Dawning Skye

It was only a few days until Shasta and Lawrence’s wedding as Skye headed down the hall towards Tidas’ office. They still hadn’t heard anything from Marco or Karena, and she was becoming worried. Draco, the two guards, and the stagecoach were supposed to have returned already, but no one had heard anything from them as of yet.

As she absentmindedly greeted the guard posted outside of her husband’s office, Skye wondered if something bad had happened to her sister-in-law’s stagecoach on her way back to Meccano. It wasn’t like highway robbery was common, but it did happen to caravans that were obviously transporting large amounts of goods. The stagecoach did have the royal crest on it, so she wondered if robbers might’ve targeted it for ransom..

‘But we havena heard anythin’ about ’em.. I dinna really care about Karena since the bitch tried ta kill Zazzy and me, but Draco’s a nice guy. And those guards were just doin’ their jobs.. I hope they’re all okay..’

“Skye? Skye?! Are you here for a reason? Or did you just zone out the entire time, and wind up here?” Tidas asked as he sat behind his desk.

Apparently the guard had let her into the room, and had even closed the door behind her, but Skye still hadn’t responded past her initial greeting. The guard was a little concerned, but didn’t say anything as Skye had silently walked into the room. Tidas smiled and nodded, letting him know it was fine, then had them shut the door.

Skye jolted in place, then looked around in surprise as she replied; “Na, I was comin’ here on purpose.. I just didna think I’d gotten this far yet, haha.. Ahem-Anyways, I wanna talk about Karena.”

Tidas grinned softly as he leaned back in his chair; “That’s a surprise. I figured that you’d want her dead after hearing Draco’s testimony. I’m shocked that you’re worried about her..”

Skye shrugged; “Not really. More like Ima worried about Draco and the other guards. I can forgive her fer how she was ta me, but not Shasta. And I’ll never forgive what she tried ta do to Zazzy.. I might even hit her if I ever see her again. But that’s beside the point.”

.....

“I know, and I agree with you,” Tidas commented as he moved around some bluish papers on his desk; “I’m not sure how I’ll react if I ever see her again, either. But that’ll only happen if we travel to Meccano, and I don’t think that’s ever gonna happen. We have much better places to go once we get back from Sai..”

Skye quirked an eyebrow at her husband; “Whatcha mean? And what are ya futzin’ wit there? Blueprints?”

“Aye,” Tidas replied with a growing smile; “This is our home. The main house was finished a long time ago, but I’m having an extra-large room attached that’s accessible from the outside for Zazzy. It’ll have a door attached to the dining room so she can join us for meals. See here?”

Tidas pointed to his hand-written sketch on the blueprint, then explained how the builders would need to add the addition onto the existing house. Skye walked around his desk, and sat in his lap as he’d talked, then asked; “Do you think she’ll stay wit us?”

A confused expression overtook his features as Tidas replied; “Why wouldn’t she? Zazzy’s our first bairn, no matter what. So even if she wanted to go explore the world a bit: we’re still home to her. I want her to always have a place to come back to.”

Skye grinned ear to ear as she said; “Me too,” then leaned in for a sweet kiss.

Tidas was a little surprised by the emotion behind his wife’s lips, but he understood it. Skye didn’t think about things like that until the problem was directly in front of her. She probably would suggested building the addition herself as soon as she’d seen the house. Tidas just beat her to it because he had to okay all of the alterations done to it.

The house itself was old, so Tidas had it completely gutted and rebuilt with all of the modernizations that the palace had. Hot and cold running water taps, a proper toilet, and Skye’s favorite: a shower. The only thing left was to add on a place for Zazzy to sleep, then their dream home would be complete.

Tidas wrapped his arms around Skye, then they just sat together cuddling a few moments. The days were growing colder, and the harvest was already being brought in. The setup for the Mage Trials were taking place right after Shasta and Lawrence’s wedding. Tidas regretted not being there to scout out the new recruits himself, but he trusted Zas to handle it all.

Shasta would be helping too, but the kingdom as a whole seemed disappointed that Skye and Tidas would be gone. Last year’s trials were so amazing that not a single person thought that there’d be another like it. But at least with the two top mages in the kingdom participating, they might get to see something interesting.

Skye leaned into Tidas as she asked; “Will we be participatin’ in the Mage Trials every year? I was kinda lookin’ forward ta me roll as a General.”

Tidas chuckled lightly; “Well, you won’t have the same responsibilities as the other Generals. But we’ll find you something to do..”

Skye leaned back to look him in the eyes, and grimaced; “Like hell I will! I knew what I was signin’ up fer when I joined. I canna be wit ya on the battlefield if I weren’t a soldier. I made a commitment, and I intend ta follow through.”

“What about us having a family? We can’t do that if you’re serving,” Tidas replied with a slightly stern look that Skye didn’t like.

“I can be a mother an have a career, husband. Tis nothin’ new. Commoners often have ta have two workin’ parents fer them ta survive. And without the luxury of a nanny like the rich. I wanna raise me children, but I wanna fulfill me obligations, too.”

Tidas sighed, not wanting to argue, and replied to his wife; “Maybe I’ll build a daycare inside the headquarters, then.. If you can convince me..”

Skye quirked an eyebrow at him; “If I wasna yer wife: that constitutes harassment, husband.”

Tidas smirked as his hands started to travel; “But you are my wife.. And the only one I want to harass.”

Skye laughed at him, then kissed him with all the love she had for him. As they deepened the kiss, Tidas’ hand moved lower and lower..

In an instant, Skye broke away and locked eyes with her husband; “Dammit, yer sidetrackin’ me! I came in her ta ask about Karena..”

Tidas sighed; “I know, but what we were doing was a much better way to pass the time.”

“Yer funny, husband, but back to me point-”

“I know, and I’m already on it,” Tidas interrupted; “I sent men out to check the southeastern towns and villages, and see if the stagecoach they were in had passed through. I’m also having our Tamer mages send out their birds to search for Marco. The guards on duty said that Draco had come in from the northern gate, which means Marco might be out towards Dragonhorn, or visiting with one of the lords out that way.”

Skye laughed; “Well, we know he’s not any further north than Dragonhorn. Me father, Lord Reinbolt, and the other boarder lords dinna care fer him much.”

Tidas smirked; “I know, but he still might be hunting on their lands. I sent out every available bird I could-”

“The Blanket Formation,” Skye stated as she leaned back against him; “I read about it in one of yer strategy books. General Walsh was quite brilliant fer it. Blanket a designated area with Tamer birds to completely map the terrain while tricking any enemies into thinkin’ they be just another flock of birds. But why go so extreme if yer just tryin’ ta find him?”

Tidas took on a serious tone; “Because I want the birds to relay the message, but also scout out what he’s doing.. Marco doesn’t hunt often, and when he does, he barely hunts. He just uses them as an excuse to socialize and.. What’s that word? Network? Aye, network with the nobles.”

Skye giggled lightly as she snuggled against him; “Aye, that be the proper usage fer that word. It had other meanings, too, but that was way back when.”

“I know, I watched some movies, too. I really liked that one with the sarcastic guy in the red suit. Those were funny,” Tidas replied with a light chuckle.

After the memories passed, Tidas looked at his wife seriously; “I’ll tell you as soon as I know anything, alright? You should be focused on the wedding, right? How’s it going?”

Skye sighed deeply as she relaxed into him; “It’s quite pleasant now. Shasta and Lawrence decided just ta have Marco join yer da at the throne. They’ve got you, me, Alfred, Renee, Zas, and Marie in their party. They dinna mind if they lose Marco. The question is: will he care?”

Tidas scoffed; “I seriously doubt it. I doubt that he wanted to be a part of it in the first place. My brother has never been the type to like celebrations of any kind. I think the only one he’ll probably be happy about is his own coronation..”

Skye went quiet for a few moments after that, then leaned up, and kissed her husband. When she pulled away, she locked eyes with him, then said; “Whatever ya choose to do, husband: Ima wit ya.”

“What does that mean?” Tidas asked, even though he already knew.

Skye leaned back against him as she replied; “Ya ken what I mean, love.. Now shut up and cuddle me. We got a lotta work ta do in a very short time. So we won’t have time fer things like this until we get ta Sai.”

Tidas smirked; Well, then: I guess I better enjoy myself while I can..”

Skye grinned cheekily as her husband’s hand started to move up and down on her back. It slowly slid around to her side; grazing her breast with his fingertips as he went. When Skye protested, he promised not to go to far, then waited for her to say yes.

As soon as she did, Tidas tilted her head and kissed her while his hand moved to her breast. As their breathing became heavy, a knock came from the door. Tidas cursed several times as Skye stood up, and straightened out her clothes.

After adjusting himself and getting his breathing back to normal, Tidas checked with Skye, then gave the okay for whoever to enter. When the door opened, a happy Zas waved at the couple before he realized that Tidas was glaring at him. Skye’s cheeks were red, and her hair on one side was in slight disarray.

Putting two and two together, Zas stifled a laugh as he asked; “Should I come back?”

“Tsk, just tell me what you need, then I can leave for the day,” Tidas replied a bit snappishly.

Zas’ features went completely serious as he said; “Sorry Tidas, but you’re gonna have to get a raincheck. We found the stagecoach that Karena was in...”