Tahnahos wasn’t expecting a hug from anyone, especially not Kinisis herself. While all of Kinisis’s other Guardians were their normal, quiet selves, Kinisis seemed genuinely happy and excited to see Tahnahos.
“I want to know everything!” Kinisis bounced delightfully as she led Tahnahos to the nearest soft seating area. Phovos hovered somewhat nervously by her side, while Akah brought over a tray of tea and biscuits. “Tell me everything!”
Tahnahos sat down, frowning. “There… honestly isn’t that much to tell you. Or rather, there’s not much I’m allowed to tell you.”
“You work for me, I’m the only person allowed to tell you what you can and can’t say!” Kinisis exclaimed. “Okay, if you don’t want to, at least give us a bit of a rundown of what happened?”
“Well, aside from all the boring stuff?”
“There was boring stuff?” Akah interrupted. “We were told you went on an adventure.”
Kinisis eyed Akah and shooed him away. Akah dutifully left the room, closing the door behind him, but obviously lingering outside. Tahnahos was pretty sure some of the other Guardians were all waiting there too, all of them as curious as Kinisis was.
“I mean, a lot of it was the four of us working as temporary guards for other Life Goddesses…” Tahnahos began to explain, speaking up just enough so that the others outside could hear him. “Honestly, they were all very… rude and unappreciative. Most of the action happened when we were on our way back to the Thantir base ship thing.”
“And what happened?” Kinisis asked.
“Did you not get a report from the Thantir?”
“I did. But I want to hear you explain it all. You were there in person, alongside my son.”
Tahnahos shrugged. “Yeah but we didn’t do that much. I shielded the ship while Elksia slowed time and Retvik piloted our ship towards the big crystal, then Elksia and I kept the ship protected while those two placed explosives.”
“And then what happened?”
“Uh…” Tahnahos hesitated, not sure how to explain. “Well, Retvik got back first and we waited for Arkay. When he finally got back, he started this massive spiel about how he was going to join the Voidborns. And we were all too stunned to really do anything, so we just did as he asked and, once we were out of the way, Arkay blew the place up.”
Kinisis’s excitement had suddenly faded. She leaned forward, looking concerned. “He was actually going to join them?”
“I don’t know. I think he may have been pretending, but… I guess I can tell you this… when we got back to the Thantir base, Arkay immediately asked to talk to, like, their therapist or something. He seemed alright when we left, but he said he needs some time on his own.”
Tahnahos paused, considering his next few words. Kinisis waited patiently for him to continue.
“Arkay gave me and Elksia and Retvik a way to communicate with him. But he said it’s ONLY for us. And if you try to use it, he’ll never speak to either of us again. But at the same time… You are pretty much the only being who knows what Arkay really is. I’m not saying you should barge your way in or try and take over or anything, but if you really care about your son, then it might be beneficial to send what you know to the people looking after him, so they can look after him better.”
Kinisis sighed, knowing that Tahnahos was right. “Yeah… I should… did he tell you what he’s planning on doing?”
“He doesn’t know yet.”
“And what do you want to do?”
That question caught Tahnahos off guard. Kinisis rarely asked her guardians for any sort of opinion.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, do you want to go with Arkay?”
Tahnahos shrugged. “He sees me as a friend, but I think he needs his alone time. I just… worry that you might not let-”
“If Arkay wants to meet up with you, you’re perfectly free to do so.”
“Really?” Tahnahos blinked in surprise. “That… that’s great! But… it seems a bit unfair on the other Guardians. I kinda… took you all for granted.”
Kinisis got up and patted Tahnahos on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about that. Things were quiet while we bunkered down at Kairos’s palace, and you were clearly doing important things. We did make some nice plans though.”
“What do you mean?” Tahnahos asked.
Kinisis smiled. “Now that the stupid Voidborn problem is out of the way… we can actually go exploring the Space Between Universes, like I originally wanted!”
“Huh…” Tahnahos trailed off. “That… that seems like fun.”