For iflip4dolphins again, cuz well, you know, IDEAZ.
The End of Summer
The most problematic person, Rydia thought, will be Rosa. She was her friend, sister, and mother, all combined into one very, very, very worried woman. She will be the first to notice something has happened between the two of them.
And in this prediction, Rydia was right.
Rosa caught Rydia as soon as she left the dining room after her late lunch, towed her all the way up her honeymoon tower to the now shared room with Cecil, and proceeded to interrogate her young charge for details by all sorts of gruesome tactics.
Which is to say, afternoon high tea with Porom and Palom.
Caught, and with nowhere to put the delicate porcelain cup in one hand and biscuit in another, Rydia could only submit.
"So," Rosa opened as she poured another cup for a positively giddy Porom, "tell me what you think of the ball last night."
Rydia choked, the worst and dearest thing about Rosa was that she thought she was subtle, "Oh, well, it was lovely. I liked the flower garlands you put around the pillars. A nice touch."
"You must have spent a long time near the pillars to know such a thing." Palom drawled, and snickered because he thought he was also subtle.
Suppressing an urge to roll her eyes at them, Rydia finally has had enough, "You may as well come out with them." and in reply to their innocent looks, "Yes, I will answer those questions, the ones you are so obviously thinking about."
"How was your first kiss?" Porom burst out, spilling a bit of tea onto the saucer in her excitement. Palom grimaced and continued to demolish the sweets, but was still listening with one ear. Rosa just primly added a dollop of milk and stirred, looking on with apparent calm.
Despite the fact that Rydia asked for it, she still blushed a little at the direct way Porom was looking at her, with eyes sparkling and half out of her seat, "It was...nice. Unexpectedly."
To cover up her embarassment, she nibbled on the biscuit and was pleasantly surprised by the fruit jam hidden inside.
"And? What else?" Porom wasn't finished, but at least she had put her cup down before it irreparably spilled onto Rosa's new set of upholstery.
Feeling a bit less in control, Rydia hedged, "It was...not too long. Or all that short..." Suddenly finding it hard to explain a grown-up concept to cheeky five-year-olds, she veered off to face her supposed savior, "And um, really Rosa this biscuit is lovely, could I trouble you to give me the recipe?"
Rosa smiled angelically, "Of course, let me get it for you right now."
She had already gotten up from her chair by the tea service as Rydia tried not to panic, "Oh, no, I really don't want to be a bother, later is fine-"
"It's no trouble at all. I'll be only a moment." Rosa beamed serenely and floated out of the room.
Open-mouthed, Rydia shivered as she watched Rosa descended and peeked fearfully at the twins. Both of their eyes were on her now.
A panicked scream followed the gentle white mage down the stairwell, who only hummed happily as she skipped down the steps in response.
Edge found her much later in the evening on the balcony overlooking the rose gardens. 'Found' in the context of: he was looking for the most remote corner of the castle, had climbed up onto the roof to distract stubborn pursuers, spotted her below him, and dropped down discreetly beside her.
One look at her face and he smiled sympathetically, "Rosa got to you."
"The twins did, through her, the sneaky little goblins." Rydia sighed, and glanced up reproachfully, "I see you've come to no harm."
He sat down beside her and shared his cloak, "Only on the exterior. I've been pining for your sweet scent all day as I ran for my life."
Rydia huffed but snuggled closer, "Liar."
She listened to the rumbling of his voice from where she laid her head, "Oh no, it's the honest truth. I was pursued all day by a jumping dragoon, a disapproving bard, a livid engineer, a stiff monk, and an even stiffer paladin. With all of those muscly men out for my blood, I was lucky to get out of it more or less intact."
She giggled at his bland tone, "More or less? Perhaps your pride took a little more beating that you had realized."
It was his turn to huffed. Rydia thought it was adorable how he always bragged that he was the best, period, to be proven wrong time and time again, but despite everything never gave in to despair.
Zeromus.
Rydia shivered involuntarily. Edge moved to hold her in this arms, "What's wrong?"
She shook her head and smiled up at him, "It's getting a little colder at night."
Edge nodded, "It'll be the end of summer soon," and looked out into the darkening sky.
They stayed like that for awhile and watched the sunlight turned into soft shades of pinks and purples, a last flash of gold before the velvet tapestry of night.
"Edge?" Rydia braved herself to ask, "Will you come visit me sometime?"
Startled, Edge looked at her, "You're not coming back with me to Eblan?"
Rydia pushed herself up into a sitting position and gazed fully into his eyes, "No. Mist needs me, Edge. I may not be a carpenter or a brick-layer or anything useful in this peaceful time, but I can at least carry things in my arms, cook them meals, and just...be there for them."
"But, I-" he swallowed, "I thought we were-"
"What are we? An out-of-work summoner and a king? This-" Rydia motioned them, still seated close together inside his cloak, "will never become anything but a passing dream, Edge."
He grasped her hand with one of his own, her chin with another, and hissed, "You, mistress out-of-work summoner, are not convincing anyone with that trembling voice."
Rydia struggled to stand too late, "Don't-", her hand tried to push his face away, only to drew down his mask.
A rough kiss, tracing their way from her lips down her wildly beating pulse and even lower, until she was lying across the small bench and struggling to make no sound.
He was angry, Rydia thought, why?
Abruptly he let go, and stepped back, breathing hard.
Rydia, her beautiful face, her arms, her legs, her scent, her charms and laughter, her need to do right by everyone...every single thing about her was driving him mad. He wanted to wake up and see her for every morning of his life, just like earlier today. To see her peacefully sleeping with no cares, no fate of the world weighing down those small shoulders.
But.
"You're right." Edge finally admitted. "If this," he motioned them, "is just a dream to you, who am I to say otherwise? It's better to just give up, isn't it? To stop trying before someone gets hurt."
He adjusted his mask up again, "And to answer your question, no, I will not be able to visit you. I will be busy, trying to rebuild Eblan as its king."
Edge turned away and paused on the lip of the ledge. Rydia struggled to stand and found her knees too weak.
"I wish you the best of luck. For Mist." he intoned, before stepping off.
Rydia finally found her legs and rushed to the balcony's edge. Of course there was no one below. She sank down against the cold marble and sighed shakily. There were no tears. She had none left after her mother's death, after Mist was burned, after last night.
Still. She sat there all night and through the morning, until Rosa found her shivering from the dew and led her inside.
Prompt: meddling party members, separations