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In the cozy privacy of her secret room, Richeh was writing a letter. She’d been writing a lot of letters lately, all to the same person. She didn’t really know why.
Writing letter birds for someone who moved around a lot was tricky, but Richeh was pretty sure all of them had reached Euini, because he kept writing back. Richeh was getting really good at snatching all the letter birds and stashing them in her secret room to read before the others saw them. (These were her special letters. They belonged to her.)
Richeh hopes you’re doing all right.
He seemed to be all right. He was clearly a lot happier now, even if things weren’t perfect for him yet.
Still, Richeh included that sentence anyway.
Richeh finished and signed the letter, then started folding it into shape. Once her letter bird was ready for its seal, she looked at it thoughtfully. She felt like something was missing.
Just above where the magic seal was supposed to go, Richeh planted a quick kiss on the paper. She wrote sealed with a kiss, with an arrow pointing to the spot.
Then Richeh cocked her head. “Sealed with a kiss”? Really? That was like something out of those love stories Tetia was obsessed with.
Richeh had seriously just done that to her letter for Euini.
But it felt right for some reason.
Richeh shook her head, drew the letter bird seal, and let the letter fly away.
—-----------------------
Euini’s heart leapt in his chest when he caught the letter bird out of the air, wrapping himself in his shadow cloak to read it.
Richeh had been sending him so many letters lately. And for some reason, getting them always made him so happy.
Then he saw what was on the letter, besides the seal. Sealed with a kiss, with an arrow pointing to a spot on the paper.
W-Wait, what?
Richeh had never done this before. What was going on?
And why was he blushing?
His heart racing, Euini read the letter. It was just like Richeh’s other letters, talking about her life and checking in on him. Except this one was “sealed with a kiss.”
When Euini had finished reading, he looked at the “sealed with a kiss” again. His heart was still beating fast.
And then he leaned forward and kissed the spot on the paper.
He immediately sat bolt upright with his hand on his mouth. What had just gotten into him?
“Euini!” Master Alaira called. “It’s time to get going!”
Euini hastily folded Richeh’s letter and slipped it into his pocket as he threw off his cloak. “Um, just a moment!”
He could think about this later. Hopefully Master Alaira wouldn’t notice that he was still blushing.
His racing heart now felt like it was fluttering.
—-----------------------
When Richeh eagerly grabbed Euini’s reply, she saw that it was also “sealed with a kiss.” She cocked her head in surprise.
Euini’s letter was otherwise just like his other letters, except for the P.S. I kissed your “sealed with a kiss.” I hope you don’t mind…
This P.S. had some pretty wobbly writing, like Euini’s hand had been shaking while he wrote, but he’d turned the shaky lines and swirls into little flourishes, making a postscript that looked surprisingly pretty. That was such a Euini thing to do, and Richeh could really picture him writing it.
I hope you don’t mind…
Richeh’s face felt warm for some reason. And she could feel herself smiling.
She didn’t know why.
In a sudden impulse, she looked at Euini’s “sealed with a kiss” and kissed it right back.
Kissed him right back.
She didn’t know why she’d done that, or why her heart was beating so fast. But it felt right.
And it felt really nice.