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“I’m glad to see some things don’t change,” he commented with a nostalgic grin.

Tidas chuckled; “If anything, she loves food even more now that she has an excuse to eat as much as she can.”

Skye shot him a look as she said; “And do me eatin’ habits bother you, husband?”

Tidas shook his head; “No dear. I actually love that you don’t pick at your food like the women at court do. I hate wasting food, and too much gets wasted and thrown out at the palace. I’ve convinced my Father to have some leftovers sent to the closest homeless shelter, but my brother refuses to let all of it go..”

“He has this disturbed notion that people will take advantage of it, and not buy food,” Tidas finished with a disgusted look on his face.

Genie quirked an eyebrow at him as they began to walk towards the ship, and commented; “Does he not realize that if his working citizens feel inclined to have to do that, then that’s a large warning sign unto itself?”

Tidas shook his head; “No. He just sees them as ‘freeloaders taking advantage of the system’. A system that the taxpayers pay for, not him. The majority of Alcon’s tax revenue comes from it’s regular citizens, not the nobility. They should be paying the lion’s share of them, because they’re the land owners, but my brother has made so many deals throughout the years that they hardly pay anything at all anymore.”

Genie sighed sadly; “I understand what you’re saying. More than once while I was in Alcon, I witnessed the Alconian nobles taking advantage of their servants, artists, and the merchants. Sai has laws in place that bridge the gap in pay, but Alcon is still lost in the past. If your father’s not careful, he may let your brother’s policies lead to a civil war.”

.....

“If that happens, then the other kingdoms will pounce on us,” Tidas added.

Skye looked between the two men as she walked with either of them on her sides, and said; “Is Alcon really that bad? It didna seem that way.”

Genie nodded; “Let’s just say that the people who drink at Alfred’s don’t really care if their opinions are heard. Even if they tread on the line between opinion, and treason.”

Skye laughed; “Aye, most of those guys be a hoot! But they never say anythin’ bad about Magnus, except that they think he’s crazy fer lettin’ Marco make most of the decisions instead of doin’ it himself.”

A gentle breeze carried a soft, but crisp scent, and teased at the nearby trees. The sun was shining down with an enveloping warmth that was rare for the time of year they were in. Skye knew that Sai stayed much warmer all year round than Alcon, but their fall felt like the end of Alcon’s springtime.

As Tidas and Genie discussed what other types of conversations were had in The Cat’s Paw, Skye chimed in; “Hey! How bout we eat outside wit Zazzy, and have a picnic?! The weather’s too beautiful ta pass up on enjoyin’. Especially since we’ve basically been stuck on that boat fer over a week.”

Tidas and Genie exchanged an amused smile between themselves before Genie replied; “I don’t see why we can’t. Although we don’t really have enough food to feed Zazzy yet. Not until we reach Sai.”

Skye beamed; “That’s fine. She’s been huntin’ fer herself this whole time, anyways. I just hope ya got somethin’ big enough fer her ta eat around here.”

Genie chuckled; “There’s still elk around here, but the closer we get to Sai, the more dependent she’ll become on us to feed her. Much of Sai’s land has been converted to farmland, and areas that haven’t been are generally protected. It’s not as fertile as Alcon’s soil, but we’ve been improving our cultivation methods based off of knowledge we’ve gained from ancient tomes.”

Skye smirked cheekily; “I might be able ta help wit that.”

“Your Earth magic capabilities can be another item on the bargaining table. Kinda like what we did with the Highlanders,” Tidas added.

Skye and Genie exchanged a look, then agreed with Tidas’ idea. Every advantage they could get, they would take. If a war really was coming, then they would need all of the support that they could get, and Skye didn’t mind the manual labor as long as she was fed, and the peace pact secured.

If Sai decided to remain neutral, Skye knew that would leave Alcon, Ruscovic, and the Highlanders against Sync, Ital, and Meccano.. ‘Not ta mention that the Fire Nation is a wild card.. Even if we can get the support of the Fae Nation, tis pointless if they canna get supplies to us..’

‘Sync and the Fire Nation basically control the seas.. Between the Fae and Sai, we might be able ta get two or three ships here outta of every ten ships, but I refuse that kinda cost.. Me Da’s ships could help a lot since they fly flags that keep’em safe from the Fire Nation, but Sync is a different story..’

As the stress of it all made Skye’s brow furrow and her face scrunch, Tidas placed his hand on her shoulder; “Don’t worry about all of that now, love. There’s nothing we can do yet, and stressing over it doesn’t help. Let’s go get some food instead.”

A giant grin stretched across Skye’s face; “Aye, husband.. Ya always ken just what ta say.”

“That’s why you call me husband,” he replied with a cocky smile.

Quirking her eyebrow at him, Skye grinned and said; “Oh? And here I thought that was cause I love ya, and I married ya.”

“That too,” he replied simply, then went in for a kiss.

Genie smiled to himself as he turned away from the couple. They had loved each other for as long as he had known them, and that all-encompassing love had never changed. It had grown more intense as they had aged, and had never diminished in any way.

It made him both happy, and a touch sad. He was Skye’s favorite person when she was a child, and now she threw herself at Tidas. Genie recognized the stab of jealousy in his heart, but he shoved it down. A long time ago, he had promised himself to only ever love Skye like a sister or daughter: no matter what his heart tried to convince him of.

Not only was she in love with Tidas, but Skye was too young for him in his eyes. If he had just been born ten or fifteen years later, then he wouldn’t of cared. He would’ve thrown his hat into the ring for her hand, even if he knew that Lucas would never break off her engagement to Tidas.

Shaking his head, Genie suppressed all of the bubbling emotions that he usually kept on lockdown, then said; “I’ll go talk to the chef. You two stay here and enjoy the weather while you can. Sai doesn’t get much snow, but it does get cold, and it rains a lot during the winter here.”

The two smiled and thanked him before walking over to join Hana and their scaly bairn. Zazzy wasn’t paying attention, but Hana had an Inkling as to how her master truly felt about Skye. As she watched him head back to the ship, Hana turned towards Skye, and asked; “What is it about you that makes them believe in you so much?”

“Who?” Skye asked with a confused expression.

Hana sighed; “Master Jin-I mean Genie, Mei, her father.. Why do they all have so much faith in someone they’ve barely seen, let alone actually know?”

Skye donned a quizzical expression, like she was seriously trying to answer, then did; “I havena the foggiest idea. Probably a combination of the merit I’ve earned, and the strong-headed lass that they knew me as. Mei is like a sister ta me, and if Genie woulda told me that she was bein’ threatened before I went to the Highlands: I woulda came here instead..”

“I dinna think I can ‘save Sai’ like Genie says, but I’ll do whatever I can ta help. Honestly, I dinna like the idea of usin’ me trait as a bargaining chip. That effects the people more than the Senators, and they’re our targets. When one believes that innocent people are acceptable collateral damage, an expectation even: then you’ve already lost half the battle.”

As goosebumps rose up on Hana’s arms, Skye continued; “People themselves are the most important resource we humans have. Together, we can Literally be equal to the forces of nature. Do ya know what we did in the past? OUR past?”

As the blanket and food were set out, Skye told Hana about a few of the wonders humans had created in ancient times. Buildings so tall that they touched the clouds.. Bridges made of metal that stretched for miles over water.. Vehicles called planes that flew through the sky like dragons..

Clothes, guns, movies, and games; Hana asked question after question while they ate their food at a leisurely pace. She knew of certain things from their past because it was taught in Sai’s schools, but Alcon had the world’s largest collection of ancient artifacts and tomes. Because of that, Skye’s knowledge of the past was far beyond what the scholars of Sai knew...or so they thought.

Genie sat with a stoic expression as Skye and Hana rapidly talked with one another. He wished that he could tell them that the scholars had an entire archive that was kept from the public’s knowledge, but that would have to wait until he gained the Senate’s approval to tell them..

As Genie started to think over the steps he would take once they were inside the capital, Peggy came out with platter after platter of food. She knew that they would all be hungry, and had made sure to talk the chef into letting her help cook. It was rare for Peggy to get the chance to learn new recipes, so she planned on hovering quite a bit wherever they went.

As the last of the napkins were set out with the place settings, Peggy called out to the group; “Food’s on! Come and get it before I feed it all to the dragon!”