Tenuk felt rather anxious as he made his way to the exit of the Phos Cerntral Space Port. He’d been flying alongside a lot of travelling Rethans, who were all much, much taller than Tenuk was. That normally wouldn’t have been a problem, but shapeshifting wasn’t allowed in space ports, and getting his luggage and going through security had been rather daunting. Sure, no one had really stared at him or threatened him or anything, but Tenuk had nearly been stepped on a couple of times. Things were made worse by how quiet things were. Outside of space port announcements, no one really said much, and the entire flight went by in almost complete silence.
However, that anxiety all melted away as Tenuk reached the large glass doors of the arrivals exit area and spotted two Rethans, one in red wearing casual silver armour, the other in white and wearing black governmental armour. They’d made a sign, which read “The Best Spast Ever!” with a small note underneath that which read “His name is Tenuk, if you didn’t know.”
As soon as he saw them, Tenuk raced up to them and immediately threw himself at Retvik, who picked him up, luggage and all, and hugged him tightly.
“I am so happy to see you!” Tenuk beamed, wagging his tail furiously. “Bloody Time Drakes, you Rethans are a quiet lot!”
Kuta shrugged, smiling a little as Retvik put Tenuk down and patted him on the head, messing up his hair and mane. “Well, most Rethans are soldier-caste, they do not like talking in public unless they have to. In private, we talk as normal, I guess.”
Tenuk didn’t quite get it, but he didn’t mind too much. “So, uh, are we gonna head back straight away?”
“Do you want to?” Retvik asked.
“Well, I was, uh, thinking, I’d like to get to know more about Kuta and you Rethans in general.”
Kuta thought to themselves briefly. “Hm. I do somewhat need to get back to the office to finish a few things up, but I suppose you could accompany me, and we can go to a cafe or something afterwards.”
“Cool!” Tenuk suddenly paused. “Uh… how are we going to get there? Do you have a car?”
“No. We will take the bus, like everyone else.”
Kuta marched off, straight to a nearby bus station. Retvik smiled some more, then picked Tenuk up and placed him on his shoulder. Afterwards, he fished something out from his bag and shoved it into Tenuk’s hands.
“I brought your wallet and your ID, so you do not need to hide who you are right now.”
“Oh… Retvik, you’re awesome.”
Retvik smiled yet again, then chased off after Kuta, who knew exactly which bus they needed to take. A bus somehow turned up after only a five minute wait, and they climbed on, with Kuta paying the fare for everyone. There were a couple of odd looks towards Tenuk, but only because most of the Rethans on the bus hadn’t seen a Spast in person before.
As predicted, the ride was very quiet, but one Rethan who had blue plating similar to Tenuk’s fur did wave and smile at Tenuk as they walked by. Aside from the quietness, Tenuk was somewhat surprised at just how wide everything was, and how most Rethans got around by bus or bike, or just walked everywhere. The only other motorized vehicles were delivery trucks, Tenuk didn’t see a single car.
After about twenty minutes, the bus stopped at a rather busy bay, outside of a large, glass building. About half way up, there was an absolutely massive glass pane that stretched across most of the very wide and very tall building, and Tenuk wondered if it was one of the largest buildings in the city. Kuta led them both inside, to a desk in the main lobby.
“Hello, Captain Deltris!”
“Hello, Genral Kuta!” Deltris smiled as they stood up. “The High General wants to see you and- Oh! Captain Retvik! It is an honour! And…” Deltris peered over the desk, catching a glimpse of the little Spast standing next to Retvik. “Is that… Are you Tenuk?”
Retvik bowed his head slightly, and Tenuk nodded.
“Nice to meet you!” Tenuk beamed.
Deltris blinked, then went back to smiling and turned their attention back to Kuta. “Nice to meet you too! General Kuta, do you require visitor passes for these two?”
“I do, yes.”
“Very well. Captain Retvik, Kyr Tenuk, I will require your signatures here, please.”
Both Retvik and Tenuk signed as requested, and Deltris handed them both a plastic card.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you!” Deltris continued to smile. “General Kuta, the High General should be finishing up in the throne room. Should I let them know you are here?”
However, before Kuta could answer, several cheers erupted from an elevator that had just opened up. Heavy footsteps (but light for a Rethan) clomped across the hall as Relkir charged towards Retvik and wrapped their arms around him.
“Big sibling! I am so happy to see you!” Relkir almost giggled, before letting go. “Retvik, you are the best! You really are!” Relkir suddenly fell silent as they spotted Tenuk. They lowered themselves to Tenuk’s level. “Blessed Oath Keeper, you… you are so furry! May… may I touch your fur?”
“Uh, sure. Have most Rethans not met Spasts?” Tenuk asked back.
Relkir raised their hand, but put it back down, not knowing where it was safe to touch. “Not really. However, I have met Spasts before and they were not nearly as fluffy as you!”
“Well, I still have my adolescent fluff.”
“Oh! You… you are less than a hundred years old?” Relkir immediately looked up at Kuta. “Kuta, you are old, this Spast is younger than you.”
“Of course he is, Tenuk is essentially a teenager!” Kuta tutted. “He is only five years older than you.”
“You are?”
Tenuk nodded. He quite liked Relkir, they seemed softer than most other Rethans. “You can pat me on the head if you want, Relkir.”
Relkir’s face lit up and they very gently did as asked. “Your fur is so soft. I wish I had fur.”
“Eh, it’s not as good as you think it is… Hey, Retvik, who’s that?” Tenuk suddenly pointed at another Rethan, one wearing a crown and a black and red cape, who was walking towards them. “He… they look almost exactly like you!”
Relkir moved to one side and every Rethan present bowed as the High General approached. Rethais nodded back, before extending their hand to Retvik.
“It is an honour to see you, Triumphant Champion!” Rethais proclaimed. “Congratulations on your victory, you have made pretty much everyone proud, Retvik.”
Retvik took Rethais’s hand and shook it. “Thank you, Rethais. And thank you for the opportunity.”
Rethais shrugged. “Well, there was literally no one better. And more thank yous are in order too. Kuta, dear, thank you for bringing Retvik here. And you! Little Tenuk! I assume it was your idea to give Retvik a magnetic blade to use?”
“It was, actually, yes!” Tenuk nodded some more. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, mister High General Rethais! You look just like Retvik, but in scary armour. And Relkir looks just like Retvik but small and with pretty blue eyes.”
“Well, yes, we are triplets…” Rethais paused, then turned to one of their assistants. “Captain, do I have any more meetings today?”
“Nothing urgent, just a video call with the Torr.”
Rethais grinned. “Ah, good. Can you please reschedule that call, then notify my main guards? We have some celebrating to do. Come along, you lot, we are going somewhere nice.”