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Tidas looked at Maevis like she’d said the most preposterous thing in the world, then replied; “If the war starts, then a messenger will be sent to Sai to recall us. I’ve already cleared that with my Father since I’m the Commander of the RMC. As to my Father dying any time soon: I seriously doubt that. Magnus MacArthur is as stubborn as they come. He won’t be leaving this world until he meets his future grand bairns.”

Maevis’ expression scrunched with worry; “You can’t just hope for the best, Tidas. If something happens to your father, then your brother will become king. Can we trust him to put the kingdom ahead of his own agenda?”

“And what agenda are you so worried about, exactly?” Lawrence asked as he sipped a freshly poured cup of tea.

Maevis paused like she was arguing with herself, then replied; “I can’t confirm anything yet until Nic returns, but a Brownie spy said that they saw an envelope with Marco’s crest on it addressed to Karena’s brother, and-”

“That’s not unusual. It’s his brother-in-law, and an ally, as tenuous as that title is right now. It makes sense that he would send a letter after reports of Meccano joining up with Sync,” Lawrence interrupted with his reply.

Maevis brushed it off as she gave her own theory; “Was in really a betrayal? Or an order on his part?”

Right as Tidas and Lawrence had started to speak, Maevis talked over them; “I’m not saying anything for certain: it’s just a theory of mine and Titania’s. We think that Marco is somehow manipulating the kingdoms, and is trying to start the war..”

“Why though? What does he have to gain?” Shasta asked with the same level of confusion that everyone else had displayed on their faces.

.....

Maevis gave them a half shrug as she replied; “We don’t know. Maybe he wants a stable peace pact for when he takes over the crown? Or he could be luring everyone into some kind of trap. Making us kill each other off before he takes power..”

“Titania can’t make an accurate prediction without more variables to calculate from. I was trying to say before that Ital has also received a message from Alcon, but it didn’t have Marco’s crest on it. Nic went to deliver a paper that he’d borrowed from Marco’s office to a Brownie spy, so we won’t find out the truth for several months.”

“Don’t you mean stole? I seriously doubt that Marco was gracious enough to let him into his office to choose,” Tidas commented as he got up from the bench to stretch his legs.

Maevis smirked lightly; “I said borrowed, didn’t I? He’ll get it back after we confirm either his innocence, or guilt.”

An uneasy silence filled the field as everyone stacked the dishes. If the Empress of the Fae thought that Marco had a hand in the impending war, then it had to be an actual possibility. Tidas and Lawrence were having issues believing that Marco would start a war, but Skye and Shasta didn’t think it was as far-fetched of an idea as their men.

Shasta just didn’t like Marco, and believed that he was capable of doing something like starting a war for some kind of personal gain. Even if they could fathom his intentions at the moment, her instincts had always told her that he was extremely dangerous. And unsurprisingly: Skye had the same instinct.

Marco had always made her feel uncomfortable, and Skye had avoided him long before he had made direct passes at her. She hadn’t been aware of how often he had watched her from a distance whenever she’d stayed at the palace, but she had always known when he was close. Like death was watching her live, and anxiously awaiting the day that he could take it from her.

Skye shook the disturbing thoughts from her head as Lawrence started to poke holes in Maevis and the Fae Empress’ theory. He didn’t understand why Marco would trigger a war when he was so close to becoming king. In his mind: very few benefited from going to war, and he didn’t believe that his brother was one of them.

Skye disagreed. She believed many could benefit from war, but that few profited from it. Depending upon who won, many regular people, like the Sync populace; could greatly benefit from having a tyrant removed from power. But as to why wars started: it was usually due to the rich nobility attempting to maintain their control over the masses.

After reading so many ancient tomes, Skye believed that the people should elect who they wished to rule them. There were instances in history where elections were more like popularity contests instead of the intellectual culling that they were meant to be. But after a younger, supposedly first-world country had a series of ridiculous leaders; the world as a whole seemed to realize that such positions were better left to intelligent people versus charismatic ones.

The road to that realization was filled with turmoil, and Skye didn’t want what happened back then to repeat. Marco was highly intelligent, but he had no empathy for the majority of the population. In his mind: they were responsible for their own positions in life, and believed that society itself had nothing to do with their development.

As they all chatted and carried the dishes inside, Skye lost herself in her thoughts.. ‘It’s been proven over and over that an uneducated populace wit unhealthy livin’ conditions crumbles quality of life fer everyone involved except the elites.. Tidas has done so much ta fix that without even understandin’ how important it is..’

Looking to her husband, a soft smile spread across Skye’s face.. ‘He’s such a good man.. He’d make a Much better king than-oh shite.. Is that it?! Does Marco think Tidas will aim fer the crown?! Is that why he’s makin’ a pact between the other kingdoms?!’

“Oh shite,” Skye said out loud, but Maevis was the only one who had caught it.

Fluttering closer, Maevis asked what was wrong. Skye tried to make it seem like nothing, but Maevis wasn’t dense. After a bit of badgering, Skye finally told her about her forming theory..

“So Meccano, Sync, and Ital are forming an alliance, but no one has approached Lawrence, the Highlanders, or Sai-”

“As far as we know. The Brownies can’t exactly communicate in real time. It takes days for information to reach us,” Maevis replied, matching Skye’s hushed tone.

Skye shook her head; “Na. I think if the mastermind was gonna include those three, they would’ve at least received an offer by now. Plus: do ya realize the commonality?”

“What do you mean?”

Skye stepped off to the side to avoid the others hearing her; “The Highlanders, Sai- they would support Tidas, given the chance. Well, at least I Think Sai would choose Tidas over Marco. Bein’ the Father of the Last Dragon would probably sway ’em. And I think Lawrence already told Tidas that he’d support him if he wanted it.”

“He’s the biggest threat to his brother’s rule, and I think Marco is worried that Tidas will put in a claim on the throne. The Highlanders, Sai, Lawrence, and the common people would support him wholeheartedly. Maybe that’s what this is all about?”

What are you two talking about over here? The lads are stacking the dishes for Peggy, so,” Shasta trailed off.

“So you’ve come to annoy us instead? Don’t lie: you just don’t want to be anywhere near the water,” Maevis quipped, unsure if Skye wanted her to hear her theory or not.

Catching on, Skye nodded at Mae reassuringly before saying; “We were discussin’ why Marco is settin’ up everythin’ fer a war.. I think it’s because he’s afraid that Tidas will take his crown.”

“...That makes so much sense that it’s kinda scary.. And you’re kinda scary for realizing it,” Shasta stated right as Tidas and Lawrence came over.

The group stood in place, silently exchanging unnerved expressions until Peggy came in with the last of the dishes. Seeing their faces, she asked what was wrong, but no one would say anything at first. Not until she threatened to never cook again if someone didn’t talk.

Skye huffed in exasperation, then told her full theory to the group. They didn’t realize it, but Zazzy was right outside of the door listening in. She had never liked Marco since the moment she saw him. There had always been a nasty kind of aura emanating from him, and the fact that he had suggested killing Zazzy when Marco had first met her didn’t add anything good to her opinion of him.

As her family talked, Zazzy decided that she would do whatever it took to keep them safe...

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

Their ride back to the palace was silent as everyone contemplated what Skye had said. Maevis in particular was convinced that Skye was right, and flew off to go inform the Brownie spies that she wanted them to check into anything having to do with Marco within the other kingdoms. If she was right, then Maevis was almost positive that Marco was the Catastrophe.

‘I need to send a message to the Empress as well.. She’ll want to know Skye’s theory, and her logic behind it..’

Tidas broke off shortly after Maevis had, and headed straight for the RMC Headquarters. He knew that he was walking into a war zone from the start, and wasn’t eager to deal with the egotistical generals that were going to be flinging their verbal artillery at him. After handing off his horse and heading inside, Tidas sighed in exasperation as he walked down the halls..

The sounds of cursing and insults could be heard from all the way down the hallway. Sending a jolt of irritation throughout Tidas.. ‘They’re Generals, for crying out loud! How can they yell at each other like that?! ...It sounds like they’re puffing at each other.. Ugh..’

As he reached the doorway, the handful of guards outside stood at attention, saluted their Commander, then opened the door for him. Tidas thanked them, took a deep breath, then entered the room..

The six Generals gathered were all screaming at each other so much that they hadn’t even noticed Tidas come in. He sat down at the far end of the table, and listened to their nonsensical bickering for several minutes. When the only General not involved in the arguing noticed and saluted Tidas, the other followed suit with red faces.

Tidas stood up and shook his head in disappointment as he walked towards them, and said; “So I see you six have learned nothing from the passed two days.. Very well then. I guess I’ll have to come up with an exercise that’ll force you fools to cooperate with one another..”

As he came to a stop in front of them, the quiet General said; “Unless the penalty is death, I doubt that these idiots will work together.”

Tidas scoffed; “Did you forget that you’re one of those so-called idiots, Schneider?”

The man scoffed back; “Aye, but I only be a halfwit.. These fools are full-blown mental. I mean, come on: the fuck kinda General takes food from their men as a punishment? Or gives them ten lashes for disagreeing with them? It’s not just how they treat each other that’s the problem, Ti.”

Tidas sighed heavily; “It’s Commander or Prince Tidas, Noah. I’ve told you that a bunch of times already.”

Noah laughed; “Sorry, but it’s hard to do that when I’ve known you for so long. But aye, Commander. I’ll try my best to remember...probably.”

As Tidas chuckled, the five other Generals glared at Noah as one of them inquired; “Is it nice and warm there? Ya know, being balled up on the Commander’s lap like the yappy wee mutt you are?”