211 Red Ribbons

When Macha returned, the apartment was empty. She freshened up and made her way to the office. The sun still hung high in the sky, so she knew Tyr would be busy in his office. Today he wore his usual all-black collared shirt and slacks that he used to wear before they were together. It lacked any warmth and caused him to appear rigid and unapproachable.

He and Tai Shan sat in a meeting concerning his businesses using the Swat shipping business. As soon as Macha opened the door to the office, he ended the conversation. He preferred if she did not discover how much he helped her new family. Sometimes she had a tendency to be prideful and stubborn, and he did not want her scolding him about playing favorites.

Tai Shan relaxed when he saw his sister's cheerful face. The mission took well past a month and he grew worried about her safety. At the start of the meeting, he asked Tyr if he should swing by the village to check up on her.

Tyr got out of his seat and swiftly moved across the room to embrace her in a deep hug. As he squeezed her, he lifted her into the air and twirled her around.

"Missed you," he whispered with a voice full of longing.

He finished hunting the hellhound pack over a week ago and hated being home when she was not there. The house felt empty without her, the food bland, and the days in the office crept by in silence.

Since her brother sat in the room, Macha wiggled out of Tyr's embrace. It seemed awkward being so affectionate in front of him, especially because he was still single.

She gave Tyr's hand a squeeze. "Missed you too. I'll tell you about the mission later."

She turned her attention to Tai Shan, who got out of his chair to give her a quick hug. When she looked at the table, she noticed that it was devoid of tea or snacks. A look of disapproval settled on her face. "You should have known better," she mentally chided Tyr.

Flashing her brother a radiant smile, she asked, "Would you like some tea?"

He sat on the armrest, relaxed now that Macha was in the room. Lord Valois still intimidated him, despite the man being nothing but helpful. It was unusual for such an important person being so pleasant to him. Most of the rich nobility ignored him or laughed at him.

An easy smile touched his lips. "No need. I was just about to leave. Jóhanna has been asking when you'd return. She wants to see you."

That reminded Tyr of a bill he received earlier that day. It concerned the new airship his mother was having commissioned. He needed to meet with her and hated that Macha just came back.

Before she could reply, he interjected, "Do you think it is possible for you to visit tomorrow? You can stay over for a few days. There's a matter I need to discuss with Hrod. I caught up on the paperwork and can get you when I return."

A small pout touched her lips. "I just got back," she began, but realized it was no one's fault but her own for taking so long to solve the mission. The disappointment was evident in her voice, but she acquiesced, "It's fine. I can do that. Hurry back though and no missions for a few weeks, maybe?"

****

Jóhanna inspected the park, her small feet sank into the dense green grass as she ran about. She admired how her shiny red sandals and white stockings looked against the dark grassy earth. She spent a long time getting ready because her Aunty Mama planned to meet her later today.

Papa promised that her Aunty would come to the house for a sleepover, so she begged to visit the park. She secretly wanted to find a special gift to give her favorite person. It had been over a month since they last met each other and Papa said the sleepover would be for a few days.

When she glanced over at the bakeneko servants, she saw that they were busy setting up the picnic for lunch. They spread a large brown blanket onto the ground and carefully brought out the various dishes.

They took an eternity to set up, so she ran into the swaying willow leaves, running her chubby fingers across them as she moved past them. Spreading them apart like a curtain, she began searching for something special to take back with her.

At the same time, Aži flew above the city. He wanted to stretch his wings and thought he needed some exercise. Tyr had been in a bad mood while Macha had been gone, and he made a boorish comment about how Aži looked fatter these past few weeks. Nothing about his diet changed, so it caused him to become self-conscious. He liked to believe he was one of the better-looking wyverns in Marseille, not that there were many wyverns.

Unfortunately, he had been feeling under the weather lately and today was the first day in a while that he was well enough to fly. As he flew about, he indulged in the comfort of the wind running across his scales.

Without warning, his stomach lurched, causing his peaceful outing to come crashing to a halt. He landed in the nearby park and tried to calm himself. His breathing became heavy, and he curled up into a ball.

While trying to settle himself, Aži heard a group of children approach. Their screeching hurt his ears as they accused him of being a monster that needed slaying. They attacked him with rocks and various kicks or punches. In his weakened state, he used his tail to deflect the pathetically weak assaults that assailed him. They were infants and their blows were dull but annoying.

Jóhanna noticed a group of kids gathering around something and ran to see what it was. She did not know them well but recognized their faces from other park outings. After she caught up to them, she found that they were kicking Uncle Tyr's wyvern.

Her eyes grew round like saucers as she worried about Aži's safety.

"Stop it," she shouted and jumped at a girl who had just thrown a rock.

Aži heard a child yell and he looked up. A small figure blotted out the sun as it descended on one of his attackers. There was a flurry of red and white and he could not quite make out what was happening with all the skirt fabric rustling above him.

The children turned on Jóhanna, directing their attacks to her. They tore off the red ribbons from her dress and pulled her dark brown hair.

One boy screamed, "Monster Lover," as he pushed her over.

She saw he held one of the red ribbons in his hand and tears threatened to fall from her eyes. This was a dress Aunty bought her and she wore it today so Aunty Mama would be happy.

She balled up her little hand, lunged off the ground, and punched the boy in his face like she watched her father do during training. Her tiny fist collided with the boy's soft cheek and she got some of his spit on her hand. Tears immediately fell from the boy's eyes and he ran off calling for his mother.

The other children followed except for one black haired girl. Instead of running, she screamed at Jóhanna and shoved her to the ground.

Jóhanna stumbled up and pushed the girl back; the attack left her unbalanced and both children fell to the ground. They slapped each other on the shoulders in a continuous rain of assaults.

"Stop it," Jóhanna cried out in sorrow as she thought about her ruined dress.

"Monster Lover, Monster Lover, Monster Lover!" the girl spat.

Tai Shan stepped away from his office to have lunch with his daughter. The servants' tails fell between their legs when they discovered that young Lady Swat was missing. He had just yelled at his servants for losing her when a group of children came running out from behind the willow branches, crying for their parents.

A terrible dread formed in the pit of his stomach, and he ran to see what was going on. When he pushed aside the branches, he found his daughter fighting with the Romanov family's girl.

"Jóhanna, what are you doing?" he cried out, as he lifted her off the child.

The children were both toddlers, so the fight was easy to stop.

Jóhanna's little body struggled in her father's hands as she moved about, trying to break free. "Papa put me down! Put me down."

She wanted to pay the girl back for tearing the first ribbon off her dress.

The girl took up one of the red ribbons and threw it at Jóhanna.

"Daddy!" she screamed.

At this moment Ali Romanov came running for his daughter. He picked her up and bounced her in his arms, comforting her.

His deep blue eyes looked angrily at Tai Shan, "What kind of monster are you raising? Look at my girl! You should be ashamed of your child's violent tendencies!"

His tongue clicked as he inspected his daughter. "You're lucky Shanice isn't badly injured," he sneered.

Tai Shan bowed deeply, "I'm sorry. I will make sure to punish my daughter."

He remained in a bow as Lord Romanov continued to berate him with a barrage of insults. The Romanov's were a fairly powerful family in the city, and he did not want to anger them. He bit the side of his cheek, waiting for the man to leave.

After he was alone with Jóhanna, he put her down. He ran his fingers through his copper bangs.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

His daughter was not a violent child, so he knew something must have happened.

Hearing her Papa apologize made her angry. She did not do anything wrong, and it seemed unfair for them to bow to such a mean family.

"They hit Aži and called him a monster! It's not my fault," she protested.

As she said this, she ran to the onyx wyvern's side. She fell to her knees and stroked his back. She cried, feeling that the world was unfair. Her small arms wrapped around the hot wyvern as she sought comfort.

Tai Shan had not noticed Tyr's wyvern in the shade of the willow tree.

His brows drew together, "Aži, what are you doing here? What's wrong?"

If the wyvern wanted to, he could have easily defended himself, but right now he did not appear to be well.

The excitement tired Aži out, so he closed his eyes. His stomach continued to pain him and he felt hot.

Tai Shan wrestled his daughter off of the wyvern and he lifted her up into a hug.

"Calm down. You protected a friend, that's fine." He rubbed her back, "Shh… calm down."

After her tears subsided, he put her down.

"Tell the servants to pack up. I need to get him somewhere safer. Aunty is coming over tonight, so we'll bring him to our house for now," he instructed.

After everything Tyr did for him, there was no way he would leave the onyx wyvern here.