from real life shit.”
“Oh!” Aster perked up. “You should do another wrestling night. That was a ton of fun.”
“I mean, sure, I guess. Although I’m not always sure if Litty can comprehend what is going on on the big TV screen.”
“Litvir can watch TV fine.”
“They’re a baby.”
“They’re physically about 17. Litvir isn’t a baby, physically. They’re not even a baby mentally, any more.”
Aesop shrugged. “Eh, whatever. I’ll arrange something for Litty, you arrange something for Elkay, alright?”
“I can do that, sure. As long as I can join you if you do a wrestling night again.”
“Deal.”