Elkay leaped out of bed, immediately grabbing something to cover himself with, then sneaked over to the door. In the time it had taken to do that, Teekay had hardly moved, preferring to turn onto his side and ignore the fact that someone had just knocked on the door of their small hotel suite.
Another knock though got Teekay’s attention. That and the fact that Elkay was standing by the door, just out of view from any keyholes or gaps, assessing the situation and holding a spoon, the first vaguely weapon-like item he could find.
A third knock set Teekay on edge. He’d finally woken up and realised why Elkay was also on edge. They were in a hotel. It was late. No one should have been knocking on the door. Or was it late and they’d slept in? Was there a member of staff outside, wanting to know whether they could clean or not?
Finally realising there was a small peep hole that he could peer through, Elkay glanced outside, realising who was out there. A familiar face. With a sigh, Elkay turned the light on and silently hinted at Teekay to cover himself up, before he eventually opened the door.
“Good morning, General Elkay!” Phovos smiled, holding a parcel. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“I was asleep…” Elkay muttered, rubbing his eyes and not really sure why the Raptor of Palaestra was standing in front of him. He had met the seemingly ageless Ksithan before, but she’d always seemed rather… basic. Aside from a leather shoulder plate and chest plate, she wore plain Ksithan pants and an even plainer t-shirt, decorated with whatever official gear she’d needed to wear. Right now though, despite the basic pants and shirt, she seemed very heavily armoured. Natural armour and… scales. Heavy scales, rather than her normal soft (but slightly knotty and greasy) fur.
“It’s 9am.”
“I… wanted a lie-in… And please, I am no longer of any military rank. Or even technically a Rethan.”
Phovos shrugged, then put a hand on Elkay, glancing over his shoulder. “Fair enough. But you and I, we need to talk. Privately. Are you alone?”
“I am not.”
The Raptor’s reaction both worried and amused Elkay. Like most beings, she had only ever known him as an ultra strict being who had no time for relationships. Her confusion was amusing. The fact that she’d sniffed though… Elkay immediately realised she had worked out what species he was sharing a room with.
“Well you’re a hypocrite…” Phovos tutted. “But seriously, we need to talk privately. For ten minutes. Can you come with me to the roof where we definitely won’t have anyone listening in.”
Elkay turned back to the room, where Teekay was finally dressed. With a reluctant sigh, Elkay nodded.
“Go on. See what she wants…” Teekay sighed.
“I will be back in a moment.”
Phovos smiled, then took Elkay by the hand and immediately led him up to the roof. They were only two floors away, so it wasn’t too bad or too long a walk. But as they headed upwards, Elkay noticed something was wrong with himself. His Rethan features had returned and his own natural plating was… sharper than normal.
“What is all of this about?” Elkay asked as the rooftop door slammed shut. This particular building wasn’t very tall, but it was still high enough to suffer from fierce winds. “You drag me out of bed, threaten to out me, call me a hypocrite and you wish to talk?”
“I only called you a hypocrite because when you were in power, you wanted to outlaw all bi-species relationships, and now you’re fucking a Skyavok, but that’s not important,” Phovos tutted. “We need to discuss how there’s now two Kiniseon beings in Palaestra and how we are going to work around each other.”
Elkay grunted to himself, not liking what he was hearing. “First of all, a being is allowed to change his mind. I realised I was wrong and I never went through with those laws. Secondly, how did you track me down? And thirdly, what in the name of the Light is a Kiniseon being?”
“You’re an adapting guy. You adapt to your surroundings. You can change your entire damn species if you need to. I found you because I could sense you. We’re beings blessed by the Allmaker Herself, we have powers far, far beyond that of normal beings. But because we’re so powerful, we attract each other. And we can end up being confrontational.”
“What… what do you mean?” Elkay wasn’t really understanding what Phovos was talking about.
“We’re basically demi-gods. Too much power and not enough control. The last Kiniseon I ran into, they nearly killed me, and I had to kill them. And I want to make it clear, right now, that we both subconsciously see each other as threats, even though we know each other. That’s why I’m scaled and armoured and you’ve turned back into a much more Rethan-y form.”
“But we have met before and we did not have this issue in the past.”
Phovos shrugged. “Holy Kinisis blessed you much more recently than she blessed me. Or your blessings took much longer to develop. You’re nearly 80, these things take time to realise…” Phovos paused, then sighed. “I’m sorry, this is a lot to take in. And it’s a lot to explain. Which is specifically why I wanted to have you work in the DBA, so I can keep an eye on you.”
Elkay leaned forward. “Is this… Kineseon business… that big an issue?”
“Potentially. Because there’s two of us in the same place now and we might start attracting more…” The Raptor stopped talking again, then sighed and smiled. “I’m sorry. I’m worrying you more than I need to.”
“You really are!” Elkay grunted. “This all seems incredibly worrying!”
“Well, it’s not really. I’m just giving you an early warning. And informing you that you can come to me if you have any problems with your adaptation abilities. The job Lokmahro offered you will keep you close to me, although I have no idea why someone your age would be… willing to fight, still.”
Elkay grunted some more. “I am 78 years old, not much past middle-age.”
“Middle-aged for a Rethan, close to death for a Ksithan…” Phovos shook her head, then smiled some more, patting Elkay on the shoulder. “I’m really sorry for waking you up and dragging you out here to talk, but it’s important to me that we have an understanding. I’ll see you on Tuesday, alright?”
Elkay nodded. “Of course.”
Phovos took Elkay’s hand and gently shook it. She then turned away from Elkay, growing a pair of wings from her back. With one last smile, she ran off, leaping off the rooftop and gliding away.
“Show-off…” Elkay tutted as he headed back inside, pondering what the Raptor had just told him.