Disclaimer: The world and characters of Tortall belong to Tamora Pierce, not to me.
Written for SMACKDOWN at Goldenlake (fiefgoldenlake . proboards . com), for fight 1/A. Kalasin/Kaddar didn't make it to the next round, but you should come and participate anyway!
Comes after Seconds, but they don't need to be read together.
-:-
Their life in Carthak is made up of minutes that don't matter to anyone else.
He carves out time for the two of them to spend in the palace's library, only to be interrupted for an urgent opinion on the illegal insect trade. She starts conversations with Kaddar over a book or memory or upcoming event, conversations that are never finished because there is always something more important to be done.
When they finally settle in to talk on the plush rug in their lavish rooms, she can barely open her mouth to speak before Kaddar suddenly remembers a late meeting with some obscure organization and scurries off. She sighs quite a few times, as she gets ready for bed alone, but of course it makes no difference.
The first time she tells him she loves him he kisses her for a minute, two, but even that is cut short by people to see, things to do. Fazia tells her with a rare sympathetic look that such is the life of a royal bride. Kally isn't comforted at all.
Seconds last forever but minutes, Kally thinks, can never last quite long enough for an Emperor and Empress too busy to dream, even about each other.