The Blessed Blade was a very sleek, shiny but pitch black ship. As it silently touched down in Savepoints guest parking lot, Arkay noted that it was basically the ship he originally fantasied about getting, before he bought the Thantir Three and was given the Deathly Soulflame. And the more he thought about it, the more he realised he didn’t need something so shiny.
With a shake of his head, Arkay decided to actually do his job. He was on guard duty today, and would be a lot up until the wedding, so that the Tattered Navigators, two of whom routinely did guard duty, could sort themselves out for their wedding. Smiling, Arkay telepathically called Retvik and Litvir and asked them to come along to greet the ship owners. In the mean time though, Arkay made his way over.
The ship opened up and one Decay Lord stepped out of it. They were a royal purple Beh’en with regal golden highlights but not as heavily armoured as normal. They ignored Arkay completely and headed to the rear of the ship, very cautiously opening the cargo bay doors as they did so. The Beh’en then telekinetically brought out a very, very large, black crate, closed the doors so that Arkay couldn’t see inside the ship, then and rather awkwardly dropped the crate in front of Arkay.
“Greetings. I am Royalblade, head butler for the Great Blades. I have also brought some… other travelers.”
Arkay scanned the box, then blinked in confusion. “There’s people in there.”
“The five Loopblades were also invited to this ceremony but they are not allowed to see the interior of the Blessed Blade. No one is apart from me, as the ship’s maintainer, and the Great Blades themselves.”
“Why?”
“Tradition.”
Royalblade grunted, then abandoned the crate and headed back to the ship. Arkay inspected the crate some more, then opened it up. As he did so, five familiar faces fell out of it. It took a while for them to sort themselves out.
“Oh. Hi.”
“Uh… hi Arkay…” one of the Loopblades stuttered. “How are you?”
“Vaguely annoyed now that you lot are here, but that’s on me. I shouldn’t still be angry at you. Didn’t know that Itaviir or Galyn invited you lot.”
The least battered of the Loopblades shrugged. Five shook himself down then shrugged some more. “Actually, it was Vikalos who invited us. Anyway, where are the other Teekays?”
Arkay pointed at the opposite parking lot, where Kaytee, Ksar Teekay and Skyan Teekay were busy working on Shimmer’s Plight, Vikalos’s ship, which they had offered to fix up as a wedding present. The Loopblades all grinned, then rushed off, taking some hastily packed bags with them.
Thankfully, Arkay wasn’t alone for long. Retvik was currently doing purifications, but Litvir had arrived, and he had brought Vikalos, Itaviir and Galyn along as well. Just in time, since Royalblade had returned, and he had brought the Great Blades with him.
“Welcome to Savepoint!” Vikalos beamed as he approached. “Voidblade, Soulblade, Lightblade, it is an honour to have you here at our headquarters!”
“I actually think this is my second time here!” Lightblade smiled back as he shook Vikalos’s hand As Lightblade let go though, he left a small bag in Vikalos’s hand.
“Um…” Vikalos was very suddenly confused. “Why… are… are these teeth?”
“They are baby Ilyn’s first lost teeth. We lose teeth constantly in our first 50 years of life. As Ilyn’s… founders, it is tradition that the teeth are given to you.”
Vikalos blinked, then turned to Itaviir and Galyn, awkwardly handing the bag of teeth to Itaviir. “You Beh’ens are weird.”
“We are, yes…” Itaviir bowed. Both he and Galyn were a little anxious, but nowhere near as anxious as they were last time they met the Great Blades. “We appreciate you being here and bringing us such a gift!”
Lightblade continued to smile. “It is the least you can do for saving a Beh’enlu. So, what is the plan?”
“I’ll be honest, you got here… insanely early…” Galyn muttered. “The ceremony is not due for… almost an ev.”
“I know!” Lightblade grinned. “But I wanted to get off the Shimmering Blade for a bit and I wanted Voidblade to actually experience a proper place maintained by a Life Goddess. Also, you said we would get to meet one of the Final Mother’s other daughters and we are curious. Well, Voidblade is curious. Soulblade and I are just happy to be here. Right, my fellow Blades?”
Neither Soulblade nor Voidblade answered straight away, but Soulblade did answer first.
“Yes, indeed, Lightblade. Sorry, I was just… sensing your telepathic network here. Souldrainer, you really allow Soulsoother to do most of the work?”
Litvir nodded. “I do, yes. Because Eksi is a stupidly good telepath, just as efficient as I am and he is always present. Retvik, Arkay and I are not always here at Savepoint, Eksi is.”
“His systems are very good!” Soulblade seemed satisfied. “We do apologise for coming early though. A slip up on my part.”
“Eh, it’s fine!” Vikalos waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not like we’re short of space. We were going to place you three in Sini’s old villa anyway.”
“Sini is the Final Mother’s daughter who returned to her old universe, yes?” Soulblade asked.
“Indeed!” Vikalos explained. “But, like we said, you will meet the oldest daughter soon. Because Elkay-En is currently rennovating Sini’s old Life Oasis. In the mean time, you three will share the villa. The bed is big enough for all three of you, and you’re free to do, well, whatever, in the mean time. Right, my dears?”
Itaviir and Galyn nodded.
“Wonderful!” Lightblade was very happy. “Do you want to show us around, Decei… uh… Leafblade?”
“I mean… sure?” Galyn meekly replied. “But Voidblade looks a little… lost.”
Lightblade and Soulblade both turned to Voidblade, who was definitely not paying attention.
“Telin, my dear…” Soulblade whispered. “Are you alright?”
“You… you all just… live here?” Voidblade finally spoke.
“We do.”
“It… it is beautiful…” Voidblade stuttered.
“Do you want us to show you around?” Galyn asked.
Voidblade shook his head, then finally focused. “Um… yes, I would like that.”
“Well, come on, then!” Galyn perked up, realising that Voidblade wasn’t a threat at all. “I will show you around, we will get a bite to eat and, maybe, if you are good, you can swim in the lake as well, while Vikalos sorts out the villa.”
Voidblade blinked some more, then smiled. “I would like that…”