Rethais didn’t always have guards all the time. When they were at home, they were left alone and their guards lived in a small (but fancy) barracks outside. But right now, Rethais was out shopping, looking to buy some ingredients to cook their poten-partner Lysar a nice meal, and while they appeared to be alone, they had four guards all within 10 metres away, as well as five others all watching on and two snipers on nearby rooftops.
These elite guards, all captains of the 47th Legion, were ferocious Rethans, willing to throw their lives down for their leader. But they weren’t perfect. Occasionally they would slip up in a harmless manner, mostly in just letting the public approach Rethais. Rethais was a respected leader and they did their best to try and relate to the common Rethan, so they didn’t mind the odd person coming close to talk to them. Admittedly, because of their duties, Rethais did end up doing normal chores like shopping super late at night, and that meant that they weren’t seeing many folks right now. Apart from Rethais and their guards, the only people around were the shop staff.
All that changed as a heavily armoured Rethan approached, wearing far too much gold. They stomped towards Rethais but stopped about 10m away from them.
Rethais’s head guards immediately drew their weapons, but Rethais stopped them and silently hinted for them to wait. The person who had approached wasn’t a threat. They were armed, but most Generals were armed these days, even when not on duty.
“Son.”
Rethais inspected the intruder. The last time they had seen their egg-layer, the person that occasionally dared consider themselves Rethais’s mother, they had stormed off in a fury after being rightfully put in their place. That was a year and a half ago. Maybe more.
“You do realise that, firstly, I am the High General and have my guards all around me and, secondly, I have a restraining order against you, yes?”
Revan didn’t look right. They were still wearing that silly, sleek golden armour. But they looked tired. And old. Beaten down. And genuinely sad.
“I know. But… I wanted to talk.”
“Tracking me down in the middle of the night while I do my shopping is not the best way to get my attention.”
“I know. You would not ever talk to me though if I turned up elsewhere. You would have arrested me if I went to the Kentron and you would have had me shot if I had gone to your leaders’ mansion.”
Rethais shrugged. “I think you can understand why there would be consequences to your actions. But you clearly, desperately want to speak to me, so how about you disarm yourself and get your words out?”
Revan glanced around, then removed their weapons, throwing both their General’s Blade and a small, holstered dagger to the ground. They then stood with their arms held open, showing they were not a threat. Rethais’s guards weren’t quite satisfied and had come close, two of them were standing behind Rethais and the other two were watching from the side.
“Alright, why are you here?”
“I… I… I wanted to apologise.”
Rethais couldn’t help but snicker. “Really?”
“Yes. I have problems, questions that need answering, and I can only say what I need to say if I preface everything with an apology. But… what I really need to know is… did you really…” Revan straightened themselves out. “After all this time, you went and let Relkir be the Bearer?”
That statement immediately made Rethais growl. “What do you mean by that? I ended the damn traditions and made the three of us into normal bloody Rethans. Relkir did not become the Bearer, they became a normal Rethan, fell in love, got married and had a kid! While also finding the strength to be kind and compassionate, and also just in general being a better person!”
“But you were supposed to be the Bearer.”
“I never wanted to be the Bearer. In fact, I think I would have preferred being Honour-Held, because you have no idea how many times people threatened me when I was younger! And I was not supposed to be the Bearer anyway! Retvik was! They were the oldest, they were the strongest, they were the kindest and purest!” Rethais trailed off briefly. “Why in the name of the Light are you even here? Because you do not seem to want to apologise!”
“I… I wanted to know about my kids.”
“You do not deserve to know. All you deserve to know is that Relkir is a far better person than you are, Retvik was a far better person than you are and I am a far better person than you are!”
“I am a good person.”
“Good people do not have kids who need to get restraining orders against them! Good people try to make genuine amends! Did you know that Trimes has apologised and made amends and Relkir actually speaks to them? What have you tried to do? Absolutely nothing!”
“But-”
“No. No buts!” Rethais snapped. “You wasted your chance. You wasted your first chance when we were 17 years old, you wasted countless other chances. I do not care if you are sincere now, I do not want to hear your apologies.”
“But-”
“No. I do not forgive you. The only way I would ever forgive you is if Retvik and Relkir forgave you. And that is not happening. Because, Revan, you do not understand how much you hurt us.”
“I did not hurt you. And if I did, you all came through to the other side as better people.”
“You ruined all three of us. Relkir spent most of their adult life hiding in the shadows, ashamed of who they were, thinking they did not deserve to be alive and were incapable of being loved or moving up in the world in any way. I have spent my life being hounded, being told I HAD to become someone big and important and that my main goal in life was to get impregnated and lay two eggs. And Retvik? Retvik spent their entire damn life in exile, unwanted and hated. Not because they did something bad, but because they did the right thing, wanting to protect their weaker siblings. Retvik lost literally everything yet still somehow had the strength to be kind, caring and forgiving.”
“They never forgave me.”
“And why would they? You never did anything to deserve Retvik’s forgiveness!” Rethais hissed. “You have never done ANYTHING good towards ANY of us! And the more I think about it? The more I agree with what Retvik said when they confronted you. They will never forgive you. Relkir will never forgive you. And I will never forgive you. We are not your daughters. We are above you. And we do not forgive you.”
Revan didn’t say anything. They just looked up awkwardly.
“You do not even really understand why. Because you are a bad person. Every single Rethianos before us, apart from MAYBE Relkalis, was just as much of a monster as you are. You are undeserving of your pride and power. Now do me a favour and leave, because I am sick of the sight of you. I do not want to deal with the hassle of having you arrested. I also never want to see you again.”
“U-understandable… I… I am sorry. Farewell.”
With a broken sigh, Revan picked up their weapons, then wandered off, utterly defeated.
After a long, awkward silence, one of Rethais’s guards approached.
“High General, are you well?”
“I am fine!” Rethais smiled. “Anyway, I have shopping to do. Lysar is probably wondering where I am and what I am doing. And I have something I want to show them…”