Retvik grunted to himself as he went through paperwork in his shared office. Both Arkay and Litvir had been a little bit busy and all over the place over the last few weeks, but that was understandable. Things had been hectic, and one of the two universes in the sector had been in danger, so a chunk of the Thantir had been doing that. Retvik though, he was happy to keep things stable. He was always the steady rock of the Missing, the safe place his partners could always return to. And now that things were settling down, Retvik was looking forward to finishing his work and spending an evening relaxing with Litvir by his side. Arkay was… still a little all over the place, he needed alone time, but he’d calm down as well in a few days.
Right now, Retvik was collating and copying the forms for the Thantir’s six new Decaylings. Sini’s former Divine Guardians. Briefly Elkay-En’s former Divine Guardians. And also Kinisis’s former Divine Guardians. It was odd that all twelve of them were now members of the Thantir, but the new Decaylings’ morale had already improved by quite a bit. Vexer and Fragiir were mostly just happy to be with their friends, but Vokulunaax was insanely pleased to be able to spend time with Saahro and Thassalin, the other two draconic members of the Thantir. Kayenus and Atteh’Kus were also doing pretty well, Atteh’Kus had found a use helping move ships around and Kayenus got on well with the Beh’evok. The only problem so far was Lissandra, but that was because she was all over the place.
A shadow interrupted Retvik’s work. Two dark shadows, in fact. Retvik grunted some more, then looked up.
“Ah, hello, my dears!”
“Hi, babe!” Arkay was covered in dust, but Litvir was wearing essentially pyjamas. “I got back from that corruption purge I wanted to do, and Litvir has just finished his work, we wondered if you wanted to leave this until later and you both come and shower with me. And afterwards, we go to your room and have naked snuggles and just chill for a bit.”
Retvik smiled. “I would like that. I will only be five minutes, do you mind waiting? I do not think anything else will-”
Retvik’s sentence was distracted by heavy plodding. Behind Arkay and Litvir, more friendly faces had appeared.
“Are you three busy?” Vikalos asked as he, Itaviir and Galyn approached.
“We are not too busy, what is wrong?” Retvik asked. Arkay floated up so he wasn’t so small, but Litvir gave Vikalos a funny look, before snorting slightly and biting his tongue to shut himself up.
“Well…” Vikalos glanced at Itaviir and Galyn, who both nodded back. “Galyn, Itaviir and I wish to get married. We would like to do an official wedding ceremony, similar to what you did with Elkay and Teekay, and Kuta and Ret.”
Retvik was about to nod and reply, but he was interrupted by Arkay and Litvir, who had had the same idea at the same time.
“Your turn!”
“What?”
“Your turn!” Arkay repeated himself, hiding a giggle. “It’s your turn to officiate a wedding!”
“Why is it my turn?” Retvik blinked in confusion.
“I did Ret and Kuta’s wedding, Litvir did Teekay and Elkay’s wedding, you should officiate Vikalos, Galyn and Itaviir’s wedding!”
“Do I have to plan the wedding?” Retvik grunted.
“Oh, no, not at all!” Litvir smiled. “I enjoy doing that bit. But I do think you should officiate the wedding. Not just because it is your turn, but also because Arkay is far too small and would give those three a neck ache looking down at him. And you can use your really, really fancy golden armour you have not worn yet.”
“So… you three are fine with this?” Itaviir asked.
“We definitely are!” Arkay beamed. “If it’s something you three want, it’s something us three will do for you! Have you considered what you want to do? Or are we doing a repeat of what we did for the other weddings?”
The Tattered Navigators all paused and glanced at each other.
“You know what?” Galyn eventually admitted. “We have been so distracted and engrossed in the whole “should we get married officially” question that we haven’t actually considered literally any other part of the whole “marriage ceremony” thing.”
“Do you just want us to do what we did for Ret and Kuta?” Arkay suggested. “Or are there Beh’evok wedding thingies that you do? Wait… Galyn, you said you were married at one point.”
Galyn nodded. “I was married, but that wedding made Elkay and Teekay’s wedding look like a school assembly in comparison. Also, that was a very long time ago. I think I got married when you were a kid, Arkay.”
Arkay raised a finger. “I was a kid billions of years ago.”
“You and I are of similar ages.”
“True… So… do you want a repeat of that?”
Itaviir tutted. “Not really. We can have fun with Vikalos whenever. What I want to do is, admittedly, invite a lot of people. Because Galyn and I want to prove our love to Vikalos, and, because we are Beh’enu, we need to do so in front of other Beh’enu.”
Retvik shrugged. “That is fine. Savepoint is large, we can host a lot of people. Do you have a list of guests?”
“No but…” Itaviir hesitated. “This sounds awkward but I want to invite the Great Blades. Maybe even have them as witnesses. Because then maybe Galyn and I would no longer openly be considered as traitors. If the Great Blades come to respect us, if they… essentially confirm our ceremony, we could finally earn the right to a surname, Vikalos can choose a surname for us, and Phovos… or maybe Elkay-En… could bless us with a surname, as they are the daughters of the Final Mother.”
Vikalos and Galyn both turned to Itaviir.
“You haven’t mentioned any of that before…” Galyn muttered.
“Well… it is very unlikely that it will happen. Just… wishful thinking.”
“Actually!” Litvir butted in. “It might be obtainable. The Great Blades do owe us a favour or two.”
“Wait… really?” Itaviir blinked.
Retvik nodded. “Indeed. I will make some calls and some arrangements. In the mean time, work out what you want to do for the ceremony, and Litvir, Arkay and I will make it all happen…”