Dawning Skye

At least three dozen Highlanders, and a couple dozen of the Alconian soldiers were either watching, or playing ball with Zazzy as the the goalie. It was close to the ancient version of soccer, but a bit rougher. The only reason that Tidas didn’t call off the game right then and there was because the teams had mixed players.

When Zazzy saw her father from across the muddy field, she immediately got up. Her teammates hollered as the opposing team took the opportunity to score. Zazzy cooed “sorry”, shrugged, then trotted over to her father.

Tidas smiled as the cocky thought crossed his mind; ‘I’m still her favorite! ...At least one of my lasses feels that way..’

Skye was humble-angry earlier, which meant that he was screwed. She was utterly confident that he had been the irrational one, and when he sat down and thought about it: she was right.

He hadn’t of meant to sound so patronizing before. In truth: Tidas had the same thought that Skye had. He just didn’t want to admit it to himself..

Tidas didn’t like Marco, but he was still his brother. He did have a few good memories of them bonding, which made him hesitant. Due to it, he had been psyching himself up for the past year to stand his ground against his brother, but hearing Skye deduce what he had as well... It all became very real for Tidas all at once.

It was no excuse for his manners towards Skye. All she wanted were the same things he did, and Tidas knew it was unfair of him to take his fears and frustrations out on her. As he pet Zazzy, Tidas tried to think of a way to make his blunder up to her.

Seeing his unease, Zazzy forcibly nuzzled against Tidas, trying to get his attention. Knocking him over, and sending various Alconians and Highlanders into laughing fits. As Tidas stood up and brushed himself off, a Highlander he recognized from the bout walked up to him.

.....

He smiled pleasantly at Tidas, then asked if he was alright. The Alconian Prince nodded in a regal manner, making the Highlander chuckle. Extending his arm, the man shook Tidas’ hand as he introduced himself..

“Name’s Wallace. We’ve met before.”

“Aye, we did. After the bout, when you lost to my wife.”

Wallace laughed boisterously; “Aye! That be true. But from what I ken, me arse isna the only one that’s been kicked by her.”

Tidas nodded as he grinned; “Aye.. But ta be fair, she’s smarter than most. No one knew she had a Tank trait Until she kicked my arse. Not even me.”

Wallace nearly fell over he was laughing so hard. When Zazzy saw him sway, she held the flat side of her tail up to catch him. As he leaned against her for stability, several Highlanders started to yell to their large comrade.

Looking at Tidas a moment, Wallace grinned broadly and asked; “Would ye like ta play? One of the laddies needs ta get back ta his hen, so we be a man short.”

Tidas looked around; “I’m sure some of these guys have been waiting to play. Ask them first.”

“Ima askin’ you,” Wallace replied in a tone that brokered no arguments.

Tidas stared at the man a moment, trying to size him up when he felt a hard smack in his back from behind. Turning around, he found Murdoc smirking with crossed arms. While Tidas wore his jacket, over his body suit, many of both the Highlanders and Alconians were shirtless.

It was still only forty degrees out at most, but compared to their winter months; it felt like summertime. There were splotches of grass here and there, but the area right outside of the bunker was pretty muddy. The snow was mostly melted, and life was fighting to grow and bloom.

The Highlanders used to spend a good chunk of their time roaming their lands, and finding glens to hide their sheep and cattle in. Since the monster came, they hadn’t been able to do that. Activities directly outside of the bunkers were as close to adventurous as the general populace was allowed to go, and still come back...

Tidas glared at Murdoc; “What the hell was that for?!”

The Highlander King kept his cocky smile as he replied; “Encouragement! Get out there and blow off whatever steam ye got built up.”

Irritated with his antics, Tidas snipped; “Don’t you ever work? All I ever see you do is walk around and talk with people.”

“I go where my people are.”

Tidas huffed; “Your people are in more places than Mead Hall, the RMC bunker, and this field..”

Murdoc took on a mock-hurt expression; “Are you sayin’ that ye don’t like me company?! Why? Ima grand person!”

“Pain: you’re a grand Pain, in my arse.. And now my shoulder, too..”

Wallace chuckled as he watched the two, then said; “Ima shocked at how well ye two get on.”

“Why do people keep saying that?! He’s terrible! He literally hits on my wife in front of me!”

“Would ye rather I do it behind yer back? Ye Southerners are daft,” Murdoc asked with a genuinely baffled expression.

Tidas looked like he was about to go off on him, but just turned away and sighed heavily as Wallace said; “Ta be fair, ye walked right in ta that one..”

“...I’m exhausted already,” Tidas stated then walked over, and leaned against Zazzy.

Murdoc smacked Tidas’ other shoulder lightly this time, and said; “A good game’ll get yer blood goin’! Zazzy wants ye ta play! Don’t ye, lassie?!”

The young dragon had instantly sat up from the mud, then sloshed around in it enthusiastically. Tidas sighed, then smiled at Zazzy; unable to say no to his scaly bairn. As he gave her a final pet before heading off to the field, a thought popped into his head..

‘I think Skye might be right.. If we ever have a daughter, I’ll be wrapped around her little finger from birth..’

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

Two hours later, and Tidas was feeling much better. Having a healthy outlet for his frustrations allowed him to take his mind off of his troubles long enough to clear his head. Right as they had finished a game, Tidas stepped out to pet Zazzy, and think.

Tidas had already decided that he would apologize to Skye the moment that he saw her, but the exact words to say weren’t coming to mind. She was more than just upset with him when they had parted..

‘What’s the best way to say that I’m sorry to her? Do I buy her a gift? Or would that seem like placating instead of sincerity? Crap! What do I do when I see her again?!’

As Tidas inwardly struggled, he didn’t notice Zazzy sniff at the air, then happily trot away. It wasn’t until he’d heard whistles and clapping that he’d finally snapped back to reality.

When Tidas looked over to see what all the men were gawking over, he realized that it was his wife..

Skye had kept her hair down, letting her natural banana curls form rings that went to her shoulders. The green dress that she wore was long-sleeved and had a relatively modest neckline, but it was form-fitting in a way that her dresses back in Alcon never were..

The skirts always fanned out, but the one that Skye wore now showed her nearly-hourglass figure to a tee. It hugged her hips and thighs as tightly as her top, and made Tidas’ mouth hang open, along with over half of the other men on the field. As their eyes met, Tidas was already walking towards her.

As he came to a stop several feet away from her, Tidas smiled weakly and said; “You look beautiful, love.. I’d come closer, but I don’t want to splash mud on you.”

Skye’s smile grew slightly as she said; “Would ye come closer if I cleaned everything up?”

Tidas blinked at her a couple times in confusion, then grinned at her as he said; “Aye. There’s a few things I’d like ta say to you, if you’ll let me.”

Skye nodded as her smile spread, and her magic built. She combined the control of her Earth and Water magics, then funneled it into the ground with her feet..

One of the things that Skye had been working on the most since their first encounter with Richard, was being quicker with her magic. It wasn’t easy since she generally used large amounts of it at once, but she’d gotten a lot faster over the past couple of months..

Once Skye felt like she’d added enough,the first thing she did was to solidify the ground. The next part was to stimulate the grass to start to grow, to make their gameplay easier after they returned from the Old Capital. The last part was to clean everyone off..

Skye couldn’t pull all of the mud from everyone at once, so she went by the sections of the field. The people that weren’t even playing were muddy, but thought of it as funny, or simply shrugged it off. After everyone was taken care of, Skye went back over to Tidas.

The looks she was getting made him both proud, and jealous. The dark part of him told him to make Skye change her clothes, but he knew it was wrong. He knew that she would never hurt or betray him, and that solid fact helped Tidas to shovel the negativity away right as she got up to him.

Before Skye could say anything, Tidas locked eyes with her as he blurted out; “I’m so sorry about earlier. You were right: I was being dismissive because it’s not something that I want to face yet..”

Skye grabbed his hand, and entwined her fingers in his as she replied; “I figured as much when I had a moment to think about it. Ima sorry, too. I shoulda kept me cool, and realized that it was a touchy subject.”

“No! I should’ve just said something to you about it instead of acting like that. I’m sorry, love. Forgive me?” Tidas asked as he raised Skye’s hand to his mouth, and kissed it.

Smiling brilliantly, she replied; “Aye, if ye forgive me, too..”

Wallace watched from across the field with a soft smile on his face. He wished that Sorcha could see how beautiful her daughter was, and how happy..

As Murdoc joined them, they all bid farewell to Zazzy, then walked back into the bunker. Tidas still ‘needed to dress for the ceremony’, which confused him since he only had his body suits and armor. As the door to their little love nest came into view, Amara and Gavin were standing next to it with clothes..