“You’re finally awake!”
Arkay blinked a couple of times. He was sitting on a large, luxurious sofa, with an IV drip attached to his arm. Standing in front of him was…
“By the Light! You’re Veeyel! The deputy leader of the legendary L-Class Ksa!” Arkay exclaimed. He flustered slightly, quickly wiping the drool from his face. He had no idea how he’d ended up on that sofa, or anything really. Veeyel immediately sensed Arkay’s confusion.
“I bet you’re confuzzled as to where you are and all that, I should tell you!”
On closer inspection, Veeyel looked nearly as ill as Arkay did. His eyes were bright, but the rest of Veeyel’s body was scarred and tattered. He seemed to be wearing a disability frame on both his legs, and Veeyel’s left arm was fastened to his side.
“Everyone thought you were dead. Are you okay?” Arkay couldn’t help but ask. Veeyel grinned, then hobbled over and sat down next to Arkay.
“Okay? I’m fine. Gave myself nearly impossible to fix brain damage, causing paralysis in my arm and motor issues in my legs and tail, oh and I’m nigh suicidal, but I’m fine. Ah! Suicidal! That must be why you’re here!”
Veeyel shifted up close to Arkay, making himself comfy.
“What’s your name, kid? You seem mightily familiar to me. Like I know you or something. More than I should. I assume from the mark on your neck, you’re a Ksa like me?”
Arkay nodded. “My name’s Arkay.”
“Ooooh!” Veeyel suddenly jumped up, at least as fast as a crippled Threan-type could. “You’re… You’re… You’re Kayel’s kid! One of them! Which one are you? The virgin birth, one of the quintuplets or…”
“The other one…” Arkay sighed, as Veeyel’s smile faded. But after a moment, it reappeared.
“I helped Kayel through that. Was the only vok who could keep him sane. But you, you’re lucky, you look JUST LIKE your mother! None of that silly fucker in you at all!”
“Are you well?” Arkay found himself asking again. Veeyel stopped grinning and calmed down.
“I’m sorry. I have been here a while, still recovering. I’ve gone a bit… mad. Irreparably so. I’m very happy to see a new face here, the older A-Class guys don’t like me at all, but I am sad that the new face belongs to someone so… young. What brought you to the Ksa hospital in the first place?” Veeyel quickly changed the conversation.
“Ahh…” Arkay hesitated. “Well, do you know about those Temthans?”
“The nasty ones that wanted sex slaves? Yes, read about that. Nasty, nasty.”
“Well… The reason they believed Rethans would make good sex slaves is because they… experimented on me… And that caused a lot of unwanted side effects…”
Veeyel put an arm around Arkay, then pulled him close. “I am sorry, kid. But you’re here with me now. Uncle Veeyel will make everything better! Oh, I was supposed to tell you what this area is…”
Again, Veeyel jumped up from his seat. But this time, he wobbled and fell back onto the sofa. He gave Arkay a look that suggested that he does that a lot, then picked himself up and stood up straight.
“This, little one, is the super happy recovery living quarters. And it’s going to be your own little home until you’re back on your feet!”