Despite there being no sun at Savepoint, Nyssi often enjoyed lying on the beach, watching the waves or the sky. Occasionally, she’d be joined by Kayel, Tenuk or Ret, but right now, the three of them were busy. Ret was learning how to make cool light swords, the same way Psiksi did, Tenuk was practising his shapeshifting along side Elkay and old, creepy Tenuk, and Kayel was supposed to be learning about the finer control of his ice powers with Akah, but that had somehow devolved into a snowball fight.
Nyssi didn’t mind though. She was happy. Sure, she, like all the other Decaylings. was well aware of their upcoming trial, but Nyssi wasn’t really bothered at all. As far as she was concerned, even with not that much training, all eight Decaylings were super powerful. They’d all done the stupid tests, they all mostly knew their strengths and limits and one of them was a Time Drake who could see into the future. Thassalin hadn’t mentioned anything particularly bad, and he would tell the team if he did, so if Thassalin was calm, Nyssi was calm too.
However, the odd, long shadow appearing over Nyssi, that belonged to someone who, despite remaining strong on the outside, was a complete (and weirdly hollow) mess on the inside.
“Nyssi?” Phovoula asked. “Are you busy?”
“Nah, I’m fine, what’s up, girl?”
“I want someone to talk to. Phovos is unavailable currently, and even if she was, I… I do not want to seem clingy.”
“You’re not clingy. Just confuzzled. And worried.”
Phovoula tutted, then sat down next to Nyssi. “You are annoyingly right. I admit I haven’t really adapted well to this new life. I’m used to being at the top, but now, I’m the lowest person here.”
Nyssi tutted. back “That’s not true at all. You and I are equals now. Kuta used to be a fancy General, they are now as low as you are.”
“I’m a Voidborn. I’m a monster.”
“Nah, you’re fine.”
“I’m not fine…” Phovoula trailed off, then went back to tutting again. “Sure, I am technically a baby Voidborn, but I am automatically a monster. I have been asking our masters what their Decay Lord Trials were like, and Dawnbreaker said that he had to fight and kill a Voidborn. I’m scared they’ll make us kill other Voidborns for our trial.”
“Are you worried about friendly fire or something?” Nyssi suggested. “Because, like, Talok, Kuta and I, we’ve been practising telepathic binding, so we can all communicate and protect each other. Sure, you’re slightly weird, but we all are. And we’re all friends too. You KNOW we won’t hurt you.”
“I am still scared though. I shouldn’t be scared. And I feel embarrassed that I feel so down.”
Nyssi sat up properly and turned to Phovoula. “Girl, you’re allowed to have negative emotions. You’re allowed to be scared. We’re gonna do some stupid shit. But after the stupid trial, we’ll be called Decay Lords and we’ll all be on an equal footing.”
“I’m not-”
“You are equal, Phovos. Us eight Decaylings, we’re all in this together. We will protect you and fight for you. And you’ll do the same for us, right?”
“Of course I would!” Phovoula hissed. “You lot are the friends I always wanted. I would do anything to protect you back!”
Nyssi put a hand on Phovoula’s shoulder and smiled. “See, what you just said? That’s proof that you’re not a bad person. Sure, a bunch of Voidborns can be bad, but you’re noble and honest and pure and all that shit. And, like, there are other good Voidborns as well, like that Vekeus guy who’s both a Voidborn and a Skyavok-like thingy. And the weird silver Voidborn that you insulted. Right now? All the Voidborns we’ve seen? We haven’t seen any bad ones yet.”
Phovoula was caught a little off guard by that statement. “Wow… you… you have some good points.”
“Of course I do” Nyssi beamed. “I’m the brains of my little team these days.”
“Really?”
Nyssi nodded. “Tenny, Retty and Kayy are all smart, but they are smart at specific things. I’m a nice all-rounder. Plus, what with me having telepathy, those three can give me whatever info I need.”
“I somewhat wish I had that sort of connectivity with what is… well, uh, Kuta has been mostly leading the way. I feel like the odd one out on my team.”
“Well, duh. Kuta and Talok are both normal Decayons like most of the folks here. Of course you and Thassalin feel a little odd is because you’re not normal Decayons. He’s a Time Drake, you’re a Voidborn. But you’re still a team.”
“But Kuta is our leader.”
“Do you not like Kuta?”
“I don’t have problems with them, I just find it… awkward. I haven’t not been the person in charge for a very, very long time. And Kuta seems to know a bit more than all of us.”
Nyssi shrugged. “Yeah, because they were technically a Decayling already, they fell into our universe and now they’re back out of it. But also? I think it’s a good thing for all four of you. Kuta being in charge means you can focus on yourself, because you’re super powerful. Plus, Kuta is admittedly better at leading smaller teams in combat than you are, because they were an assassin before they changed Legion. It’s been a long, long time since you led people into battle. That’s fine though. Kuta is also really good at delegating, and there’ll be times when your team needs you to lead. I mean, that’s how Kuta got into the important legions.”
“I guess..”
Phovoula wanted to take a breath and sigh, but she kinda didn’t have lungs any more to do so.
Nyssi looked Phovoula up and down. She was trying to not use her telepathy, but Nyssi was well aware that Phovoula was worrying about something else.
“What’s REALLY wrong, mate?”
Phovoula didn’t say anything at first.
“I can make it private, if you don’t want to talk out loud.”
“Ugh…” Phovoula went back to tutting. “I feel… wrong.”
“About what? Yourself, physically? About someone else?”
“About… about Phovos. She’s a Life Goddess, I’m a Voidborn. We… we shouldn’t be together. It’s wrong.”
Nyssi blinked, not really understanding where Phovoula was coming from. “Why is it wrong?”
“I… I… It’s… hard to explain. I have a lot of feelings for and about Phovos. She’s a Life Goddess, she’s the purist thing in existence. I have a desire to be with her, all the time.”
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
“But… she… is a Life Goddess…”
Phovoula trailed off again. Nyssi thought for a moment.
“Is it because Phovos is the little sister of Epani and Sini? Or is it something else? Or, alternatively, you feel bad because you always believed homosexuality was immoral for Ksithans. Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Girl, it’s fine. No one’s judging you. If being friendly with the fur-less Ksithan makes you happy, then go for it.”
“But-”
Nyssi tutted. “The three big guys are in a totally gay relationship. They are all fucking ancient. From what Elksia has said, Galyn and Arkay are essentially the same age, and Itaviir and Vikalos are even older. If those ancient gay guys can keep a healthy relationship together, then you and Phovos are perfectly fine. As long as everyone is happy and consenting, there’s no harm done, do whatever you like.”
“I… I guess…”
With a smile, Nyssi hugged Phovoula. “You’re fine. We’re fine. Everything is going to be fine. Now, to distract you a little bit, stay here and sunbath with me. Let’s relax, alright?”
All of a sudden, Tenuk appeared, placed two bottles of diet cola next to Nyssi, then teleported off again.
“Did you telepathically ask Tenuk to do that?” Phovoula asked.
“Yep!” Nyssi grinned as she handed Phovoula her drink. “Let’s just chill out for a bit. We can start worrying about things later.”
“You are absolutely right. Thank you, Nyssi.”
“You’re welcome. I know you’d always do the same thing as me.”
“Of course…”