As the second year neared, both Thio and Caroline got into a pleasant rhythm of writing each other. They had started off knowing nothing about each other, but through their letters they were surprised at how well they got along and soon they were fast friends. What was first an obligation, became an enjoyable past time, and they looked forward to hearing from each other.

One day, Caroline came back from fulfilling a Request. It involved wiping out a group of mutated wolves that were terrorizing a rancher. Usually she went out with a party for missions of that type, but the request had been urgent so she’d gone by herself. The Rancher had taken her back to town afterward, because she’d been beaten up so badly.

“Good Lord, Caroline!” Mariel exclaimed in horror when she walked into the Guild. Caroline’s outfit was shredded, she was covered in bite and claw marks. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest.

Mariel rushed over with a box of healing supplies, and started applying them before Caroline could get a word in edge wise. “What on earth were you thinking? You could have died!”

“But I didn’t.” Caroline replied cheekily, and then grunted when Mariel slapped a bandage on with a little too much enthusiasm.

“Why must you be like this? I realize you’re strong, but going out alone is incredibly unwise.”

“If I’m going to help someone, I’m doing it all the way through!” Caroline repeated her well worn phrase and Mariel rolled her eyes automatically. “If I’d waited, the Rancher and his family would have been killed.”

“Better them than you.”

“Wow. Heartless.”

Mariel sighed. “Then think about it another way: how would your husband feel if he saw you dead and torn to pieces? Would he think another scar on your body a good thing?”

Caroline made a face, feeling awkward. Thio wouldn’t care about the scarring, but he might care about the recklessness.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She replied neutrally.

“Speaking of husbands, when is he going to visit?”

Caroline looked at her blankly. “Visit?”

“Yes! If my husband was gone that long, I’d go crazy! Doesn’t it bother you? It’s been over a year. Surely he’s worked enough by now that the Army will give him time off to see you.”

“O—oh, right. Right. I guess I hadn’t mentioned? We’d actually been planning to see each other.” Caroline lied through her teeth.

“Wha— how could you forget something like that! When is he coming?”

“Uh, actually, I’ll be going to him. He’s in the Capital right? I’ve never been there, so we thought it’d be fun.”

“That’s wonderful! How exciting! When will you be going then?”

“N-next month.”

And so, Caroline found herself headed towards the Capital a month later. She could have told Thio she was coming in advance, but she didn’t want to bother him and he might be on a field mission anyway. Her plan was to drop by, and if he was there, great. If not, she’d just be a tourist.

After visiting the Capital’s Guild, mostly to catch up on local gossip and to ask about good hotels, eateries, and other such attractions, she headed over the Air Defense Headquarters. It was much, much bigger than she was expecting. After wandering around, lost, a kind Mage brought her to the front desk.

The front desk directed her to the Fighting Battalion (the sub-division Thio worked in). Once she got there, she discovered another front desk, and they directed her to the LDF Section (Long Distance Fighters). The LDF front desk directed her to Thio’s specific Patrol Unit. She was extremely grateful to see there was no front desk for the Patrol Unit. Instead it was just a big room filled with mini-offices.

She looked around for someone who most likely knew Thio. Just like the rest of the military, Mages had their own uniforms. They wore double breasted jackets with a long strip on the seam of the shoulder, a button up white cotton shirt underneath, and trousers with colored stripes on the side. The uniform color and stripes depended on the ranks. Black uniforms were 5th Class ranks and lower, where as Gray uniforms were Senior and up.

Most of the people walking around were wearing black uniforms. Examining the gray uniforms, she noticed someone with yellow stripes. That meant they were a Senior and might know Thio personally. He was currently sitting at his desk, scribbling away furiously at paperwork.

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to disturb you, but might Acanthio Hillsdale be in?”

The Senior Mage blinked and then narrowed his eyes. “That depends, who are you?”

Such rudeness! Caroline thought in annoyance. It’d been a long time since she’d been in a city and totally forgot that, generally, they had the right idea by being wary of strangers.

Clearing her throat, she politely continued. “I’m a family member from Hillsdale. I happened to be in the area and thought I’d stop by and say hello.”

“Proof?” He snapped.

“What?”

“Do you have proof that you’re related?”

Frowning, she opened her travel bag and pulled out a letter she’d brought with her. She’d only brought it along since it had Thio’s work address on it.

Handing it over, the rude Mage looked at the envelope and then doubled down on his rudeness by actually reading the letter.

“Hey!” Caroline object, angry at such a breach of privacy.

He suddenly grabbed her hand and started shaking it, a genuine smile on his face.

“So you’re the person he writes to! I had no idea it was a young woman!”

“Er, uh—” His sudden turn in attitude startled her.

Seeing this, he straightened up and gave the letter back.

Putting his hands together as if in prayer, he apologetically explained. “Sorry, I had to check for security reasons. There are some pretty rotten people in the world.”

Seeing that he was sorry, and only doing his job, Caroline decided to be generous.

“No, I’m sorry too. I came in without warning. Of course you’d think I’m sketchy. So is Thio in?"

“He’s in town, but not in the office. I don’t think he’s coming back today either. If you leave a message with me, and I’ll pass it on.”

“Alright.” So Caroline left a simple message:

“In town. I’ll stop by your office tomorrow morning. Don’t wait up. - Caroline”

The Mage took the note and frowned. “Are you sure you don’t want to have a more definite meeting place and time? You might miss each other this way…”

“Naw. I don’t want him to feel pressured or anything. I’m here for a week, so there’s plenty of opportunities if we miss each other tomorrow.”

“If you say so…” He shrugged. “I’ll make sure he gets this.”

“Thanks. Well, I better be going. Thanks for the help.” Caroline gave a farewell nod and walked off.

The Senior Mage stood there, scratching his head confusedly. Thio’s penpal had always been something of a mystery to the rest of them. They knew this person was distantly related and an Adventurer by trade and that was it. They’d been guessing for over a year on who it might actually be.

Who knew it’d be a young lady? A good looking one too. That explains why he was always in a good mood when he got a letter from her. And no wonder Thio kept that to himself. He would have never lived it down, “distantly” related or not.

But it was a bit strange. Thio got along well with this person, but the girl in question seemed to view them meeting up as a possible inconvenience. They’d been die-hard penpals for almost two years, shouldn’t she be more excited?