Dawning Skye

221 Date Night: Family Time

“Oh! Me wee scaly bairn! Are ye alright?! Ima so sorry!” Skye bellowed as she ran to Zazzy.

Tidas had watched the near hit and miss. He was still in the process of trying to recover from his fit of laughter, but was still paying attention to his little family. As soon as Zazzy had touched the ground, she’d instinctually tucked and rolled. She was standing upright now, shaking her head and body like a wet dog. To knock the mostly dry dirt from her scales and wings.

‘Maybe it’s an instinct developed for when dragons are learning how to fly? If that’s the case, her ability to do a perfect somersault wouldn’t seem so bizarre. Skye had said that all dragons were born with inherited genes that carried the knowledge of their ancestors.. Based on this, I’m pretty sure that it includes at least Some muscle memories..’

That was another thing Tidas had noticed; Zazzy’s wings had partially opened after she’d jumped into the air. Skye had told him that when dragons are first learning to fly, they can’t take off vertically. They have to have a running start to build speed. It made up for their wings’ lack of strength, and allowed them to start off small with gliding.

Starting from the middle of the field had given Zazzy plenty of momentum to attempt flight. Her wings had twitched for it; itching to soar with the clouds and wind. As he watched Skye drop to her knees to fuss over the baby dragon, he wondered if she had seen it as well.

As thoughts streamed through his head, Skye looked over Zazzy quickly before hitting her with a barrage of questions:

“Are you ok?!”

Zazzy shook her head in the positive.

Are yer wings hurt?!”

.....

Zazzy shook her head in the negative.

“Ima so sorry, lassie.. Do ye forgive me?”

Zazzy instantly tried to jump all over Skye, to show how much she loved her. Her antics made both her parents chuckle as Skye tried to get her off. She was the size of a small horse now, and couldn’t really run around their courtyard anymore. Not without crushing flowers and breaking things.

“What’s she doin’ out here?! How did ye convince Magnus to let her out?!” Skye asked with a giant smile on her face.

Tidas sighed; this was not going to be an easy thing to explain to his wife. She loved Zazzy deeply, but the dragon was becoming too much for the old woman to handle by herself. Not to mention the lack of space for her to move around and stretch her wings.

Peggy had confided in Tidas that she was at her wits end; “I love the sweet beastie too, but I just can’t keep up anymore! I can’t leave her alone because then she tries to run off and find Skye. And I can’t finish me daily tasks if I have to watch a bear-sized lizard twenty-four hours a day!”

It wasn’t fair to either Peggy or Zazzy to keep her locked away, so Tidas had made a steep deal with his father. He would try his hand at being a diplomat when the Highland issues were resolved, in exchange for a piece of secluded land next door to the R&D Department. The other part of the deal was that Skye had to try her best at revitalizing the field without using one of the inventions that she and Jakub were making.

Tidas assumed his father was testing Skye in some way. To see her capabilities implemented on a larger scale than a simple sparring match. The application possibilities for Skye’s powers was staggering, to say the least. As her magical capacity and experience grew, so did the possible uses for it. In the king’s mind; Skye was a possible solution to calamity, and a possible roadway to peace.

While drought and famine weren’t common in Alcon, they still happened on occasion. Skye already had the capability to extinguish forest fires with her Water magic, and she could also prevent flooding with her Earth trait. She could heal most diseases that she came across, and was now capable of healing any broken bone. Skye was nearly on par with Mother Nature herself.

Magnus and Tidas had surmised that if she could revitalize the plot of barren farmland, then a possible solution to their continued wars with the other kingdoms might be feasible. As much as the king despised the Sync kingdom; if Skye could somehow convert their swamp lands into farmable land, then they would no longer have a reason to constantly go to war with everyone.

Skye began to run around the field with Zazzy. Goading the not-so wee dragon along by holding out a thick tree limb in her hand for Zazzy to try and grab. Her thick, long braid whipped about as they ran and laughed. She would occasionally stop to let Zazzy jump and try to snag the branch with her mouth, but Skye was too quick.

As he watched his beautiful wife playing with their baby dragon, warmth filled Tidas’ heart. Skye wanted to help whomever she could, whenever she could. If she knew that her basic desire to help could bring about continental peace, she’d most likely jump at the chance.

Tidas wasn’t stupid; he understood his father’s motivations behind him pushing his son to be a diplomat. With Tidas being put into a diplomatic role, Skye would follow him to whatever kingdom he was sent to. Magnus would ultimately have to give her diplomatic status as well, or so he assumed. If the king did, then Skye would have the authority to use her powers to build better relations with said kingdom.

The amount of people and requests to visit were becoming staggering. The reveal of the Fae had turned Alcon into the center of the world for the moment. The rumors of the new Princess’ Shepherd abilities had already spread, increasing the traffic even more. The Fire Nation had even recalled their representative to switch him out with a more charismatic one. Most of the court liked him, but Tidas found annoying.

He’d made an outrageous amount of requests to meet Skye, who only showed herself in the palace twice a week at dinner. She hated it. Every time she stepped foot into the banquet hall, she was swarmed with sycophants and brown-nosers. Magnus ate breakfast with her and Marie on occasion, but other than that she did her best to ignore the palace..

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Tidas had tied off their reins, and was now walking towards the two. The sun made Skye’s hair look like delicate threads of gold bouncing in the wind. In an instant, Tidas zipped over. Nearly knocking Skye over with the force of his stop. She laughed breathily, which sent a wave of desire throughout him. She was so beautiful when she smiled and laughed.

“Finally decided to join us, did ye? Ye gonna tell me how ye managed this? Where are exactly are we?” Skye asked as she hugged her husband.

“I missed you, so I ordered Shasta and Zas to handle the RMC for the day.. My father knows Zazzy’s getting too big to stay cooped up in the palace. And poor Peggy actually asked Me, to help her solve her time dilemma.. I’m sorry Skye, but she’s just too big now; she has to stay here.”

Skye’s eyes went wide as her ire went from nothing to boiling in seconds; “What the Hell Tidas?! She’s not a pet! She’s not some Thing that ye get rid of because she’s become an inconvenience! Oh! When we get back to the palace ima gonna punch Maggie squared in his face!”

“Skye! Don’t talk like that! And it wasn’t my father’s idea, it was mine,” Tidas replied hastily, then immediately regretted how he’d said it.

Skye’s fury was now aimed in her husband’s direction, but he had a plan; “Before you try to drown or bury me, give me five minutes to explain and show you. If you don’t like it, I’ll try to figure out another solution, alright?”

Skye eyed her husband suspiciously a few moments before she spoke in a stern, unwavering tone; “Alright, but if I don’t like it, Magnus is wakin’ up to a thousand pound baby dragon on his chest..”

Tidas chuckled lightly; “Can she even be called a baby anymore? Look at how tall she is! She’s only about two feet shorter than my horse, and almost twice the length if you include her tail.. Really, it’s a miracle she’s fit for so long..”

Skye knew her husband was making an excellent point, but she still didn’t want to hear it. They’ve had to replace nearly every piece of furniture in their room, and Peggy’s, multiple times. It really was like trying to keep a horse in a house, but Skye didn’t care. She had plenty of money to replace such things, and just wanted Zazzy near her..

However; running around in the field had finally driven the point home for Skye. Zazzy looked how she always used to: energetically happy. For the past month she’d gradually become more and more lethargic. Every time she’d start to get excited, she’d break something and get chided for it. It wasn’t her fault; she just wanted to play like she’d always done.

It broke Skye’s heart to watch her sleep more than the journals said she should for her age. The reason was obvious when her surroundings were taken into account.. Tidas hated seeing his family suffer in any way, so he agreed to the deal with his father to gain the place they were now. Somewhere away from prying eyes so that both Skye and Zazzy could feel comfortable.

The three were walking along as Tidas explained the series of events that led them there. As his tale came to a close, they stopped a few yards away from a newly built cottage, and what looked like the king of all barns. The cottage reminded Skye of a bigger version of the one they’d stayed at for their honeymoon, and the place they’d found Zazzy.

Suddenly realizing the big picture, Skye turned to Tidas; “Is this for us?! Are we stayin’ here with Zazzy?!”

Tidas grinned cockily; “Well, not every night.. We’ll still have to stay at the palace most nights, but I figured this would give you two a place to play and train.”

Skye quirked a curious eyebrow at her husband, but inwardly panicked a bit. ‘Does he know that I unlocked another trait?! Or does he think I want privacy to work on me strategies I stupidly told him I was workin’ on, to beat him at the trials? Maybe ima overthinkin’ it.. PLEASE let me be overthinkin’ it!’

As Skye argued with herself, Tidas walked over to the door to the cottage. Grabbing and twisting the handle, he opened it wide, then turned back to his wife. Still dazed, she stared at him blankly as he gestured to go inside. As she walked towards him, Tidas’ grin softened as he said; “Come on, the best part is inside..”