Despite the fact that Relkir had been caught in the crossfire of an assassination attempt on their sibling, the High General, they were feeling pretty good. Not only had their beloved poten-partner Gath been by Relkir’s side the entire time, but they also got to spend extra time with their sibling Retvik. Kuta was there as well. Relkir didn’t like Kuta, they found the weird, fanged Rethan annoying, but Kuta had kept their stupid mouth shut, and Relkir didn’t want to upset Retvik by making Kuta leave.
Both Gath and Retvik though were incredibly defensive of Relkir, and it turned out they were both ever so slightly sedated because they were stressed and needed to reduce the risk of going Defensive Stance, but, well, Relkir couldn’t complain. The Rethavok were originally bred to be guardians, and Gath had a genetic trait that made them very prone to going to adrenaline-fuelled rages in order to protect something they deemed was in danger. Apparently the Rethianos Bloodline had a similar genetic trait, which was why…
Relkir paused mid-thought as the door to their room opened up. In stepped Relkir’s other sibling Rethais. Who looked nearly identical to Retvik, aside from being slightly slimmer. In the warm orange light, one couldn’t see their ever so slightly darker red armour. Not that Relkir could, because Rethais was wearing their full High General armour, including a thin, gold and silver crown. Relkir noticed something else. Rethais had that tired, somewhat sedated look in their eyes.
“Hello, dearest sibling!” Relkir smiled.
“Hello, everyone…” Rethais rubbed their eyes as they closed the door behind them. Retvik got up to greet the High General, only to be rather surprised as Rethais briefly hugged them. “How are you feeling? Tranquillized, I assume?”
Retvik nodded. “Family trait, I guess.”
“Wait, you are sedated too?” Relkir abruptly asked. “How are you working?”
“I do not have much choice. It is a major miracle you are alive, Relkir, and it is a minor miracle that none of us went Defensive Stance. Retvik, I do not know, and I put this mildly, what the fuck is wrong with you, but you should be dead.”
“I have been told that on multiple occasions…” Retvik sighed as they sat back down. “I am more upset though that, yet again, something nice happens and it is immediately followed by something bad.”
“At least you have Kuta here to keep you company, Retvik?” Gath offered. Kuta however was clearly not paying attention and was replying to messages from others. Sure, Kuta no longer worked in the Legion of Hidden Internal Affairs, but they had a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. On top of that, Kuta was old enough to remember the last attempted assassination of a High General, so everyone was turning to them for information. Gath nudged Kuta, and they finally looked up.
“Oh. Hello, High General, how are you?” Kuta frowned.
“Believe it or not, I am somewhat happy. No one is dead. Apart from two identical queen-caste Rethans who have apparently been somehow bred to be telepathic assassins and failed to kill the All-Ksa and one of the seven Imperators. Seems the attempted assassinations on the Vasils of the Ksithans failed and the one behind them escaped. Apparently there was also an attempt on the Voice of the Banikans but we do not have a confirmation on that yet because…” Rethais paused, then checked their communicator. “… Well, someone got thrown into a volcano.”
Retvik shrugged. “That does not surprise me. Banikans like volcanoes.”
“Why?”
Another shrug. “I do not know. Banikans like anything that is hot and fiery like they are…” Retvik hesitated, swearing that Kuta had just muttered something, but after Kuta didn’t say anything, they continued. “I mean, their holiest temple is built on top of a volcano, and one of their governmental buildings is built on an extinct one.”
Gath smiled. “You are just as smart as your siblings are, Retvik! Why do you know so much about Banikans?”
“Uh… I occasionally wrestle them…” Retvik admitted. “I mean, we are all soldiers, we all understand that you need to learn about your opponents.”
“Hm. Fair. Still!” Rethais turned back to what he was originally talking about. “Despite what happened, we are all fine and I want to extend an olive branch to, uh, do the whole family-get-together thing again at some point. Without being shot…” Rethais suddenly fell silent. They too had received a message. They pulled out their communicator and instantly read what had been sent to them. It was obviously something bad because the vague positivity Rethais had immediately disappeared.
“Please do not tell me there was another assassination attempt…” Gath muttered what Retvik and Relkir were both thinking.
Kuta though grunted. “No, not getting any messages about that right now.”
“And you would know faster than the High General?” Relkir sneered.
“Yes,” Kuta nonchalantly replied. “Awful telepathy aside and outside of my interrogations, I have been assisting Lysar, Hasvik and Ritlir and I have been in close contact with Jeliira too. Outside of a quick nap after my initial discussions with Jeliira, I have not turned off.”
Rethais patted Kuta on the shoulder. “I appreciate the hard work, but you do need to take breaks, Kuta, you are not a god, you need rest.”
Kuta sighed but said nothing. Rethais took this as an opportunity to go back to the message they had received.
“Anyway, my sudden displeasure… Mother and father wish to meet with us.”
“Well!” Relkir crossed their arms. “They can go and fuck themselves!”
Relkir’s words caught Gath by surprise, but what bothered Gath more was that everyone else seemed to blatantly agree with Relkir. Since Gath seemed to not be understanding something, they took Relkir’s hand to calm them down.
“Uh, why are you so angry, dear?” Gath asked.
“Because they are assholes!” Rethais answered in Relkir’s place. “I have not seen mother since I became High General, they have openly called Relkir “a waste of genetics” despite Relkir being one of the smartest people I know and they have not spoken to Retvik since they were 18 years old, and even then, it was just to tell Retvik that they were ashamed of them!”
Rethais’s explanation made Gath’s jaw drop, and Kuta seemed rather shocked too.
“Wow, that is horrible…” Kuta muttered. “I mean, I am no stranger to horrible parents, but Bloodline Rethans should know better. Actually, I take that back. Outside of you three, every single Bloodline Rethan I have met has been unfriendly. A sample size of thirteen is admittedly rather small, but it does seem that over 75% of Bloodline Rethans are, unfortunately, assholes.”
Rethais glanced at Kuta. “I would be insulted, but considering how Vaksavar has treated you-”
Gath suddenly stood up. “What did Vaksavar do to you?”
“They, uh, rather forcibly tried to arrest me.”
“What. Did. Vaksavar. Do?”
“They bashed my head against a wall while they were trying to arrest me.” Kuta eventually stuttered. “Kyr Rethais helped me. It is in the past now.
“Well!” Gath crossed their arms. “I am going to have to have a word with Vaksavar!”
“I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, Kyr Gath. Please do not-”
“No, no no no, I am not allowing this! Vaksavar has no right to belittle a hard-working soul who is nearly as cute as my dear Relkir is! Please excuse me, I… I have some… heroism to dish out…”
Gath quickly gave Relkir a little kiss on the cheek, then patted Retvik and Rethais on the shoulder, before marching out of the room.
“I… I ought to go and… maybe talk to Gath…” Kuta quickly clambered to their feet. “I do not want anyone getting angry because of me…” With a sigh, Kuta rushed out, chasing after Gath, leaving the triplets alone.
Once everything settled down, Rethais took a deep breath and sat down where Gath had been.
“I am sorry, you two. This was all supposed to be a nice holiday…”
Weirdly, Relkir laughed, before grunting in pain from the staples in their stomach. “Hah. What are you apologizing for? None of this was any of our faults! And in all honesty? Yes, sure, I nearly died, but it did bring us closer together! I have spent more time with Retvik now than I have in the previous 34 years, and it turns out I miss our oldest sibling!”
“I guess?” Retvik clearly wasn’t so sure.
Rethais sighed some more. “Either way, are we all in agreement that none of us want to see or speak to our parents?”
Relkir and Retvik both nodded.
“As Relkir said, fuck them!” Retvik smiled, ever so slightly. “They do not deserve our presence or grace.”