“I have a question…”
Psiksi was lying on the floor, watching baby Reksi wriggle around in her nest of fabric strips. Elksia was fast asleep on the bed behind Psiksi and Reksi, and Tenuk was hovering nearby, keeping an eye on everyone present.
“What’s up?” Tenuk asked as his gaze switched to Elksia. She was snoring heavily, the excitement and stress of the few days had exhausted her. Which was why Psiksi was currently looking after the baby.
“Alright so…”
Psiksi eyed Reksi again. She was aware that Psiksi was looking at him, and she started crawling over. Once she was in contact range, she poked Psiksi on the snout, chirped then started giggling. Tenuk giggled as well, amused by Reksi’s actions.
“Alright, that perfectly illustrates what I’m about to ask… How comes Reksi is already so well developed?”
“What do you mean?” Tenuk asked back.
Psiksi pointed at Reksi. Reksi poked Psiksi’s finger, chirped, then giggled again.
“She’s already moving around a lot and she seems way too intelligent considering she’s, what, 75 hours old?”
Tenuk shrugged. “Reksi did spent an ev inside Elksia and an ev as an egg. Plus, she’s a Vrekan, Vrekans are bird-like, don’t birds develop pretty quickly?”
“Uh, no, not at all. They hatch and are featherless and oddly motionless and reliant on their mum to feed them. Reksi here is almost walking. And she’s intelligent enough to amuse herself.”
Reksi chirped, then poked Psiksi’s finger, chirped some more then started giggling. Psiksi started wriggling his finger around, and Reksi tracked it pretty well. When Psiksi’s finger came to a stop, Reksi grabbed Psiksi’s finger and chirped several times, feeling proud that she’d caught his finger.
“Like, this doesn’t seem normal for a baby Vrekan.”
Tenuk shrugged again. “I’ll be honest, mate, I have no idea how baby Vrekans work. I barely know how baby Kronospasts work. But baby Kronospasts take foreeeeeeever to grow. Pregnancy lasts two years and the baby is basically a lump you have to help mould as soon as they are born.”
“Two… two years?” Psiksi blinked.
“Yeah. Long-lived races like Kronospasts, we develop very slowly. If you can get past the baby stage, you’re almost guaranteed to live a long life, but it’s insanely hard to get past that point in the first place. All Deiton races were like that, and I’m pretty sure even baby Lanex take a long time to grow. The average Lanex lives… well, the average old universe Lanex lives for about 300 or 400 years, assuming you don’t enslave them, but they’re slow developers too. Nine months in the womb, a year or so before they can talk, a year and a half before they can walk competently.”
Psiksi turned back to Reksi and started wiggling his finger again, this time high above Reksi’s head. Reksi squeaked at first in amusement, but she squeaked louder and with a hint of anger when she realised she couldn’t reach Psiksi’s finger. She tried jumping up to grab Psiksi’s finger when it was low enough but missed the first few times.
“Heh. You’re cute.”
“Don’t tease her too much, Psiksi.”
Psiksi paused, then glanced at Tenuk, lowering his hand as he did so. As soon as it was in reach, Reksi pecked at Psiksi’s finger. It didn’t hurt at all, it just caught him unaware.
“Alright, don’t do that!” Psiksi tutted loudly, pulling his hand away. Reksi immediately seemed to understand that she had done something bad. She made a quiet whistling sound then sat down and sniffed.
“What did she do?”
“She bit me.”
Tenuk got up and made his way over. He sat down next to Reksi and picked her up.
“Reksi, don’t bite people. That’s bad.”
Reksi sniffed again, then nuzzled up to Tenuk.
“Good girl. You gonna say sorry to Psiksi for biting him?”
Reksi did as she was told. She looked at Psiksi, waved her hands and chirped, whistling a few notes. Psiksi smiled a little, but he was clearly a little unnerved.
“Seriously, she’s barely a few days old and understands the concept of saying sorry. Is that not at all weird to you?”
Tenuk shrugged some more. “I honestly don’t know. I always just assumed baby Vrekans were always well developed. Plus, they pick stuff up while inside the egg. Are baby Skyans like this?”
“I mean… kinda? But it still takes us a month to learn how to crawl and at least six months to learn how to speak.”
“Maybe Elksia has a better idea. I’ll ask her when she wakes up.”
At the mention of Elksia’s name, Reksi suddenly seemed unsettled. She reached out and waved her arms at her mummy.
“Do you think she’s hungry?” Psiksi asked.
“Probably… She might just want to be with her mum though…”
Tenuk got up, taking Reksi with her. He sat down on the edge of the bed then very gently nudged Elksia, waking her up. Reksi tried to wriggle out of Tenuk’s arms so she could get to Elksia’s single, exposed breast, so Tenuk made sure Elksia was properly awake, then held Reksi to Elksia’s chest.
“Eugh… sleepy…”
“I know, angel cake, I know. But baby’s hungry.”
Elksia grumbled a little, then sat up, allowing Reksi to rest on her arm and get into the right position to start suckling.
“Do, uh, do you want me to leave?” Psiksi asked.
“Why?”
“You’re kinda naked and have your tits out. I mean, it’s the second time I’m seeing this, and I’ve come to realise that breasts are fucking weird, but… do you want some privacy?”
Elksia thought for a moment, then snapped her beak a few times. “Nah. It’s cool. They’re just tits.”
“Tits with milk in them.”
“All tits technically have milk in them! With the right hormones!” Elksia smiled. “Nothing to be scared of. Perfectly natural. Right, my perfect little baby?”
Reksi chirped, then went back to suckling. She looked very content now. Elksia gently patted her on the back, to make sure that Reksi didn’t drink too fast and remembered to take breaths, then glanced at Psiksi.
“Actually, Psiksi? Mind doing something for me?”
“Sure.”
“Can you fetch me some water please? Gotta keep hydrated.”
“Sure thing…” Psiksi smiled weakly as he got up, glad to have an excuse to leave. “Back in a bit…”