Chapter 271: Chapter 271

271 Mage Trials: Reconciliation

Skye ran out of Athena’s smitty with panic written all over her face. Ronnie and Klaus immediately stopped talking and straighten up, waiting for orders. There had been multiple times over the past half a year that Skye would be pulled away for one Shaman-related emergency or another, but this was different.

The princess always had a calm, but serious expression when dealing with panicked requests from a loved one, or hospital attendant. The look on her face right now was more akin to angry terror.

She went to hop up on Thoth, but tossed his reins to Ronnie instead. She needed to be fast, and using her Tank trait was the fastest way to get there. Looking back and forth between Klaus and Ronnie, Skye issued her orders; “Bring Thoth to Zazzy’s Place, ride like hell to get there!”

While she grabbed a long cloak from her bag, Ronnie asked; “Why?! What’s wrong?! Where’s yer armor?!”

Skye scoffed as she wrapped her cloak around her neck and tied it; “Some dumbass that’s about to get the crap kicked out of him stole it! Especially if he’s touched me scaly bairn! I swear, if there’s once scratch on a single scale: I’ll string ’em up by their dangily bits!”

Both visibly gulped as they nodded their heads, then Skye added; “Make sure to run into Athena’s shop and grab some weapons! Tell her to put it on me tab!”

Before either could speak, Skye was jogging down the road as she tried to shove her ridiculous hair into her hood. As they watched her go, Athena stepped outside of her door with a conspiratorial grin. As the three acknowledged each other, Ronnie asked; “Do ye think she’s gonna be pissed at us for helpin’ the commander?”

Athena smirked; “Depends on if this works or not.. Why is her horse still here? Didn’t she need him?”

The two shared a nervous glance before Klaus replied; “You’ll find out at the trials..”

.....

Not caring enough to question it, Athena returned to her shop. She had a wee bit more tweaking to do to an order, then she was off to meet her father. They had gotten along really well lately, and had Skye and Tidas to thank for it. ‘Least I can do is cheer her on..’

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

As soon as Skye had found an empty alleyway, she kicked herself into high gear. It was hard to keep her hood up and hair contained at the same time, but she had managed.

When she got close, she slowed down, and suppressed her magic. It was the only trick she’d figured out herself. She’d even gotten to teach Tidas and Maevis how to do it. Nicolas wasn’t interested since he ‘was never planning on being in a situation where he needed to do it’.

Creeping up, she saw Zazzy rolling around in the field. She was playing with a giant chew toy that Peggy had made for her out of some of the dragon leather. Watching her play brought a giant smile to her face until she noticed something disturbing: none of the hidden guards were around..

‘But Zazzy’s ok! So, what’s going on then?! Where are the goons that Athena talked about? Why the hell aren’t the guards here?!’

The questions bombarded her mind until a gust of wind carried her scent over to Zazzy. The now nearly elephant-sized dragon ran over to her, but was now proficient in stopping. Nearly killing her father a second time by not stopping, had driven the point home.

As she pet Zazzy, Skye asked her; “Are ye okay? Has anyone shown up here?”

When Zazzy nodded ‘no’, then ‘yes’, Skye looked around again before she asked; “Where?”

When the dragon nodded in the direction of their little house, Skye’s anger flared. She looked at Zazzy with serious eyes and said, “Stay put,” then headed towards her house.

Walking with purpose, Skye thoughts tried to guess who, what, and why. ‘It has to be those asshats that Athena talked about, right? But who are they? She said they had Tidas’ insignia.. Did he do this? No.. He’s too busy avoidin’ me, probably..’

‘Maybe it’s the same people that’s been tryin’ to poison me the last couple of months? Or the ones who tried to poison Zazzy? Are they the same person? Or people? ...Ack! Me head hurts! Screw this! Time to get out some frustrations!’

Twisting the handle on the door incredibly slowly, Skye entered the house...

‘Why does it smell like somethin’ is cookin’? Why is there a cloak on the chair? Who’s in me house?!’

Creeping towards the kitchen, she noticed three large pots sitting on the counter. She didn’t see anyone, so she stepped inside and looked around. Seeing an oversized frying pan sitting out, Skye realized that she hadn’t brought a physical weapon. She didn’t want to damage the house, so she grabbed the pan..

Right as she was turning around, a thought hit Skye; ‘Maybe Tidas is the one here.. But where could-Ahhh!’

“AHHH!” Skye screamed as she swung the pan, and knocked her husband out cold.

Blood instantly poured from Tidas’ nose as he crumbled to the ground. She didn’t expect him to be standing Right behind her when she had turned around. ‘His cloak is still on! Why is his cloak still on?!’

Straightening him out, Skye healed the injuries she’d caused her husband. As she waited for him to regain consciousness, her mind wandered..

‘I can’t believe I hit him with a frying pan, hehe... Why was he here? I thought he would avoid me until he Had to face me in the trials. Guess he was tryin’ to make amends with food..’

Looking into the kitchen, Skye smiled at the sight of the pots on the counter until she realized something.. ‘Wait! Was Athena in on this, too?! She’s the one who sent me into a panic! ...Ohhhh, Ima gonna get her back for that.’

Right as mischievous plots began to creep into Skye’s mind, Tidas stirred. She helped him sit up, then tore into him as soon as he could focus properly.

“You Idiot! I coulda killed you! What were ye thinkin’, sneakin’ up on me like that?! Yer lucky that I didn’t use me magic on ye!”

“Not yet, anyways. The day is young,” Tidas quipped while feeling around on his face.

“What’s all this about, husband? Why did ye talk Athena into lyin’ to me about Zazzy? Zazzy, of all things?! After the scare we had with her already,” Skye half-glared, half-stared at her husband for his inconsiderate behavior.

Tidas had forgotten about Zazzy’s near-death experience. If he had remembered, he would’ve come up with a different way to get her there. Skye loved Zazzy as much as a human child, and was just as protective of her.

Zazzy wasn’t like a dog or cat(most of the time). She was intelligent enough to understand every word they said, and reply back with various methods. A few times they could’ve sworn that she tried to talk, but it always came out gargled.

She could also read books, which was something that hadn’t been in the Roland Snare journals. Zazzy had never been a ‘pet’ to Skye, even if she had occasionally referred to her as such. It was always for the ease of those around her, since it was less complicated than explaining their bond.

Tidas knew all of this, but he Needed to get Skye to Zazzy’s Place. Reflecting on it now, it would be easy to see it as a mean-spirited trick, but that wasn’t his intent. Staring into hostile eyes, Tidas tried to explain himself:

“I’m so sorry, love. To be honest, I had forgotten about Zazzy’s poisoning.. I knew that if I left or sent a request for you to join me anywhere, you’d refuse..”

“So trickin’ me here was yer brilliant plan?!” Skye nearly screamed, she was so angry.

“I wasn’t trying to trick you, I was just... Leading you here,” Tidas sputtered his excuse, but he knew that it was paper-thin.

“Ye knew I wouldn’t come here because Ima still mad at ye! So you TRICKED Me! And ye even involved our friends in it! ...I take it that Klaus’ lack of his usual enthusiasm was because he knew there was no emergency?”

“...Aye, but don’t be mad at them. Ronnie and Klaus basically Have to do what I say.”

Skye had a scrutinizing expression; “And Athena? I don’t see her takin’ orders from anyone.”

Tidas shrugged; “No, she volunteered. She thought my idea was sweet..”

The statement only annoyed Skye more; “Well it’s not! If I didn’t have to deal with this nonsense, I could’ve spent a wee bit more time with Genie before the trials!”

Tidas perked up with a small smile; “Oh, Genie’s here?! That’s great! I haven’t seen him since before, *cough*, nevermind.. Look, before you kill me, can I at least show you why I wanted you here?”

Skye huffed testily; “I already saw the pots. The food is nice, but yer not gonna buy me off.”

‘Ha! That’s Exactly what I thought she’d think!’

“No, it wasn’t just the meal. Aren’t you curious as to where your armor is?” Tidas asked with a cheeky grin, but Skye wasn’t amused.

Smacking her husband’s shoulder harder than normal, Skye chided him; “Oh, Ima not curious, Ima pissed that ye took it! Why, of all the days for yer shenanigans; why did it have to be today?!”

Tidas’ features went completely serious as he firmly stated; “Because we Had to talk before the trials, Skye, and you know it. I couldn’t think of another way to get you here on such short notice, and I’m sorry I worried you, but I’m not sorry it worked.”

“Ye know.. When ye add the ‘but’ part, ye make an arse out of yer self, husband.”

Tidas smirked as he stood up; “I know, but I’d rather have you mad at me for a minute then hate me for the rest of our lives later.”

Extending his hand, he added; “Please, just let me show you something, then you’ll see that my protests were never about my faith in you.”

Skye eyed him skeptically as he pointed her to the restroom; “...Fine but this better be one hell of a-”

All sound froze in her throat as Skye stared at a freshly made set of Dragon Armor, sitting in the bathtub. A smile accompanied by a small squeak escaped her as she slowly walked over, and picked up the breast plate.

The design was similar to Tidas’, but hers looked much more refined. Looking at the other pieces, Skye realized that he had both arm and shoulder guards for her, too.

Skye had given Tidas his shoulder guards for their anniversary, since she’d forgotten about them on his birthday. It wasn’t anything special because Tidas was doing survival training on the actual day, but he had made it up to her when he’d gotten back..

Looking over the details, Skye recognized Athena’s handiwork when she saw it. The shoulder and arm guards weren’t as smooth looking, which made Skye wonder; “Did you make the guards?”

A proud grin spread across Tidas’ face as he replied; “Aye.. I worked with Athena on these for months. I wanted to make sure that you had good armor for the trials and the Highland Raid.”

Skye whipped around to stare at her husband with a dumbfounded look; “But I thought that ye didn’t want me to go?”

Skye, I haven’t said that for a long time. I know how stubborn you are: whether you have my father’s permission or not, I knew you’d follow after me.. I just don’t want you on the front lines.”

Gripping her shoulders gently, Tidas locked eyes with his wife; “I always want you by my side, Skye, but if I actually Saw you get hurt.. I don’t know what I’d do..”

Zas’ words came back to bite Skye in her ass. ‘He’d probably go berserk, lose track of his surroundings tryin’ to get to me, then..”

Skye cringed at the thought of something happening to Tidas. ‘He’s been makin’ this armor for me all this time.. Which means he had decided that long ago that I was goin’ with him..’

With a sheepish look that caught Tidas off guard, Skye asked; “Do ye really think I’ll pass the trials so I can go?”

Tidas beamed at her; “I’ve never doubted that you’d pass, Skye. Never.”

As Skye’s expression filled with love, Tidas just had to ruin the moment by cockily adding; “Although, despite what Shasta thinks: you’ll never beat me..”