“Yay park time park time!”
Gath smiled as he let go of Rett’s hand, letting her run off to her favourite thing in the world, a swing. The swing set was nothing special, in fact it was actually a little bit run down. But Rett absolutely loved the fact that the swing was made from an old vehicle tyre, rather than a standard plastic seat. Rett did have a swing set at home, but for some reason, she preferred this one.
“Be careful, honey!” Gath was feeling rather happy. He had been bringing Rett to the park every other day, walking from his small bottom floor apartment across town. It wasn’t a long walk, only about ten or so minutes, but it was good exercise for the tired Rethan.
“Mummy, can you push please?” Rett squeaked as she climbed into the seat. At the age of three, she was only just tall enough to reach the ground, but she always had a little bit of trouble getting started.
“Of course, dear!” Gath let out yet another smile. He wandered over and gently pushed Rett, building up some height and speed. He then stepped back from the swings, and Rett began to propel herself, swinging higher and higher. Nowhere near high enough to go over the bar, but it was definitely a good height. Once Rett had found the level she wanted, Gath retreated to the nearest bench, watching Rett carefully.
The rest of the park was rather empty. There were a couple of teenagers sitting under a tree in the distance, but apart from that, there was no one around apart from Gath and his kid. This bothered Gath a little. It had been very hard trying to get Rett to socialise with others. Not that he hadn’t been trying though. Gath had taken Rett to all sorts of activities, like swimming and visiting the park and going to the lake. Heck, he had enrolled Rett into nursery early, hoping she’d be able to make a friend.
The problem though wasn’t with Rett or with Gath. It was with pretty much everyone else. Ever since Kenon had been killed, something was wrong with the Rethavok. As a species, they had become rather enclosed, their minds altered by the Void Lord’s control before he died. Most Rethavok were now very quiet and unwilling to socialise. With the Secret, the hidden telepathic link that brought all Rethans together, exposed, exploited, hijacked and potentially damaged beyond repair, it was considered safer to keep to oneself rather than connect with others.
And to make matters worse, this closed-in problem was spreading to younger generations. Kids were being unintentionally taught to be alone, that it was safer to be an individual than it is to be part of the Secret. Gath had been desperately trying to teach Rett to be emotional and social, but it was very hard when no one else was willing to do the same.
After a while, Rett finally grew tired of the swing, and began to slow herself down. Once the swing had stopped moving completely, she jumped off and rushed over to Gath.
“Mummy mummy! I see ice cream and vok!”
Gath blinked, not really sure what Rett was talking about. “You want some ice cream?”
“Yes mummy!”
Rett ran to Gath’s side, hugging his leg. Confused, he got up and had a look around, but not before Lifting Rett up and placing her on his shoulders. Turns out, Rett was right, there were two Rethans standing by a recently appeared ice cream van. The automated vehicle had played no tune, but was parked on the edge of the playground, behind some trees. Curious, Gath headed over, with Rett playing with his neck armour.
As they got closer, Gath was certain he recognized these Rethans from somewhere. One was wearing blue and yellow armour, the other had a cold, icy look to them, with white plates and the occasional light blue, translucent armour piece. Both of them however were pretty short, only around 2.4m tall.
“Oh, hello!” the blue and yellow shouted as Gath approached. “How are you?”
“Have we met?” Gath asked.
Rett playfully patted Gath on the head. “Yes, mummy! We met once! When Uncle Retty was ill!”
Gath closed his eyes and sighed. The one downside to having a very young kid meant they weren’t able to properly use their in-built telepathy properly. Rett had just seen inside some of Gath’s thoughts by accident. However, neither of these two vok seemed to mind.
“Ah, sorry, it’s been a long time!” the blue Rethan explained. “I’m Trismit, I think you and I met briefly after the 11th Legion shenanigans. This here is Kuta, my partner.”
Gath held out a hand, which Kuta and Trismit both shook. “Ah I see, a pleasure to meet you both! What brings you to, well, a park like this?”
“Ice cream,” Kuta admitted. “And we like walking. We were both playing a virtual pet game when we saw you on the swings. It’s normally much quieter around here.”
“Ah, I see…” Gath was still feeling a little uneasy. Still, it was nice to see two Rethans who weren’t completely silent and closed up for once. “Rett, what ice cream do you want?”
Rett bounced up and down, then pointed at a rather simple vanilla ice cream with a chocolate stick in it. Gath inserted a couple of coins, and a robotic hand popped out from the side, holding Rett’s ice cream. The little Rethan grabbed it and immediately started eating.
“We’re not interrupting anything, are we?” Trismit asked. “You seem a little….”
“No, no, I am just, well, very surprised!” Gath exclaimed. “Running into actual vok for once, not just the silent masses.”
“Yeah, we didn’t expect to see anyone here,” Trismit agreed as he reached into a pocket on his yellow sash. “But it is a pleasure to meet you again. It’s been way, way too long. How’s the family?”
“Talmin is doing fine, but I do not really have much else to say. What with mostly working from home. It is… very weird to meet people who are as open as Rett and I are. Socialising is hard.”
“You’re not alone there!” Kuta beamed. “You know what? We should all go out for a meal at some point.”
“A meal! A meal!” Rett clearly seemed to agree. “Can I come?”
“Of course, little one!” Trismit found what he was looking for and handed a small card to Gath. “Give us a call, we’d love to meet up!”
Gath bowed slightly. “Thank you. I’ll speak with Talmin and let you know when we can go on a date.”
“Wonderful!” Trismit and Kuta both waved as they wandered off. “Nice seeing you!”
“Nice seeing you too!” Gath smiled. “See you round!”