“Did you get the stuff?” Zitel bounced up and down as Ksiel and Kayel climbed into the tree house. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I don’t know yet!” Ksiel snapped. “We need to take this to the local Thanatian hospital, get it all checked out and properly identified. Some of the stuff is obvious, but there’s a couple of samples I am not sure about.”
Ksiel rushed over to the fridge and placed the samples in the compartment that he’d cleared out earlier. He grunted as he had to move a can of cola out of the way. Meanwhile, Kayel was just lumbering around the room, not sure what to do with himself.
“What’s wrong?”
It took a moment for Kayel to realise who was talking to him. Veeyel had been watching him with growing concern.
“Nothing.”
Veeyel tutted. Clearly there was a problem. Ksiel glanced over and tutted as well.
“He’s been like that since we left.”
“Since you left here or since you left General Retvik’s home?”
“Since we left Retvik’s place,” Ksiel explained. “Super nice Rethan, I should say. Really friendly and open. Yet Kayel still believes he’s going to kill him.”
Everyone stared at Kayel.
“What?” Thitel eventually asked. “That’s… insane.”
“Well none of you have premonitions like I do!” Kayel shouted. His voice was harsh, covering the fact that he was embarrassed. “You don’t have the horrible nightmares! You don’t see the bad things happening, you don’t see yourselves die! I am telling you now, Retvik will kill me!”
Veeyel struggled to his feet, only to go and sit down next to Kayel, wrapping his arms around him.
“This isn’t about that horrible bad dream you had, is it?”
“It’s exactly that.”
“But you said that you only see Retvik holding you?” Veeyel tried to speak in a calming tone. “Maybe he doesn’t kill you, he just happens to be there when you, uh, die?”
Kayel sighed. He felt almost insulted by how everyone was treating him. With a growl, he pushed Veeyel away and stomped off to his bedroom.
“That was rude,” Ksiel tutted as he and Veeyel both sat down at the table.
“Eh, I don’t mind…” Veeyel smiled. “He’s just tired. If any of us had constant nightmares, we’d be freaked out about seeing ourselves die in our dreams as well.”
“Well I hope he snaps out of it soon…” Ksiel muttered. “We’ve come this far. We’ve given up having normal lives. If he gives up on us and disappears or whatever…” Ksiel paused, lowering his voice. “I don’t even get it. There’s no reason in this universe for General Retvik to harm any of us. I sat there and listened to them and he was a kind, thoughtful being. If anything, I’m more likely to kill Kayel if he fucks us all up.”
Veeyel shrugged. “I’d rather no one killed anyone.”
“Unless it’s in self defence!” Zitel butted in, only to be silenced by Thitel.
“He’ll get over it. We’ll all be fine. It’s just a bump in the road!” Thitel smiled as he spoke, trying to cheer everyone up. “But right now, what’s more important is that we get these samples sorted out.”
“Oh right!” Ksiel exclaimed. “Yeah, I got most of the stuff. Mostly claw trimmings, which are great since they don’t decay. Red claws and blue claws, both obviously from Retvik and his partner Gath…”
“You sure they’re not from that Deitic Tenuk who lives with them?” Veeyel asked.
“Yeah, definitely. From the looks of it, Tenuk hadn’t been there in ages, all his belongings were sealed up in one of the bedrooms. I also got some black claw trimmings as well, which I THINK are Elksia’s but I need to get them checked.”
Veeyel yawned, then smiled. “We’ll do that in the morning then. I’m going to go and see if Kayel’s alright. I think he just needs a hug…”