Chapter 210

210 Corsairs And Exhaustion

Skye’s eyes bulged as her hand went to the large ‘moonstone’ attached to her choker; “This?! This is a piece of the Northen Star?!”

Maevis nodded; “I was in the room when she gave it to you. She said it belonged to her late husband, didn’t she?”

Agreeing, Skye nodded in the positive. She thought it was a strange gift at the time, but if her mother’s first husband was her true father, then it made sense. She found it both sweet and sad that her mother had secretly put a momento from her father on her for her wedding. It was like a tiny piece of him was with her as she walked down the aisle.

Lucas Moonstone would always be her father. The notion that he wasn’t biological made no difference to her. He had raised her, albeit generally from a distance. He’d clothed her, fed her, read to her, and snapped her from her living-dead state after Tidas’ fake death. He was her father, true, but Skye still wondered what her life would’ve been like if her Warrick relatives would’ve lived.

‘I’ve always believed Fae were real. I love Warrick Forest and the land, most of the people.. I wonder if that’s genetic? Haha, probably not but who knows.. Would me mother have treated me like like a real daughter if me true father would’ve lived? ...Guess I’ll never know..”

“By the gods, you have the attention span of a cat! Did you hear me?! I asked if she’d said anything further on it?!”

Maevis had backed up after pointing to her necklace, but was now only two inches from her again. She fluttered back after Skye had visibly jerked back from her thoughts. Maevis was beginning to wonder if the lass had a screw loose, considering how often she zoned out. Nicolas was also guilty of being able to retreat into his head, and block out the world. It used to infuriate her when they were younger, now she was just used to it with him; but not Skye.

“I have to deal with Nic pullin’ that crap on me, Don’t make it two! Your husband is terrible for it too,” Maevis chided her.

“Sorry..”

.....

Maevis sighed; “I apologize for yelling.. I’m tired..”

Stretching her arms above her head, Skye commented; “Don’t worry, I know tis a problem I have. Drives Peggy crazy too.. Why don’t we call it? We can pick up tomorrow after me near-death experience with Shasta..”

Maevis quirked an eyebrow; “Is that was kids call training now a days?”

Skye put her arms down with a loud flop, and spoke with an eerie look in her eyes; “It is when yer trainin’ with a pissed of cat woman..”

Maevis chuckled; “She’s gonna be angry you skipped training with her today, but if you tell her what happened, I bet she cools her ire a bit. Especially since Tidas was there for the weird bit.. He can vouch for you. But didn’t you tell Peggy to schedule dinner with Marie?”

Skye thought a moment; “How about you accompany me to dinner? I bet she’ll accept, she adores you and Nic.”

Maevis smiled and agreed. She liked Marie quite a bit as well. They’d talked and ate together often, both preferring to avoid the intrigues of court. She was an excellent source of conversation due to her love of reading and travel. They’d discussed not only the different kingdoms, but the two trips she’d taken to the southern continent.

Humans were allowed in the couple port towns along the only open seaside of the entire continent, but only there. The First Empress had used her magic to raise the entire land mass, and made steep cliffs that went all the way around. She had also created massive golems made from metallic ores to deter and stop any harmful humans from entering.

Marie had visited there on one of Lucas Moonstone’s ships. He traded everything from cloth and pans, to medical and magical supplies with both the southern continent, and Fire Nation. She’d explained how she loved seeing the southern continent, but she’d never want to go to the Fire Nation now.

The fact that the ship had been flying the Moonstone crest was the only reason it didn’t get attacked.. While pirates came from every continent, there was a specific port in the Fire Nation that was known as Corsair Harbor. It literally meant pirate harbor..

Other than the Sync Kingdom, Corsair was the largest slavers port in the world. Most of the survivors from the pirate attacks were taken and sold there. Along with their belongings and ship, if it survived the initial assault. Marie got chills just thinking about how scared the captain had looked when he handed her a dagger and told her to wait below deck..

The two captains spoke in a language she wasn’t familiar with, but later learned it was native to the Fire continent. The captain of their ship was born a slave there, and had fought tooth and nail to leave. Former slaves didn’t tend to stay former for long...

After a short talk and small bribe to allow them to continue along untouched, the pirates had left. They saw the same ship on the way back, but they were otherwise preoccupied with new prey. Marie had to turn away, it was too gruesome to watch..

The two talked a bit more before Maevis left right at four in the morning. It took Skye just under twenty minutes to tidy up, brush her teeth and hair, throw on one of Tidas’ shirts, and plop down in bed. Having a feeling that she wasn’t going to see her husband until later in the day, Skye’d told Peggy to leave Zazzy with her. She missed seeing her, and thought about the times she and Tidas had been held up due to the winter storms with her at the inns on their way to the capital.

‘Hard to believe it’s been over three months since then.. She was so cute snugglin’ with us! I miss how small she used to be.. And less prickly. But how can I say no to this face!’

Skye was laying in bed as she rubbed Zazzy’s belly. She was in her classic belly-splayed position with her leg going a mile a minute like a dog. She was making a happy purring, trilling noise that sounded like a cross between a kitten purring, and a baby duck trying to quack. Skye thought she would die from a cuteness overload, but sleep claimed her first. The last thing she remembered was Zazzy making a deflated huffy noise when she’d stopped petting her.

Skye was asleep by four-thirty, and Peggy was waking her up at nine. She acted like she used to; wrapping herself up in her blanket to avoid the light of day. Peggy tugged and pulled, but Skye seemed much stronger than she used to be..

“If ye don’t get up now, there’s lots of people that could DIE without yer healin’ skills,” Peggy’s tone was harsh as she spoke.

Skye shot up in bed muttering, and immediately took off to the shower; “Ack! That’s right! I have to give Wallace his checkup, Rosie needs me to check her baby’s progress, Vincent needs his final cornea adjustment..! Damn! Thanks Peg! Yer savin’ lives too!”

Peggy chuckled as she watched Zazzy nearly get flung off the bed in the wake of Tornado Skye. She let her sleep an extra half an hour as it was, but she’d made her ‘Dragonhorn Sandwiches’ for a quick breakfast. Since Magnus took such an extreme liking to Skye’s sandwich, it’d become popular. The applebutter was being made and sold so fast that they had to use apples that were usually designated for other products and things.

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The only reason that they were keeping up at all was because of the Cu Sith that lived next to the orchard. Since Jonathan McKurdy had become Cu’s drinking buddy, the orchard was producing four times more apples than usual. Cu was using it’s powers to make the apple trees produce during winter. Jonathan and Cu both preferred the hard cider to anything else, so as long as the Fae was provided a hefty supply, it used it’s magic on the orchard.

The extra work also made the employees happy. They were getting wages when they usually didn’t. The owners of the orchards were making enough profit to issue everyone working appropriate winter gear as well, which made both Skye and Tidas extremely happy. Skye didn’t have to worry about the health of the employees, and Tidas didn’t have argue working conditions with his father and the owner.

Due to the Dragonhorn incident, Tidas was in the process of creating working condition requirements for any and all employers. Not only did they have to pay for any injuries due to their jobs, but also make sure that general working conditions weren’t hazardous. Unless the job specified, and gave appropriate wage increases due to the level of danger that came with the job.

This law should also open a door for him to push for a wage increase for the solders. The pay for any military personnel hadn’t been raised since it was first established that soldiers Should get paid. That was done in his ancestor Tiberius’ time. Another reason Tidas admired him.

Once Skye dressed in her riding outfit, and Peggy did her hair up, she loved on Zazzy a few minutes before heading straight out the door. Her hair had gotten longer, and was becoming a mandatory two-person job not to take forever to simply pull back and tie up. ‘Maybe I should chop it off? I kinda like it king but by the gods, it’s a pain in the arse to deal with.. Would Tidas care? I know he misses me red hair like I do, but does he care-NO! Stop distracting yer self! I know Ima tired, but Focus on the tasks at hand!’

Right as she came to stand in from of Klaus and Ronnie, Skye pulled herself from her entangled thoughts. She was so tired, she felt like she could instantly fall asleep if she just laid down, and curled into a ball. Looking at her two friends and guards, Skye greeted them with and exhausted tone and expression.

A lot had happened overnight, but the only thing Ronnie and Klaus knew of was that the princess, Tidas, and Maevis had taken the trunk back to the palace to do research. Skye’s dark circles and lack of her usual cheerful attitude prompted them to ask if she’d been up all night. She explained how she’d had dinner with Magnus, then quietly told them about the voice. She was going to tell them most of the rest, but the frequency of servants passing by was growing with the hour.

“Ack! Ima too tired! Let’s just get me Shaman rounds out the way, then I’ll tell ye the rest over lunch. Before I face...Her.”

Klaus and Ronnie shared a knowing look. Shasta had Not been happy yesterday about Skye’s cancellation for their training session. They could literally see her magic seething out of her with malicious intent as she muttered something about repercussions. Klaus felt bad for the princess, but Ronnie watched her with confusion.

When Skye asked what the strange look was for, he replied; “Oh, sorry! I was just wonderin’ if ye can heal yer own exhaustion is all..”

Skye perked right up at Ronnie’s words and said, “That’s a great idea! Ima gonna give it a try!”

Before either of her friends could say anything; Skye tapped into her Shaman power, and healed her fatigue. As the two stood flabbergasted at her ridiculously quick healing, Skye turned to them and said; “That was an excellent idea, Ronnie! Thanks! Now let’s head up to the Medical Ward!”