Ret wasn’t surprised to see someone sitting down next to him. He was supposed to be telling visitors that the Pink Paradise was closed, but only one ship had turned up today and it belonged to the Thantir’s fleet. And only two people had climbed out of that rather small ship, both of them visitors that were expected, so there was no reason for Ret to leave his post and tell them to leave.
“Hello, Retvik.”
Ret grunted. “It is weird, you calling me Retvik. Since you are the first Retvik.”
Retvik grunted as well. There were a lot of awkward emotions in that one grunt. “I am not the first Retvik. I was not even the first Retvik in my own universe. The Rethianos tradition went on long enough that we looped through the list of approved Rethianos names. And out here in the Void? Vick has been out here far longer than I have.”
“Huh. I suppose that can sting a bit, but, well…” Ret trailed off briefly. “Your Rethianos tradition went on for a super long time then. I know it was less strict for you, but we ditched it in under ten generations. Or rather, Rethais did. I had pretty much no input on, well, anything, since I was an exile.”
“I was allowed to be married and have relationships, but I would have only been allowed to have kids had Rethais been unable to…”
Retvik also trailed off. He sighed, for a long time, then turned to properly face Ret.
“I am sorry.”
“I know you are sorry, and I forgive you.”
Retvik blinked. “What?”
“You are sorry, and I forgive you!” Ret repeated himself. “You were not yourself, you made mistakes, then I kicked the piss out of you, embarrassed you and that is it.”
“I had a whole spiel laid out about how I was wrong and how I wanted to apologise.”
Ret shrugged. “I will be honest, you did not even need to apologise. I got the satisfaction of defeating you in combat, and I did so handily.”
Retvik didn’t respond at first. He went back to sighing. “I… I have not been so handily beaten down like that in… a long time. It was genuinely embarrassing.”
“I get that. I have had embarrassing losses myself. You did bring it on yourself though.”
“That is what makes it so, so much worse. I was so confident that I could beat you that I brought a crowd, and that crowd then watched as you beat me into the ground.”
“You underestimated me. But I am used to that. A lot of Rethans underestimated me, especially during my early gladiator days. At the same time though, I am a really, really good gladiator. I mean, I was the third ever Triumphant Champion and I had all sorts coming out of the woodwork to stop me from getting that 300th win… Hm… Shame we have no official arenas or anything out here, because you would have been my 307th win.”
“What was the record?” Retvik asked.
“310 wins, I believe. By a Banikan called the Huntress. I do not know if I could ever reach that though. There were definitely people who could have beaten me if I was having a bad day. At the same time though, I am glad we just wrestled. Because… well… your fire powers are strong, but I would have completely humiliated you if I had used my powers.”
Retvik grunted. “I am not going to question that. I have learned my lesson. I was a fool for even challenging you.”
Ret shrugged. “Your thoughts were not right. Kuta noticed something was wrong with you and informed Litvir and when Litvir did not manage to reign you in, Kuta and I gave you a nudge. But also, well, I do not think you are a bad fighter or anything.”
“Really?”
“Not at all. I am just, well, a really talented, skilled fighter. But more specifically, I am really good at wrestling people your size. My weaknesses as a gladiator were actually my aim, water and fighting smaller opponents who can get under and behind me. Since I made my team though, I worked to get better because I could train with Tenuk, Kayel helped me get used to being shadowjumped and Nyssi is just very smart and taught me a lot of things.”
“I suppose that makes sense… I was never really a gladiator full time like you were. I did exhibition matches mostly. And most of those were also with my team. And to make matters worse, that was a long time ago…” Retvik tutted. “But, well… you beating me, that memory is now seared into my brain.”
“I am not surprised. Despite the fact that we won that match, when we fought Retha Squad One, I was eliminated very early on and that… that still stings. That is the thing though, we are similar beings but also very different.”
“I accept that now. But I am genuinely, deeply sorry about what I said and did.”
“I know. I understand. And, like I said as soon as you sat down, I forgive you. Completely and utterly. Because neither of us are bad people. You were just messed up.”
“I… I appreciate that…” Retvik sighed. “I would like to know how I can make things up to you though.”
“You do not need to. I already got my, uh, revenge, I guess? I am fine and satisfied.”
“Are you sure?” Retvik asked.
“Yep!” Ret smiled. “I got what I wanted. I am just sorry you cannot get what you want.”
Retvik frowned, but that frown was brief. “Well… I may not be able to have biological kids, but… well, I have other options in the future… Anyway, I shall leave you to your duties.”
“You are leaving?”
“Elkay-En has some requests to make of me, and I need to wait for Psiksi to finish what he is doing too.”
“Very well!” Ret smiled as Retvik got up. “Have a good one, Kyr Retvik. I will be here if you need me.”
“Hah, you have a good one too, kid. Speak soon.”