ZEDD - SOME TIME LATER

The day has gone well. Thomas wasn't upset by my gift giving, or disappointed in my choices of said gifts, as I feared he might be. Of course, I'm not quite done yet, but I hope he continues to be pleased with what I've done for him. I smile as I think over the day. Breakfast in bed, the fossil gift and the workout room was just for starters. Then after practice, Thomas and I went out for a picnic and I gave him another small gift - the gift that I got him when I went to help Essa. Nothing spectacular, like the fancy watch and necklace set I really wanted to give him. But knowing him as I now do, I'm very glad that I curbed the impulse, or rather Scorpina curbed it for me, reminding me that he didn't seem one for jewelry and expensive trinkets. He was however absolutely delighted with the small clear crystal with the falcon etched into it in white. The planet I got it from call it a power crystal, but from what I could feel, there isn't actually any power to it.

Later in the afternoon, the stack of Eltarian books that I'd managed to acquire for him that ranged from short stories to a rather complex murder mystery I'd enjoyed a few hundred years ago followed. I'd left him a while ago under the excuse of checking my email for anything urgent when I was actually finishing organizing another gift, though this one being more for the both of us really then just him. When I have everything in order and return to our room I find Thomas stretched out on our bed on his stomach, reading one of his new books.

"I'm surprised that you aren't studying your fossil, love."

He looks over his shoulder at me with a smile. "Thought about it, but then I realized that it's kind of late in the day so I might as well wait for tomorrow when I might have a bit more time to get started on it. Plus it's been so long since I read anything just for the fun of it, it's really nice to get a chance to do so again. If you want to join me I'll gladly read aloud to you." Recalling how I'd offered to do the same for him shortly after his rescue, his disappointment clearly over not being able to, at the time, make sense of any of the books in the library I can't keep the smile off my face.

"I would love that, but unfortunately now isn't the best time, mate."

"Work?"

"Something like that."

"Pity, it's a really good book."

I really can't help but be pleased that he's so happy with his gifts. However, I say, "I know, and I will take you up on your offer later, trust me. However I still have a few more things to do before dinner, love. I won't disturb your reading, will I?"

"Not likely, mate, unless you want to. I'm just reading some of the short stories anyways. You know, something I can easily put down when it's time for dinner or bed."

I give him a quick kiss. "Go ahead then." I putter around the room for a bit until he's deep in the book again before I grab my staff and head out of the room. Out the door and into his old room, I'm starting to focus my power even as I go. Time to take out that wall and the soon to be extra bathroom.

After some time, I hear Dar fetch Thomas, supposedly to help with dinner, the excuse being that Dar wants to make something extra special for Scorpina and needs an extra pair of hands. I'm so focused that I don't really acknowledge when Pina joins me. However I am aware enough of her presence as I know that this is the signal that Thomas is occupied and it's time to begin to deconstruct the wall between the rooms. I'd essentially recreated the castle with magic, the process taking most of a week to do, followed by a week of recovery from using so much power. Now I'm taking some of that power back, returning it to where it came from, which will give me much more power should I need it in the future.

I'm working on making sure that the needed support is still available to the remaining walls and ceiling when the communication system on my desk goes off. "Shit," I mutter. "Pina, can you-"

Before I can say anymore, she's ducking under my arm and through the opening. "Go ahead."

"Hello, Scorpina. I don't suppose that Lord Zedd is available, is he?"

A quick glance at me has her shaking her head. "Not at the moment, Lady Arabesta. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh, there's nothing I need help with. I was hoping to have resolved this before you all left Eltar, but it didn't quite work out."

"If I may, have what resolved?"

"When we returned to Eltar after our visit to you, I spoke to the council about Calan's treatment of Tommy. It was decided that, in spite of neither he nor Zedd demanding compensation, it would be awarded to them anyway. Of course, as the directly injured party, Tommy gets quite a bit more than Lord Zedd, however given his standing and the threat he still poses when upset they felt it best to offer up a decent amount to your employer regardless." Smart.

Making sure that the construction will hold for a bit, I cross over and join Pina now interested enough to leave my work for a few minutes. "Not that I'm protesting compensation, but as you are well aware, the actual incident occurred months ago. Why is this only being resolved now?"

"Hello, Lord Zedd, and yes I am aware however due to the party involved-" Meaning me. "-it took a bit longer than normal to reach a resolution."

I'll probably regret asking but - "Why?"

"Well, at first, there were members of the council that were waiting to insure that there would be no retribution from you while others wanted to wait and see if such a demand did come through. They did get more than a little nervous when word got around that you were on the planet. Some of them didn't get much sleep until you left actually" she answers, amused.

I'm sure. "Even so, we were there for more than a week - certainly more than enough time for me to have launched some kind of an attack if that were my goal."

Arabesta nods. "When nothing happened, and the funds set aside for any massive reconstruction that might have been needed if you had launched an attack were not needed, the debate began about how much to award you and your mate. That was an interesting week, I have to tell you. Some of the suggestions were downright insulting even to me and he's not my mate! Fortunately, Calan was the only one of our party who didn't see Tommy for who and what he really is and they all sided with me that he should be treated with the same level of respect as one of our own people, or at the very least feared due to your protectiveness over him." Again, smart.

"Good choice" I growl. "As if anything happens to him and the bond doesn't kill me-"

"You will make everyone wish like hell it had" she finishes with a nod. "I'm aware, and so is most anyone who has had the misfortune of crossing paths with you while you were fighting alongside Spector."

"It'll be worse, so very, very much worse" I promise, hoping like hell word is passed along that involving Thomas in any way to get at me will cause a near literal hell to rain down on everyone's heads.

"Yes, well, I think most are aware, especially given what occurred next."

"And what is that?"

"Well things got even more interesting when your parents got wind of the debates going on and came to speak to the council themselves." They did? "Your mother is quite taken with your choice, Lord Zedd, and argued very vigorously on his - and your - behalf."

I have to ask. "And Father?"

"Argued as only a successful businessman and nobleman can." She covers her mouth for a minute, but I can see the amusement in her eyes. After another minute, she clears her throat, apparently having gotten herself under control for the moment. "He pointed out that, if word got out about how poorly they were treating Lord Zedd's mate, the population would begin to think them very foolish indeed to anger such a powerful enemy. Not to mention that if you chose, you could bring the entire matter in front of the current monarch - Scorpina's uncle. As you may recall when we were there, we discussed her uncle had been about to pardon her father and restore their place in the line. However, with his death and Scorpina's lack of desire to rule, it has now been deemed unnecessary."

"That reminds me - a small tangent, if I may." Oh, yeah. I'm being as polite as I can. After all, she did try to rein in Calan when they were here and apparently stood up for us in front of the council. "Why exactly would he pardon and restore Elan?"

"Favorite sibling." Makes sense. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know to expect a messenger in a few days with the cards."

"Always a good idea" Pina agrees. "After all, if we're not expecting anything…"

Arabesta nods. "That was my thought as well."

Not that I need the credits, but curiosity makes me ask, "So how much?"

She names a figure that raises my brow. "Not bad, not as much as he deserves, but acceptable I suppose. What about me?"

She shakes her head. "No, Lord Zedd, you misunderstand. That is yours. As I said, Tommy is entitled to much more as the actual injured party." She names another figure, more than three times the first. It won't make him rich, but if something happened to me and he couldn't access my funds for some reason, he'd certainly be comfortable for some time.

"I didn't realize that Calan had those kind of funds at his disposal."

"Well, he did" she answers amused. "Not so much anymore. He's also been removed from all the committees he was a part of as now his judgment has come into question."

"Oh? Not to sound crude, my dear, but I've seen how some on those commitiees behave, in truth he didn't do anything I haven't witnessed a good many others do before to those they considered below them."

"Yes, but none of those others were the mates of a dark power holder who had threatened to and almost did, destroy our home planet out of pure spite. Lord Zedd, to put it bluntly he knew who you were, he knows what you're capable of, and as far as most are concerned him attacking your mate as he did was as stupid or as crazy of a move as him walking up to you and daring you to once more come after Eltar and all those that reside there. In fairness there was even talk of having his intelligence and sanity tested after such a thing."

I can't help it - I laugh. "That almost makes it worth not killing him when he was here."

"Make no mistake - he's being carefully scrutinized and many society people are avoiding him. He's going to have a rough time for a bit."

"Without a doubt. Thank you for calling, Lady Arabesta."

"It's no trouble, and again please express the council's deepest apologizes to your mate."

"I will." The call is disconnected and I look at Pina. "So, with our current track record, how long do you think it will be before Calan comes to pay us a visit?"

She sighs. "I don't know, but we'll handle it when it does happen."

Shaking my head, I return to what I was doing. I know that I'm running out of time before Thomas returns - to fetch me for dinner, if nothing else. When I'm done, I look at my work critically. The wall has been removed and replaced with open archways, the pillars providing the needed support. "What do you think?"

"It's certainly more your style - and his - than mine and Dar's. I'm glad that you didn't get this fancy when you took the wall out of our rooms."

I tease her a bit. "Well, for a princess, you do have fairly simple tastes."

She grins at me. "My work, my family and the occasional battle keep me pretty happy" she agrees. "Let's get the rest of the furniture shifted into place and then we'll head down to dinner before he comes back up here."

We quickly finish up and head down to meet up with our mates. Our timing is perfect, as they are just setting the final dishes on the table. Once the plates are filled and we're eating, I turn to Thomas. "By the way, I got a call a little while ago from Lady Arabesta."

He raises an eyebrow. "What did she want this time? Are they after Pina again?"

"No, nothing like that. She talked to the council as she said she would. They decided that they would award us compensation in spite of us not demanding it."

"They're probably trying to avoid any retribution from you" Dar comments. "Although I would have thought that they'd have been a bit quicker about it."

"Apparently, there was quite a bit of debate regarding it - after they set aside reconstruction funds. I also found out that my parents got involved in the debates, arguing on our behalf."

"Even your dad?" Thomas asks, clearly surprised.

"Even Father" I confirm.

"Reconstruction funds?" Dar questions curiously.

"Apparently our visit to Eltar didn't go unnoticed. There was much concern about the reason for our being there and it seems many were busy worrying themselves into insomnia while others were planning out how to rebuild whatever parts of the planet I was apparently there to destroy."

"Nice." Nodding in amusement, Dar lifts his glass to me, very likely only now sorry he didn't know about this sooner as he no doubt would have wanted to have some fun with Eltar's paranoid elite at the time.

"I thought so too" I agree, even as Thomas rolls his eyes at us.

"So since we didn't have any fun while there, well none that involved property damage that is, how much is the bribe to keep it that way?" Dar questions. I name the amount they awarded me. Dar looks disgusted. "That's all they gave Tommy? Seems a little light to me."

"It's better than them deciding that I'm not worth giving anything to" Thomas answers calmly. "Which reminds me, Dar, we need to see about converting my Earth money to credits."

"Actually" I cut in "that's the amount they're sending me." I tell them how much they're sending Thomas, who drops his fork at this information.

"How much?" he says incredulously. I repeat myself. "Seriously?"

He sits there stunned as Dar says, "Well, we can certainly get an account set up for him. That'll make it easier for him to do some of his own transactions without having to come to us for every little thing."

"Wait a minute" Thomas interrupts. "Are you serious? That's unnecessary! I wasn't really hurt and he didn't get very far. I'd have morphed if I had to so that he wouldn't have gotten any further, but Zedd got there in time because of the bond."

I set my hand on his, stopping his babbling. "Love, it's fine. They know that you weren't physically hurt much, but Arabesta saw how shaken you were and knows how stressed it made you. This is about more than just any physical damage, love, but your other suffering too."

"Still…"

"Not to mention he was completely out of line with his behavior" Dar adds seriously. "Even if you hadn't been Zedd's mate, for him to come at you, especially after stating you were a power holder, was beyond unacceptable."

"Yeah but-"

"Some of it is also due to their fear of Zedd" Pina points out. "They know that - to our people - too small an amount is insulting and they definitely don't want to insult you or Zedd."

"Especially not Zedd" Dar agrees.

"I guess, it just seems…I don't know more than I think is necessary."

"Trust me love, it's necessary, and also in truth a bit reassuring" I tell him seriously.

"Reassuring?"

Sighing and not really wanting to remind him of my, and his, past fears of people seeing my behavior toward him as a sign of weakness, I however continue as tactfully as I can. "The fact that they did give you that much shows that they, as Goldar and Pina said, do not want to risk insulting or pissing me off. Them realizing what a huge blunder his behavior toward you was, and still viewing me as a threat to their lives and planet is a good thing, love."

Thinking it over for a minute he finally gives a nod. "I guess so, but still it seems a bit much."

"Trust me, it's not enough" I state seriously.

We return to our meal and, once over, head up to our room. Before I open the door, I say casually, "Ready for another surprise?"

He's smiling as he responds, "Zedd, you've been surprising and spoiling me all day! You can't possibly have anything else. Unless it's something to do in bed?"

I kiss him quickly. "That wasn't in my plan, but if you want me to, I'm sure I could come up with something."

He slides his arms around my neck and kisses me back. "You've done enough, mate" he says tenderly.

"Well, there's still one more thing" I answer. "Are you ready?"

"Sure" he agrees, letting me go.

I open the door and usher him in ahead of me. He's barely in the room when he sees what I've done and stops dead in his tracks for a minute. Now the area that was his room when he first arrived is more of a sitting room/library/computer room/office. I combined the two windows into one large bay style window with a sitting area for reading. Where his bathroom was is now one large closet for us to share. The table, chairs and my desk have been moved into the new area, as well as his furniture that I rescued from Earth.

He moves slowly into the area, taking in all the details silently. His lack of comment has me a little nervous although I'm not getting anything negative through the bond. "Thomas? Do you like it?"

"Zedd, I-" He shakes his head. "I don't know what to say."

He sounds choked up. I move up behind him and set my hand on his shoulder. He spins around and hugs me tightly. "I love it, kalleimat, and I love you. So much right now."

I'm thrilled that he's pleased. The entire day has been a successful one. "Tomorrow, you can start looking at cruisers so that you can figure out what you want."

He shakes his head against my shoulder. "No, Zedd. That's too much."

"Thomas, I told you that I'd get you your own so that you don't have to rely on us to take you places and the spare cruiser isn't really good for either speed or hauling things or going any distance, really."

He pulls back slightly and looks at me. "We'll argue about it tomorrow. I don't want to fight with you now." He starts backing me toward the bed. "Right now, I'd rather thank you for the amazing day."