Winterfall

I loved our dream sex just as much as I loved reality. The only downside, was the after effects each morning as our bodies both yearned for more but we could not act upon it. Well… we could. Maria… Théoden groaned as I flashed him through the bond. I could tell he wanted to get around for the days work but he was having a bit of a problem.

“You know you want it.” I teased with a grin on my face, heck I wanted it but I refused to think too deeply otherwise it would take me longer to get to breakfast.

Fine. He grumbled through the bond which caused me to chuckle. He always caved. No matter how much he tried not to, he always caved.

Once he finished I focused on myself and got dressed for the day. I picked out one of my casual dresses that I have worn in the past, its the sea green dress that flowed in the wind.

Breakfast? I asked him as my stomach growled. I knew he would probably want to do some training but I wanted food first.

Yes. Then training.

I grabbed my bag and walked out of my room locking my door behind me and met him in the kitchen where Roland was plating our breakfast.

“Good morning!” Roland spoke happily as he held out a plate stacked with eggs and a plate stacked with tarts, “I have a few things I have made in the night for you to try for breakfast. A couple new egg recipes and a new sweet recipe.”

“You had me at sweet.” I took the plate of sweets while Théoden took the egg stack. We both ate what he fixed us. The tart was oozing with cinnamon and honey. It was very delicious and sweet. Dipped in a cream frosting it was amazing.

The eggs was filled with cheese, bacon bits, veggies, turkey, and ham. “I call it a loaded scramble. I don’t think you’d like Maria, which is why I made the sweets.” Roland said as Théoden took several bites before questioning what it was.

“The tarts are delicious.”

“I second that.” Théoden said as at this point he had finished the egg mound.

“I have more of that if you want more.” Roland said as he took Théoden's empty plate.

“I probably shouldn’t… We have to train soon.”

I groaned. “Can we skip training for a day?”

“Why?” Théoden questioned me.

“I just need a break.”

I felt him look at me. He was reading me through the bond as well as physically as he was trying to gauge if something was wrong or if I was just tired of training. He sighed, “Just this once dear. Tomorrow we will do combat training.”

“Thank you.” I was happy that he was letting me have this break. I didn’t mind the training but there was only so much of it I could do.

“What do you plan to do today then?” Théoden asked me.

“I have to catch up with the council. See what is going on and start going over the laws that have been put in place. Father I believe has copies of the laws in his office so I plan to start there.”

Théoden nodded, “I’ll be in my office most of the day. Catching up on paperwork from yesterday and picking up a few extra rounds.”

I narrowed my eyes as I didn’t want him to overwork himself, “Dear…”

“I won’t, I promise.” Théoden told me, “And Maria… That goes for you too.”

I chuckled, “Please, it won’t be that bad…” I paused as Théoden and Roland both gave me a look of ‘you gotta be kidding me’ “What?”

“It’s The Council… We all know it isn’t in the best of shape.” Théoden reminded me.

“Fair point.” I said as I thought back to the formal celebration and what took place during that. It had been a few days since then and we hadn’t had a meeting but perhaps it is time for one. “I’ll call them to the chambers for a non-formal meeting to see if there are any concerns.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.” Théoden said. “You’ll have to deal with red.” Théoden reminded me.

“Damn it…” I groaned as she was one I was not looking forward to dealing with but sadly, I wasn’t sure how not to deal with her. She sunk her claws into my kingdom and I have no idea on how to rip her away from it.

“If I could figure out where Sybil’s actual body is, that would be a start.” Théoden told me as he read my thoughts, “I’ll try to locate it again today as I do rounds but if they buried her or sent her to another plane, all hope on that might be lost.”

I nodded, “Keep me informed and I will see if I can’t play word games with her and see where she may have taken her body.”

“Body?” Roland questioned us as he returned from the back pantry.

“Mhm.” Théoden responded as he was trying to not tell him too much about what was going on with the Council in case the Council would question him. “Sorry Roland, this discussion…”

“I get it.” Roland said as he walked back to the pantry to grab one more item. Roland wasn’t mad as he understood that we couldn’t discuss everything that involved the Council or investigations with him.

“We will discuss more later, I need to start my first round.” Théoden stood up and walked over to me and gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead. “I’ll check in on you later love.”

I nodded, “Be careful out there. I’ll check in on you too.” I watched him walk away. He was already wearing all of his equipment so all he had to do was leave the castle and begin his round.

Roland came back from the pantry and I helped him cook the next round of pastries and cleanup the kitchen. That took all about four hours, making it just before sunrise.

I decided to walk up to my office and begin to pull old files from storage that were marked laws and boy, there was a bunch of them.