“Hello, thie Lysar, are you alright?”
Lysar suddenly turned around to see who was speaking to them. Normally, only Lysar knew about this little office on the 10th floor, that was never actually used but had a nice window that overlooked the city of Phos, so hearing someone suddenly speak to them was concerning. What was more confusing though was that they had been called “thie”.
“Oh, hello, little Litvir. What are you doing here?” Lysar quickly asked. “And I do not think I am your thie.”
“You are not?” Litvir asked back. “You are the poten-partner of my dada’s sibling, that would make you my thie, yes? Not by blood, of course, but I am of everyone’s blood and no one’s blood, so… it is weird…”
Lysar shrugged, then relaxed a little. Litvir wasn’t a threat in any way whatsoever. In fact, Litvir was as innocent as they came. The last time they had spoken, Litvir asked if they were in trouble because they had called their fellow deity Kohra a Fluffyvok instead of a Spast, after having heard the Master of Generals saying it.
“I guess you are right, kid. So why are you here? Did you annoy the Torr and let the Lanex break another spy satellite?”
Litvir shook their head. “No. I have been trying to be a good boy. Friend Aster did like breaking the satellite though. I, uh, heard you were sad and wanted to come and help.”
“You… Heard?”
“Uh…” Litvir suddenly clammed up. After an awkward silence, Litvir apologised. “I am sorry. I did the mind thing again. Saw your thoughts. Saw you were unhappy.”
Lysar sighed, then inspected Litvir some more. Really, Litvir was a constant reminder of Lysar’s lost friend Kuta. The former General of Hidden Affairs who had saved Lysar from certain death, before disappearing and seemingly dying themselves. There was now a large park dedicated to the Fanged General, which Lysar walked through every day on the way home from work. And every day, they would glance at the statue that had been erected in the park’s centre, sigh to themselves then continue on home.
“I am not particularly happy, you are correct, Litvir.”
“General Kuta used to pick up on your sadness too. I remind you of them.”
“Again, you are correct. You are… like a baby Kuta who was never in the Legion of Hidden Blades, not tainted by years of mockery and also completely out in the light, rather than always hiding in the shadows.”
Litvir shrugged. “I get that comment a lot. Like, not as smart as how you said it, but vok say it. I wish I could have met Kyr Kuta.”
Lysar nodded briefly, but paused. “I… I was about to agree, I was going to say that Kuta would have liked you, but I think they would be angry that someone was made out of their DNA.”
“Was I made out of their DNA?”
“Almost certainly. You have the same white plating AND you have fangs with venom in them. Rethans do not have fangs. Kuta was the only Rethan like that. I think you had some other Bloodline Tradition traits stitched into you somehow, but you are definitely related to Kuta in some way.”
Litvir frowned. “So Kyr Kuta would not like me?”
“I do not know.”
“Aw…” Litvir trailed off, then turned back to Lysar. “You are sad too though. You are sad about thie Rethais… Oh no. I did mind reading again.”
“Hmph. Kuta… did that occasionally. They would not admit it out loud, but I could tell whenever they did it. They would bring up something they had no real way of knowing about. But you are correct. I am a little… annoyed at Rethais. They are overworking themselves, again. And they do not seem to understand relationships still. Rethais tries to be romantic but has no idea how to be romantic.”
Litvir thought for a moment. “I do not know about overworking, but maybe you could teach thie Rethais? We cannot know how to do things unless we are taught!”
“You are correct, kid, but sometimes Rethais needs to learn on their own. I wish Rethais was more spontaneous sometimes.”
“Have you told thie Rethais that?”
Lysar eyed Litvir. “That somewhat ruins the point of things. I want Rethais to work these out for themselves.”
“I guess, but how can thie Rethais know you want them to be more spontaneous if you do not tell them? They cannot read minds like I can! Thie Rethais is very smart but they cannot always see a small problem so they cannot work to fix it unless you tell them!”
More eyeing. Litvir didn’t appreciate how Lysar was looking at them.
“What?”
“You are weirdly smart.”
“Of course I am!” Litvir exclaimed as they fished around in a pocket in their stomach wrap and pulled out a set of keys. “I got three gold medallions while I was at school! Yes, sometimes I am a stupid baby, but sometimes we are all stupid babies! And we can only stop being stupid babies when someone tells us we are being stupid babies, so we can learn things.”
“Have you been called a stupid baby a lot?”
“I call myself a stupid baby a lot. Because I sometimes am. And I am technically a baby…” Litvir trailed off. “It will be my first… birthday at some point. We will go to the beach! Do you want to come?”
Lysar tutted. “Do you not have friends your age?”
“My age is less than one. Most less than one year old Rethans are small and do not speak.”
“Good point… I… I will think about it. And you are right. I cannot expect Rethais to learn to be more spontaneous if Rethais does not know I want them to be more spontaneous. But I do need help convincing them to take more time off work. Rethais is bad at that.”
“Tell them then!” Litvir beamed. “I am sure they will understand! And you will be happier too. You are coming to mama and dada’s wedding, yes?”
“Yes, I am. Relkir already invited me.”
“Good!” Litvir continued to smile, but paused as something on their person beeped. “Oh no, I have to go. It is report-writing time! Have a good day, thie Lysar!”
Before Lysar could say goodbye, Litvir disappeared in a flash of light.
“What a strange kid…”