Chapter 258

258 Pie, Not Cake

After Skye’s parents left, Tidas skipped work for the rest of the day. He wanted to make sure that his wife was ok, and that he was available to talk if she wanted to. Marco might be irritated with him, but he wouldn’t be mad since it concerned Skye. It was one of the extremely rare occasions that his brother’s obsession with his wife worked in his favor.

They sent a message to Magnus apologizing for skipping dinner, but knew that he wouldn’t have a problem with it. Especially since Skye had written the note herself. She didn’t give details, but she had mentioned ‘meeting with her parents’, and ‘being too exhausted to entertain after the Bibalow incident’.

Since Magnus was partially to blame for Skye’s distress, Tidas knew his father wouldn’t hold it against them for skipping. Skye and Shasta had become quite popular with their playing and dancing together over the past couple of months.

Skye playing the violin in general had become a nightly thing whenever they dined in the banquet room of the palace. It was flattering at first, but after so many months, it was starting to get on her nerves. All she wanted to do was eat!

‘At least Karena gave up tryin’ to force herself on us..’

Being flustered that her popularity was faltering, Karena had tried to coordinate with Skye and Shasta, but it was disastrous. She tried to control every aspect of their movements with choreography... Shasta wasn’t having it.

She and Skye moved to the music. They’d never collaborated before, but moved in sync because of the music. Karena was a good dancer, but only if it was scripted. She had to know every beat to a song, and it had to be played perfectly.

The single performance they’d done together was terrible. It was pedantic and boring. All the life usually seen when Shasta and Skye took to the floor was choked and restricted by Karena’s control. She’d made herself the star, and had the other two simply shuffling around behind her.

The crowds hated it.

.....

Marco had basically forbidden Karena from joining their performances from then on out. He claimed that it was due to the amount of complaints from the courtiers, but that was a big fat lie. He just didn’t want her interfering with Skye’s fun.

He, along with everyone else loved watching her let loose while playing her violin. The way she swayed to the music she created was almost hypnotic to him, and Karena had ruined it. She could still do her own performances, she just wasn’t allowed to bother Skye and Shasta anymore.

There was also the added bonus for Marco that Tidas obviously hated it when he openly stared at his wife. It kept the rumors flowing, which was what he wanted.. ‘When the time comes, it will be easy to trick most of the nobles into believing what I want. As long as I can get Skye alone at some point, I’ll get everything I want when I take the crown...’

************

A few days after the Summer Games, Skye was running around like a mad woman. She’d gone to Athena Helmschmied a while back with samples of the dragon hide. She and Skye had been secretly making shoulder guards for Tidas, for his birthday.

Skye had been pretty disappointed originally that she couldn’t make them by the time of last year’s trials. Tidas had still looked amazing during his demonstration, but she wished she could’ve finished it then. If she would’ve had access to equipment like Athena does now back then, she never would’ve damaged her hand so badly.

‘I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since Tidas and I wed. This year has flown by..’

Before nostalgia could take her away, Klaus tugged on Thoth’s rein and asked; “Princess, can we please stop somewhere to eat?! I’m starving! And Ronnie is about to fall off of his horse.”

Skye narrowed her eyes at him; “I told ye two to have a large breakfast last night for this exact reason! I haven’t eaten yet either, but do ye hear me complaining? No. Now let’s get on to the next-”

“We did eat a ton of food this mornin’, but that was at six!”

Skye quirked an eyebrow; “What time is it?”

The two spoke in unison; “Two o’clock!”

Shock lit up Skye’s features as she stammered; “Two?! Tis two already?! Damn it! We need to go down to Emily’s Bakery, we need to stop at Madame Clara’s Boutique, and Mr. Simmons said he has a bag of rice he can-”

“Skye, I Will literally fall from me horse if I don’t eat,” Ronnie stated with glazed-over eyes.

“I can heal yer fatigue, easy Peezy,” she replied with a winner’s smirk, until her stomach grumbled loud enough to hear.

“Damn it..”

Klaus momentarily narrowed his eyes at her before stating with a smile; “Protocol Blue Skye, Ronnie!”

“AYE! FOOD!” Ronnie shouted, suddenly coming back to life.

“Ima gonna kill Tidas for this,” Skye spoke low, but Klaus heard her.

“Don’t wait until you’re starving to eat, and we wouldn’t have to. We appreciate everything you do Princess, but you have to take care of yourself, too. ‘A dying man cannot save the sick’.”

Skye’s features lit up; “You read the book I suggested?!”

Klaus smiled pleasantly; “Some of it.. It’s a little dense for me, but I like a lot of the quotes and philosophical perspectives. I’m reading it slowly so I don’t miss anything-”

Ronnie interrupted; “FOOD! What the hell, Klaus?! Protocol, remember?! Ack! The One time Ima happy yer a stickler for the rules, and ye let me down..”

Skye laughed at her friend’s overdramatic act; “Alright! We’ll stop at a shop or stall. We don’t have time to go to Alfred’s.”

“Aye, Sir!” Ronnie yelled.

“Don’t call her that! At least stick to her name or title!” Klaus lectured Ronnie as they all trotted down the main roadway.

The three bantered back and forth until they came upon a smell they couldn’t ignore. A food shop called Dean’s Treats beckoned them. Entering the cozy establishment, a mix of buttery, savory, and sweet aromas assaulted there senses.

Three wall-length glass cases covered their respective walls in front of them. Person-sized gaps at the corners allowed for custom interaction, and access to the front door without jumping over the counter.

Each case had a different sign above them that said either ‘Sweets’, ‘Meats’, or ‘Daily Specials’. The one thing Skye noticed off the get-go was that everything was in pie form. As they stepped inside, a man in his early forties came out wearing an apron.

“Hey there! What can I get ye today? Our Specials will be out-By The Gods! Sammy! Sam, get out here son! Tis the Princess!”

A boy about ten years old or so came running out from where his father had come from. He had a blanket wrapped around him, and he coughed a time or two as he shuffled his feet towards them. Understanding right away, Skye smiled as she bent down and asked; “How ye doin’ today, Sammy laddie?”

The boy looked up at Skye with a shy smile as he replied; “Not so good, Miss Princess.”

The father looked like he was going to fall over from shock; “This is Princess Skye, me boyo. Ye got to call her that, square?”

The boy nodded weakly as he sniffled, making Skye nearly squeak from how cute he looked. After examining him quickly, she figured out he had an upper-respiratory infection that she wasn’t familiar with. It took her a good fifteen minutes to get him cleared out enough to breath properly again.

After Skye bolstered his blood cells and triggered his endorphins to ease his body aches, the lad thanked her before returning to bed to rest. His father was so grateful to her that she, Ronnie, and Klaus ate whatever they wanted for free.. At least until he saw how much Ronnie could eat.

The baker, Dean, had every kind of pie available that was in season. Chicken pot pies, shepherd pies, different kinds of quiches; everything. The sweet case had all the classic fruit and cream pies. From apple, up to chocolate mousse.

The Specials case had more.. Experimental foods in it. Two shelves had savory, and the other two had sweet. The savory choices ranged from ‘Tuna Casserole Pie’, to a concoction that had baked beans, bacon, minced pork meat, and green peppers in it.

The sweet side had things like ‘Oranges And Cream’, ‘Orange and Pistachio Chocolate Mousse’, and ‘Cherry Lemon Lime’. Skye ate strictly from the Specials case and nearly cleaned him out on her own. The tuna one was odd, to say the least, but the ‘Pork Belly Bean Special’ was her favorite of the savory stuff.

Skye only had one piece of a sweet pie, but Klaus had a surprising sweet tooth. He polished off two whole apple pies and half of a regular cherry. Ronnie actually ate almost as much as Skye did, but from the savory case. He didn’t have as much of a sweet tooth as his best friend did.

‘I have to save some of this pistachio one for Tidas. Wait!’

“Can you make fresh ones of the ‘Orange Pistachio Chocolate Mousse’? I would need them before six o’clock tonight. I can pay ye ten times what ye charge for one each if ye need incentive; I won’t take no for an answer.”

“DONE!” the boy screamed from the other room.

Dean looked towards the door, sighed, then apologized for his son’s behavior. Skye chuckled as she assured him that the boy was simply being ‘a good business man’. After she told him she needed a dozen total, and gave him the address of where to bring the pies, she bid the two farewell.

As they climbed up their horses, Klaus asked Skye where they were off to next. Thinking on it a moment, Skye commented; “Well, I was headin’ to Emily’s Bakery to see what pies she had, so that’s one less stop to make.”

“Don’t ye need a birthday cake for Prince Tidas?” Ronnie asked with obvious confusion.

Skye smirked; “That’s what the pies are for. Tidas likes cake, but prefers pie, so I always get him pie when we celebrate his birthday. He likes it when I find unique ones like the ones I ordered.”

Skye looked over to Klaus; “He’s got a sweet tooth like you. I was not expectin’ that, by the way, haha!”

Klaus flushed slightly, which only made Skye laugh harder, and caused Ronnie to join in. The three bantered back and forth while they finished stopping at the last few places Skye wanted to visit before heading back to Zazzy’s Place. Peggy was already there waiting.

While Klaus and Ronnie played with Zazzy, Skye set up her little decorations. She then helped Peggy get dinner started before she had to stop to bathe and dress. The elegant, yet daring dress Marie had helped her pick out was difficult to get on by herself, so Peggy had to stop as well.

Peggy had just finished putting a touch of makeup on Skye when they heard Zazzy making her happy trill-roar in excitement. As Peggy broke off to tend to dinner, Skye headed for the door. As she pulled it open, Ronnie called out; “The Birthday Boy Is Here!”