“Oh…”
“Oh?”
“Huh…”
“Hm?”
“Um…”
Vikalos eyed Itaviir as he checked messages on his tablet. Itaviir was clearly distracted and not paying attention to Vikalos trying to see what Itaviir was looking at.
“Uh…”
“Itaviir.”
“Um… uh…” Itaviir blinked, then looked up. “Oh, sorry, Vikalos. I did not realise you wanted me.”
Vikalos smiled a little. “You were making those little confused but curious sounds.”
“I was? Wait, I make such sounds?”
“Everyone does. But you make a lot of them. And clearly something is on your mind, since you made a lot of them just now.”
Itaviir hesitated, then re-read the message he had received. “Well, fair… I am just surprised. I got a response to one of my wedding invites from someone called Arcblade.”
Vikalos thought for a moment. “That name sounds familiar…”
“I don’t know them, I sent them an invite because I guessed that they were a Beh’en. Turns out, they are, and they are asking me questions.”
“Did you really just send invites to people with the word “Blade” in their name?” Vikalos asked.
Itaviir shook his head. “Galyn said the same thing. Not… not completely… I am at least making educated guesses. But Arcblade seems to be a Beh’en among the Justar.”
“Oh!” Vikalos suddenly lit up. “I know who they are.”
“You do?”
“Arcblade is one of the Justarian Lords who took up parts of my old territories when I left. I am 99% sure he is a Beh’en.”
“Only… only 99%?”
Vikalos shrugged. “It was a very long time ago. He served me as one of my captains. But I don’t remember his name or anything, I just remember he was a strict and stern type. Like you, but less lethal or attractive.”
That last bit caught Itaviir off guard. “I… I forget that you find me attractive sometimes. I get other Beh’ens saying that, after all, I… I guess I am attractive but… well, dear, you are an ancient enigma.”
Vikalos shrugged again, then went back to smiling. “Did he say he wanted to come?”
“He did, yes. He just asked for an exact date because the Justar use different times compared to everyone else in the pentacluster.”
“Oh, I have a calculator for that sort of thing, one second…”
Vikalos grabbed his communicator, looked for a certain website, then forwarded it to Itaviir. Itaviir then immediately forwarded it to the person he was talking to, but he seemed to type for a little longer.
“So?”
“Hm?”
“Is Arcblade coming?”
“He says he is making arrangements to come, yes!” Itaviir beamed. “Other Beh’ens wish to come and watch us get married and be happy!”
“About that…” Vikalos trailed off for a moment. “Alright, sure, we invited a few folks to Teekay and Elkay’s wedding, and about the same number of folks for Kuta and little Retvik’s wedding, but we’re inviting more folks. And bigger folks. Where are we going to put them all?”
“What do you mean?” Itaviir asked back.
“Considering the alcohol that Galyn, Phovos and Nyssi have been brewing, and what Litvir and Retvik’s friends Letharus and Vick have threatened to bring? We’re going to need a lot of beds. A place for everyone to sleep off the alcohol. Because I think Kal will murder us if a drunk visitor dings their ship again. There is also the side effect of us inviting a lot of folks who are… much taller. The last wedding we had, you were the tallest person there.”
“Oh. We have that sorted.”
“We do?”
Itaviir smirked a little. “Once again, Phovos has been… well, a legend. Actually, Phovos and Phovos both have been legends. Life Goddess Phovos and Voidborn Phovos may be young and still learning, but they can produce the two materials we wanted in order to make what we need.”
“And what do we need?”
“Well…” Itaviir lowered his voice. “I had the same question you had. So I mentioned it to Galyn. And he explained, at his first wedding, it was in the middle of nowhere, and the ceremony was under the stars. But when the drinking was over, Galyn said the orgy started and they had a massive tent to facilitate that.”
“Just… a tent?”
Itaviir nodded. “Just a tent. After all, everyone was drunk and sleeping with each other and sleeping in general, and apparently rain was always an issue. I doubt we will have that sort of thing, but in all honesty? We are just having the drinking part. We don’t need anywhere fancy. Just bathrooms, which we already have and some of us don’t even use, and a place to sleep. We also already have a ton of bedding for the main purpose of Savepoint, it being essentially a hospital, and the Phovoi can make more as required, since Life Goddess Phovos worked out how to make feathers…”
“Are you just suggesting we put everyone in tents to sleep off their drunkenness?” Vikalos asked.
“One gigantic tent, but yes. And it’s not like we have weather out here. There’s no wind, no rain, no storms, we should be fine!” Itaviir smiled a little. “It is easy, it is cheap and we can make individual tents for those who desire private times.”
Vikalos thought for a moment, then grunted. “I suppose we can make a lot of extra pillows and blankets as well. What materials can Phovos make?”
“Silk and cotton, mostly.”
“Huh. Interesting. So we just make a massive tent and have everyone sleep in that? Or do we just ditch the tent and have everyone sleep on the beach?”
Itaviir paused, then smirked. “We could just have everyone sleep on the beach. Around the massive fire that we are planning to have.”
“That sounds really nice!” Vikalos smiled back. “So, I like that plan. Has your new friend Arcblade confirmed?”
Itaviir checked his messages, then nodded. “He has, yes. So we will have quite a few Beh’ens attending the wedding.”
“Just as you wanted. However, we are going to have to do something nice for the Phovoses, for all their help.”
Itaviir nodded some more. “We will have to have a party or something for them. Perhaps I will get Galyn to speak to Life Goddess Phovos and see what we can do for them.”
“Good idea. In the mean time, I want to go over the invites. Can we do that?”
“Of course!” Itaviir smiled. “Anything you want, Vikalos…”