Book 2 Chapter 52

The sun was just breaking across the horizon in the city of Darabaile when Maple flew into the courier’s office for her daily work. There was a part of her that still felt guilt over leaving the household chores to Aunt Jieun and Bai, but she wouldn’t give up her newfound freedom for anything.

Besides, she still often helped with the evening meal upon her return, and helped with the other jobs on her scant days off.

Soaring through the air at high speeds used to terrify her, and previously Meteoros would gently laugh or chide her wordlessly about it. Yet now she only felt free when flying around, and being stuck at home would deprive her of that feeling.

Besides, she earned good money as a courier at this point. There were even talks of having her deliver between settlements soon since she’d been working for about two years now and the higher ups felt they could trust her with the more important messages.

Sure she’d be away from her family for longer stretches, but she was beginning to wonder if that would be such a bad thing.

Lettie, one of the mail clerks, greeted her as Maple officially clocked in.

“Maple, glad you’re in today! Just got a bulk of messages from the north so it’ll be a tad hectic for everyone.”

And it was hectic indeed. The messages went out as they were sorted, and Maple could barely keep up despite being one of the faster couriers. She was probably the fastest if her destinations were in a straight line, but more often than not she couldn’t just go straight where she needed to.

It wasn’t until noon that an oddity was found among the pile of mail.

A letter addressed to her. Its waxed paper envelope looked a bit battered from the long journey it’d gone through, but on the front in nice and flowing handwriting were the names of her family and ‘The Lennox Compound’.

It took her a few moments to even consider who would write to her from so far away, and especially who would know where they lived. Until like a flash of lightning she realized who the letter was from.

Her baby sister, Willow. Off wandering the world with that weird woman.

Thankfully the chaos of the morning had already largely subsided, so she was given leave to take off for home with her letter in tow.

After what simultaneously felt like a few moments and an eternity she arrived home. Landing on the tiny balcony that connected to her room in the main house.

It had taken a couple weeks to get this place into a liveable state, and many months more for it to feel like a home. Yet even now Maple felt a pang of homesickness for the little clearing she’d lived in her whole life.

Her arrival had not gone unnoticed, as the corona of light that accompanied her flight wasn’t exactly a subtle thing, and she had to fly over the farm in the back to arrive at her balcony.

She made her way down into the main room of the first floor and saw her father and brother coming in after getting the worst of the dirt off of themselves using the washcloth and bucket by the back door.

“What’re you doing back so soon?” Rowan called, balancing on one leg as he thoroughly cleaned his prosthetic before slipping it back on with a now familiar motion. It was still a rough looking thing that he’d cobbled together on his own, but it was a sight better than seeing him hop around without it.

Maple held up the battered letter clutched in her hand.

“I think we’ve gotten word from Willow.”

The two of them blinked for a moment before rushing to her side, staring at the envelope.

“Why haven’t you opened it yet to make sure?” Yew asked her, clearly impatient to see what it said.

Maple still couldn’t get over how quickly the two of them had grown closer in her absence, but was happy that some friction had left her family by the time they’d reunited. Even if the youngest of them had to leave so soon after their reunion.

“I wanted to open it with everyone. Since I saw no reason for it to be from anyone but her.” Theoretically it could be from her sister’s teacher, or even from the Wanderer’s Sect as a whole considering the markings on the envelope informed her that it had been submitted to a branch of theirs in Acerorazon.

Yet she had to hope it was from Willow herself.

If she was honest with herself, the reason she hadn’t checked to confirm it was from her sister was because Maple was afraid it wouldn’t be from her. With the only reasons she could think of it being from someone else were for less than happy news.

Which was unacceptable to her. Her sister would come home to them eventually.

She had to.

Maple let out a nervous breath as she cracked the wax seal on the letter and retrieved the contents held within.

Almost immediately she sagged with relief and let out a small chuckle after she saw what was written at the top. When she showed it to her brother and father they did the same.

‘Hiya Everyone!’ Greeted them in the same neat and flowing script that was on the envelope. Which either meant that Willow had progressed rapidly in her handwriting, or, more likely to Maple’s mind, she’d gotten her teacher to write it in her stead.

The three of them then spent the afternoon going through the pages of the letter their youngest had sent them. It was largely rambling about this or that, things she missed, new favorites found, and sights on her travels.

They learned that it was in fact Willow who’d written the letter, she’d been taught etiquette for a time in a town called Yeobaek, and the Madame who taught her had made a point of making sure her handwriting was presentable.

The idea of the fidgeting little girl who frequently got up to mischief taking lessons on etiquette made Maple smile. There had to have been some difficulties adjusting to such a curriculum, though the letter in her hands mentioned little of that.

Her sister seemed to want to focus on the positives of her travels with only the occasional mention of her homesickness.

There were also, of course, many messages interspersed meant for each of them including Aunt Jieun, and Maple would make sure that her aunt would also get a chance to read the letter.

All too soon the letter came to an end, but Willow had made sure to mention that she’d be able to send more in the next few weeks. She was also quick to blame her mentor for not sending any letters before which gave the group another chuckle.

The letter felt almost bittersweet now that it was over. Seeing only a brief glimpse into Willow’s life when she should be here with them.

Yet her path lay elsewhere.

She was also worried that the letter had ended by mentioning her sister learning how to fight.

Maple knew it was a necessity for her future profession, but still she hoped it wasn’t too strenuous for her little gnome.