“Thank you for coming!” Revan beamed as he briefly hugged Relkay, then sat him down on the other side of the table. “I did not want to interrupt your busy schedule, but I really wanted to talk to you.”
Relkay waved his hand dismissively, getting comfy in his rather deep seat. This small cafe was rather hip, with bean bag chairs rather than the standard padded stools, and the tables were small, glass ones, with menus and strange artwork embedded underneath. It was a cafe for young adults, many of whom were having a little drink, sipping a colourful cocktail and chatting after a hard day of work. Relkay was pretty certain, at the age of 35, that he was the oldest vok here, but that didn’t bother him too much.
“I always have time for you, dear sibling!” Relkay beamed. “And if I do not, I will make time! Is something bothering you?”
Revan sat himself down, then called over a waitress. “Somewhat. But I want to get some drinks first. What do you want?”
“Hm… I suppose I could do with something sweet… Could I have a caramel milkshake please?”
“Make that two! And a plate of chocolate cookies please.” Revan nodded to the waitress.
The waitress nodded back and promptly disappeared. The two siblings sat in silence for a bit until their order arrived, at which point Revan finally started talking again.
“I wanted to ask you a few things. Because, well, dad has not been quite right lately, and I do not want to give either parent any extra stress.”
“You know what happened, yes?”
Revan nodded. “I do. Very sad. Which is why I did not want to bother them until I spoke to you first.”
Relkay hesitated, then helped himself to a cookie, before hesitating some more. “You did not… knock someone up, did you?”
“Oh no!” Revan very quickly started explaining. “No, no, not at all! I am VERY careful with that sort of thing. But I did not want anyone to worry, now that I have a potential long-time partner.”
Relkay smiled, finishing off his cookie. “Oh, you found someone?”
“Yes.”
“Are they nice?”
“Very. Did not think we would click, but somehow we do.”
“So…” Relkay leaned forward, taking a sip of his drink. “What exactly is the problem? Neither of you are egg-bound. Both of you like each other… Is it the Rethianos Tradition?”
Revan sighed. “Yeah… we never… agreed on which of us would be the Bearer. We never… really decided on anything. Sure, mum said she was removing the Tradition, but, like… I thought I should discuss it with you first.”
“Fair…” Relkay shrugged. “I do think we should ditch the Bearer tradition though. If you want kids one day, you should be allowed to have them. Are you worried about the Keeping of Names and the Of Status High traditions too?”
“No, do not think so. We are both happy to keep names. And his status is… honestly impressive. A young General, serves via a low-number Legion, working towards a place in the Circle and DEFINITELY good enough. The problem is…”
“Yes?”
“He has the same name as you.”
Relkay blinked. “You are dating Relkai Skiaovoros? The vok who… replaced Uncle Retvik?”
Revan nodded.
“Damn. You struck gold.”
“So you think that mum and dad will not have problems with him?”
“Not at all!” Relkay beamed. “In fact, I think mum will definitely approve! Dad… not so much, but only because of her miscarriage… Things are rather… sore around all that.”
“You recommend waiting a bit longer then?”
“Yeah.”
Revan sighed, but accepted Relkay’s advice. “You are right. Thank you.”
Relkay smiled some more, picking up his drink. “Cheers, to you and your new partner.”
“Heh, and cheers to you too…”