“TENUK!”
Death crashed into the confused Kronoreth, hugging him but not actually hugging him. There was a thin, telekinetic barrier between them, stopping Death from killing him on contact.
“Oh my me, I missed you so much! It’s been so long! So damn long since the Historian wrote about us and we got together and stuff!”
Tenuk blinked. “You asked me to come and visit you every other day… I’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks now, since we… met up after that thing with Stasis… Every other day is a lot in the grand scheme of things…”
“Yeah but the Historian has been busy writing about other things lately, like depressed, mentally ill, dying Threan-types. And trade deals between Cassids and Vreka. Eugh. Boring. Need something to cheer us up! When is this story set again?”
Again, Tenuk blinked. He had no idea what Death was on about. Death realised this and stopped hugging him, regaining her composure.
“Sorry, when you can see the universe in five dimensions, you tend to forget that not everyone else can… Come! Come! Come here and sit with me! I’ll make some tea!”
Death grabbed Tenuk by the arm, again with a small telekinetic field between them, and dragged him over to a set of chairs and a table made out of what looked like glass with tendrils of black liquid sealed inside. Like the rest of Death’s house, they probably changed all the time.
Tenuk sat down, admiring the table. “Have you been up to anything lately? Anything… different?”
Death reappeared, carrying a tray with a pot on it and two large mugs. The tea pot was actually more of a saucepan. She poured drinks for the pair of them, then summoned a mass of tentacles and tendrils and sat down on them.
“Me? Oh. Nothing. Been thinking actually. Just bits and pieces… Say… How are your little friends?”
Tenuk took a very small sip of tea, and was surprised to find it was drinkable. Except it wasn’t tea, it was coffee. “Eh. Retvik had a bit of a rough time. His house burnt down. Unlucky freak of nature apparently, caused by someone dropping a lit nicotine stick. He and Gath made it out alive and saved some of their stuff, but… well, they were hoping to have kids soon. Now they can’t.”
“What about Elksia?” Death smiled, knowing that the being responsible was recently captured by Veth. Tenuk didn’t need to know that though. “Is she well?”
A shrug. “I guess. Elksia does her own thing these days. Mostly Dessaron Battle Arena stuff. She loves it. And she’s got a lovely partner now. The pair of them are considering making it permanent.”
“And Arkay?
Tenuk sighed. “He’s… barely alive. You’ll be seeing him soon, probably. Surprised you haven’t already seen him here, to be honest…”
“Is he… suffering?”
“Only completely…” Tenuk tutted. “Poor thing. Last time I called him, he said his skin was peeling off from a withdrawal effect from one of the drugs the Temthans got him addicted to. But they moved him to a new hospital and apparently he’s improving. At least he’s with other Ksa though so Arkay’s not alone or anything…”
Tenuk paused for a moment, curious as to why Death was asking the questions, not him. “Is there something going on?”
Death looked up. “Oh, nothing. I’m just curious about my little godkillers. Maybe I’ll pay Arkay a visit…”
“I really think you shouldn’t. He’s tired and ill and needs his rest…”
Death tutted, then changed the subject. And her mind. “You know you said about Retvik’s house?”
Tenuk blinked. “Uh, yeah?”
“I got the guy who did it. Some angry Deitic who didn’t know Gath was Retvik’s partner. Turns out he was looking to kill a bunch of Rethan Generals and get them replaced with his own people. Wanna interrogate him for more information?”
The Kronoreth smiled. “Sure, why not?”