"But sir... "
"No buts, Marcus. I promised!"
"I know, sir, but Blackhawke is away, and if something comes up... " Marcus leaned against the doorway, brows knit in worry " ... and you're not here... "

Ian signed the last order in the stack his aide had brought into the office with a smile and looked up. "If something comes up, then Alodar is more than capable of handling it. And if HE is not about, Corwin has promised to be available, and he is even more capable. And if for some incomprehensible reason fifty thousand screaming orcs should suddenly descend upon Camelot... " Ian got up from behind the desk, strode for the door, then stopped and offered Marcus his hand in a melodramatically somber face. "... then it's been a honor serving with you!" He smiled brightly, stepped past the Lieutenant, and started a rapid descent of the stairs, calling back over his shoulder. "I made my lady wife a promise. It’s a day off, and we are going to have one, dammit! And Marcus?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Try to be less serious!" He disappeared around a turn of the stairwell.

**********

Another few twists and turns brought Ian down into the kitchen through the servant's entrance. He blew a kiss at Cook with a wink as he made his way out towards the firehall, ducking as she took a swing with her frying pan with a return smile, and then he stepped out the door. Lumiere, as ever, was not perturbed by his entrance and calmly ducked under the bar to retrieve the already packed basket of food. "Your dinner, sir. And supper as well if need be. I took the liberty of packing some wine, an exceptionally fine vintage from when the French influence was prevalent at court."

"Thank you, Lumiere. Amazing, as usual." Ian started to dig for a few gold coins, but the other held an upturned palm.
"This is my pleasure, m’lord. Please, except this as my gift!"
"Lumiere! I... er... alright... " Ian shrugged, picked up the basket with an appreciative grunt at the hefty feel of it, and nodded. "I will always remember this."
"No need, sir!" Lumiere replied as Blackthorn strode out of ear shot. He grinned to himself as he turned to wipe the bar. "Just the peace and quiet of the pair of them being out of shouting range of the hall is payment enough."

*********

Ian had to blink hard when he emerged out into the courtyard. The mid-Summer sun flooded every nook of the place. And there, sitting on her gray horse, the light illuminating her red hair, sat his world. It was always like this. He would see her walk into the hall, or she'd be sitting there when he returned home, and suddenly, his breath would catch in his throat and nothing around them existed. He silently asked himself for the billionth time what he had ever done in his bloody life to be so lucky, and for the same billionth time he told himself to just accept his great good fortune and just love her. Which he did.

Coughing once to clear his throat, he then strode over and climbed up onto his own horse. "Lumiere packed enough to feed an army, love."

"Good! I told him to make sure there was plenty of food." Skye’s emerald eyes flashed with laughter. "Umm... diligence makes me very hungry!" She smiled, lightly tapped Myst with her knees, and the gray trotted off, leaving Ian to watch her with a bemused smile until it suddenly dawned on him she was nearly out of the gate. Then with a word to Horse and a loud whoop, he set out after them.

Ian Blackthorn 7/99


Day Off: Part II

Skye smiled, the sun warming her skin. Or was it him? She was never sure. Somehow, some way... being with him now had become even more perfect, even more fulfilling. It was a Gift, and the amazing thing is, he didn't even realize he had it.

"To the Manor first? We can check on the progress... and then there's that meadow you promised me, Ian." Skye grinned and turned the gray towards the almost completed Blackthorn Manor. Looking up at him, her green eyes expectant, she received his smile and expectant nod. "Just give me a promise of your own, wife... " Ian's laughing gaze catching hers. "No shooting the help this trip, hmmm?"

Skye laughed and they set off side by side... the horses at a comfortable canter and it seemed, the birds singing especially sweetly for them. Upon reaching the Manor, Skye moved to dismount, and then stopped, realizing her husband was already moving to help her. Her hand reached down to him, accepting his help as the thought again crossed her mind. He couldn't possibly have been a mercenary... just a warrior. His manners were so courtly, his emotions so evident in every little extra thing he did for her and their children. No... Ian was much more than a soldier, and a warrior... he was her husband and her life.

The Manor was coming along beautifully, the stained glass already in, and the gray stone and oak structure seeming at home in the stately wooded surroundings. Skye sighed happily and moved in front of her husband, not at all surprised when his arms went around her and he leaned forward to breathe into her ear softly. "Beautiful... absolutely beautiful". "I think so too... the house already looks like it belongs here. I cannae wait to move in." He turned her around to him... smiling softly. "I wasn't speaking strictly of the house." And with a kiss, Ian showed her without words exactly what he did mean.

Touring the grounds and making plans for the gardens, and stables and other things they wished to add once they were moved in, Skye and Ian conversed in soft tones, their hands clasped as they made the trip together. He smiled softly at her wish for an herb plot of her own... no longer would she raid Cook's stash for her healing basket. And she nodded at his plan for a separate training area for the horses they would raise and sell. It all seemed so easy now, hard to believe the number of times they'd been at swordpoints over one little thing or another. Time and maturity had mellowed them both... deepening the bond of love between them, and making the pettiness go by the wayside.

Skye waited as Ian spoke a few final words with the small crew of finishing workmen, her gray prancing a bit underneath her, as if anxious to leave. She reached forward and patted the creature's neck. "Easy Myst... easy. Ian promised us a meadow... and we shall have one. He isnae one to break his promises... 'tis a lesson ye'd do well to learn."

Ian looked at her questioningly as he mounted his own beast, having overheard the final words. "What is this about lessons, wife?"

"I was simply reminding Myst, M'Lord... once you make a promise... you never break it. And you did promise us a meadow... and perhaps... swimming?"

Skye Blackthorn 7/99


Day Off: Part III He had promised her a meadow, and he produced one. He took her by some quiet forest trails until the trees spread out and away and they were at the meadow on the ridge overlooking Camelot. He’d often told her of how he'd sit here for hours staring at the town and castle off in the distance. Now he shared it with her, and he laughed as he saw her expression as she took in the view.
“It’s quite a sight, hey?"
"Ian, it... it... it's WONDROUS!"
"Aye, that it is! That it is!" He took her down from her saddle, spinning her around as their lips met until dizziness tumbled them to the tall grass, and Nature took its course.

**********

Afterwards, he showed her where one of the streams that flowed into river below fed a small pool with a glimmering waterfall. They swam, and talked, then swam some more. When they tired, they spent a lazy hour or two drying on a flat rock jutting out at the meadow's edge, devouring either the food Lumiere provided or each other as the urge struck them. He laughed when she woke him from a nap with first a tickle and then much more, then chased her around the meadow, howling like a banshee until he caught her and they fell entwined in the tall grass. "Ian?" she asked sometime later. "D’ye think it was like this for the first elves... I mean... umm... "

"Running around naked in meadows making love?" He laughed. "Perhaps they did... until the first time one of them sat down and got a bramble in an uncomfortable spot." He hugged her as she laughed uproariously, then pointed out at the sun setting over Camelot. She listened quietly as he told her of his dreams... of his love of what Camelot stood for... of his eternal gratitude to Corwin for being his brother, laying all his hopes before her yet again like cherished treasures of his heart. All the time she sat and listened, occasionally asking a question or making a comment as one finger idly traced some scar or another of his. And finally he told her in words and other ways just how much her love had changed him, and how very much he loved her. "Soulmate, my shurrukai! We were meant to be one." He kissed her, and over their heads, the stars lit one by one.

Ian Blackthorn 7/99


Day Off: Part IV

She had convinced him... and now they lay together under the inky black sky, the stars seeming to wink at them as their day together wound to a close. She smiled softly, realizing perhaps that he needed this day, this moment to go on as much as she did. So they decided to spend the night out... and return at sun's light.

As her thoughts drifted... pictures came to her. Not those of Second Sight, but pictures of the heart, and the life she had made with Ian Blackthorn. Or rather, the life he had made for her. She recalled Ian's stoic nature, at first only bowing, and sipping his coffee. She had teased him a bit, asking him to tango and had gotten a lofted brow in response. How could she have ever thought him cold and remote? Somehow... her heart had known that beneath that facade was the man she would love forever. The attempt on her life... and the only thought besides Arista's safety was somehow getting to Camelot. Without realizing it, he had led her there, she knew she'd be safe... and she was. She had collapsed quite literally in his arms, and he had protected her. She had noted something, was it anguish perhaps? Lurking there, and as she lost consciousness, in a blinding flash she knew that she loved him, and that on some level, he needed her. Smiling now, curled in his arms, his heartbeat steady and warm beneath her cheek, the memories came fast and furious. The masque at Elspeth and Lerrad's... Michael ... the first wedding ... telling him of their impending parenthood ... the birth of the twins. Skye put a hand over his chest, the muscled flesh smooth as marble but warm... so warm.

How had he put up with her? For entangled in the many happy scenes, was the knowledge of the fights she had put him through, and the reputation they had gotten for feuding and fighting. To their defense, they hadn't known one another well when they married, but instead found their way, sometimes rather loudly as they built together and stepped forward.

Losing him had changed her. Cedric's return, and the torment she felt... she would never be the same. How could she have been so blind? Da was right. Loyalty sometimes was something you gave to your emotions first... to thine own self be true. And the truth was, she belonged with this man now sleeping wrapped around her. Watching the death of the impostor Blackthorn had been no easier, for it was all too poignant to see the life flee the eyes that looked so much like his. Yes... losing him had changed her. For now instead of loving him, she cherished him as well.

Drifting off, scenes from their day together filled her mind. Riding upon the meadow... the laughter and the warm kisses... Skye kneeling behind him to dry the burnished gold of his hair after their third... or was it fourth... swim. Making love with no restraints for the first time in their lives together, and the talks, him voicing his hopes and desires... and his overwhelming love for her which all at once strengthened and humbled her. Feeding each other the food from the basket, and then the nourishment of themselves... and when it was over and Skye lay weeping from the sheer beauty of it all, Ian had held her, and kissed the corners of her eyes, murmuring sweet disjointed phrases of love until her control returned.

Control... that's what it was all about. The giving and taking, and Skye had learned a lesson. This life with Ian wasn't a war to be waged with harsh words and cutting actions... she had stopped looking upon it as such. Learning instead, that the only way to win such a war with Ian Blackthorn was to be willing to lose the battles. They had both emerged victorious. They had each other. "I love you, Ian... the words sound so small... but I love you. You are my entire life, now and forever". The whispered words washed over him, as he slept, and Skye smiled, feeling better for having said them, even if he hadn't heard.

And as Skye drifted off to sleep in the warmth and security of her husband's embrace... overhead she could have sworn that Fate and her father were smiling upon them both.

Skye Blackthorn 7/99