Caroline slept for a solid hour. In the end, Thio cast Weight Reduction and Transported her home rather than inconvenience Father Dillards any longer. He promised to inform the Father when she woke up and if there were any odd side-effects.

She had been brought to the sitting room to lay on the couch, with Thio’s lap as her pillow. He liked having her close. To pass the time, he read a book, quietly waiting for her to wake up.

When she finally did, it was with a bolt. Her head hit his hand, smacking the book into his face. She sat straight up and looked around, completely awake.

“Woah, that was crazy——huh, are you alright?” Caroline asked, concerned at seeing Thio holding his face, his eyes watering slightly from the pain.

“F-fine, just a little startled is all.” He managed, rubbing his nose. “What was crazy?”

“Oh! I think I had an out-of-body experience!”

“…a what?”

“Yeah, it was crazy! I feel asleep and the next thing I knew I was floating around the Father’s room looking at my own body.”

“That might have been a dream.” He hoped it was, there were enough unanswered questions without adding more.

“Yeah, but I remembered what you guys said after I fell asleep.”

“You could have been half asleep.”

“Oh.” She put an index finger to her chin. “I guess that’s possible, isn’t it? It felt really real though.”

“Well, even it was a dream, tell me what you saw.”

“Hm… it was like I was seeing two things at the same time. One was what you see usually, and the other… I dunno. It was kind of all hazy? You and the Father had a kind of glow. Especially with you, it was very noticeable.”

“Hah.” He lifted an eyebrow. “You favor me even in your dreams…”

“I’m being serious!” She stuck her tongue at him before continuing. “The thing is, I got bored with your talking and wandered around the church a bit. It was hard to do, like I didn’t have control over myself properly. But everyone had that glow, but the brightness varied. You were the brightest there though, like I said.”

“What about you?”

“Ah, I don’t think I glowed. I mean, my body wasn’t glowing. But maybe that’s because my spirit was floating around… ah! Speaking of spirits, you know how Priests say that spirits are all around, watching and helping out? They’re right! I mean, if this wasn’t all a dream… I saw them! They’re about the size of my fist, round, and they shine.”

At the mention of spirits, Thio tensed but then forced himself to relax, “Really… what were they doing?”

“Observing. Just like Father Richard said they do.” She tapped her chin. “I guess you really can’t sin without them knowing about it… They’d follow people around or sometimes get together into little groups. Comparing notes maybe? Hm… but I was surprised. The way the Father talked about them… they sounded nice… but they ended up being kind of rude.”

“Rude?”

“Well… since I was floating around with them anyway, I thought I might try talking. They seemed curious about me too, so some came over. But when I tried talking they… just… laughed.

“…they laughed.. Can spirits laugh…?”

“Yes they can! And then more came and they started laughing. When you transported me, I was thankful because I didn’t want to get laughed at anymore. But the ones here did the same thing!”

“We have them here too?”

“Oh yeah, more here than at the church. That surprised me, I thought they liked churches best? But there were tons of them here and they were really excited when we got back. But.. Nrg… the moment they saw me… they laughed too. Probably harder than the ones at church. It was so embarrassing!”

“Spirits laughing… I wonder what they thought was so funny? That you were separated from your body perhaps? I wouldn’t take that as a laughing matter.”

“Right??? But since I couldn’t get a word out of them who knows. Those little jerks…” She glanced around with a glare. “I bet they’re STILL laughing…”

Thio cleared his throat. “Even if this was a dream, lets not go around slandering spirits by calling them jerks. And it’s not like you can stop them anyway. Besides that, how are you feeling? Hangover? Grogginess? Anything unusual?”

“I feel fine! Great, actually.” She glanced around herself. “Everything looks the same but somehow sharper, more vivid. Does that make sense?”

“Hm.. Not to me. But that’s alright. I’ll contact Father Dillards and tell him you’re doing well and also give him an account of what you just told me. Dream or not, I think he’ll find it interesting.”

“I still don’t think it was a dream.”

“The only way to know for sure is if we do some experiments.” Thio paused. “Though Father Dillards may disagree. We’ll see.”

“What kind of experiments would you want to do?”

“Have you drink Holy Water again and see if you experience the same thing, mostly.”

Her eyes lit up. “That Holy Water tasted great! I’m all for having more!”

“Hah… I’m sure you are… but let’s take it slow. You are still recovering from those curses.”

“Aw… it’s Holy Water though, what harm could it do to me?”

“I don’t know, but I’d rather not go finding out the hard way.”

“Boo! No sense of adventure!”

Thio laughed, reaching out and hugged her. “One of us needs to be sensible, and apparently that’s going to be me.”

But in his heart, his anxiety deepened.

———

The week seemed to pass by quickly. Caroline did the exercises (in this case extensive stretching) advised by Sentra. It was frustrating that simple stretches exhausted her, but she tried to look on the bright side: she’d likely be far more limber after recovery than before.

Father Dillards found her “dream” to be very interesting, and promised to do further research. He also requested that any further spiritual encounters be relayed to him as well.

The night before Thio was going back to work, everyone was getting ready for bed. Thio had already changed into his pajamas and, after finishing his nightly routine, was heading back to the guest bedroom, which required him to pass by the master bedroom.

Catching him by the sleeve as he was walking past, Caroline asked,“Hey, is the room I’m staying in… your room?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You answer first.”

“Yes it is. Or at least it was.”

“Arg…” She frowned, muttering, “Why didn’t you say something sooner? I feel bad now. I basically forced you out of your own room.”

“There’s no reason to feel bad, I don’t mind.”

“Well, I do. You’ve been sleeping in a guest bedroom for over two weeks because of me.”

“Really, there’s no reason to feel guilty. All the beds in this house are comfortable.”

“If that’s the case, let me sleep in a guest bedroom and you take your room back.”

“What? No.”

“Why?”

“This is the best room in the house and I want you to be in it.”

“I thought you said they were all the same.”

“The beds. The beds are the same.”

She gave him a long stare and then sighed, “You really like to spoil me don’t you?”

“It’s a husband’s privilege to spoil his wife.” He had no idea if that was true, but that was what he’d planned on doing so it was close enough.

“Is that so? Do wives get the privilege of spoiling their husbands then?”

He hesitated, “I don’t see why not…”

“Hm. I don’t know if it counts as spoiling, but why don’t you start sleeping in your room again?”

“I just said—”

“I know,” She cleared her throat, blushing slightly. “I meant we’ll just share the bed.”

A pink tinge crept over Thio’s face too.

“We—we’re married aren’t we?!” Caroline blustered, feeling shy but determined. “It’s no big deal, right? And it’s not like we—we’ve got to do anything. I know I’m too weak still but… We can just, you know, sleep next to each other. Actually close our eyes. Literally sleep.”

They stared awkwardly at each other, equally red faced.

After a bit of an internal struggle, Thio finally conceded with a “You’re right.”

——

Thio had no experience with women (an amazing feat for a man in his twenties). Women showed very little interest in him to begin with, and when there was an interest, he always managed to say the wrong thing.

He was so outstandingly bad with women (outside of professional interactions), that his coworkers had made it a running gag among them. They’d even tried getting him into Brothels to loosen him up, but that hadn’t worked. In fact, it’d made Thio absolutely furious, to the point that superiors had to get involved to calm the situation down. After that, no one brought up the subject to his face again.

This was why no one expected his penpal to be a woman and why Evans was absolutely shocked at him getting married. They’d all been of the belief he was romantically incompetent.

This is all to say, he was extremely nervous. He was both a rational man and passionate person, and not knowing which he was going to be when dealing with the girl he liked made him uneasy. He frequently bluffed when it came to his real emotions, for fear of coming off as desperate or ridiculous. But close physical contact caused him to lose control of himself. So he lay there in the dark, wide awake, hoping fervently that he didn’t do anything stupid.

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After a few moments of silence, he felt (rather than saw) Caroline move closer. When she reached out to touch his arm, he almost jumped out of his own skin.

“..I’m not going to eat you..” Came an amused voice in the night before she cleared her throat and asked, “Hey, I was thinking… you can say no if you want… ha ha… but… I was wondering… might you… be willing to cuddle a bit?”

This is what she’d been planning on doing from the beginning. She’d gotten frustrated living in the same house and having the bare-minimum amount of physical contact. She knew the distance was being used as a safe guard on Thio’s end, but she couldn’t help wanting to get closer regardless. In short, she was indulging in a bit of selfishness by having them sleep in the same bed.

“…cuddle?” He congratulated himself on sounding normal just then.

“Yeah, you know, snuggle, nuzzle, curl up, spoon—”

“I understand what it is.”

“Alright then, do you wanna?”

“I suppose it would be fine.” He said graciously, though his internal self-control had slipped completely and was thinking: yes, yes, yes, and please yes.

It was a little awkward, as all these kinds of actions are when performed the first time, but eventually she got herself in the crook his arm. There was a moment of tenseness before they both felt comfortable and could relax.

“This is really nice.” Caroline commented, nuzzling her face into his chest, inhaling deeply. “Aren’t you glad I suggested it?”

“Mm,” He managed to strangle out. His brain was currently goo, completely preoccupied with every area her body was touching.

Caroline had progressed from baby strength to child strength. And while that was making good progress, she still found herself unable to stay active for long periods of time. Every night she’d gone to bed, she’d fallen asleep almost instantly.

It was a testament to her own nerves that she’d remained awake as long as she did. But now that she was relaxed, in the place she felt safest, she fell asleep before she even realized it.

Thio lay there, listening to her even breathing. Carefully he raised his hand, stroking her hair. It was an inch long now, but silky smooth and felt wonderful to his fingers. He inhaled, smelling the soap she used for her hair mix with her natural scent, and felt a knot in his gut suddenly relax. Without realizing, perhaps he’d actually wanted to just snuggle too.

No. That was a lie. Cuddling wasn’t enough.

Unable to help himself, he turned on his side to allow both arms to wrap around her, drawing her even closer. He stayed like that for a while, just enjoying her nearness and gently stroking her hair. But soon even that wasn’t enough. More, he wanted, more. Desire mixed with need and his self-control took a hard hit.

It started innocently enough: just running his hands along her shoulders and back. He told himself he wouldn’t do anything else. But soon his hands were on her arms, her side, and then somehow (as if by magic) he was touching everything in the front.

Caroline woke up with a groggy snort, staring at him in bleary confusion. Then her eyes narrowed and she reached out both hands to his stomach. It was the only squishy part of him, as he was incredibly skinny every where else. She pinched and twisted, with both fingers, hard.

“Gah!” He yelped, pulling away instinctively. She might be weak, but her pinches weren’t anything to joke about.

She yawned and then turned over, away from him, mumbling, “It’s cheating if I’m not awake to enjoy it…”

And then she was out again, as if nothing had happened.

Thio lay there, holding his stomach. The pain had done it’s job at least and he was back in his right mind. Mostly. It occurred to him that he could have snuck out and gone to the guest room at that point. That would probably have been the sensible thing to do. But somehow he just didn’t have the heart to do it.

So he lay there, looking at her back. There was something just… right, about having her there with him. He reached out and touched between her shoulder blades, relishing her warmth. When it came right down to it, this was where he wanted to be. And that’s all that really mattered.

Still though…

He’d need an extra cold shower tomorrow morning.

——

Caroline slept right through the night, completely unaware of Thio’s struggle. When he woke up very early in the morning, he discovered that Caroline had a strangle hold on him. Sometime after he’d finally fallen asleep she’d moved in like a snuggle assassin.

At first he’d enjoyed it, but when he tried to move he realized she wouldn’t let go. It took several tries to get out of her clinging arms and legs, and he was amazed that she didn’t wake up once from the jostling. If she hadn’t been breathing, he’d wondered if she was dead!

Once he was out of her tenacious grasp, he stumbled into the guest bedroom he’d been using. He had long since moved all his stuff out of his own room and didn’t have a single brush he could use there. And he needed a brush.

While it wasn’t a requirement to have long hair as a military Mage, it was a tradition and one every Mage prided themselves on. The reason behind the tradition had long since been forgotten, but it was carried on with almost religious fervor. Mages who turned criminal or got kicked out of the community had their hair cut off as a mark of shame. Balding Mages had obsessively researched hair-growth, and now had a huge library of spells dedicated just to that. By the time a Mage was in his sixties, he was expected to have hair down to his knees (at least).

Thio had won the genetic lottery when it came to hair: thick, wavy, and glistening black. After four years, it was down to his rear and he’d had to start trimming it to keep it under control. Other Mages, male and female, were green with envy. For his part, it ended up being a lot of work. He brushed it twice a day: before bed and after waking up. He’d change the kind of braid he’d use depending on what he was doing during the day. Washing it was such a pain, he’d reduced it to a once a week affair.

Every once in a while he’d be mechanically brushing his hair and remember that if he’d gotten into the Army he could have kept his hair sensibly short. He’d spend a few minutes dreaming about how easy hair-care would be before coming back to reality.

Today he was actually relieved for his mass of hair. He hadn’t slept well and the act of brushing helped him organize his mind and wake up. Once he was done he took a shower (a luxury he enjoyed immensely), and used a spell to make it extra cold. When he came out shivering, he wondered if he’d gone too far and would accidentally get himself sick.

Along the entire way, Metts was there helping. The young man was surprisingly dedicated to a job Thio had offered on a whim and for his own convenience. Metts made sure to be up at the same time as Thio, if not earlier, and to always be one step ahead of everything Thio did. From making the bed to sorting and hanging his uniform, to even providing a warm towel for the shower, Metts was getting it done. The only thing he didn’t do was cook, mostly because he didn’t know how (for now). Even so, he’d make sure the kitchen was ready for use and cleaned up after Thio was done.

Quite a few of the things Metts did weren’t, strictly speaking, required of him to do. Particularly after getting the bonus, the young man had been extra motivated. There had been some arguments about what was who’s responsibility, but somehow Metts always won. Mostly because he just did them before Thio could get to them. After a week of this, Thio just gave up and let Metts do whatever he wanted.

After finishing breakfast, and making something for Caroline when she woke up, he transported himself to the Research Institute’s Gardens. This was located in the (sizable) backyard of Headquarters. Technically he could have gone directly to his office if he’d wanted, but appearing like that suddenly generally gave people a fright and he liked walking through The Gardens anyway.

The Gardens were filled with plants from all over the world. If it was magical, if it helped with healing, if it was plant-like and had some vague connection to spell-casting, it was growing there. The Gardens were beautiful, but also very dangerous, so visitors were strictly regulated. This made it a quiet place to walk through, especially in the morning, which is why Thio liked it so much.

There were seven ways to enter or exit Headquarters, two being emergency exits, and one being the main front entrance. The Institute had two entrances all to itself on the East Wing of the building. This meant that Thio only had to pass through two front desks to get to an office, which he counted a blessing.

He did not notice anything was amiss until he got to the second front desk.

“Hello Archmage Thio!” Secretary Alice greeted cheerfully. “How was your vacation?”

“It was fine.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Just fine?”

“Yes?”

“Hm…” Alice gave him a speculative look and muttered, “Playing it close to the chest, huh?”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing, sir, nothing! Don’t let me hold you back, I’m sure you’ve got some catching up to do.” She gave him a pleasant smile.

“Yes… well… I’ll be going then.” He left, glancing back once in puzzlement. Alice usually kept her greetings short and didn’t ask personal questions. She was highly efficient and to the point.

Two Scholar ranked Mages saw him and, after saluting, asked, “How did your vacation go sir?”

“It was fine. Relaxing.”

“Really?” The first Scholar Mage eyed him. “You’ve got some bags under your eyes.”

“Had a busy night, eh?” The other said, causing his companion to elbow him rather viciously.

“I beg your pardon?” Thio raised an eyebrow, lips thinning. That had sounded suspiciously like a vulgar joke.

“I’m sorry sir!” The first Scholar Mage said hastily, glaring at his companion. “Don’t pay him any mind, just a slip of the tongue. Haha. Ha. ..ah… We’ll be going now!”

With that he grabbed the other Mage and made a run for it. Thio stared after them, wondering, before continuing on his way.

Lower ranked Mages in black gave him their salutes as he passed. But once he’d walked past them they’d start whispering excitedly amongst themselves. He was pretty sure he’d actually heard his name mentioned a few times.

Thio frowned slightly. He was sometimes the target of office gossip, but it wasn’t usually quite this obvious. In the past they had the sense to at least avoid talking about him outright while he was still within earshot.

He entered his office and found his assistant already there. Mallery was a 3rd Class ranked Mage, on the short and stout side, wore large glasses, and kept her hair in a very messy braid. They were polar opposites in personality: Thio calm, collected, and Mallery, stressed, frantic. The thing that brought them together was an almost obsessive need for orderliness.

Seeing Thio enter, Mallery stopped organizing paperwork and stood at the side of his desk. She gave the standard salute: Right hand over her chest and a slight bow.

“Archmage Thio, it’s good to have you back, sir!”

“Mallery, good to see you.” He gave her a nod before taking a seat at his desk. Looking at the piles of paper, he could tell his long vacation had come with a price. “Which of these are the most pressing?”

“Yes, sir! That pile should be dealt with today,” She pointed at the smaller stack of papers and then made a large sweeping motion. “And then it’s in order of important from there. The big pile at the end just needs your signature.”

“Right.” He pulled the top piece of paper from the urgent pile and read. His eyebrows rose the farther down he went. It was a report detailing an increase in violent monsters attacks and demonic activities. Evans had complained in passing about being busier than usual when he visited last and now Thio knew why. Looking at the dates on the paper, it seemed the rise in activity had started sometime during his forced vacation.

“Why didn’t anyone inform me of this earlier?” Thio asked Mallery, taping the page. What this report was saying was very alarming.

Mallery cleared her throat, blinking nervously. “Archmage Clemont said that, unless it was an immediate emergency, people on vacation aren’t to be bothered.”

“Tch.” Thio’s eyebrows pinched together in annoyance. Of course it’d be Clemont. He was one of the other two Archmages in the Institute and was Thio’s senior in age and experience by thirty years. While their ranks made them technically equals, Clemont pretty much ran the Institute. The other Archmage frequently went on exploration missions, so wasn’t at Headquarters often. That meant Clemont’s word was law. They had occasionally butted heads in the past because of this.

The next page was a memo about measures being put into place, by order of the Emperor himself, to offset the monster and demon activity. As Thio read through it, he was surprised to see churches on the list. Churches were being sent rations and supplies, and small garrisons of soldiers to guard them.

During times of war, civilized countries considered churches places of sanctuary. Citizens not involved in the fighting could take refuge there. But by virtue of having such a status, the military on either side didn’t involve themselves with the churches. It was a no-go zone, even for injured soldiers.

This wasn’t about war though. It was monsters and demons. Strategically it didn’t make any sense to put supplies there unless… He started frowning deeply. Did the Emperor expect demons to attack towns directly?

Demons hated churches and wouldn’t go near them. Just having a church in a town drastically reduced demonic activity. That said, demons who messed with people did so with deceit, not violence. The violent demons stayed in the dark, where they could hide from both the military and the Church. So why would—

BAM!

Both Mallery and Thio jumped, startled by the door being slammed opened.

“Thio!”

A man in his early 60s, with long white braided hair going down his back and a white uniform with the jacket left hanging open crashed into the room.

“Archmage Clemont, welcome.” Thio greeted politely, managing to look calm.

“Why didn’t you come to my office and tell me you were back!”

Ugh, he’s so loud, Thio thought, eyes squinting.

“Since you were the one that gave me the two month vacation, I assumed you’d know when I was back.”

“Ah, you expect me to remember something like that? That’s what the black shirts are for,” He pointed a thumb at Mallery, who scowled in return. Even though she was much lower in rank, she was Thio’s subordinate, so didn’t feel as inclined to be respectful.

Thio sighed. Clemont was excellent at delegating tasks to other people, including Thio himself. This was both a blessing and a curse: the best people always got selected, but Clemont ended up with a lot of free time on his hands. He would wander around the Institute, gossiping and interfering with people’s work. Or perhaps that was just his way of keeping his ear to the ground and knowing what the lower ranks were doing? Either way, it was annoying.

“My apologies for not informing you, I’ll make sure to do so from now on.” Thio raised an eyebrow. “Was there anything else you needed from me?”

Clemont walked up to Thio’s desk and slammed his hands on it dramatically.

“YES THERE IS. IT’S OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE.”

“Yes Sir?”

“IS IT TRUE?”

“Is what true?”

“ARE YOU MARRIED?”

“…Yes?”

“OH MY GOD!” Clemont covered his face, groaning. “Why? I thought I had you pegged! I just lost a fortune because of you! My money, my life! My wife will kill me when she finds out! I’m a dead man walking!”

Thio stared at him in stunned disbelief. That’s what all the odd behavior had been about today? They’d actually bet on whether he was married, and his senior had voted against him.

Outside the office (the door hadn’t been shut properly) a crowd of people who’d followed Clemont let out a mix of cheers and moans. In his peripheral vision he saw Mallery make a victory motion.

Apparently she’d bet too. He almost felt touched that she’d bet in his favor. Almost.

Thio rubbed his temples and his eye started twitching. It was going to be a long day.