Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Chapter 190: Take Care Of Yourself, Abby

The middle of summer came too soon. All of the men in Ilmir had passed the adjusted version of the lowest tier Warrior exam so the time had come for the camp to move on, leaving behind a few broken hearts.

Several teen girls had fallen for the charms of some Warrior or other who would be leaving. A few seemed like they planned on coming back to stay but others were unwilling to commit after braving a winter here.

They wanted to go home and Abby couldn't really blame them. Teenage girls got over crushes quickly for the most part; they should bounce back within a few months.

Besides, now that she was almost universally declared off-the-market (despite insisting that she and Blaise weren't engaged) the boys who had been crushing on her were officially over it and starting to look more seriously at other girls closer to their ages.

Hopefully some of those bruised hearts would find solace in each other. Lian had already started spending a lot of time with Janna since they were both heavily involved in the drama program.

Abby didn't want to say goodbye but she knew she had to. Nearby, Katie was giving her husband a tight hug and whispering things she was glad to be too far away to overhear into his ear. Al would be leading the Warriors to their new camp and helping set up the second printing office over the next few days.

She shuffled her way over to Blaise and pasted on a brave attempt at a smile. "Promise to write me?"

"If you promise to visit."

This was really it. What Abby had been dreading for months was finally happening and she didn't know how to deal with it. She threw herself into Blaise's arms as if it could somehow make it so he didn't have to leave.

He was usually hesitant while hugging her but this time he crushed her to his chest with one hand stroking her hair. When they finally broke apart, she handed him the same blue ribbon as she had before. It had worked the first time and she hoped it would see him safely back again.

She tied the ribbon around his wrist herself and had to hold back tears. The mountains were safe enough but it was such a long time to be apart.

Blaise turned to leave but stopped and resolutely turned around and marched back toward her before leaning down to press a quick kiss on her lips. "Take care of yourself, Abby."

Her fingers were still touching her trembling mouth as he walked out of sight. Their first kiss had been a kiss goodbye. It was both incredibly romantic and incredibly depressing. It was going to be a very long year and a half.

===

Things settled back into the same general pattern as before the Warriors came to town. Most of the Kanta were relieved since they could get back to work without having to worry about training but Abby hated it.

It was almost as if the past year had been a dream. So much had changed but there was very little physical evidence of it. A few new projects to work on. A few new buildings. The music box that still sat on her nightstand.

She listened to it a lot when she needed a reminder than Blaise was out there and he cared about her. When the first letter came back with Al she pounced on it with a desperation that made her brother-in-law laugh. Curse him.

Blaise wrote about how Raisha was smaller than Ilmir but had a similar feel to it. They were currently constructing an inn so the Warriors wouldn't freeze to death after their experience last winter and he was grateful for it.

He said the bakery there was slightly lower quality than Sia's but it was still way better than the rations. Since the citizens of Raisha had all seen the Warriors at least once before, there were no restrictions about leaving the camp like last time.

One of the warriors, a man named Garrit, discovered that a cousin he hadn't seen since he was a child had married a clansman and moved here two years ago. She hadn't been able to attend the end-of-harvest celebration because she was heavily pregnant at the time.

He ended the letter by assuring her that the ribbon was well taken care of and that he wished he could see her soon. The way he wrote letters was so similar to the way he spoke that Abby could practically hear his voice.

She wasn't able to visit with Al for the next two months because of various other commitments but wrote Blaise letters each time. When she finally was able to visit, the harvest had already ended.

The Warriors were terribly busy that day but Carrick allowed him two hours of reprieve to spend time with her. They were absolutely wonderful but not nearly enough.

"Do you really have to go back already?" Abby asked sadly.

"Yes," Blaise said regretfully. "The commander will have my head if I am not back on time. He barely allowed me to get away as is. You will still be here tomorrow, won't you?"

She nodded. Al had a lot of business to take care of so they were staying an extra day. "Yeah but I'll only get to see you at lunch this time."

He hugged her tightly and pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead. "I will take what I can get. Any time with you is far superior to none at all."

Abby wished him luck with the rest of the day's training and headed back to Mitzi's house where she was staying for the night. It was still light out but it was getting fairly late. Carrick only allowed Blaise two hours around dinner because they had a very early start running a training course on a steeper part of the mountain the next day.

Kel was already asleep because of how early he would have to wake up the next day so she ended up chatting with her friend about how the new printing office was faring.

"Oh, it's going great! We don't have as many people as we would like but now we're capable of training our own apprentices. We have four of them already," Mitzi said enthusiastically. "We have a fair amount of books and board games to send back with you already."

Well, it was nice to hear that things were going well for someone. Abby was still a bit depressed that she had come all this way to see so little of her boyfriend.