Retvik rubbed his eyes as he got up to answer the door. It was early, and he was the only person awake. The door opened gently, after a brief struggle with the lock. It took a moment for Retvik to realise who it was.
“Um, good morning, am I early?”
Retvik glanced at his wrist then realised he wasn’t wearing any of hos bands. “Um, I do not know. What time is it?”
Verlais glanced at his watch. He was carrying an awkwardly large amount of things. What confused Retvik more though was how… Naked he looked without his standard Vrekan armour. Rather than heavy metal plates, Verlais was wearing a pair of cotton shorts and a silk and wool wrap that delicately covered his shoulders. “It’s 9:30am. I must have forgotten to reset my watch. If I’m early I can…”
“No, no!” Retvik exclaimed, opening the door wide. “Come in! Please! Would you like a drink?”
Verlais followed Retvik and placed his large box of stuff on the kitchen counter.
“That would be nice. What do you have?”
Retvik rummaged through the cupboard, looking for various liquids. “We have… Lots of standard mead, some red wine, cocoa liquer, vanilla mead… Only thing I do not have is coffee. How about a milk chocolate?”
Verlais nodded and sat on a stool in the kitchen. In the living room opposite, several small Rethans were all sleeping. While Retvik busied himself in the kitchen, he decided to strike up some conversation.
“Is everyvok asleep?”
“Yes indeed. Most of us went to sleep at about three, and I guarantee some of them are drunk. Gath and Elksia definitely were…”
A mug of hot chocolate slid across the counter towards Verlais. It was steaming and very chocolate-y. In the mug were three huge marshmallows and a wooden straw. Verlais took a sip, while Retvik glanced at the large box.
“What is in there?” Retvik finally asked.
Verlais looked up from the very tasty drink. “Oh that? I asked Arksi if I should bring anything. He said bring a bottle maybe. I decided last night to get several bottles of Vrekan beer, and I also baked a cake.”
“A cake?”
“Yeah. Uh, it is just a basic sponge cake.”
Retvik grinned. “I adore sponge cake. We shall have it with pudding later.”
“I guess.” Verlais went back to his drink, thinking to himself. “Why are you up?”
Retvik pointed at the oven, which was lit up with a warm, orange glow. “I needed to put the gammon in. I always slow-cook it for as long as possible, basting it every hour. There is also an aggelad lump, in case you are not a fan of gammon.”
Verlais smiled. “I love gammon actually. Arksi introduced it to me. Gammon meat is so tender compared to what I am used to. Where IS Arksi by the way?”
Retvik looked upwards, towards the upper second level where the bedrooms were. “He is asleep. There are five of them sharing a bed up there. Him and his siblings. Vel and Elksia are sharing a room, Kass and his current fling are bunking in Tenuk’s room and Gath is still in bed.”
“Who are they then?” Verlais hinted towards the living room.
“The K-Class Ksa. All Arksi’s friends. He and Arkay invited them. You will get to meet them all later.”
“Are they drunk?”
“No, just asleep.” Retvik returned to the kitchen and started peeling vegetables.
“Would you like some help with that?” Verlais finally asked as he finished off his drink.
The question caught Retvik by surprise. “You wish to help?”
“I would.”
Retvik grinned, then brought over two chopping boards, two knives and several bags of vegetables. “That would be lovely.”
“Thank you for having me,” Verlais smiled.
“Thank you for coming,” Retvik smiled back. “Today is going to be wonderful.”