Relkir shivered as they stared out into the distance, taking in the view from the balcony of their hotel room. They had spent the day getting their plating trimmed and their skin moisturised, as well as sorting out final bits and pieces for their wedding, like getting their wedding armour polished. It had been a bit of a rush, and Relkir was enjoying just looking outside, experience a bit of peace and quiet.
There was a tiny moon in the sky. Thresisa was odd that it had a tiny moon. Most planets didn’t have moons at all. Really, Thresisa’s moon was just a round, rocky lump, but Relkir had been looking at it a lot. It was small, lumpy and lame, but also somewhat vital. That lump of rock gave the seas of Thresisa gentle tides, and helped deflect the occasional stray piece of space rock. Relkir felt that way. They were small, lumpy and lame, but also somewhat vital too.
That familiar heavy hand landed on Relkir’s shoulder, then pulled Relkir into a warm hug.
“My little darling!” Gath was shivering slightly too. The wind was pretty strong, and Gath felt a bit damp. They had just gotten out of the shower and were naked. Relkir looked Gath up and down, admiring their amazing body. “What are you doing out here, in the cold?”
Relkir shrugged. “I like looking at the skies. They are pretty. We look out into the rest of the universe, and every star we see is circled by planets on which other beings live… Admittedly, I do not know which of those stars is our home star though. I will have to look that up.”
“How would you find it?” Gath asked.
“That is a very good question, made harder by the fact that the walls of the universe reflect light back inside the universe, like a giant mirror. This means that, despite Thresisa being near the western edge of the universe, we see pretty much every other star in the universe and we also see their reflections in the universe’s membrane. Apparently it is a way of disguising the edge of the universe so earlier life did not try and fly through it.”
Gath inspected Relkir somewhat, glanced at the sky, then decided to pull Relkir inside before either of them got a chill. Gath admittedly had more questions for Relkir.
“Can one just… fly out of the universe?”
“No, not really. The membrane of the universe is rather… bouncy, and there are vast gales that somewhat turn ships around. I am pretty sure our little adopted kid also spends time turning ships around too!” Relkir explained as Gath sat them down on the bed, then went and fetched two bags of chips. Gath had quickly realised that Relkir was about to monologue about things they knew a lot about, and since Gath always enjoyed Relkir’s ramblings, they got themselves comfortable and got ready to listen with great intent.
“So ships bounce off the membrane?”
“Basically, yes! There are also gravitational and magnetic forces at work too. After all the universal membrane stops the void outside our universe interacting with what is inside our universe. If we did not have the membrane, all sorts of nasty things would enter all the time, not just the occasional large thing that Litvir and the rest of the Twelve Anew deal with.”
“Huh, interesting. Is it possible to go outside the universe though? Is there anything out there?”
Gath expected a quick answer, but Relkir was suddenly somewhat hesitant.
“Well… there are definitely other universes out there. Very distant ones. Statistically, there has to be. And we have proof, not just from the… metal meanies that Litvir has described, not just from the Sudden Darkness and the Incident at the Arenas, but also because otherwise where did the Whenvern or the Panelix come from? They must have come from somewhere. I… believe there is other life out there too. There has to be. After all, outside the universe is… where the Allbirther went… She made life. Could make more, if she wanted to.”
Noticing Relkir’s unease, Gath put an arm around them, then changed the subject.
“So, are you excited for tomorrow?”
Relkir froze.
“Um, dear?”
“We… we are getting married tomorrow.”
“We are, yes!” Gath smiled. “Did you nearly forget or something?”
“No, no… it is just still a bit of a shock to me. Everything is pretty much sorted, right?”
Gath sensed that Relkir was stressed and turned them around so they could look out of the window while Gath rubbed their back. “Mhm. I spoke to Vaksavar this morning. Everything is ready to go. In less than a day, we will be permanently bonded. You will be my perfect little partner, officially and forever!”
“Heh… I… I never thought this would happen…”
“Me neither. I always thought I would be forever alone after… after that day. Always thought I would be mourning alone, unable to find love again. But I did. You brighten my life so much. My perfect little imp.”
Relkir closed their eyes and smiled, slowly relaxing. “And I never thought I was capable of filling the heart of someone else, that I would be spending the rest of my life with the gentlest of giants. We are so perfect together…” Relkir trailed off again. “I feel very sentimental right now. And excited too. And maybe a little scared. A lot of emotions, that I am struggling to explain and contain.”
Gath smiled some more. “I noticed. That is fine. You always had a lot of emotions. I will hold them for you, so you can put them in the right order, if you wish.”
Relkir thought for a moment, then sighed. “I do not want to, not right now. I think I just want to let you massage me, then we can lay down and have an early night. After all, we have a very busy day tomorrow.”
“That is fine, my darling Relkir” Gath held Relkir tightly. “We shall do as you suggest. Tomorrow is going to be perfect.”
“You are absolutely right, Gath. It WILL be perfect…”