Despite recent events, Relkir didn’t have work. The High General’s current status wasn’t directly known to the public, but precautions were being taken and now the entire planet was on high alert. Specifically, it was in Higher Status U, which meant travel had been locked down in the capital and the space ports were working in an emergency-prioritised state. Everything and everyone was ready to spring into action if something was abouy to happen. Officially, nothing had happened yet, but precautions were being taken.
Somehow, this meant that Relkir was not working. The 99th Legion was a pacifict Legion. They provided assistance and knowledge only during peaceful times. Right now, the vok doing all the advising to the Rethan Stratos was the 112nd Legion, the Legion of Strategic Emergency Planning. Not to be confused with the 123rd Legion, the Legion of Emergency Care, which doled out duties to the other Emergency Legions, like firefighters, medics, ambulance drivers and police. The 112nd Legion was designed to advise and direct whenever something bad happened. They were insanely busy during the Sudden Darkness, and with the High General having gone Defensive Stance and the Vice General falling ill at the same time, they were technically now calling the shots alongside the General’s Circle and the Below 20 Legions.
This meant that Relkir had to shelter in place. Staying at home, not going out as needed, things like that. And, more awkwardly, Relkir had been looking after the baby when things happened, and hadn’t been able to take Retvik back to the nursery. Things were slowly going back to normal though. The threat, whatever it was, had passed, it seemed.
The more weird thing was that Gath wasn’t present. Being one of the biggest boosters of morale alive, Gath had wanted to do their September School Tour, where they introduced students to the new school year, and they had been at a hotel near a school when things had happened. With the capital locked down, Gath wasn’t due to come back for another day or so.
So Relkir was alone with the baby. And, secretly, Relkir was loving it. Right now, Retvik was napping while Relkir was doing some cleaning around the house. Retvik had seemed a bit overexcited and wasn’t sleeping much, but Relkir had worn them out enough to get them to fall asleep for a bit.
A sudden cry snapped Relkir out of their thoughts. No. Wait. Not a cry. A… A vision. Instinct kicked in, and Relkir charged up the stairs and into Retvik’s room.
Then everything went blank.
Really, Relkir wasn’t sure what had happened, because, as they opened their eyes, they found themselves on the floor and Retvik in their arms, giggling.
Relkir picked themselves up, then inspected the room. Retvik was fine. Confused but fine l. They turned their attention to the cot. The cot was normal, right? Maybe not.
Relkir closed their eyes and thought back, trying to remember how they had got there. They had caught Retvik before they had fallen and hit the ground. But how could they have fallen?
Turning back to the cot, Relkir inspected it more closely. In the mesh netting, there were holes. Large holes. Made by small hands. It occurred to Relkir that Retvik had worked out how to climb the walls of their cot, they had reached the top, not known what to do and nearly fallen over the other side. And somehow Relkir had seen that happening and managed to race upstairs and catch Retvik before they hit the ground. On the plus side, baby Rethans were known to be pretty tough, and Retvik was completely unfazed by the fact that they had nearly hurt themselves, but Relkir was pretty shaken.
With a sigh, Relkir decided to take Retvik downstairs. They had a little playpen in the living room, and Relkir placed Retvik there, putting on the TV as they did so. Relkir needed a little background noise to break the silence. As they turned the TV on though, the first thing that came on was the main Rethan news channel, and on it was a report about what was going on with the High General.
Relkir wasn’t too concerned about that. Lysar had already called Relkir and told them what had happened, as had Litvir. So they didn’t pay the TV too much attention and headed back to the kitchen, where they had been washing dishes. However, after a few seconds, they heard something else.
“Da?”
Relkir looked up. Retvik had called out, but not to them. They were transfixed by the television screen.
“What is it, Retvik?” Relkir asked.
“… Da? Is?”
Retvik was still looking at the TV screen. On the TV screen was old footage of the High General doing a speech after the Sudden Darkness. Relkir realised that Retvik thought that Relkir was on the TV. They were even more confused when there was more footage that followed, and in it, Relkir could be seen by the High General’s side.
“Oh?” Relkir smiled. “What is wrong, Retvik?”
“Da? Is?” Retvik repeated.
“Yes, that was me, before I met your mama! Before your big ba was around as well.”
“Ma?” Retvik only seemed to partially understand. “Ba… no ba?”
Relkir nodded. “We are all born. Your big ba Litvir was around before you, and before big ba Litvir, me and Gath were… two separate people. But we came together and we became Litvir’s ma and da and then we became your ma and da!”
Retvik blinked. They clearly didn’t understand, and had already somewhat lost interest. “Da… Da good.”
“Da is good, yes!” Relkir smiled some more but trailed off somewhat. “You are good as well, Retvik. You are a good baby. But… you need to not climb out of your cot again.”
“Climb? Up?”
“Yes.”
“No… no up.” Retvik seemed to think for a moment, then completely lost interest in the television, instead being distracted by one of their toys. They picked up their favourite one, a fluffy blue fox toy, and waved it at Relkir. “Tete! Tete!”
“Yes, that is your teddy. Do you want me to bring you more?” Relkir asked.
“Tete! Tete good! More!”
“Alright, one moment, darling.”
Relkir got up and headed back upstairs. They picked up a couple of Retvik’s other stuffed animals, but they paused for a moment. After that moment passed, Relkir headed down to Retvik again and handed them their stuffed animals. Retvik seemed happy and quickly started squishing their teddies together. Relkir though hesitated some more and went back to that thought.
“Hm… I wonder if I can have a new cot delivered before Gath gets back…” Relkir eventually muttered to themselves. “I do not need Retvik trying to escape again…”