And so he wrote into the silence about once a week, until the school term started up again and he had no idle time to sit and worry over a letter, as he was caught up in the flurry of activity that always overtook his life during the first few weeks of a new term. True to his word, Adrissu had hired Shima, Ned’s daughter, not as his secretary but as a part-time instructor leading two introductory illusion classes, so he spent a lot of time helping her develop a last-minute curriculum in the last few weeks leading up to the school year. Pollux was always on his mind, but it was easier to push the thoughts aside when he had a thousand other tasks awaiting his attention.
Finally, nearly eight weeks to the day since he’d sent off the first letter to Pollux, he came walking up the hill to his tower when an unmistakable feeling of anticipation radiated from Vesper. Someone had come by and left something in his letterbox, and when Adrissu saw it was from Pollux, a grin split his features as he hurried inside to read it.
“It’s him,” he told Vesper, as she uncoiled from where she had been waiting in the kitchen. “You haven’t met him yet this time around. But this letter is from him.” She moved closer to him, her tongue flicking in and out of her mouth rapidly, as if she could smell Pollux just from the folded parchment in his hand. Carefully, he removed the wax seal with a knife, and unfolded the letter to read it.
Headmaster Adrissu,
Thank you for your kind letters. I have been well. I hope the start of the new school term is going smoothly for you.
In response to your inquiries, I have various hobbies, the foremost of which would likely be hunting and sparring. I also enjoy sketching and playing the lute.
We have recently hired a new apprentice, and I have spent much of my time in the past two weeks training her. I am still undecided as to how to proceed with the development of the weapon. Currently, it is on hold, but my fellow enchanters are confused about the delay. I am unsure what to tell them, but ultimately, it is my creation.
Do you have any thoughts on the matter?
I look forward to hearing from you again.
Pollux Blackthorn
Despite the curt tone of the letter, Adrissu couldn’t help but smile as he read it. Pollux looked forward to hearing from him. That was the most important part of the letter. He had actually read Adrissu’s letters to him, and was taking the time to respond, andlooked forwardto receiving another. If Vesper could have rolled her eyes, Adrissu knew she would from the way she was looking at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He went up to his study and immediately began writing a response.
After that, their letters came and went every week. That was enough for a few months, but soon Adrissu’s excitement at receiving such regular correspondence from his reluctant mate turned into an immediate need for something more. He floated the idea of the enchanted paper he had used before with Kian, asking Pollux if he would be open to using it so they could converse more often. Though his reply was curt as ever, Pollux was willing to try it, so he placed the enchantment on two very long pieces of parchment and carefully rolled one up to send to Wintergrove. On his piece, Adrissu wrote,Tell me when you receive yours.A few days later, a reply appeared in Pollux’s careful, even script:Received.
Their correspondence was a daily occurrence after that, though it was usually limited to a few sentences here and there throughout the day. Pollux consistently remained cold and clinical in his responses, but the very fact that he always responded kept Adrissu from feeling discouraged. Now that they could write daily, every so often Adrissu would leave something softer that he didn’t expect Pollux to answer: an addedI’m thinking of you,orthis reminded me of you. These went unacknowledged by Pollux, but the other man didn’t seem to outright reject the words either, which heartened him.
Once, when he had told Pollux about a rare ingredient he acquired—a flower that only grew on a mountain far to the north, but that was a key component in creating never-melting ice—the elf responded,perhaps you can show me when we see each other next.This sent Adrissu into such a frenzy that he went nearly an entire day without answering, which worsened when he realized he had never gone so long without responding, fretting over the thought that Pollux might think the suggestion had upset him. In the end, the best reply he could come up with was:I look forward to it.
Their correspondence continued in this way for several more months; and even though Adrissu felt confident that Pollux would accept his invitation to meet in person again, if there was anything he had learned about each incarnation of his mate, it was that letting the other man take the lead usually had a more favorable outcome. So he waited with the sort of long-suffering patience that he suspected only creatures untouched by time could manage. Almost a year after they had first met, Pollux left him a short message:Do you have any plans for the summer recess?
Trying very hard not to get his hopes up, Adrissu responded:No plans as of yet.
Later that afternoon, a second question appeared next to his reply.Would you like to come visit me in Wintergrove?
He thought his chest might burst open with sheer joy and relief at the thought that his mate wanted him near, wanted toseehim, which meant that he must not hate Adrissu, must miss him even a fraction as much as Adrissu missed Pollux—a thousand thoughts all in an instant that maybe his wait was finally over and this was the beginning of the end of all their suffering. When he could finally compose himself to write a reply without his hands shaking, he answered:I would love to. Tell me when and I will be there.
It took a few more days of back-and-forth, but by the time the school term was over, they had a solid plan in place for Adrissu to visit Pollux on the first day of summer. He planned to stay at least a few days, and depending on how it went, he might even stay a week or longer. Quietly, he hoped it would end up beingmuchlonger, but their messages to each other were still short enough that Adrissu didn’t trust his opinion of the other man’s feelings toward him yet.
Vesper yearned to go with him this time; normally she never cared about where he went, or how long he would be gone, since her instinct was to look after Adrissu’s hoard and keep watch over the lair. But shewasAdrissu, at least some primal part of him, so the only thing she ever wanted more than his hoard and his home was his mate. But he could not bring her, he explained, because he needed someone to stay and protect what was here; and someday, he promised, he would bring Pollux to her so they could meet properly. She was dissatisfied, as he would be, but could not disobey.
Adrissu left in the night, as he always did, flying high near the meager cloud cover that was available this early in the summer. When the sun was nearly on the horizon, he swooped down to rest in a shaded copse deep in the woods, a place he had stopped at before that was far too remote for anyone to bother him. He slept through the morning, stirring again late in the afternoon, and walked through the woods until it was dark enough that he felt he could risk taking flight again. He landed outside Wintergrove in the middle of the night, debating whether he wanted to spend another several hours hiding in the woods, but ultimately he decided that walking into the town before the crack of dawn would garner undue attention. Besides, Pollux did not seem like the type to be overly grateful for such an early morning visitor.
He rested in his elven form on the off-chance that someone might be out on an early woodcutting trip, or camping nearby; after all, a lone, eccentric elf asleep in the woods was considerably less alarming than a dragon hiding just outside Wintergrove. Luckily, he remained undisturbed, and he dozed for a few hours despite the tight anticipation simmering in the pit of his stomach. Sunlight flickering against his eyelids woke him, and he quickly roused himself and headed down the road on foot. It was about an hour before he arrived at the town gate, and the guard waved him through with hardly a glance in his direction.
Pollux’s home was near the workshop, where residential and industrial streets mingled. It was a plain, no-nonsense, one-story building; but it had a cozy-looking yard surrounding it that was filled with various plants and flowers, all encompassed by a low brick fence. Adrissu passed through the gate, hesitated in front of the door for a minute, then knocked sharply before he could overthink things. A moment later, the latch rattled as it was unlocked from within, and Pollux opened the door.
He looked almost exactly the same as Adrissu remembered, although his hair was unbraided now, so it fell down to his waist in a smooth, dark curtain. He wore a loose satin-looking, leisurely shirt and soft linen trousers, while his feet were bare.
“Good morning,” he said, his voice as cool and stern as ever, as if it hadn’t been a year since they last saw each other.
“Good morning,” Adrissu answered, unable to stifle the smile spreading across his face.Thiswas where he belonged. “May I come in?”
Pollux stepped aside and gestured for Adrissu to enter, closing the door behind him once they were both in the house. For a moment they both stood there, looking at each other uncertainly, then Adrissu offered,
“Thank you for wanting to see me again.”
Pollux chuckled once, a dry, humorless sort of laugh. “Don’t thank me for that. You wore me down until I had no other choice.”
There was no malice in his voice, though, so Adrissu grinned back at him. “Are you surprised?”
