Chapter 369

369 Validations And Regrets

As Tidas watched Ralph saunter away, Skye calmed herself, huffed in her husband’s general direction, then started walking away. Tidas chased after her, not really sure why she was angry with him. The moment he caught up to her, he realized that she was really upset with him..

“Skye! Skye?! Will you wait a minute, please?! At least tell me why you got so angry out of no where?”

Turning to lock hostile eyes with him, Skye replied tartly; “I was tryin’ ta make a serious suggestion, and ye brushed me off like I was spoutin’ nonsense! Ye dismissed me, Tidas. So now, Ima doin’ the same ta you.”

Frustrated and embarrassed by the stares that they were receiving, Tidas stupidly said as she started to walk away again; “Aren’t you being a bit childish right now? Running away from the issue at hand-”

“Oh!” Skye rounded on him; “Ima the childish one?! With anyone else, if they were ta tell ye that ye had offended them, ye would apologize straight away, but not with me.. Ye just completely blew off my thought, and feelings by extension. And in a very asinine way.”

“...But you didn’t say that I had offended you!”

Skye took her ‘Peggy Stance’ as she nearly yelled; “Ye clearly knew I was, or ye wouldna have come after me! Don’t try ta play that semantical bullshit wit me, husband.”

“I’m sorry that you felt that way, but that’s not how I meant it. I just don’t see how my brother could have possibly thought that I would...surpass him,” Tidas replied, leery of all the people walking around them and staring.

“Why?” Skye asked flatly.

.....

“Why what?” Tidas snipped back.

“Why don’t ye think Marco would count it as a possibility? Knowin’ how much the people prefer you ta him, seein’ the connections made throughout our kingdom and others through my family.. Marco is far more cold and calculatin’ than ye wanna admit, husband..”

Irked by the whole of the situation, Tidas shot back; “You didn’t say any of this before..”

Fury flared in her eyes as Skye retorted; “I didna get the chance! Ye dismissed me completely before I could explain! And that leads me back to my point: ye have offended me, and that is why Ima walkin’ away from ye. Be it like a ‘child’, or a rightfully pissed off wife: ye fucked up husband.”

Tidas felt his throat go dry as he tried to validate himself; “I just don’t think that he’s this super-evil-Genius that you’re making him out to be. He’s an evil bastard, but you make it sound like he’s after the whole bloody continent.”

“Who knows, he might be! We never got the chance ta discuss it!” Skye fully yelled this time, attracting even more attention.

“I told you that I didn’t mean it like that! I didn’t even know that I had pissed you off until you stormed away!” Tidas yelled back.

“I was Clearly offended! I shouldna have ta say it word fer word when you’re-ye know what? Ima done. Leave me be until the ceremony. I’ll show up with Amara and Gavin..”

Tidas reached out for Skye, but the glared she shot at him pierced through him like a dagger. It was a clear sign that she was furious with him, and he didn’t blame her.

Tidas himself couldn’t explain why he had rejected her idea so fervently. The only thing his brain could recognize was that it was linked to a fear, and a deeply seeded one. Needing to get both some fresh air and distance from the spectators; Tidas went outside to be with Zazzy..

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

When Skye had reached Amara’s house, she was grateful that Gavin wasn’t there yet. She wanted to vent to a fellow female about the issues she was having, and Gavin’s presence might stifle their conversation.

Her house was small, but well-kept and charming. Light-blue siding and white trim along the lining of her slate-colored roof gave it a slightly ‘happily ever after’ vibe. After Amara invited her to sit on the porch, she then ran inside to grab a tea kettle, cups, seepers, and her can of leaves.

Two overly-padded rocking chairs with a rectangular table between them sat off to the right side. A hand-built swing was on the left, paired with tiny tables on either side of it. The porch was white like the house’s trim, and had covered flower pots along the edges, but the best part was only a few years old..

Gavin had built a mini-fireplace on Amara’s porch so they could sit on it all year round together. They didn’t get snow inside of the ‘Bunker City’, but the cold from outside never stayed out there. During mid-winter, it was nearly as cold inside the Highland bunkers as it was outside in the wilderness.

As Amara put the kettle on the already-burning fire, and got everything ready, Skye told her the whole of the situation. From the moment she got out of bed, minus some details; to when she had walked away from Tidas.

When Skye had finished speaking, the first thing Amara said was; “Well, ye did overreact at the beginnin’, but I think that was because the thought ye had was so...unnerving. Tis an eerie thought that an enemy could be so many steps ahead before we’ve even set up the board..”

Skye flashed her an incredulous expression; “How and when did I overreact?!”

“...In the beginnin’, like I said. If ye would’ve ignored his condescending tone ta start, ye could’ve put him in his place wit yer argument. Not sayin’ that he should’ve even talked to ye like that in the first place. All Ima sayin’ is that ye both handled it poorly, just him a wee bit more so.”

Skye slumped in her chair. She’d had the same thought, but Tidas had hurt her feelings much more than he realized..

Amara was right: it was terrifying to think of an enemy as being so far ahead of them in terms of knowledge and preparations. They had barely labeled Marco a serious threat to the kingdom, and he was already implementing plans to take them down.

Talking things over with Tidas had always made Skye feel better about everything, and able to think more clearly on things. She could do the same with her friends, like she was doing with Amara now, but it wasn’t the same.. And Tidas gave her a special sense of security afterwards; like he could protect her from anything..

It was rare for Skye to need to feel safe, but Tidas always made her feel protected, and gave her strength. For him to completely dismiss her worry like it was insignificant and idiotic made her want to cry and slap him at the same time.

Even if he couldn’t help Skye with her problem, it always made her feel better for Tidas to listen. He had never had an issue hearing her out before, and it started to make her wonder if she had upset him beforehand..

‘Was he actually mad that I read that poem? Why was he writin’ it in the first place? Maybe I shoulda just ignored it?’

When Skye had told Amara her theory, she had scoffed loudly before going off..

“If that were the case, he shoulda told ye what the problem was instead of snappin’ at ye over somethin’ distressin’ to ya. Wasna part of his argument about how ‘ye didna tell him how ye felt’? Wee bit hypocritical of’em, if ye ask me..”

Amara donned a quizzical expression; “Still, I dinna think it twas somethin’ ye did, but rather the content of the topic ye were discussin’ that got his so frazzled..”

Skye quirked an eyebrow at her; “What do ye mean? We discuss Marco’s creepy-ass pretty often. Even more so since we got her, and I discovered the first spy.”

“That’s me point,” Amara replied as she grabbed the tea kettle, and poured them some; “As much bad shit as I’ve heard about the man, there is one fact that is constant: Tidas and Marco are brothers. How would ye feel if ye had a sibling actively tryin’ ta kill ye? Or from what he’s told Gavin: steal Yer spouse?”

Skye shook her head; “He doesna want me, just me power, I think.”

Amara looked at her in disbelief; “I seriously doubt that that’s all he wants from ye, and that look on Yer face tells me that ye know better.. Ye need ta face Yer challenges head on, lass. Or ye will be runnin’ from ’em the rest of yer life. Ye miss a lot of opportunities that way..”

“Opportunities to do what?”

Amara smiled sincerely at her young friend; “Ta live, dear. Those that focus on death too much tend to lose sight of their reasons fer livin’.. I missed out on years of happiness wit Gavin cause I was too scared of losin’ another loved one..”

Sighing deeply, Amara stared off into the distance; “But we lose everything, eventually. Includin’ the bits of life that we so desperately try to stop from slippin’ through our fingers. Tis wise to be aware of death, and to respect it’s totality, but to live in constant fear of it means to merely breath, not live..”

Amara looked back at her friend with seriousness plastered on her features; “Ye will have ta face Marco alone at some point, Skye. Ye cannot avoid that, especially when he becomes King. From what I’ve heard, he’s a bold bastard, and might go as far as to order ye to his side without the old king there as a buffer.”

“Stoke that fire I see within ye, and show him the inferno that comes with messin’ wit you and yours,” Amara stood up, and held out her hand as she finished speaking.

Taking her hand without question, Skye looked at Amara, and asked; “What are we doin’ now?”

With a cheeky smile, Amara pulled Skye up as she replied; “We are gonna grab our tea, then go find somethin’ fer you to wear that’ll make Tidas come back grovelin’..”

Skye chuckled as she followed Amara inside, the went straight to her bedroom, and started to sort her dresses. Skye was just an inch or so shorter than her, so Amara let her borrow whatever she wanted. The only thing off limits was a beautiful crushed velvet, dark-purple dress hanging on the back of the door.

After sorting through all of her winter dresses, they settled on a hunter green colored one that nearly matched Tidas’ eyes. As she looked at it, Amara left the room to make sure that Gavin didn’t walk in on her changing.

When Skye came out, Amara beamed and squealed like an overexcited teenager as she stated; “Ye look wonderful dear! Like a celebrity from ancient times! Tidas is so screwed, haha!”

As Amara giggled, Gavin walked in and greeted them. He smiled kindly as Amara asked how he thought Skye looked. He froze in place as he looked between the two woman and hesitantly said; “This..This feels like a trap..”