Retvik should have been celebrating, but he was currently pacing up and down the living room, stressed out of his mind. News was beginning to spread about some sort of strange “mind bomb” at a secret Torr lab that had left a lot of people dead. A secret Torr lab that his poten-partner Kuta had told him about. Something Retvik was now panicking that Kuta had been caught up in.
Kayel, Nyssi and Tenuk had all tried to at least get Retvik to calm down and wait for some actual, verifiable news, but Retvik wasn’t having it. No one had given Retvik any real information and that was what he sorely needed. Worse, Kuta hadn’t responded to any of the desperate messages Retvik had sent them, not even a read receipt.
Currently, the only thing stopping Retvik from losing it completely was the fact that Tenuk had taken the form of an utterly massive fluffy kitty. A fluffy kitty as tall as Retvik was. He was also blocking the front door, not allowing Retvik to go outside. Meanwhile, Kayel and Nyssi were scanning various news sites, looking for any new info that would make Retvik calm down.
Thankfully, a knock on the door did distract Retvik enough to make him stop pacing. Tenuk shrunk himself down a little so that Retvik could answer it. As the door opened though, Retvik suddenly found himself being hugged by an oddly familiar yellow-plated Rethan.
“Oh. Hello, Arkay…”
“Hi, Retvik!” Arkay was doing his best to be somewhat perky as he let go of Retvik and closed the door behind him, before shapeshifting back into his more normal Skyavok form. “This hug is from Kuta. He… they’re a bit knocked out right now, but Kuta is safe and alive and is recovering from a massive migraine and an utter mind-fuck.”
“Oh, thank the Light!” Retvik immediately calmed down. “We all saw the news coming from Torr territories and… and…”
Arkay patted Retvik on the shoulder, then sat him down.
“Yeah, it does definitely look bad, but, well, there’s no living witnesses and only one tiny slither of grainy video footage, which, although it does capture a shadowjumping Rethan, there is more than one shadowjumping Rethan out there, and Kuta painted their armour and the video footage is in black and white.”
“Hang on!” Kayel suddenly interrupted. “There’s MORE THAN ONE SHADOWJUMPING RETHAN?”
Arkay nodded. “Yeah. Skyans and Rethans can create a viable child about 1% of the time. There’s even a Skyan with the Family of Dawn trait.”
“You know who they are?” Retvik asked. He then sighed, concentrated on his hand and snapped his fingers, creating a mote of light. The mote hovered for a bit, before Retvik snuffed it out. “I… I ought practice more.”
“When Kuta’s back on their feet, you should have dinner by candlelight except you use your little motes instead…” Arkay glanced around the room and suddenly spotted that Tenuk was still a massive cat. “You can stop being a fluffy kitty now, Tenuk. Retvik’s not going to snap.”
“Goody!” Tenuk beamed as he shifted back to into a Spast, then realized he’d gotten blue fur everywhere. He went to grab his miniature vacuum cleaner to tidy everything up, while Nyssi fetched a drink for both Arkay and Retvik and sat down next to them.
“So, Arkay, you seem… different…” Nyssi mused.
“Well… uh… you’d be right…” Arkay hesitantly answered. “Firstly, not being tracked all the time is amazing for my mental health. Epani thinks I am napping in one of Sini’s labs right now, so I have time on my hands. But also… a massive explosion of death like that? I immediately went to see what was going on. Didn’t realize it was psionic in nature and made the mistake of touching Kuta, gave myself telepathic static…”
“You REMEMBER?” Kayel asked excitedly as he bounced over and sat way, way too close to Arkay. “You got your memories back?”
“No, I don’t. I didn’t get any memories back. But I saw a few things from Kuta’s point of view. I didn’t understand some of those things. But making sure my strange ex and the Shadow were safe, and cleaning up the mess those Torr made was more important and I haven’t had time to think about those memories.”
“Oh. I knew that shit about the All-Ksa being ill was a lie…” Kayel immediately stopped being excited. “He’s way, way too fucking old to be doing secret mission stuff.”
“I agree, I’m actually kinda annoyed that…” Arkay lowered his voice. “Alright, we’re talking top secret now, got it?”
Everyone nodded.
“The secret mission was All-Ksa Elkay’s idea. He wanted revenge against the folks that tried to have him assassinated. And I think I must have forgotten that Elkay and Kuta have some sort of history, because thanks to Kuta, Elkay is immune to most forms of unwilling telepathy. Sure, Elkay IS the Shadow, but this wasn’t Shadow business.”
“Uh, question…”
“Yes, Kayel?”
Kayel shifted anxiously. “When I met Elkay, after you and Elkay saved me and Teekay from the Target and our Broken Deal, Elkay heavily implied I might become the Shadow when he dies. Is he… right?”
“If you want to be the Shadow when Elkay passes, then yes. But if you don’t, I have other candidates. Thing is, it’s an until-death commitment, similar to the Voice, Mind and Spirit of the Banikans, and since you’re either immortal or very long-lived, it’d be unfair to chain you to such a commitment.”
“I mean, you say that as if I’m not committed to trying to bed you…” Kayel smirked.
“Hah…” Arkay seemed somewhat uneasy at that statement. “Maybe I’ll just make you the Shadow anyway. You certainly have the tongue for it. Either way, I have to go, I still have cleaning up to do. Gotta make sure there’s no surviving telepathic Rethan clones and destroy all the data the Torr had. Also, a few things for you all. Retvik, keep your communicator nearby, you might be getting a few phone calls soon.”
“I assumed as much…” Retvik grunted. “I have not turned it off, I am waiting for Kuta to call me back.”
Arkay smiled as he got up. “Kuta will, don’t worry. Nyssi, a quick thing for you, when you next head to the Torn Islet, I’ve picked up… something about a weird Thraki wandering around down there, would you be able to check it out? I’d do it myself but 1. I got no time and 2. Kairos gets pissy if I interfere with Thraki stuff.
“Tenuk, ain’t got much for you, just keep on looking after Talok. I had no idea I gave the little immortal Vohra the apartment I was planning to rent, but she spends way too long staring at walls. And, uh, Kayel?”
“Yes?”
“Can I have a word with you, in private?”
“Of course!”
Arkay waved goodbye to everyone else, then headed outside, taking Kayel with him.
“It’s good to see the old, good Arkay again!” Kayel immediately grinned.
“I’m not the old, good Arkay though. I just caught glimpses of how I used to be.”
“You’re trying to be better though. That’s good.”
“I am… And…” Arkay hesitated. “I… when I got static off Kuta, I caught a glimpse of the fact that I… I slept with Kuta. And, well, I don’t remember, but Kuta enjoyed it, but Kuta now has the Perfect Rethan at their fingertips…”
“You know, you can just say you want to sleep with me.”
“Yeah… that’s hard for me to do… But I have another problem. I picked up a name. A name I can’t trace… Ugh… It’s probably something nothing… When I’ve sorted this mess out, can we, like… go out on a date or something?”
Kayel nodded. “Of course. Let me know when you’re free!”
“Thanks…” Arkay smiled back, then wandered off, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.