𓏲 ๋࣭ The Wind Bears Gifts Again˖
pairing: Cale Henituse x travelling!Reader x Alberu Crossman ft. Tasha and Cale's assortment of strays
summary: Alberu and Cale receive mysterious gifts once every two weeks—a bouquet of flowers and a box filled with trinkets, treats, letters, pictures or whatever else the mysterious sender decides to give. A little snippet of how the Wind brings gifts to its loved ones.
tags: traveller!reader. gn!reader. gift giving as a love language. implied est. relationship. implied cale doing something to upset you. ron and his hobby of bullying cale. alberu low-key being a cutie. no real plot author just wanted to write something where alberu gets flowers.
note: the code hidden in the bouquet :D
amaryllis - deep love, 'you are valued for your inner strength and beauty'
zinnia - lasting affection, thinking of the ones that are absent but missed
moonflower - dreaming of love, 'i dream of you'
amaranth flower - endless love, immortal affection
white clover - good fortune, protection
an: I spent waaaaay too much trying to put a message into that bouqet...also pls ignore how badly written this is in under academic stress and haven't written shit in like 2 or more months 😭 this was written with a reader who basically has to travel across the world all the time in order to gather intel, infiltrate operations, forge connections, collect knowledge, etc. so they don't get to see their lovers that often but they make up for it by sending lots of gifts and flowers!
Tasha feels the air in Alberu's office thicken and change before she even knows something happened. As a dark elf, it's only natural for her to be sensitive to mana, so it's no wonder she can pinpoint the changes of it around her. Her head whips around to the open window—the one that most definitely had not been open earlier—and startles when she sees something on the ledge. Before she can react, her nephew enters the room and crosses the short distance from the door to the window with impressive speed. Briefly, she wonders if he somehow knew something would show up that very moment because as far as she's aware, he was stuck in a meeting until now. How he managed to time his entrance so perfectly is beyond her.
Dumbfounded, she watches Alberu Crossman—her nephew, future king of the Roan Kingdom and notoriously serious and overworked—smile while he inspects the items on the window.
"What-" She begins, but Alberu cuts her off.
"Aunt, would you mind fetching documents from the minister of public affairs? About that celebration the East has been pushing for?" She stares at him, blinking in confusion because she knows this isnt the type of task he'd ever make her do. Making her run nonsensical errands? His aunt, no less?Preposterous. Unheard of.
Still, when she sees something colourful peak out beneath carefully wrapped brown paper, a suspicion begins to form in her mind. She concedes this once, promising herself she'd use this against him at some point and exits the room with a curt goodbye. When she returns half an hour later, she sees that the flowers Alberu keeps on the table beneath the window have been changed. Gone was the previous bouquet, now replaced by one made of zinnia and white amaryllis flowers in the center, surrounded by moonflowers, amaranths and white clovers. Though the flowers would have clashed in that peculiar order, they seemed to be wrapped and arranged oh so carefully, Tasha had no choice but to admire them.
Alberu sits at his desk when she brings him the documents he requested, and only when she approaches him does she find a small wooden box filled with sweets and savoury traits beside him that had not been there before.
"Where'd you get those from?" She asks confused, because very clearly, those weren't treats one could acquire easily in Roan, let alone the western continent if she thought about it. When would her nephew have had the time to travel to get food from somewhere halfway across the world?
He doesn't diginify her with a response—rude brat—but only shrugs as he continues looking through whatever new outrageous proposal the nobles have put forth again. "The wind came bearing gifts again," he replies cryptically, the hint of a grin obvious in his voice even if Tasha can't see his expression.
She thinks back to all the times she's heard people speculate where Alberu might be getting the flowers in his office from, especially the ones that did not grow anywhere in the kingdom. She looks between the vase on the table—the one that has a different bouquet in it every two weeks, like clockwork—and the box on his desk. Something clicks in her mind, the corners of her mouth curling up into something amused.
"Tell the wind I said hello and it really should get me some of those chocolate covered caramel hazelnuts again," she comments before her rude as ever nephew dismisses her out of the office with a wave of his hand. She has half a mind to contact Mary and ask her if young master Cale received any packages today, but she puts it off. She could always just ask the Wind herself next time they met.
Somewhere in the Forest of Darkness, Cale Henituse is allowed the rare chance to rest in the Super Rock Villa. Well, rest is a bit of a stretch—he's doing some research on the terrain of his next mission, dead set on surprising the Arm subordinates in their base with every trick in the book. The children averaging eight-years-old are sitting nearby, listening to Rosalyn explain ways they could merge Raon's mana with On's fog and Hong's poison. Eruhaben sits beside them, tinkering with an odd device Rosalyn had politely asked him to help her fix, only half paying attention to the conversation to add his own commentary to it.
While the atmosphere isn't exactly quiet and ideal for reading and researching, Cale wouldn't really trade it for anything in the world. Just as he thinks to himself that this the kind of slacker life he wishes he could have instead of chasing after the crazy White Thing, Ron enters the study with a serving tablet in each hand. One of them contains drinks—the tall glass of lemonade with no doubt meant for Cale, he laments—while the other hosts a small box and three envelopes. Ron smiles benignly at Cale after he's distributed all the drinks, but even with his age and experience, he can't fully hide his curiosity when his young master takes the box and letters, a little excited to see what the puppy young master would be received this time around.
"I found those on the table in the reception room, young master-nim," he explains, even though that much was unnecessary. He does it nonetheless because he loves watching the way his young master flinches at the remark like a kicked puppy beating the consequences of its own actions. Usually, the letters and boxes would show up at the ledge of his young master's bedroom. Appearing in the reception room meant one thing and one thing only—the sender wasn't too keen on delivering the gifts personally due to a grudge.
Cale doesn't comment, he simply opens the box to inspect it's contents, unable to hold back a snort when he sees what inside.
Lemon ice cream pralines. Lemon truffles. Mini lemon cupcakes. An entire assortment of lemon desserts from all around the Eastern continent along side a simple card on top.
'I hope you know I'm still mad at you, idiot. Lemon is good for your health, so eat up.'
So passive aggressive yet still sweet—how very you.
He takes the brown envelope—the one that stands out between the two other white one—and opens it with a letter opener he keeps for those occasions om his desk. The envelope is a little coarse, but lighter than the other two. Inside, he finds three pictures of different sceneries—a forest beneath a star speckled sky, a vast lake with a cottage surrounded by fog and a bustling market with the ocean in the horizon—as well as a bookmark made with flower motifs.
Zinnia and white amaryllis flowers in the center, surrounded by moonflowers, amaranths and white clovers. He smiles softly to himself, already picturing the matching bouquet that must be in his hyung's office and above all, the joy and care with which you'd picked the bouquet for the two of them despite being busy in your travels.
The children are openly curious about the gifts their human received, but no one in the room questions him out loud. Why would they, when they know they'll be receiving letters and gifts from you soon?
Somewhere in the capital of the Arman Kingdom, you walk around the market place with a smile on your face—though no one could see your face beneath your cloak. You pass by stalls with various trinkets and treats, all the sellers vying for your attention by hyping up their products. Occasionally, someone succeeds and you step closer to admire the merchandise.
You buy whatever strikes your fancy and you decide might suit someone you know, like fountain pain set for your lover's brother or a particulary well made leather pouch for your other lover's aunt to store her vials of dead mana in. It's a good way to spend your day off in the middle of your covert mission, you reckon. Though you'd much rather spend your time annoying Alberu or reading with Cale, you know that your job of gathering intel across the world was a vital part of keeping the kingdom running.
The things you do for love, you muse.
You know the two must have undoubtedly received their flowers and gifts by now, and while they aren't due for new gifts for another two weeks, it doesn't stop you from starting to collect new things to send them.
