Rethais grunted as he fumbled with his keys, struggling to find the right one for the front door. Most Rethans only had a handful of keys – one for their home, one for their vehicle and one for their work. Rethais not only had those, but he had tons of miscellaneous other keys too. One of which was for sending out airstrikes. Luckily those required biometric data to even consider launching. Then again, in a universe with shape-shifting deities…
Rethais paused at that thought, then shook his head. His kind were ruled by a divine being anyway. One that had made a 180 turn and was trying to build a paradise. They didn’t really need airstrikes any more.
Finally, Rethais found the right key and let himself in. It was late and he was afraid that his partner Lysar would be asleep, but no, she was sitting there at the dining table, only half-asleep, half-eaten pie in her hand.
“Is he overworking you again?” Lysar asked, stifling a yawn.
“No. Just a very busy day. Followed by Kenon assigning everyone a high ranking exo-politician to take out for dinner.”
“Huh…” It took Lysar a while to work out what Rethais was talking about. “You have to take someone out for dinner?”
“We do, yes.”
“Oooh!” Lysar beamed, immediately perking up. “Which politician are we getting?”
“We have been assigned to the All-Ksa of the Skyavok.”
Lysar paused. “Oh. That is very political.”
Rethais shrugged, then sat down next to Lysar. “That is what I thought at first…”
“Did All-Ksa Kayel attempt to seduce both your siblings AND the old Thantophor? Or did I imagine that?”
Rethais tutted. “No, that happened. Which is odd because Kayel is also married. We will be inviting both him and his disabled partner Veeyel. Do you know anywhere which is accessible for disabled Skyavok?”
Lysar hesitated. “I do not believe I have met Veeyel. How, hm, disabled is he?”
“I believe Veeyel is partially wheel-bound. At the very least he needs permanent braces to walk.”
“Hm…” Lysar trailed off, delicately taking a bite of her pie. She took a few more bites before eventually answering. “We should invite them to a picnic.”
“A picnic?”
“Yes. In a nice park. Maybe have a BBQ or something.”
Rethis grunted.
“You do not agree? Is it a bad idea?”
“No. I actually think it is something Kayel would appreciate. I just do not believe it is what Kenon intended.”
“To the void with him! He asked you to do something, you do it in the way you think is best.”
“True, but the last thing I need right now is Kenon breathing down my neck. With that horrific, frozen breath of his…”
“I think it is a good idea.”
“It is. But I think it is also worth booking a restaurant, just in case.”
“Fair…” Lysar shrugged, finishing off her pie. “How about we head to bed and we start planning tomorrow?”
Rethais paused and glanced at the nearest clock, a small blinking timer on his wrist. “Oh. Darn. My apologies, it is much later than I expected…”
Lysar smiled, getting up and wrapping her arms around Rethais. “It is fine, my dear. To be expected occasionally. Let us sleep and we can discuss this tomorrow. It will be fun…”
“Hopefully…” Rethais yawned. “Hopefully…”