Kohra had had a busy day. Meetings with all sorts of important Spasts, speaking with candidates for recently formed political parties and things like that. It was exhausting. Especially since Kohra had been forced to be rather strict and outright say that some political parties should not be formed. He had seen other races, he had seen the state of their political parties and now that Kohra had a chance to make the Spasts into a decent, democratic race, he wasn’t going to allow some racist, extremist idiots ruin it. People had been rather angry at him because of those decisions to cancel those political parties. While Kohra had remained firm and stoic on the outside, those criticisms were getting to him. Yes, Kohra was a child. He was permanently 19 years old, despite being technically 21 now. But he was a very smart person and he was literally backed by other deities. Kohra knew what he was doing.
Still, the moment Kohra got home, to his pretty little blue-painted house on the coloured glass lake, he opened the door, awkwardly stepped inside, slammed the door shut, threw down his bag with his belongings then slumped down against the door, tears forming in his eyes.
No, Kohra wasn’t a stupid kid. But he was a kid. A kid with a dad who was the ruler of all of Spast kind, a kid with a dead mum, a permanently missing brother and a brother that had been outcast for doing the right thing. And he was literally a kid. Spasts weren’t considered adults until the age of one hundred. As far as Kohra was concerned, he would never be an adult. He wouldn’t ever even be a teenager. He was a child deity forever.
Normally, that wouldn’t bother Kohra, but today, after all those mean comments, all those criticisms, the realising why the Spast ruling caste was the way it was, it all got to Kohra. Now he was on his own, he could let the tears flow. And that was exactly what Kohra did. He sobbed to himself, letting his tears drip down his perfect white and pale blue fur. And because Kohra was both a deity and crying, his emotions seemed to be affecting the weather outside. A vicious lightning storm had appeared, and the rain was mirroring his tears.
Kohra didn’t know how long he’d been crying for. It couldn’t have been long, but it was also long enough for someone to notice. Did he have a meeting with the other deities today? Was he supposed to be seeing his dad? He couldn’t face seeing his father today either way. His father was a judgemental person at the best of times. Outwardly pretending to be proud but inwardly hating how Kohra was changing things.
Knocking on the door behind Kohra suddenly distracted him. And make him jump and emit a small squeak.
“I am sorry!” a familiar childlike voice exclaimed from behind the door. Well, it was childlike for a Rethan. “I did not mean to scare you! But Kyr Kohra, I could tell you were sad and I wanted to come and help!”
Kohra hesitated, then staggered to his feet and opened the door. Litvir was younger than Kohra, physically about 17 years old, nearly 18, but they were not even actually two years old yet. But they were still a Rethan, a tall, skinny Rethan, and thus too tall to properly enter Kohra’s home. Also, Litvir seemed to be carrying a bag full of stuff.
“Did you… come here just to cheer me up?”
Litvir nodded. “I did! Sadly my dada is ill and so is my mama and so is my little ba so I cannot go and visit them because there is an… a… uh… a… a flub going around and I am avoiding home so I do not spread it so I have nothing to do, but Nanik said you were sad so I went to the shop and got some nice things for you to cheer you up!”
Kohra blinked in confusion. “A… a flub?”
“A flub. A sick thing.”
“You mean the ‘flu. Your family has the ‘flu.”
Litvir also blinked. “The illness is called the flew? Like a bird?”
Kohra blinked some more, then found himself snickering. “Hah! It’s called the ‘flu. Spelled “f-l-u”. It’s short for influenza. It’s kinda like a bad cold and a fever and stuff. But did you really come here just to cheer me up?”
Litvir nodded. “I did, yes. Can I come in though? It is a little wet and, uh, flashy out here.”
Kohra went back to blinking, then rubbed his eyes. The storm faded but the rain and clouds lingered. Kohra didn’t really know how to manipulate weather the way Dalosisaar and Valksia could.
“Yeah, you can come in. You’re a little tall though.”
“It is alright!” Litvir smiled as they got down on their knees. They were literally twice Kohra’s height. “I spend a lot of time with my little ba and I am used to being too big. But I got you things. Like, uh, drinks with energy in them? I think it is just sugar. I also got pancakes and gold stuff.”
Litvir handed the bag to Kohra. Inside were packs of ready-made pancakes, as well as two bottles of golden syrup and four energy drinks, one of which was a sugar-free variant. Also inside was a bright blue fluffy fox plushy.
“Uh, what is this?” Kohra asked.
“It is Tete!” Litvir beamed.
“What?”
“I have a plushy called Arkay, it is a big black fluffy kitty and it makes me happy. My little ba has a blue fluffy fox plushy and it is a blue fox thing like that one, and they call it Tete. It makes them very happy. I thought you could do with a Tete of your own, because you have a big ba you do not see and he is that same blue, I think, and maybe your own Tete would also make you happy.”
“Oh…” Kohra sniffed. “That… that’s really sweet of you, Litvir.”
“No worries!” Litvir smiled. “Can we eat the pancakes now? I want to try the gold liquid stuff.”
Kohra reached up and patted Litvir on the head. “Sure thing, friend! Thank you.”