“I thought the High General told you to take a few days off?” Ritlir smiled as they looked up from their work. Things had been oddly quiet lately among the 10th Legion, despite the recent change in leadership.
“They did, but I do not want to spend time in an empty apartment that is too big for me…” Kuta grunted. “Are you busy?”
“Oh no, not at all! I am settling down nicely, in fact! Is something wrong?”
“No, I just wanted to see how you were doing. May I come in?”
Ritlir nodded as they moved some sheets of paper and a pile of folders to one side. “Of course, Kyr Kuta. It is always nice to have you around!”
Kuta made their way into Ritlir’s office. The office that Kuta used to work from, before they had been moved to a new duty and Ritlir had taken Kuta’s place, now working as General of Hidden Internal Affairs. Kuta had worried that the job would have a heavy toll on Ritlir, as they were quite a young Rethan, only 33 years old. Not hugely young, but the majority of Rethans that were promoted to the rank of General were at least 80 years old, and Kuta had been promoted to General at the age of 70. The next youngest General was the High General themselves, at the age of 52, and, when they were promoted, they had been one of the youngest Rethans to reach the rank of General in modern history, at the age of 25.
Then again, High General Rethais was literally a perfect specimen, and they’d had their slippery, scheming younger sibling assisting them the entire time.
“I appreciate that, Ritlir, but you do not need to call me Kyr, certainly not any more. If anything, you technically outrank me.”
“Haha, force of habit!” Ritlir continued to smile. Ritlir was an oddly happy, quirky Rethan, but they were also hard-working and very loyal. Looks-wise, Ritlir would have been somewhat normal, if a bit skinny, had they not had both purple and orange plating. Most Rethans only had a single colour of plating, and a secondary colour was often only present on higher caste armour strips – in Kuta’s case, their plating was white with pale grey higher caste strips. But Ritlir’s upper arm and thigh plating was orange, and their higher caste plating was nearly silver, a contrast to their dark skin. Although higher caste Rethans only made up about 3% of the population, all Below Twenty Generals and Captains and the majority of Below Twenty soldiers were higher caste. They needed to be, they were more intelligent than most.
Kuta sat down on a chair by Ritlir’s desk, then slid a plate of cake towards them. Ritlir glanced at the cake, then sighed.
“I apologise, Kuta. I should have informed you that the Master of Generals put you on our watchlist. It was wrong of me to comply.”
“I am not angry at you in the slightest. Vaksavar took advantage of your newness and lack of experience. And, technically, I should have reported my new ability to travel between planets, but, well, frankly, I have technically always been able to.” Kuta knew they could speak freely about their unnatural powers. The Captains of the 10th Legion all knew.
“What was it like, suddenly waking up in Skyavok territories?” Ritlir asked.
“The first time it happened, I hardly remember, I was a child, I just recall being cold and scared. My most recent accidental trip to Zero Zero, I was too preoccupied by the fact that I had just escaped being killed by a drunk Whenvern.”
“Huh… And your recent trips to Portalia? What were they like? Must be quite draining.”
Kuta nodded. “Long distance shadowjumps tend to briefly knock me out. How did you know that I travelled to Portalia via a shadowjump?”
“Security camera in your office, combined with the picking up of several social media posts of sightings of a caped, black-armoured Rethan walking through a Skyavok district in Palaestra. You know what Skyans are like, they archive everything. And we do not help matters by colour-coding ourselves.”
“Hmph…” Kuta frowned, taking a bite out of their own slice of cake. “I should have been more careful then. Either way, I accept your apology and do not blame you in the slightest. Still, that is not the reason why I am here.”
Ritlir’s smile returned. “Why are you here?”
“Mostly to see how you are. After all, you were abruptly forced into a very demanding role.”
“HAH!” Ritlir couldn’t help but laugh. “Us Rethavok are very simple beings, we just follow the leader and hardly even complain about it. It is the Legion of Hidden External Affairs who has it rough! Speaking of whom, I am glad to see that General Lysar and the High General are fiiiiiinally hitting it off.”
“With a little help from us.”
Ritlir laughed some more. “You were uncertain of my matchmaking skills at first, but you came around. And this is not the first time. We got Hasvik partnered up as well, and I have set my eyes on a new target!”
“Oh dear…” Kuta muttered. “Who are you going to pair up now? Hang on… Are you the reason why the Keeper has been wandering around today?”
“Oh, no, I do not have THAT kind of pull! I actually do not know exactly why the Keeper is here, but I am certain it is to discuss a certain exiled sibling of the High General, as part of a certain repatriation process. I am of the opinion that the Keeper would make a fine match for one of the other Rethianoi!”
Kuta tutted. Ritlir immediately picked up on that.
“You disagree?”
“I do. Relkir is too small and… I… I like Retvik.”
Ritlir eyed Kuta. “I thought you liked weird, smaller Rethan-like beings in bright yellow armour?”
Kuta eyed Ritlir back. Ritlir knew they were being a little mean, but they were also quite surprised.
“You were dating the Deathbringer.”
“Only because I am technically immortal and… several other reasons that are too complicated to explain. But as far as I can tell, Arkay will be gone for a while, and, the last time I saw him, he clearly stated to me that I should not wait for him to come back.”
“Is that why you were in Palaestra?” Ritlir asked. “Also, I thought the Allbirther once told you to lay with the High Advisor?”
“Technically…” Kuta sighed. “Arkay lived in Palaestra. I travelled there to see if I could find him. I could not, so I made my way out of town, thinking that maybe Xeno Dessaron One, a team that has ties to Arkay, would have more information. Retvik though was the only one home and… well… it turns out we… like each other. As for Relkir, they hate my guts and I am not sure why.”
Ritlir eyed Kuta some more, then shrugged. “I cannot comment about the High Advisor, but you and Retvik, you are both god-touched, and you are more understanding than most when it comes to being an outsider. Still, I am certain that the Keeper might have some interest in Relkir. After all, the Keeper wants… how do I put this politely… a pet.”
Kuta blinked, then snickered. “That, my friend, is hilarious. I now want to help you get Relkir to at least accept a date with the Keeper, as inappropriate as this is. Where do we start?”
Ritlir smirked, then pulled out a folder from underneath their desk. “Stick around, and I will explain…”