The flight so far had been rather quiet. While Arkay had been fine taking Kuta and Ret to the little floating island pub in the Ventra Expanse, his new passenger was a tad more awkward, and Arkay hadn’t said much. He’d also shrunk a little, reverting to a younger form. Not as young as the last time he had spent time with Vick, but Arkay clearly wasn’t his normal self.
More awkwardly, Vick had decided to break the awkward silence to comment.
“You’re not as small as last time.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re also very nervous.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Why are you nervous?”
Arkay hesitated. He wasn’t really sure.
“Also, do you want me to fly?”
Arkay could answer that question. “I’d rather I fly. Litvir would be pissed if someone else dinged his ship. Plus I know where everything is.”
“Fair…” Vick muttered. “You didn’t answer my first question though. You’re nervous. Visibly nervous.”
“You can tell?”
“Yeah. The way you are tapping your hands on the steering wheel, and how shaky your tail is.”
Arkay frowned.
“You can talk to me, you know.”
“I know…” Arkay quickly gave in. “It’s just… it’s been an absurdly long time for you. It’s been a fucking stupidly long time for me. And the four of us being together, us meeting up after so damn long? Like… it’s… it’s weird. None of us are who we used to be. And it’s worse for me because I don’t remember correctly, and can’t confirm if we are all even the same people. Or the right people.”
Vick blinked. “What… what do you mean by that?”
Arkay hesitated. “Well… like… Tenuk remembers two folks, Argyros and Oxys. I remember them too, but they… they were already in the past. They never came back to the present time with us, when we were found buried alive in that Lanexian tomb. Tenuk implies that they were always with us. And… I don’t know whose memories are right or wrong. Or is it that there was… a parallel universe or something… or an alternate timeline… Or maybe Tenuk isn’t the right Tenuk? Or maybe I’m not the right Arkay?”
Vick thought for a moment, not exactly feeling great about Arkay’s statement, but he settled down. “I get what you mean.”
“You… you do?”
“Yeah. But it’s not you who’s wrong.”
“So… it is… Tenuk is… uh… Is Tenuk not who he says he is?” Arkay suddenly felt very concerned.
“I dunno, I ain’t seen him in like ten year-strings. But even when we were mortal, I kinda remember Tenuk just… not seeing stuff the same way we did.”
Arkay checked the navigation, then set the ship to autopilot. Annoyingly, he couldn’t really just fly through the Justarian Circle, nor did he want to, so he was basically heading back into the Kinigian Wilderness, through the Athata Rift and then into the Goldtorn Remains. Once Arkay was settled, he turned back to Vick.
“I… I don’t get it.”
“Tenuk’s a Kronospast. The hint is in the name. They were an ultra fucked up race that messed with both the stupid time dragon and the stupid Voidborn guy. They literally broke time on multiple occasions. I’m pretty sure Tenuk could see alternate timelines and shit and would sometimes get things confused with actual reality. Plus, like… the Corruption that ate our universe, what was it called? The Unending Erasing One?”
“Yeah…”
“That fucked up all our memories. Like, big time. So it makes sense that maybe we don’t remember stuff the same.”
Arkay took a deep breath, but quickly settled down. “So… so… what Tenuk has said… because… it doesn’t match what I remember…”
“Kid, your head was fucked with when you were a baby. Then that Kinisis bitch repeatedly fucked with your head. And then her kids fucked with your head. Then Deathven fucked with your head. Then Kinisis and her kids fucked with your head again. I’m surprised you remember anything.”
“Alright, that’s fair. That’s totally fair…” Arkay trailed off. “Still, it’s weird. I went through two different universes while you, Tenuk and Elksia were out here. And at the same time, I made two other Dessaron teams.”
Vick shrugged. “I just said your mind was fucked with repeatedly. You probably had memories of being in a team and ended up repeating them.”
“I guess…”
“Either way, no matter what, even if we’re not all the same people, we’ll have fun, right?” Vick tried to cheer Arkay up. “We’re going to a cool mall and we’re going to see some old friends. Also, I’ve never been to the Goldtorn Remains before. I get to experience some new stuff.”
“We’ll also get to use my super special discount.”
“Oh?” Vick was curious. “What discount?”
Arkay smiled a little. “Since I’m a member of a Hidden Trio, I get a massive discount on pretty much anything.”
“Huh. Neat. I wonder if Tenuk or Elksia get discounts?”
“No idea. Tenuk might, but… I dunno, folks don’t seem to like the Justar outside of the Justarian Circle.”
Vick grunted. “I’ll be honest, I’m part of the problem there. Every Justarian folk who’s come to my pub has been an asshole to me. Like, almost every one, without fail. Sure, I’m not an important person, but that doesn’t mean you should treat me like shit. So I kinda… instinctively avoid them.”
“Well…” Arkay hesitated. “Admittedly, you’re not alone there. Most Justar folks have been mean to me as well. And, like, Vikalos is a former Justarian Lord and he routinely goes on about how much it sucked. Elksia seems to have normalised it all though.”
“I dunno. Never been to the Justarian Circle myself. But we can ask Elksia all about it when we see her!” Vick perked up properly. “We’re going to have an awesome time.”
“You know what?” Arkay also perked up. “You’re absolutely right. At the very least, I get to spend more time with you.”
“Oh, definitely. Any time with my little kid is time well spent.”
Arkay checked the navigation again, then settled down. “We’ll be fine, right?”
“We’ll be totally fine. I promise.”