Valorier watched with great intent as the heavily armoured Rethan very slowly swam back and forth across the pool. After each length, Retvik would noticeably slow down, getting more and more tired. Valorier kept on watching until he noticed that Retvik had stopped in the middle of the pool. After a few moments, Valorier spotted that Retvik was genuinely struggling, and quickly rushed over to a nearby life ring, which he threw into the water for Retvik to grab on to. Thankfully, the life guard, Valorier’s old friend Verlais, had already jumped in and rushed to the struggling Rethan’s side, and he managed to drag Retvik to the edge of the pool and pull him out of the water.
“You alright, friend?” Valorier asked as Verlais checked Retvik over, removing his heavy, soggy armour. Retvik remained still, panting heavily, not really able to answer.
“Give him a second, Val.”
Retvik panted some more, then sat up and coughed up some water, before turning to the two Vrekans. Valorier was a fine specimen, with a black soft plume and little luminous green spots running down his sides, back and arms. He had a particularly nice ring of glowing spots around his neck as well. Verlais wasn’t quite as muscular or as tall, but he had a puffy white chest and pale pink spots.
“Thank you.”
Verlais patted Retvik on the back. This made Retvik cough up some more water.
“You’re supposed to take weight training more slowly!” Verlais tutted. “Start off bare, then slowly add more gear as you go along. Can’t just jump in with your full armour.”
Valorier picked up some of Retvik’s armour. It wasn’t either of his unique armour sets, his white and gold Lightbearer gear or his black, yellow and red Xeno Dessaron One armour. It was basic but very heavy house fighter armour, with added weights attached to it.
“I need to learn though…” Retvik continued to pant, but his breathing did slowly settle down. “We are going to a place with lots of water, I need to get better at swimming.”
“Friend, you nearly just drowned yourself!” Valorier frowned. He moved Retvik’s armour to one side, laying it out on some nearby steps so it could start to dry. “You are a Rethan. You weigh, what, 175kg when not wearing clothes? You are allowed to not be good at swimming. Heck, I’m amazed you managed to swim in this stuff at all!”
Verlais tutted some more. He tried to remove Retvik’s stomach wrap and loin cloth, but Retvik instinctively snarled at him. He didn’t mean to, like most Rethans, Retvik didn’t like being seen as weak, and removing his fabric clothing would have made him even more embarrassed. The Vrekans on the other hand weren’t that bothered about nudity, male Vrekans were expected to show off their strength. They did wear pretty, gem-speckled wraps around their waists, chests and tails, but since they were currently swimming in the pool, both Valorier and Verlais were just wearing speedos, showing off their chiselled abs.
Retvik sat up straight and grunted. “Water is one of my biggest weaknesses and I need to fix that.”
“Can’t fix that if you’re going to drown yourself!” Verlais hissed back, bashing Retvik on the shoulder and regretting it as he caught his hand on his sharp shoulder plating. “Also, you normally do not let your little trims grow out.”
“I am no longer an exile, I do not need to shave my upper-caste plating any more…”
“Still, friend, you need to be more careful!” Valorier perked up his mood a bit. He didn’t want to antagonize Retvik. Sure, Retvik was still catching his breath and that he was mostly quite tame, most beings were well aware that Rethans were… not dangerous, but they did hit hard if you pissed them off. “If you wanted some help with swimming exercises, you could have just asked me. I would have given you a hand.”
“Can you give me a hand right now?” Retvik asked.
Verlais glanced at Valorier, making an angry squawking sound, before turning back to the deranged Rethan.
“No. You nearly just drowned. I’m not letting you back into the water! You’re fucking insane!” Verlais protested. “You… you don’t even seem that bothered that you nearly died!”
Retvik shrugged, then climbed to his feet. This bothered Verlais quite a lot. Most people Verlais had saved in the past would struggle and pant and be somewhat panicked and delirious. But this strange Rethan had just gotten up without any real concern. As if he wasn’t aware that he had nearly just drowned.
“Okay, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Verlais squeaked as he also got up, grabbing Retvik by the shoulder. “You’re not even winded any more! Sure, we all saw the Great Egg Giver grant you some sort of blessing, but still! You’re hardly winded!”
“I feel fine. Throat feels a little sore but I am otherwise fine now,” Retvik shrugged some more. He made his way over to the armour that the Vrekans had removed from him and started putting everything back on, despite being soaking wet. He had dry, casual armour in the changing rooms and in Xeno Dessaron One’s private training area, but Retvik didn’t really like wandering around essentially naked. Despite his excellent physical attributes. “Honestly, I would like to try strengthen my swimming again but I know you will not let me.”
Verlais tuned back to Valorier. “Are all Rethans like this idiot?”
“Please do not call me an idiot when I am standing right here…” Retvik frowned. “At least have the decency to wait until my back is turned and I can no longer hear you.”
“You nearly fucking drowned because you wore yourself out while wearing stupidly heavy armour with extra weights on it and you want to get back into the damn water and you’re annoyed that I’m calling you stupid but you’re not at all bothered that you nearly just drowned?”
Valorier patted Verlais on the shoulder in a bid to calm him down. “Verlais, he is just being Rethan-y. You know what they’re like.”
“And what do you mean by that?” Retvik asked. “I am not getting back into the water, but I would like assistance later on in improving my strength in the water.”
“I’ll be blunt, friend, you Rethans can be a little… thick-headed and oblivious to your own safety. And you can understand Verlais’s concern. We DID just pull you out of the water. You were panting for breath literally a minute ago, and now you are… absolutely fine. Is this because the Great Egg Giver blessed you?”
Retvik frowned some more. “Actually I am pretty sure it was Arkay who blessed me. But it is complicated. Are you willing to teach me how to swim better?”
“You can’t swim any better. You’re a Rethan. The fact that you didn’t instantly drown yourself is bad enough, now you are asking for more help?” Verlais clicked his beak in anger. “I’m going to close the damn pool now so you can’t drown yourself again.”
Valorier and Retvik watched as Verlais stormed off to a large, heavy wheel, which he started to turn. This activated a specially built pool cover which extended over the water.
“Am I really that much of a pain?” Retvik asked.
“No, but, well, Verlais has been doing this job for a long time and you did somewhat freak him out by being absolutely fine…” Valorier replied. He helped Retvik pick up the rest of his armour, then put an arm around Retvik, leading him back to the changing rooms. “Still, you haven’t told me why you suddenly want to learn how to swim better. You’ve been a gladiator as long as I have and you never showed much interest before.”
“My team and I are going to Thalsa Two for a beast-hunting excursion. It is a Vrekan abandon-world covered in water, and I wish to prepare as much as I can.”
Valorier paused. “You… are going to Thalsa Two?”
Retvik nodded. “I am. I take it, from your unease, I should be nervous.”
“Well… tell you what, go have some rest, get something to drink. Then come back here tomorrow with your team. Verlais and I will give you some proper water survival lessons. Alright?”
Retvik smiled, then bowed. “Thank you very much, Valorier. I appreciate your kindness.”
“No worries, friend!” Valorier patted Retvik on the back again. “You need all the help you can get.”