Chapter 173

173 Reconnecting

As soon as the group entered the gazebo, Peggy grabbed a bottle of smoky whiskey from the servant’s area. She’d set it there after the other servants had shoveled the paths. Skye, Tidas, Marie, Maevis, and Nicolas all talked and drank for another hour before Marie was ready to call it a night.

Maevis and Nicolas only stayed another twenty minutes or so before Maevis had to help Nicolas fly. He’d been drinking quite excessively lately, and Maevis had an idea as to why.. Skye was going to begin her regular trips to the library soon. Her initial focus was going to be finding as much information on the legend a possible. Anything pertaining to the Catalyst would be carefully studied and scrutinized. Once she did, they would have to explain their full knowledge of the legend to her.

Nicolas didn’t worry so much about Skye and Tidas being angry that they’d withheld information for so long. In fact, Nicolas would’ve bet money that Tidas was going to wish he’d never heard it when the time came..

What was driving him to drink so much was that there was nothing they could do about it. Skye was the Catalyst; he knew it. Celestia and Aero believed it too. Which meant that at some point over the next several years; either Skye would die, or they All would...

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Skye stared at Tidas as the fire near them crackled and popped as it slowly died. She was irritated with him for a number of things, but the main one currently was their lack of time spent together. They’d barely been married three months, and were already having issues making time for each other. Tidas was working all the time, and from what Skye could gather, this was a common, nearly constant pace for him. If he kept going, his health would begin to suffer.

Dark circles could be seen clearly under Tidas’ eyes already, and he yawned whenever he had a moment. For now, Skye worried about his health more than their relationship. It was why she hadn’t said anything to him about his neglect so far. She thought that if she gave up their personal time temporarily, he’d be able to catch up on work.. But it just kept piling up.

Marco was giving Tidas all of his ‘mundane’ work that was ‘too simple to interest him’. Skye resolved herself to give him a piece of her mind on the matter, but first came her husband. He looked like he was already trying to figure out what to do first when it came time for him to leave for the night.

Staring at her husband, Skye stated: “I want me husband back, Tidas MacArthur.. And yer not going anywhere until we figure this out..”

.....

Knowing it was coming, Tidas replied; “Aye, but let’s head inside. The fire in our room should be nice and toasty by now. Peggy, you can take Zazzy and head off to bed.”

Peggy huffed; “Oh, Ima stuck with the lizard tonight?”

“Please, Peggy. I have things I need to discuss with my husband..” Skye stated it more than asked.

Peggy mouthed at Tidas: “I don’t envy you”, then readied to leave with the fussy dragon in tow.

Zazzy wanted time with her mother, who had been gone all day. She missed Skye and Tidas, and wanted nothing less than to play with them. In the end; Peggy had to carry the surly baby dragon back to her room. She’d made an strange screeching noise, then shook her head lightly while snorting.

Peggy had gasped, then instantly wrapped her hand around Zazzy’s snout. After some odd hacking sounds, smoke had begun to rise out of Zazzy’s nostrils. She’d backfired into herself when Peggy had stopped her from trying to spout fire. Making a defeated, deflating squeak; Zazzy quit fighting Peggy as she carried her towards the door.

“Not today, ye overgrown gecko! Ye melted one fire pit! Ye won’t be meltin’ anything else on MY watch!” Peggy chided Zazzy as she shrank back from the cranky old woman.

Skye was irritated that Peggy had wrapped her hand around Zazzy’s snout instead of simply pointing her up. Dragons were obviously fireproof on the outside, but Skye didn’t know for sure if their insides were. She’d been scared Zazzy had been hurt, but she acted more shocked than scared or hurt. Like a child testing their boundaries for the first time.

Skye wasn’t the only one irate, but it wasn’t about Zazzy for Tidas. He wanted to know why he hadn’t been notified of her admittance into the medical ward. Even if it’d turned out all right, he was still mad at her for not sending someone to tell him. He also wanted to know why Zas, Klaus, and Ronnie weren’t with her.

He’d felt so bad after the incident in her room that he hadn’t brought any of it up yet. Since Skye had explained her unwavering feelings to him, Tidas decided it was ok to be honest with her. He wanted to be more honest with her about what he was thinking or felt. A fear of her rejection still gnawed at him, but Tidas wanted to trust in her.

After they’d made their way along the path and into their room, they realized Shasta and Lawrence were gone. Skye smiled to herself, inwardly wishing both of them all the happiness they could stand. Tidas had seen her grin and guessed at what it pertained to. With a similar smile he said; “I hope they work out.. Shasta has liked my brother for a very long time.”

Skye looked up at him while curving her smile a bit; “I know she likes him very much.. I hope he treats her well. I’ll give him a good-nevermind..”

“A good what?” Tidas stopped as he asked.

Skye grinned cheekily before she answered; “I was gonna say a good punch to the face, but.. Shasta-hahaha! Did ye see him fall?! Like a plank of wood tippin’ over! Hahahahaha!”

Skye’s laughter filled their courtyard as Tidas opened the door. The warmth that seeped out was akin to how Skye’s laughter made him feel. His anger melted as he swung the door, allowing Skye to walk in ahead of him. Her smile and joviality as she passed him was infectious. As Tidas closed the door, he found himself chuckling along with her.

He was still upset, but it had devolved into a light chiding instead of an actual chewing out. If their situations were reversed, Skye would’ve been furious at him, and he pointed the fact out.

Skye knew he spoke the truth, but she still tried to defend her actions; “If I would’ve sent someone to tell ye, Magnus would’ve found out. And if he knew of my previous condition, he would’ve forced me to stay out of the trials! Possibly never let me take them at all!”

“Well if you wouldn’t have sent your bodyguards away, one of them could’ve came and told me,” Tidas’ voice was sharp, like he was trying to keep his emotions in check.

“....Ok, ye might have a point there,” Skye replied like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Did it hurt when it stabbed that stubborn arse of yours?” Tidas quipped.

“Don’t turn smartass on me.”

Tidas smirked at his wife; “Better to be a smartass than a dumbass..”

Skye glowered at her husband; “Did you just call me a dumbass?!”

“No; I said I would rather be a smartass. What’s with the hostility tonight? Did I piss you off somehow?”

Skye scoffed derisively; “Ye would have to Be Here to do that!”

Tidas quirked an eyebrow at his wife; “So you’re mad because I’m not here to piss you off?”

Skye lost it; “I’m pissed because yer never HERE! I love you! I miss you, damn it! I know ye do more work than Marco; that he passes a goodly portion of his tasks on to you. Can ye not refuse him?! Say that ye have Other priorities other than His to tend to?! Am I not important to you anymore?!”

Tidas was taken aback by the raw emotion in his wife’s voice. He didn’t realize Skye had missed him so much.. It wasn’t that she was lonely, she just missed Him. A deep warmth he felt whenever Skye told him she loved him smothered his anger. A new flame sprang up in it’s place; need.

Tidas reached out and pulled Skye into his arms. She was shocked he’d yanked her, but lost the thought as his arms enveloped her. He whispered into her ear, “I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you, Skye.. You’re my world; you know that, don’t you?”

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Skye returned his embrace with her own and replied; “Aye, I do.. And you are mine. That’s why I miss ye so..”

Tidas leaned back to see Skye’s face as he spoke; “I’m sorry, love. I thought you were busy with your training and studies. That you wouldn’t miss me with so much to do yourself..”

“Aye, I am busy, but that doesn’t mean Ima willin’ to give up me time with you for it. Some things are more important..”

Tidas slowly exhaled like he was in pain as he placed his head on top of Skye’s. Thinking on it now made him realize that Skye put forth every effort to spend time with him. Every time he walked in anywhere; Skye stopped whatever she was doing to talk and be with him. At least until he had to rush out the door again. She always had a crestfallen look on her face as he closed the door, after she thought he wasn’t looking anymore. The expression hurt his heart to see, but he always rationalized it with, ‘The faster I work, the quicker I can be with her.’

However, it never went as he planned. The moment he finished one pile of work, Marco’s assistant was placing a new stack on his desk. There had been a few times Tidas had to send things back that he Knew he didn’t have the authority to approve. He wrote it off as innocent mistakes, but Marco was doing it with purpose...

Skye listened to her husband’s breathing for several minutes before he spoke; “You’re right.. I need to remind my brother that He is the future king, not me. Quite a bit of my work lately has been things he usually does. I will talk with him tomorrow about it..”

“That’s all I ask,” Skye leaned back slightly to look Tidas in the eyes; “Because all I want is you..”

Stretching up on her tip toes, Skye placed a sweet kiss on her husband’s lips. Neither of them had closed their eyes as she’d done it. Mutual passion reflected in their eyes along with the firelight. The overhead light was off, leaving the fireplace the only source.

Tidas walked over to their bed, folded the giant comforter, then pulled it from the bed. After walking back over to the fireplace, he laid the still-folded comforter on the floor. He took one more trip to the bed to grab their pillows, then tossed them to the top of the blanket.

Sitting down on the comforter, Tidas patted the spot next to him. Skye sat down hesitantly, then asked her husband what his little setup was for. Instead of saying anything; Tidas entwined his fingers in her hair, then kissed her with fervor. After he broke the kiss, the prince smirked then said; “Because every woman should be made love to in front of a cozy fireplace at least once..”