Macha's Journey

Despite tonight being the special dinner she planned for their big move-in day, the orders for his deployment caused his spirits to be down. He tried to push the sadness out of his mind for now.

Tyr walked up behind her, the smell of boiling chicken filled in the air. Today Macha made his favorite, cold ginger chicken. He wrapped his arms around her and bent down to rest his chin on the top of her head, "You"re making my favorite, Emerald Chicken." He enjoyed referring to it as that because the green onions reminded him of emeralds.

She had been chopping the green onions, so she put the chef"s knife down and raised her hand to touch his cheek. Turning her face up, Macha gave him a kiss. She rolled her eyes, "Yes, we"re having ??????? Chicken." She emphasized the word emerald because he knew he was being silly.

Tyr gently scooted her to the side and took the knife. Although they agreed that she would cook the dinner, he wanted to have some memories of being in the kitchen with her. As he raised the counter height, she reminded him, "I said I would make dinner for you tonight."

A painful look crossed Tyr"s face. "I know, but let me do this with you. I enjoy it."

Macha had already finished the cake, so her secret surprise was ready and waiting for dessert. He seemed upset about something, so she did not want to stop him from helping. To comfort him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and asked, "How was the meeting? What did Freyr need?"

The peaceful moment he enjoyed had been shattered by the weight of her question. "Can we talk about it after dinner? It"s something we need to have an important conversation about." He felt positive Macha would wait for him, but he wanted to give her the option to break off their relationship.

Her heartbeat quickened. He sounded serious, and she fretted about what could have happened. Her voice came out soft when she replied, "Of course. I actually have something I needed to confess to you during dessert." She gave a nervous chuckle, "Looks like today is full of important conversations." Now Macha worried about confessing her feelings to him.

Hearing that she had something significant to tell him caused Tyr to panic. There were not many things he deemed meaningful enough that she would need to reveal during a serious discussion.

The mention of giving him a dessert gave him a frown. She liked to do that before any big news to make him happier. It was a little trick that he enjoyed, but with the impending deployment, he worried.

Thoughts of what Macha wished to tell him filled his mind. At first, he thought she might want to break up, but he quickly rejected that idea. She just muttered she loved him while she slept a few weeks ago.

Then he wondered if it was health related. The worry of her becoming pregnant entered his mind. The doctor in Kochi mentioned she would need to have an operation if she had a child. If he was gone and she was pregnant, no one would be able to look after her to the degree he demanded. Also, he still did not know if he wanted a baby. These worries preoccupied him and he cut himself with the knife. "Ah!"

"Tyr!" Macha cried out. She saw that he became distracted and was about to warn him when he brought the blade down on his finger. He was an expert fighter and had wonderful reactions, so it was unusual for him to hurt himself while being in the kitchen.

When he felt a sharp pain and heard Macha cry his name, Tyr glanced down. A copious amount of blood streamed from the wound. He immediately grabbed a towel to cover his finger. "I"ll go see Mathis."

Later when he came back, Macha already finished setting the dinner table and cooking the food. The table looked beautiful and had a very romantic aura to it. The scene was perfect but also left him feeling bittersweet. They just moved into their new apartment and he would have to leave.

When Tyr sat down she joked, "Sorry, it turned out to be a Ruby and Emerald Chicken. Is your finger all right?"

"Yeah. It wasn"t that bad," he replied.

As they ate dinner and listened to music, Macha chatted about various topics. While she talked, he thought about how moments like this would be the ones he was going to miss most. The small, almost meaningless things that made up each day.

After dinner, Tyr cleared away the plates and sat back down at the table for dessert. For now, he did not bring up the war because he wanted to hear what she had to say first.

When he took his seat, Macha brought out a cake stand that had a lid on top of it. She placed it in front of Tyr and pulled her chair closer, so she was seated right next to him.

Taking a deep shaky breath she began, "Tyr, whenever I"m with you I feel so happy. We"ve had our differences in the past, but I think they made our relationship stronger. I like that I can be honest with you and that you"re so direct." Macha paused and realized she was not being transparent with her confession at all.

She gave an uneasy smile and licked her lips. ????????, ?? ????? ???, she reminded herself.

Her hands shook as she grabbed his hand. "Look. What I"m telling you is," she raised the lid, "I love you."

Tyr did not understand where she was going with her initial rambling. It was not until she lifted the bowl and he saw the chocolate cake with the plaque that said, "I love you" written on it that he smiled. When he looked over at her, she had a worried expression on her face.

He put his arm around her and hugged her tightly. "I know," he whispered.

His reaction did not turn out the way she wanted. He almost sounded sad. Pushing away from him Macha asked, "What"s wrong? You don"t seem happy at all." Now she feared that revealing her feelings was dangerous and began regretting her actions.

He exhaled and explained, "Don"t misunderstand. I"m happy but the timing grieves me." He ran his fingers through his bangs and rubbed his forefinger on his lower lip.

There was no easy way to tell her so he revealed it plainly, "I have to join the Kochi-Toowoomba war. I leave in two weeks."

Macha was left speechless. The fear she felt for his life left her speechless. Eventually, she calmed down, "Two weeks? How long are you gone for?"

A frown formed on Tyr"s face. This was the part he needed to talk about with her and he steeled himself for her response. He swore if she did not want to wait for him, he would accept it. "I can"t say. It could be a few months or a few years. I really don"t know. Because I"m leaving for an unknown amount of time, I wanted to ask you..." he swallowed before continuing, "Did you want to wait for me? If not, I understand."

His question had been so sincere that it caused tears to pool in Macha"s eyes. The fact he even asked if she would wait pained her. She just told him she loved him.

"I want to wait for you if you"re okay with that." She sucked in a breath and choked out, "Will you wait for me?" It was a question she needed to be answered as well. While away, it was conceivable that he would find someone else.

Tyr took her into his arms. "There is nothing more I crave than for you to be here, waiting for me, when I return home. Of course, I"ll wait for you too. I swear to end the war as quickly as possible so I can be with to you."

Macha cried, through her sobs she said, "No! I need you to be safe. Take as long as you require, just promise to come back alive." The last thing she wanted was for him to make risky decisions to speed things up. Cutting himself with the kitchen knife earlier proved even small things could hurt him if he did not pay attention.