“Alright, you’re all probably wondering why we’re all sitting around this table.”
Tahvra raised his hand, but his hand was only just visible above the table. He’d meant to have raised his chair before this meeting started, but didn’t have time to do so. “Is it because we don’t have a proper meeting room?”
Tahnahos nodded. “That is one of the reasons. Funny how we get funding for everything but a meeting room. Anyway, there’s a couple things I want to discuss today, and two of them require all of us to be present. Don’t worry, I won’t take much of your time.”
There were several grunts and shrugs from the other guardians. Teekay and Akah had both just woken up and still looked sleepy, Relkir was fiddling with the tip of his gun-blade since he was just about to start his guard shift and Phovos clearly wanted to be anywhere but there.
“Alright, I’ll be quick. First things first, quick announcement, I’ve decided to go back to calling myself Tenuk, instead of Tahnahos. You can call me either name, I’m not too bothered, but I prefer being called Tenuk…” Tenuk paused, then scanned the room. “Speaking of which, Relkir, what name do you prefer?”
Relkir thought for a moment. “I am fine with being called either Elkay or Relkir.”
“Where did the name Relkir even come from?” Tahvra suddenly interrupted. “And isn’t Elkay a Skyavok name?”
Relkir grunted then shrugged, seeming somewhat happy to answer. “Elkay Theanon is the name on my birth certificate and is the name I picked out for myself at the age of five, since I was considered family-less. I was given a list and picked two names I liked. Relkir is the name I would have been given had I been properly inducted to the Rethianos family, as is tradition.”
“Yeah but…” Tahvra was still confused. “You Rethavok just have lists of names lying around? I thought that was just a Vohran thing.”
Relkir nodded. “Indeed. The Rethianos family in particular has a list of 200 names that they cycle through, and Relkir was on the list after “Rethais” and “Retvik”.”
“Hang on!” It was Phovos’s turn to interrupt. “Firstly, that ain’t in alphabetical order, secondly, isn’t your nephew called Relkay or something?”
“I said that it was a tradition, but not that it was a good one…” Relkir sighed before apologising. “Sorry, Tenuk, we are getting sidetracked.”
Tenuk smiled. “Not a problem, mate. Next thing on the menu might interest you all anyway. Now we all have a nice schedule that we’re all happy with, and I’ve seen the quantity of actual… work we do, I’ve decided that I’m going to speak to Kinisis in arranging paid holidays, and trips away from our little base. Because we are all getting a little crazy, seeing the same sights over and over. But there’s no reason why our time off work should be restricted to this base, and we should be allowed to visit the universe proper for days out.”
“So you want us to be able to take break inside the universe?” Relkir asked. “To visit family and the like?”
“Kinisis might not let us visit family, since we’re gods now and she’s funny about that. But I’m sure she’ll let us go shopping and stuff.”
Phovos crossed her arms and growled. “Is all of this because you want to go and visit Elksia?”
Tenuk frowned, then shrugged. “I mean, yes, yes it is. She lives in a crystal palace while I live with you five, and, considering how pissed off you are, Phovos, I thought you’d appreciate me removing my new relationship from your field of view. But I don’t see why we all can’t leave this place once in a while. We could all do with a breath of fresh air.”
The Raptor immediately fell silent and sunk in her chair. Tahvra on the other hand had no idea what either of them were talking about, and was brimming with more questions. Thankfully, Relkir put a hand on his shoulder and said he would explain it later.
Tenuk nodded a thank you to Relkir, then continued. “Anyway, assuming we DO get this time off and the ability to leave our base, we will need to organize a timetable for excursions, as well as priority, who gets to go first and who can wait until last.”
“That sounds fine and all…” Phovos hissed. “But that’s assuming Kinisis even LETS us leave this place…”
Tenuk shrugged. “I know, I know. I need to convince her first. But in the mean time, I’d like you all to think about it, and maybe come up with a few places you’d like to visit. Just to give me a little more sway when I finally speak to the Allmaker.”
“Do you need us for anything else?” Relkir asked.
“No, that’s it.”
“Alright then…” Relkir grunted as he got up from the table. “Thank you for the chat, but I really need to start my shift now. Good luck convincing Kinisis.”
With that, the other Guardians also got up and headed back to their jobs. Tenuk muttered a thank you to everyone, then headed back to his room, to start plotting his dialogue with their boss…