The Thantir Purification Facility on the floating island of Savepoint, located just off the Athata Rift, was technically closed today, but there were quite a few ships in the freshly resurfaced parking area, all in different shapes. A familiar orange and silver Phantai cruiser ship; a small, refurbished Ventra ship with bright paint on it; several rather standard Deathven Sector rented ships; a rather fancy, luxurious Justar-licensed travel cruiser; and, weirdly, what everyone was certain was a Voidborn vessel, which had just landed. Everyone was here not for the Thantir’s normal services, but to witness a small ceremony, a union between two of the younger members of the Thantir.
A wedding. A wedding between Teekay and Elkay. One they had been planning for a while.
But this was not a normal wedding. This was a mishmash of traditions and a bit of a clash of culture. While most of the ceremony would consist of Skyan traditions, from the species Teekay belonged to, Elkay wished to have a few Rethan traditions too, one of which involved most of the guests arriving early and having a bite to eat before the actual ceremony itself. The original tradition was so that the families of the bride and groom could get to know each other, but today, it was much more casual.
Admittedly, none of the guests were family. Most beings that lived in the Periuniversal Void lacked family. In fact, the only family present was the half-brother of the bride, everyone else was just friends. Hopefully.
As people watched the Voidborn ship land though, the first person to approach was Litvir, one of the young Thantir leaders, who would be performing the wedding ceremony soon. Much to Litvir’s confusion though, he’d asked Letharus, one of the guests he had been chatting with, to stay put, but Letharus had followed Litvir over.
Out of the ship stepped two very mismatched Voidborns and a small, black and gold sprite, that danced around them both. However, the smaller Voidborn, wearing nothing but silver armour and a gold cape, but still towering over Litvir, bowed slightly as he and Letharus came into view.
“You… invited… HIM?” Letharus hissed.
“I, uh, suppose I ought to apologize and explain…” Litvir muttered.
“No, no need, Litvir!” Theocydes was smiling, but that smile couldn’t be seen beneath his silver plating.
“An explanation is very much necessary!” Letharus continued to hiss angrily. “You… You ruined me!”
“I know…” Theocydes snapped his armoured fingers, which summoned a large, shimmering golden sword out of thin air. He then stood in front of Letharus and got down on one knee, presenting the sword to Letharus. “Little friend, while I cannot atone for what I have done to you, I can at the very least try and make amends. You see, Litvir and his ilk convinced me that I was a monster, and he also convinced me to change, to better myself. I humbly apologize for what I did to you, and I offer you my old blade as a vague hint of compensation. I am also deeply proud that you made yourself into a Decay Lord, despite what I did.”
Letharus hesitantly took the blade, but nearly dropped it, not realizing how heavy it was. “This… weighs a ton… what made you change though?”
“Well… I was teleported into the middle of a sun. And when I respawned, I desired revenge, but Litvir here… somewhat trick me, I guess, and I abandoned my old, Goldblessed ways. Also, be careful with that sword, it is made of pure gold, so don’t actually try and use it.”
“Uh… thanks…” Letharus was clearly too dumbfounded to say much else. He glanced at Litvir, sighed, then wandered off, taking the sword with him.
“In hindsight, I should have warned you both…” Litvir frowned.
Theocydes got back up and shrugged. “It’s fine. It is also a good lesson for Staton here, that it is good to apologize and be aware of one’s sins.”
“Ah, yes, I was about to ask, I thought you said you were bringing three Voidborns along?”
Kesistatiir, the much larger, much more traditional Voidborn, patted Litvir on the shoulder. The little black and gold sprite then hovered in front of Litvir’s face, before twirling around him and resting in Kesistatiir’s other hand.
“We did, yes! Lord Litvir-”
“Please do not call me Lord…” Litvir interrupted. “The only lord around here is Vikalos.”
Kesistatiir was undeterred. He held the sprite up closer to Litvir. “Litvir, this is Staton, he is a Newling Voidborn, we are teaching him to be Adogtic from the start. Most Voidborns get scooped up into cults, but Staton will not end up like them.”
Litvir eyed the sprite. Staton shimmered happily.
“Can he not speak?”
“Not yet.”
“He seems… familiar…”
“Huh, that is odd. Staton is very, very young though, he has not met many other beings. Speaking of which, where is your dear Life Goddess, Phovos? I would like to speak to her and thank her once more!”
Litvir closed his eyes briefly, scanning the area with his telepathy, then glanced at the band on his wrist tutted. “Over by the chocolate fountain. Please, excuse me, I have to, uh, go and get drunk.”
“Why?” Theocydes asked.
“Apparently it is Skyavok condition that their void priest, or whoever is doing the ceremony, i.e. me, has to be drunk while they do said ceremony. Please, do not do anything stupid while I am gone.”
Staton floated out of Kesistatiir’s hand, bounced on Litvir’s shoulder then drifted back again.
“That is Staton’s way of saying “have fun”!” Kesistatiir grinned. “And we shall do the same. See you later.”
Elsewhere, the three main witnesses of the wedding ceremony were busy introducing people and generally entertaining the guests. Phovos was talking to Lord Kengana, while Tenuk was busy messing around with five of the six members of the League of the Loop and a familiar face by the name of Telecharm. However, Akah was feeling very conflicted as he chatted with a couple of Matanaiai, some last minute guests. Mostly because one of them was clearly very interested in Akah.
“Gonna be honest, little bro, ya look great in a suit.”
“Uh, thanks!” Akah smiled weakly as he handed a drink to Atuho and Khalia, then took a large gulp of his own drink. “I’m honestly surprised you came.”
“Eh, was a chance t’see ya, Akah and get t’know you Thantir guys. And a chance t’get off our darn pit stop occasionally. Also, cake. Heckin’ love cake.”
“And maybe a few other things!” Khalia grinned. She clearly liked Akah a little too much and she wasn’t hiding it. “Do you normally wear a suit, Akah? Last time we saw you, you were all covered up! I mean, you’re still wearing armour on top of your suit, but still! Also, do you take your armour off? I’d like to see you without armour.”
Akah blinked, too shy to say anything. Atuho though had Akah’s back. “Gal, y’are takin’ it a lil too far, ya’know?”
“Atuho, he’s an adorable and also somewhat fleshy version of us.”
“So? He’s my lil bro. Well, not really, only in spirit, but still. Y’are bein’ a tad horny. Go get somethin’ t’eat.”
Khalia shrugged, eyed Akah a little more, then wandered off. However, she paused to talk to Koh and Gah, after nearly tripping up over them.
“Thank you, brother…” Akah breathed a very large sigh of relief.
“No need t’thank me, mate. Bein’ a Matanaiai with female bits, Khalia gets… a bit weird. But I know ya ain’t interested in that sorta thing, and she tooootally was gettin’ pushy.”
“Is she like that with everyone who’s vaguely Thropic?”
Atuho nodded. “Ya mean humanoid? Oh, definitely. This pentacluster ain’t got many humanoid folks outside o’the ol’Metrum territories. And most’o them were Melek Glatorans, not Matanaiai. The other Matanaiai in the ol’Ventra all kinda… left, ‘n’ apart from you ‘n’ that Kanuva guy? Ain’t seen anyone else.”
“What about outside the pentacluster?”
“Honestly, bro, ain’t got a clue… Although, speakin’ of clues, any idea when the weddin’s gonna start?”
Akah glanced around, then shrugged. “Litvir and Elksia will call us all when it’s going to start. At which point I’ll have to split off, since Phovos, Tenuk and myself will be the witnesses to the signing stuff.”
“Ah, no worries then. Ya got anythin’ ya should be doin’ in the mean time?”
“Not really. Teekay just requested that we keep the guests company.”
Atuho grinned. “Awesome. Means ya can keep on chattin’ wit’ ya big brother.”
While the guests were all still mingling and chatting, the bride and groom were getting ready, in separate rooms. Teekay had his two groomsmaids, Eksi and Kaytee, to help him put his black, ceremonial armour on, but Elkay had already gotten changed and was mostly just waiting around. Waiting with him though was Retvik, Elkay’s half-brother. But neither of them had really said much up until now.
“May I make an observation?” Retvik suddenly muttered, breaking the silence.
“Uh, sure…” Elkay’s attention was mostly focused on the door, waiting for someone to come along and tell Elkay that it was time to go.
“You look really good in white.”
Elkay glanced at Retvik, then down at himself. “Hm, you are right. I do look good in white. Makes a change from my normal silver, at least…”
“Mhm… Are you alright, Elkay?”
“I am, actually!” Elkay smiled. “A tiny bit nervous, but only because I have not 100% memorized my overly long partnership promise. But I have it written down and tucked away in my wedding glove anyway…” Elkay paused, then turned to Retvik. “Are… are you alright?”
Retvik sighed. “I… I guess. I am happy for you, at least.”
Elkay looked Retvik up and down some more, then tutted. “You really need to speak to Litvir. Neither of you are in the same page, and you will not be on the same page unless you speak to each other.”
“Yes, I know, but I feel like Litvir is avoiding me. Also, I do not like it when you read my mind.”
“I was not reading your mind, I do not need to. Your feelings have always been pretty obvious. But Litvir has not been avoiding you, he has, admittedly, been a little busy helping Teekay and I.”
“I… I guess. You are right though, I should speak to Litvir. After your wedding, of course.”
“Heh, yes, my wedding!” Elkay almost giggled. “Never thought I would have a partner, let alone get married, but here I am!”
Retvik couldn’t help but smile at Elkay’s optimism. He hadn’t seen Elkay this excited in a while. “Well, I am glad you are happy, little brother.”
“Oh, you have no idea how happy I am…” Elkay uncharacteristically grinned. “Teekay and I have waited so, so long for this, and it is finally, finally happening.”
A quick knock distracted them both. Standing at the door was Tahvra, who was wearing a string of flowers around his neck.
“Hiya, mister Retvik and… missy Elkay!” Tahvra beamed. “Missy Litvir and Elksia said we start in ten minutes. Is that okay?”
Elkay nodded. “That is absolutely fine, Tahvra. We will see you then.”
“Alrighty!” Tahvra beamed some more as he disappeared back outside. “I will be back to grab you both in ten minutes!”
Retvik peered at the door, then turned back to Elkay. “Excited?”
“Yes, very.”
“Good. Let me help you put your veil on, and we will be ready to go.”
“Heh. Wonderful…”