Gath took a deep breath as the two little Skyavok knocked on the door, bearing gifts. His parents had always told him to be weary of Skyavok bearing gifts, but thankfully Gath did recognize these two Skyavok. They were Psiksi and Kass, one of Retvik’s friends and his partner.
“What are you doing here?” Gath grunted.
“We’re here to make sure you’re alright!” Psiksi, the smaller and much more yellow Skyavok, smiled. “May we come in?”
Gath tutted, then moved to one side. He glanced at what the two Skyavok had brought – alcohol, smoked meats, scented oils and a very large yet portable foot spa and massager, which was being carried by Kass. Kass was wearing that same old purple head scarf he always wore.
As he shut the door behind him, Gath noticed that the two Skyavok had already got to work. Kass was setting up the foot spa while Psiksi was cleaning up the kitchen and washing the dishes.
“I take it this is because of Retvik?” Gath asked. “By the way you are both acting, I assume you believe it is all bad. But I am fine. Angry, upset but fine.”
“Yeah but we need to make sure you’re okay!” Psiksi continued to smile. Kass muttered something as he filled up a large jug with warm water then poured it into the foot spa. Psiksi led Gath over to the sofa where Kass had set up the spa and gestured for Gath to sit down.
“I am fine. You do not need to do this…” Gath grunted, eyeing the spa.
“You’re stressed!” Psiksi was still smiling. This was beginning to annoy Gath.
“Also a bright yellow death god suggested that we come by and help you relax,” Kass explained. “Because he is also worried about you. He said that Retvik was alive and fine and recovering and things like that but Arkadin or Arkay or whatever his name is wanted us specifically to come over and pamper you and make you relaxed until such you can go and see Retvik.”
Gath tutted a little more. He had somewhat suspected that the Thantophor was behind all of this. After all, Psiksi was the young Skyavok who had been chosen to replace the Thantophor when he’d given up being mortal. Gath remembered how upset Retvik had been about all of that. In fact, Retvik had been upset about a lot of things, and that had been upsetting Gath, to the point that he was waiting for Retvik to come back home so they could have a long discussion about it all.
“I take it that Retvik will not be returning home any time soon?”
Psiksi and Kass both glanced at each other. “Uh, yeah. He’ll be gone a while, apparently.”
“And you…”
“We will be here to look after you!” Psiksi beamed.
Gath sighed, not sure if he wanted to have two (admittedly rather cute) Skyavok running around after him. Still, if this meant he could get a few days of relaxation for basically free, he would have been a fool to not accept their offer.
“Very well…” Gath sighed some more. “I guess I can let you stick around for a bit…”