Macha's Journey

This year she planned to make him a platter of chocolate madeleines for Boreas"s Day. They both agreed that they did not need expensive gifts because she could not think of anything she wanted.

Tyr tried to find out what she might want, but she always said things that were not really for her or things that were too practical. The gifts she named ranged from new wallpaper for the living room to a new pair of gloves for winter. None of those seemed special to him. This holiday marked their anniversary, so he viewed it as important. As the days pa.s.sed and Boreas"s Day drew nearer, Try became frantic. He wanted to buy her a gift she would love as much as her ear-cuffs, which she wore every day.

One night, Tyr sat on the sofa and watched Macha frying noodles in a pan. The delicate curve of her wrist bent as she wiped a lock of hair out of her face. The steam from the frying pan caused the lights to glisten off of her.

Standing up, he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her waist. While she cooked, she still stood on the wooden box he brought up. Her hair smelled like bell peppers and glazed onions. He kissed the top of her head and nuzzled the back of her ear, "Can I help?" Macha always did the cooking, but Tyr hated that he had to be separated from her while she was in the kitchen.

Macha reached a hand up to caress his cheek gently. He had already a.s.sisted her with cutting the vegetables and she was in the last stages. There was not much left to do except add the final spices. "Could you find the salt I bought earlier today? I didn"t unpack it yet."

Obediently, Tyr moved to a bag that was still on the kitchen counter. As he rummaged through it, he realized he could get Macha a ring that allowed him to find her without a component. If she ever became kidnapped again, it would allow him to track her down easily.

The tricky part would be finding out her ring size. He pa.s.sed Macha the salt. Holding her hand he commented, "Your fingers are so small compared to mine." Tyr looped his pointer finger around one of Macha"s fingers, but she wiggled away.

"I don"t want to burn the noodles." She gave him a quick kiss and added a pinch of salt. After incorporating the salt, she held up a strand and blew on it. "What do you think? Needs more?"

Tyr opened his mouth and Macha slipped the noodle gently into his mouth. He did not care what she made. One time they made love in the kitchen and she burned a batch of cookies. He still ate all of them because she made them for him.

Right now his mind only focused on finding out her ring size. Distracted with that task, he replied, "Mmm, it"s good."

Macha tasted one. In her opinion, the noodle was bland and needed more salt, but if Tyr liked it, then she would add salt to her own plate. After deciding the other flavors were fine, she cut off the magic that was heating the stove.

Tyr took the pan and brought it to the table while she got the silverware and drinks. He liked that sometimes she let them eat out of the pan. This style of eating was practical and made fewer dishes for them to wash. That meant they had more time to do other things.

Throughout dinner, he was quiet but continually watched her eat. His constant observation made Macha nervous. "Tyr, what is it?" she asked cautiously.

The p.r.o.ngs of the fork Tyr used, stabbed his plate, missing his food. He barely looked at his meal. "Nothing," he said in a distant voice. He had been calculating how wide her finger looked compared to the fork in her hand. No matter how hard he tried, he could not reliably decide how to get a good estimate of her ring size. For now, he decided that he needed to wait. He would try again while Macha slept.

That night Macha lay fast asleep, sprawled out in the bed. She always nuzzled up next to him so closely that his body threatened to fall off the bed.

Her hand lay on his chest and he plucked a long hair from his head. He slipped it around the easiest finger to reach and used a small amount of wind magic to slice the hair where it met up. Tyr tossed the excess to the side and placed the measured length in his nightstand drawer.

After accomplishing his task, he slid Macha over to the middle of the bed and moved further in. Tomorrow he would run down to the jeweler and order the matching rings to be made. He already collected a few strands of her hair and he would provide strands of his own hair at the jewelers. As far as he foresaw, those were probably the only requirements to make the rings he wanted.

Tyr already knew he wanted a simple band they could wear under their gloves or gauntlets. It was practical and she would not have an excuse to take it off.

****

Boreas"s Day slipped Krystof"s mind until Luna mentioned she would bake him a surprise and cook him a romantic dinner at her place. He tried to sweet talk his way out of it, but she insisted that they spend their evening together like that.

To Krystof it sounded like torture. He knew she was a slob and seeing her clothes and dishes around her apartment would distract him the whole evening. He loved her, but he was not delusional about Luna"s cooking abilities either. The whole evening sounded like she schemed to make him unhappy. The only shining ray of hope was that he would spend it with her.

Krystof entered the jeweler"s shop and was surprised to find Tyr sitting at the counter. He walked up and sat down beside him. He crossed his arms on the counter and leaned over, "Hey, ya waited until the last minute too, huh?" As soon as he sat down, he saw the a.s.sortment of wedding bands laid out in front of his friend.

Tyr barely glanced at Krystof and gave a nod. He continued his conversation with the worker, "All of these can hold the enchantment I wanted?" He wanted them to have matching rings so either one of them could find the other if necessary.

"Yes, Lord Valois. We make the ones in this row with only S grade materials, which can hold the strongest enchantments. They are superior in every way to the ones from the other tiers." It excited the shop a.s.sistant to make such an easy high profile sale. Unlike other n.o.bles, he was decisive and clear about what he wanted.

Tyr took a moment to deliberate between two of the styles. He touched his finger to his lip, "Hmm..."

One had a floral pattern engraved along the band and could fit a stone in it. The other had a solid black band that fit three stones into it. Both bands would have the stones flush against the metal, so it would not catch on anything. He really liked the black one, but the floral one matched the ear-cuffs he bought Macha already. In his opinion, the floral one was a little flashy for his tastes.

In a flat voice, he turned to Krystof, "Which one?"

Although Tyr asked which style was better, Krystof was still trying to make sense of the situation. The rings were clearly wedding bands. "What idiot asks someone to pick out their rings for them," he thought. This was an important decision that Tyr needed to make on his own.

Despite his reluctance to help, Krystof did not understand why his friend had even looked at the black one. It seemed too somber for a marriage ring. The floral one was obviously a better choice.

He worded his reply with care. "Whatever ya pick Macha will like. Just think about her when ya make your decision, after all, she"s gonna to wear it for the rest of her life." He did not expect Tyr to ask Macha to marry so soon. It seemed out of character for his friend. Although he viewed it as strange, he did not know the depth of their relationship and kept his opinions on the matter to himself.

A few moments went by and Tyr chose the golden floral design. He would have preferred the black one, but he realized the gold would look better on her. "Remember, I want the best of everything," he reminded the worker. He did not want them to use a second-rate crafter, enchanter, or materials for this.

His eyes quickly glanced over at Krystof. He leaned over the counter and added in a lower voice, "Also, send word when the pendant is completed. I will pick that up myself. I don"t want that delivered." Today he had also ordered an Abyzou pendant for himself to ensure he did not get Macha pregnant.

He then paid for the rings and bid Krystof farewell. Now that he was finished with his errand, he would pick Macha up at the chocolate shop.

Krystof lamented over Tyr"s gift. Whatever he chose would be overshadowed by the news of a wedding.

When the attendant turned to him, he looked around. Picking out a gift for Luna was easy. He pointed to a charm of a cooking spatula. "I want that. I also want an S grade chain for it that can hold the weight of a spell book," all excitement he had earlier was drained away. He really thought his gift would be a winner, but Tyr pulled a fast one on him.

Krystof picked his gift because Luna talked about how she liked charms, but could never use them. He decided weeks ago that he would have the jeweler fashion her a chain for her spell book that would allow her to hang the charms on it.