“So, what the fuck are you doing here on Portalia?”
Thassalin shifted awkwardly on his seat. He was a Thraki, he wasn’t used to sitting on chairs. At least, not Temthan chairs. While Temthans did vary greatly in height and size, they were all upright beings and they all had long lizard tails, so their chairs were designed with that in mind. A seat with a back pad, but the back was attached only on one side, with a large gap so they could let their tails hang freely. But Thassalin was huge and his tail made up a large part of him, so he’d copied how Retvik was sitting, with his chair turned sideways.
“I, UH, CANNOT… REALLY SAY…” It was hard for Thassalin to speak quietly. Thraki in general always had loud, booming voices, and Thassalin’s non-standard, messed up, godly genetics made a bad problem worse. Thankfully, there was no one else around apart from the staff in the cafe.
“You must be here for a reason. How did you even get here?”
Retvik tutted. “Nyssi, you know there are of course travel services for us larger races.”
“Yeah, but you Rethans can just about fit in normal ships. Thassalin needs to travel on the special airlines and that’s expensive as fuck. No offence, mate, but you don’t seem that wealthy for a Thraki.”
“I WOULD FIND THAT SOMEWHAT INSULTING, BUT I DO NOT HAVE THE ENERGY TO COMPLAIN. I AM OLD, OLDER THAN OLD, I HAVE COLLECTED MANY TREASURES THROUGHOUT MY WINDING LIFE! ALSO I AM FRIENDLY WITH THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE SERPENT… YOU CANNOT TALK, NYSSI, I SAW YOUR TRUCK.”
Nyssi frowned. “You insulted my 4×4.”
“IT NEEDS A WASH. WHAT COLOUR IS IT ACTUALLY?”
“The mud and dust add character. Also, dark, metallic, forest green.”
“WELL I WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN. ARE THE TYRES ESPECIALLY MADE TO BE BROWN OR WERE THEY BLACK ONCE?”
“Mate, I just saved your ass, I ain’t taking sass from you!”
Thassalin immediately apologized. “I AM SORRY. BUT AS MUCH AS I DISLIKE BEING STUCK AS A THRAKI, I HAVE PICKED UP MANY OF… I MEAN, I AM A THRAKI, I DISLIKE PEOPLE SAYING I AM POOR.”
“I mean, you’re not really a Thraki though, are you?” Nyssi asked. “You’re something else entirely… Are you like Retvik’s boyfriend, someone who got… trapped in here?”
“Nyssi!” Retvik complained some more. “Kuta is my poten-partner. I am normally very tolerant of people calling me the wrong gender, but I would prefer it if you used the correct terms for my fellow Rethans.”
“Is this because of your match on the 18th?” Nyssi asked.
Retvik sighed. “Yes, it is. I am representing every Rethan, not just myself. I will be blunt, being repatriated has been harder than I imagined. Although I did notice that, when I was with my siblings, I did find myself calling myself ‘they’ again…” Retvik paused. “Sorry, I interrupted your questions to talk about me again.”
“Hah, it’s fine, Retty. So, Thassalin, are you secretly an alien from outside the universe?”
Thassalin nodded. “UNFORTUNATELY, YES. MY… HOME… WAS DESTROYED. YISINI AND ARKADIN SAVED ME. BUT I LOST MY… MY ABILITIES… I WAS REWRITTEN. BUT I ODDLY REMEMBER SOME THINGS.”
“Huh… Is that why you can change your size?”
“YES. I AM ALSO LONG-LIVED. VERY, VERY LONG-LIVED. BUT TO ANSWER YOUR OTHER QUESTION… YISINI ASKED ME TO COME HERE. TO ACT AS A LOOKOUT. SHE KNOWS ARKADIN IS RESTING HERE AND TRYING TO HEAL, AND MY… PRESENCE HIDES HIS SCENT SOMEWHAT FROM THE CHILD TIME DRAKE. ALSO, MY FADED CONNECTION TO THE FORWARD FLOW ACTS AS A BETTER EARLY WARNING SYSTEM THAN MY FELLOW IMMORTAL FRIENDS.”
“Do you…” Nyssi hesitated. “Do you mean us?”
“OF COURSE. ALTHOUGH I FIND IT ODD BUT ALL US UNTOUCHED ARE ON THE SAME PLANET APART FROM LITTLE SPIRITDRAINER.”
“He means Kuta, doesn’t he?” Nyssi nudged Retvik.
“I… I assume so. Were you… supposed to remain here in secret, Thassalin?”
“SOMEWHAT. BUT YOU KNOW I AM HERE NOW. I… I MESSED UP…”
Thassalin seemed genuinely saddened. Retvik and Nyssi both felt somewhat bad.
“Uh, Thassalin?” Retvik asked after an awkward silence. “Do you, uh, have friends?”
“NO, OF COURSE NOT. I LIVE ON A MOUNTAIN ON MY OWN. AWAY FROM THE ANNOYING UTTERANCES OTHER THRAKI MAKE TOWARDS THE STUPID WHENVERN.”
“Would you, uh, like to be friends with us, properly?”
Thassalin sniffed, then eyed Retvik with curiosity. “WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?”
“I have been an exile for most of my adult life. I know what it is like to not have may friends. In fact, this year is the first time in years that I have considered celebrating my birthday, because I have actual friends to do so.”
Nyssi raised a finger. “You’ve been friends with Psiksi for years.”
“Yes, but Psiksi has his own friends outside of work. We are work-friends, not always-friends. You, Tenuk, Kayel and I, we are always-friends. Kuta is an always-friend now, and I want to have more always-friends, which is why I am perfectly fine with Tenuk bringing Talok over…” Retvik turned back to Thassalin. “You being this size is not too troubling for you, is it?”
Thassalin shook his head. “AS LONG AS I AM LARGER THAN NYSSI HERE, IT IS NOT STRENUOUS.”
“Ah, good. Well, Thassalin, I am… having a minor get-together on the 19th, for my 52nd birthday. I-”
“Hang on, I thought you already WERE 52?” Nyssi butted in again.
Retvik snorted. “Us Rethans are… bad with numbers. I hatched on the 19th of the 9th, 1972 but I was exiled on the 1st of the 4th, 1990 and just… always somewhat decided that was when I became an adult and when my age changes. Spent several months on the neutral world Phantok, where I had been abandoned, until I managed to scavenge enough money to get to Portalia and… actually try to have a life.”
“WHAT WAS IT LIKE THERE? I HAVE NOT BEEN TO THE LANEX-CONTROLLED SYSTEMS.”
“I, uh… could not really tell you. I was hungry and homeless at the time and I try not to think about it. But, thanks to a small miracle, I made it to Portalia, got my job as a gladiator and have been doing well ever since.”
“WHAT MIRACLE?” Thassalin eyed Retvik some more.
“It was the muddle of the 7th, I think, but where I was on Phantok, the seasons were backwards. I was sheltering in an alleyway, trying not to freeze to death, and this silver Lanex kid with pink eyes handed me a blanket and ran off. I found a small one-time-use debit card sewn into the corner, which kickstarted my bid to get off Phantok and move somewhere where I would be seen as less of a monster.”
Thassalin suddenly smiled. “LANEX DO NOT HAVE PINK EYES. YISINI FOUND YOU AND SAVED YOU. SHE HAS A KEEN EYE FOR SPOTTING… THOSE WITH FINER GENETICS.”
Retvik shrugged, not completely convinced. Especially since he was talking to a pink Thraki. “My tragic past aside, I was going to ask if you wanted to be our friend, properly. And if you wanted to join me for my birthday celebration on the 19th. We are not doing much, it will just be Nyssi, Kayel, Tenuk and Talok, maybe Arkay if Kayel can convince him, and, fingers crossed, my dear Kuta, and we will just be having drinks and pizza. Would you like to join us?”
The smile on Thassalin’s face grew larger. “CAN I BRING DRINKS? AND A BIRTHDAY PRESENT?”
“Us Rethans do not really do birthday presents outside of small trinkets, but sure.”
“YAY!” Thassalin shouted, a little too loudly. “I SHALL BE THERE! I… I DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE.”
“Do you have a communicator?” Nyssi asked. “So we can keep in touch properly?”
Thassalin nodded. He awkwardly felt down a pocket in his loin cloth then dumped a very old, very basic communicator on the table. One with chunky, physical buttons on it. Nyssi had no idea how it worked, but Retvik, being older, did know, and managed to navigate to Thassalin’s phone book. He entered his and Nyssi’s contact numbers on it, then handed the device back to Thassalin.
“Do you know where the large Debenai bridge at the edge of Palaestra is?”
Thassalin thought to himself, then nodded again. “I DO, YES.”
“Well, we plan to start my little party at about 1300 hours, but Nyssi and I can meet you at the bridge at 1230 hours and take you to my place.”
“THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL! I AM SO HAPPY. THANK YOU.”
“In the mean time…” Nyssi warned. “I’d keep your head down and keep yourself small. So people don’t think you’re a monster again.”
“I SHALL DO THAT. YOU TWO HAVE MADE MY DAY. THANK YOU SO MUCH.”
“Heh, no worries! Anyway, we should get some lunch. I’m hungry.”