Chapter 573

573 Awkward Apologies

Genie flew around his brother’s home for a good twenty minutes before Zazzy finally made him go down. He showed her the oversized barn that Bai Lei had built. It was on short notice, but it was for the Last Dragon, so he spared no expense.

Because of who the structure was for, the contractors gave Bai Lei a generous discount, but it had still cost him a small fortune..

A massive bed had to be built inside of the structure instead of brought in, and a place for people to sit and visit with Zazzy was built into the opposite wall. It had electricity running to it for both light and heat. In all honesty: it was nicer than many homes Genie had seen in his life.

He made sure that she was settled, and he even covered her with the blanket that the Highlanders had made for her. After nuzzling him goodnight, Genie left, but he didn’t go inside right away. Instead, he flew off to the garden in the central courtyard.

Warmly-dressed servants were rushing around, to finish off their duties for the night. Bai Lei had ordered the garden decorated at well, and the servants were just finishing up when they were disturbed by a gust of wind. When Genie landed, he apologized for the disruption, and complimented the workers on a beautiful job.

They’d spent the past few days buying and setting up decorations for Yuletide, which hadn’t been easy. They had to get several books to know what everything should look like, and had mainly gone off of the pictures they’d seen.

“Lord Laos! Good evening! Is there something that you need?” an older woman asked as she waddled towards him.

“Greetings, Madam Bing. I was just coming to clear my head. How are the preparations coming?”

The bundled woman grinned; “It goes well, although I do not understand why the westerners feel the need to have such lavish decorations.”

.....

Genie’s smile turned into a smirk; “You should not judge so harshly, Madam. We tend to do the same for our New Years celebrations. This year will be especially special, thanks to Zazzy.”

The old woman’s face shifted into an annoyed expression; “That is different. Everyone celebrates the New Year. And I like how simple our holiday is. This one is too...flashy. Just wait a few moments and you will see. The Lord and his guests should be out here shortly.”

When Genie fidgeted at her words, Madam Bing knew that he was really avoiding the guests. She had known him practically his entire life, and was one of the only allies that he’d had growing up. If it weren’t for her, then Genie never would’ve been able to see his brother..

“Since you are here, you can clear the snow that has covered up all of our hard work,” Madam Bing stated, bringing Genie out of his head.

He nodded in the positive, then flicked his wrist at an angle. A light gust of wind started to blow around the loose snow that had covered up the majority of the decorations. He tried to leave the snow on the lights intact since he recalled Skye saying once that she thought the snow made the colored lights look prettier.

At the thought of her, an image from earlier popped into his head, and broke his concentration. Genie apologized after sending a decent amount of snow flying at a few servants that were just trying to set up a few woven reindeer. As he finished up, Genie could feel eyes burning a hole into him..

“What was that nonsense?” Madam Bing asked with a mixture of worry, and annoyance on her face.

Genie flashed a smile and apologized, giving the excuse that cold air was harder to control than warm. It was a bogus reason, but the old woman nodded all the same, then went back to finishing tying a large bow onto a bench. Right as she put the last touch on it, and the other servants carried off the last of the crates; the doors from the living quarters opened..

“Here you are! I was beginning to wonder where you had flown off to,” Bai Lei said as he led his guests into the central courtyard.

Genie barely moved, knowing that once he turned around: he would have to face Skye and Tidas.

Swallowing hard, he turned to see Skye’s cheeks beet-red, and Tidas glaring at him. It was the exact reaction that he was afraid of, and had no idea what to say. As the awkward silence stretched, Peggy was the one to break the tension..

“OY! It’s colder than a frost giant’s arse cheek out here! Can we Please move this along?! We still got a ton of unpackin’ ta do, too.”

The tension had instantly broken as even Hang snickered at Peggy’s description of the weather. Tidas still looked upset, but at least he didn’t look like he wanted to kill him anymore. Genie counted himself lucky for that.

Skye’s cheeks were still pink, but Genie wrote it off as the weather. She hadn’t been outside long enough for her skin to grown rosy from the cold, but it was the only way that he could look at her. The image from earlier tried to creep into his head again, but he shoved it down.

Right as he went to speak to them, a servant called out that everything was ready. Bai Lei double-checked with Madam Bing, then gave the signal to throw the power switch..

The pentagon-shaped courtyard lit up with a myriad of colors as lights twinkled, and cast their rainbow glow against the snow. The stark whiteness of it projected the lights to every corner of the garden, and reached up towards the night sky with it’s warm glow.

As Skye looked around, her eyes and smile grew wide at the obvious effort put in by the staff. Colored lights wrapped around garland encircled the entirety of the courtyard. The beginning and end of each row of plants had either candy cane stands, or elves rotating in a pattern. And and small strings of lights keeping the rows sectioned.

A gazebo usually sat in the middle of the garden, but the roof, seats, and sides had been dismantled. The convertible stage had an overgrown evergreen that had been beautifully decorated sitting in the middle. As the snow fell, it had gathered onto the branches, and made the tree look like it was glowing.

Genie was standing in front of it, admiring a fresh snowflake that had fallen onto a low-hanging branch when Skye came to stand next to him. They stood side by side for a moment, just staring at the tree together. Tidas could see them, and cranked up his Tank trait a bit so he could hear their conversation.

Skye reached out and touched a shimmery red bulb as she avoided looking at Genie. He also maintained his eye contact on the now-melting snowflake, feeling as uncomfortable as she was. An awkward quiet settled between them for a few moments before Skye gained the courage to speak..

“Yer brother’s servants did a wonderful job. Everything looks so beautiful out here, and inside as well. Have ye seen inside yet?”

Genie cleared his throat; “No, not yet. I just returned from tucking Zazzy in for the night.”

Skye’s face lit up as she finally looked Genie in his eyes; “How is she? Is it big enough fer her? Did she ask about me and Tidas?”

Genie couldn’t help but smile at the genuine excitement on her face; “She’s fine. Though I don’t know if she asked for you two or not. Don’t forget that I don’t speak dragon.”

With his comment, Skye nodded as she said; “True, but ya two have yer own way ta communicate. She said so herself.”

Genie grinned like he usually did as he replied; “Yes, but it’s not very...detailed, so to speak. We can mainly only do yes or no questions and answers. Otherwise it becomes too involved, and takes forever.”

“I got a dumb suggestion: put a chalk board in her wee house, and we’ll teach her how ta write properly. She can already read Alconian, so teachin’ her how should be a piece of cake. So long as we can find a big enough chalk board.”

“And chalk,” Genie added, which dispelled any remaining tension between them.

Out of nowhere, Skye blurted out; “Ima sorry that ya had ta...experience that, earlier. Twas my fault, and I apologize.”

Genie felt his heart beginning to beat hard as he replied; “I admit that it was a bit of a shock to see you like that-you two like that, but it’s not my place to comment on it.”

Skye scoffed; “Peggy chided us a good one before we came inside.. Again, Ima so sorry that ya had ta see-”

“It’s fine, Skye. I’m just glad that things won’t become awkward, right?”

Catching his meaning, Skye beamed as she replied; “Aye! It never happened! Now, about that chalk board..”

The two spoke about covering the basics of writing, like the alphabet, which Skye argued that they didn’t need to do. Zazzy was already capable of reading, so she already knew what each letter and word should look like. The two were debating the subject when Tidas came over, and told them that dinner was being served shortly.

He still looked angry with Genie, but not enough to cause a scene. Tidas was ready to push it aside for the night, but Genie asked them to wait a moment as the courtyard cleared. The glare that Tidas shot him almost made him flinch, but Genie maintained his usual congenital expression as he spoke to them..

“I understand that what happened earlier was embarrassing for all of us, but you two are married adults. It is expected that you...engage, in such activities. But please refrain from doing it outside of Locked doors from now on, okay?”

Skye nodded in the positive, then looked up at her husband expectantly. In truth, he wanted to snap at Genie for the look he’d had during the incident, but doubted himself again as he looked from his wife, to his friend and mentor. With a heavy sigh, Tidas outwardly relented, but the suspicion was already growing.

As they all walked back inside, Tidas swore to avoid leaving Genie and Skye alone as much as possible...