The reception had been a noisy one, not at all like the royal gala's she'd once been accustomed to, but she was used to it now. Only able to standso much at one time, Garnet found herself taking a shor break in her chambers. She was staring out the window, tired but happy, but unable to really focus on anything in particular, yet trying just the same. It was growing dark outside and when she'd left, the party seemes on the verge ofbreaking up.
Sighing, she stood and took a deep breath to calm herself, and she blushed deeply as her mind turned to thoughts of the evening to come.
No, she wasn't nervous. Not at all.
She gasped, startled, and looked up with wide chocolate eyes as the doors to her room swung open casually. Correction: the doors to their room.
"Zidane!"
"don't look so scared, Dagger. It's only me," Zidane said amusedly as he strolled in nonchalantly. But Garnet could see through his facade - his tail was flicking nervously, and he had always shown her his true emotions like a mirror reflecting his soul for all to see.
She slipped her arms around his waist and smiled up at him. "Youknow, I never fully understood why Baku ever let you join Tantalus. That tail of yours has always given away what you're really thinking, just like a cat's tail."
Her hands toyed with the tempting tale behind him for a moment before she finally pulled away and stepped up to her dresser, looking back at him and laughing over her shoulder at his mock expression of anger. She carefully extricated the delicate platinum crow from her hair and gently set inside its velvet box.
"That wasn't very nice, Your Highness," he teased as he pulled her into a backward hug.
Garnet giggled and leaned back against him. "I know. That was the point."
He spun her around to face him and laughed at her surprised features before kissing her gently. "You're crazy, you know that?"
"I got it from you," she laughed, kissing him back.
He tenderly brushed an errant strand of her silky hair behind her shoulder. "Should I be worried that you've paid that much attention to me," he said, "or should I be worried that you're picking up my habits?"
"Both," was the simple reply he got.
She pulled him close, as if she were trying to physically become one being, and held him tight. "I love you," she whisperd into his ear.
"I love you, too." He picked her up and carried her off the the bed as he sang to her the old song of Madain Sari deep into the night, until finally the song took them both and was no longer heard.