“Hey, Itaviir!”
Itaviir glanced down, then glanced to his side. Being the tallest member of the Thantir, the only person he spoke to at eye level was Galyn. So hearing Arkay’s voice and not seeing someone half his size was weird.
“Oh, you are being a Beh’en again.”
“Heh, yeah. I have shapeshifting powers, might as well use them, right?” Arkay smiled, but quickly stopped. “Me being a Beh’en isn’t bothering you, is it?”
“No, not at all. I am just surprised you take a younger, bladeless Beh’en form, rather than just copying me or Galyn. Tenuk and Tanos tend to make themselves look like me but… less angry.”
Arkay thought for a moment. “When do the arm blades of a Beh’en grow in? Because that Thyel guy seems to be the same age as Galyn and I, and he doesn’t have arm blades at all. And, admittedly, I kinda do base my Beh’en look on Thyel, so I don’t annoy you and Galyn.”
“Thyel is an exception, he just lacks arm blades for some reason. Most of us get our arm blades when we reach our final growth spurt, but our horns grow in almost at random.”
“Huh…”
“You do not annoy us when you shapeshift though,” Itaviir tried to be a little reassuring. “Galyn and I both bound ourselves to Vikalos, and neither of us find you… attractive, I guess.”
“Oh, good!” Arkay perked up. “Because I wouldn’t want to get between you three. Again.”
Itaviir grunted. “You were never the problem. Galyn believed you would be chewed up and spat out by Deathven proper, Vikalos and I believed you would have been fine. Turns out, we were wrong.”
Arkay shrugged. “It’s not your fault though. I was a fucking pain in the ass. I fucked everything up.”
“You made mistakes, yes, we made mistakes too, but at the end of the day, the Overlord himself wanted us destroyed and torn apart, and wanted you dead…” Itaviir trailed off, then sighed. “Are you here for a reason right now?”
“Am I interrupting your quiet time?”
Itaviir glanced around, then shook his head. “No.”
“You sure?”
“I would have said yes if I didn’t want you near me.”
“Fair…” Arkay sighed, then trailed off somewhat. “I wanted to ask you something, but I’ve completely forgotten what I wanted to say.”
“Does that happen often?” Itaviir asked.
“Yep. Apparently, I’m nearly the same age as Galyn. But I’ve lived in three separate universes, and my memory overall is awful unless something makes me remember something else.”
“That is unfortunate.”
“Eh…” Arkay sighed again. “It’s good and bad. Most of the things I remember are bad things, but I’ve also forgotten other things that were far worse. Like… I know that Teekay, my Teekay, not the cute little married Skyavok, he ditched me when I was in hospital, recovering from something bad. But I don’t remember the horrible thing that landed me in hospital in the first place… But also, it’s super awkward learning that I caused seven different Teekays to become Decay Lords.”
“You don’t include Skyan Teekay in that?”
“Hmph. No. I did kinda affect Teekay but not in the same way I screwed up Telecharm and the six Loopblades. Got him and Elkay together and accidentally did something positive for once.”
“I am certain you have done multiple positive things in your life.”
“I have, but I was a death god, I was forced into being the bad guy. Always the face of constant entropy and decay. People hated me. Rightfully so. But I was just doing the job everyone else refused to do.”
Itaviir grunted. “You have still done plenty of good. After all, outside this place, many Decay Lords are former gods of death, decay and other nasty things. Deathven accepted us all.”
“Deathven tried to kill me.”
“… Good point… But my point still stands. It is more awkward among the Thantir, because only you and Saahro were death gods, but many of the beings we have met, they were gods of negative things too. Heck, Vikalos was a god of the underworld, keeping souls trapped and punishing them, and Galyn was turned into a god of war after his family was killed.”
Arkay shrugged. “Yeah, fair enough. Although, thanks for mentioning Galyn, because I remembered what I wanted to ask you about.”
Itaviir glanced down at Arkay. Even though he was shapeshifted into a Beh’enu, he was still a bit short. “What is it, little one?”
“I wanted to check that you’re alright. You seemed really broken and in pain when that baby was around.”
Itaviir hesitated. “I am better now.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. It was all just a bit of a shock to me.”
“Fair enough…” Arkay trailed off briefly. “Is it because you used to work at the dead warm thingy, or because you have had kids too at one point?”
More hesitations. Arkay realised he’d accidentally struck a nerve.
“I… don’t actually know if I have kids or not. I have only ever been inside a Warm and spent time with the Beh’ena once, and it was rather recent too.”
“How recent?”
“About… maybe 40ish evs ago? Galyn and I were essentially kidnapped and the Beh’ena convinced us to… give them samples. I don’t know if they used them or not. Probably not though. I am not of the finest of stock.”
Arkay blinked. “What do you mean by that? Weren’t you in line to be one of that Voidblade guy’s highest soldiers? Weren’t you well-respected among the Phantai?”
Itaviir growled somewhat. “Yes, before I left, I was highly ranked. But genetically, I am too close to the Great Blades themselves. The majority of the Beh’ens that worked as Warm Guards for the Golden Warm were related to each other, and descended from Lightblade himself. I don’t know for certain if I am or not.”
“What about the other two blade guys?”
Itaviir eyed Arkay. “They are the Great Blades.”
“Sorry, I’ve met them like… once? I’ve not been around here long enough to remember everyone’s names. But have the other two had a ton of kids as well?”
“As far as we are aware, Soulblade has fathered some Beh’enlu, and Voidblade has never had kids.”
“How comes?”
Itaviir shrugged. “I have no idea. Although, that being said, there seems to be enough of your original intrauniversal species still alive to potentially become a periuniversal species.”
Arkay blinked, then visibly shuddered. “No, no way.”
“Not even if you combined Retha genetics with Rethavok and Skyavok genetics?” Itaviir paused for a moment. “Actually, I have a related question. What species are you now?”
“That’s a good question. I was born as a Threan-type Retha, but I don’t really see myself as one any more. Don’t… really see myself as anything in particular. But it doesn’t matter. We ain’t combining anything. Not enough different types of genes to prevent inbreeding or anything. And I don’t think any of us are serious about kids yet anyway. It’s a massive commitment, especially as we don’t have special secret nests run by females that do all the hard work automatically.”
“Fair.”
Arkay glanced at Itaviir briefly. “Do you remember being a kid?”
“No, not really.”
“Same here.”
Itaviir and Arkay both sighed and fell silent. After a long, somewhat awkward quietness, Arkay turned back to Itaviir.
“Do you want to get some ice cream?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Just thought it’d be… fun to do something childish for a bit.”
Itaviir thought for a moment, then nodded. “Sure, why not. I could do with a proper break anyway…”