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“No! I won’t drink to that thief!” Jack growled. He tried to calm himself but his mouth had something to say. “Regret sucks the joy out of life. The remedy for regret is Action! Perseverance! Honesty! Commun- Comm- Communic- Talking! Give me one of those and I’ll drink!”
Tyg stared at the glowering Human with the frightening horns and nodded. “All of them!”
“Aye!” Jack grinned widely. “Now you’re talking!”
They drank one last time.
Jack could feel the planet moving under his feet and heard the heart beats of everyone in the room. He wasn’t sure what had been in his glass but he was pretty sure it was pretty FUCKING FANTASTIC! He felt like he could do anything! His emotions swelled.
He smiled at Tyg who was looking across the room at the Queen once more. “Talk to me Tyg!” he said leaning forward… or the room did.
“I’m going to miss my wife,” the King said quietly.
“Why would you have to miss her?” Jack asked, confused.
“When I leave. I will miss her so much.”
“Who is forcing you to leave?” Jack asked looking around the room for the bastards who would do such an awful thing.
“She’s a young Queen. Youngest ever they say. The Hra Council are ‘assisting her’ but they just make her follow old rules. I can’t do anything to help her. I’m not allowed to do anything!”
Tyg’s incredible sadness swept over Jack and he struggled to keep from crying. He- he couldn’t just stand by and see love destroyed! He took some deep breaths as the King looked in his eyes. “Do you love her?” Eyes flared and Tyg nodded emphatically. “Do you remember when you fell in love with her? Do you remember why you fell in love with her?” Jack asked.
Tyg gasped a deep breath of his own. “Yes! She was so young, we both were, and she was so brave when they named her Queen!”
“Is she still that woman?” Jack asked, the answer seeming so clear to him.
“She’s losing her nerve, they are taking it from her.”
“Who is?” Jack gasped.
“The Hra Council. They never liked me. I wasn’t like them. I’m not from their class.”
Jack reached across the table and grabbed the King’s forearm in a tight grip. The male froze looking across the table.
Jack’s blood was suddenly boiling. “What is your wife?” he growled.
Tyg’s mouth moved then he was able to speak. “The Queen.”
“What are you?”
“The King?”
“Are you asking me?” Jack said quietly.
“No! I am the King!” Tyg blurted.
“What does a King do for his Queen?” Jack stared deeply into Tyg’s eyes and the male froze once more as some intimate things popped into his head. Jack frowned. “She’s under attack. What do you do?”
“Oh! Defend her!” Tyg gasped in sudden comprehension.
“But you just told me you were running away!” Jack growled.
“She- she doesn’t listen to me!” Tyg tried to explain.
“Has she lost faith that you will defend her? Stand by her? Who is more intimidated by this council?” Jack asked with wide eyes. He released his grip on the King’s arm.
“Oh! Oh. But- I said some awful things,” Tyg said.
“And you’ve forgotten how to apologize? What matters most here? Ask yourself that, ask yourself how you should have acted, then ACT!” Jack thumped the table with a fist and the bottle and glasses jumped as did the King.
“You’re right. I- I have to act!” Tyg leapt to his feet and rushed off across the room.
Gee and Bal were suddenly by Jack’s side. “What have you done?!? What did you do?!? Are you drunk? Did you grab the King? What did I tell you about keeping your hands to yourself?” Gee hissed rapidly but quietly at him.
He grinned happily and shushed her, pointing to the King and Queen.
They were standing off to the side with their foreheads pressed together. The King was speaking quietly but quickly to his Queen. Then he was speaking earnestly but forcefully to her but the Queen’s reaction was just to smile wider and wider. Finally he got down on his knees and bowed deeply to her. She said something and he quickly climbed back to his feet and they rubbed their faces. The room erupted into cheers. The royal couple smiled bashfully and nodded to the council members and their partners.
Looking lovingly into the eyes of her husband she pulled her shoulders back and walked back to the Council of Hra. She bowed slightly and said something they really didn’t seem to like. Some began to argue but froze when the Queen snapped her teeth together. She tilted her head and each of the old women got up and bowed to her. She said something else and they slowly walked from the room followed by a very happy Tanz.
“What did you do?” Gee asked again but softly this time as she watched the royal couple approaching with wide smiles on their faces. Jack stood and his smile matched theirs.
“If I might have a moment with Ambassador Danner?” the Queen said to the two Altarians. Gee and Bal nodded and slipped away to give them privacy.
“May I join you for a drink?” the Queen asked.
“Yes! Please!” Jack gushed as the King added a chair to the small table. Lars handed the King an extra glass with a huge smile on his face.
Once they were sitting Jack wondered how he’d managed the whole standing and sitting thing with his head so far up in the clouds. Tyg poured for the three of them, the Queen getting the smallest amount. She frowned at him but he whispered something to her and she smiled once more.
“I need to make a toast, to honor the most important thing in life. To love,” Tyg said holding his glass up. The Queen matched his gesture and when Jack said ‘To love’ she said it as well. They drank.
Jack held the edge of the small table as the room began to accelerate. When he caught up with the room he smiled at the couple. “My goodness this is strong stuff!” he laughed.
They laughed with him.
“I cannot tell you how grateful I am you talked me out of my madness!” Tyg said to Jack sincerely.
“I am eternally grateful as well!” the Queen chimed in.
“There is no battle more noble of purpose than the one to protect love,” Jack said with a wistful smile.Content © provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
“That’s lovely! Who said that?” the Queen asked.
Jack looked around in surprise. “I thought I just did.” He looked at his glass. “This is strong stuff!”
The royal couple burst into laughter and Jack joined in without knowing why. It just felt really, really good!
Another toast was raised and this time the Queen insisted on toasting to Jack. He found that to be extraordinarily funny and they only stopped giggling to toss back the next shot.
The Queen was now up to a full glass like they were but still well behind on becoming drunk. She still had her daunting intellect front and center. “Jack, would you join us for one more last drink in our apartment. We have the most extraordinary view we’d like to share with you.”
The King looked at the Queen with a big grin and nodded to Jack.
Jack certainly didn’t see anything wrong with having just one more then he’d head off to his own apartment and that lovely bed he’d glanced at earlier. He nodded and they all stood. He couldn’t get over how stable his body felt. No swaying, no overly loose muscles, he was able to move around with no sign of the whirling his brain was going through. Neat trick!
Gee and Bal approached seemingly ready to ‘help him’ walk back to their room. The Queen intervened.
“Jack will be joining us for just one more drink in our apartment,” she said gently but it was the Queen speaking. Her tone brooked no argument.
The agents glanced at each other and looked to Jack who smiled happily.
“I’ll be a long shortly. You two should head off to bed now. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said.
Knowing Jack was as safe in the palace as he was at home and seeing no alternative they bowed to the royal couple. With a final glance at Jack they moved off.
“This way!” Tyg said playfully and moved quickly towards the side door where the Lussht had been stashed. The bottle in question was clutched in his left hand.
The Queen moved after him and Jack felt himself being swept along after them like a bit of fluff caught in the turbulence of a passing skimmer.
Tyg took them down the service way, past the kitchen, up a hidden staircase and through two other corridors to get to a lift that brought them up two more levels. As they stepped out of the elevator Jack saw two larger Shreen standing on either side of double doors. They stood taller as the royal couple approached and Jack saw them smile slightly when they saw the happy smiles on their Queen and King.
“Good night!” the Queen said to them and they nodded. Jack and the King nodded to them in return and then they were inside the apartment, the doors closed behind them.
The wide foyer led into a sunken living room with cushions everywhere! Beyond that though was a window. An actual window! They must have been at ground level! Jack felt his legs moving him across the living room and up to the window where he looked out at a valley which was currently being swept by winds and snow.
The view took Jack’s breath away and his mouth hung open in awe. Again, his emotions felt swollen beyond his ability to contain them.
He felt a brief touch on his shoulder and turned. The Queen was standing very close to him with a glass in each hand. She lifted one for him and Jack took it. “May I make a toast?” he asked.
She nodded and he noted how incredibly lovely and soft her light grey eyes were now that they no longer held such sadness. He looked to the King who was reclining back on some cushions in the living room… pit. Well, that’s what it looked like to Jack. Tyg nodded emphatically with a smile.