I'd write you back…

"Good work today, Cheria! You should get some rest, okay?"

"Oh, okay, Bailey! See you tomorrow!" The pink-haired girl answered smiling, happy that she could finally rest after healing so many people today, due to another avalanche in the Fendel Highlands. It must've come so surprising that the group of travelers didn't even notice until it was too late. Thankfully their wounds didn't involve anything a warm room, hot chocolate and a good rest couldn't get rid of. Nevertheless she used her powers to make sure there wasn't anything else after being covered under the snowy mass for so long…
Another reason for her contentment was the feeling of being useful, of being needed, that flooded her every time someone thanked her for her effort and especially today this feeling had taken over her busy mind a lot. Honestly, it's not like she depended on the thanks of others for her hard work to keep going; she would do so even without it. Nevertheless, it felt nice…

Upon entering the room she shared with a few women of the organization, Cheria discovered that she was alone for now. She decided that she could use some sleep though, and got ready to head to bed. When she was done with her routine her gaze wandered to the single desk in the room and on top of it, some notepaper everyone could use to write home.

'Home… I wonder how things are going in Lhant…'

Before she knew what she was doing, the young woman was writing a letter in her neatest cursive, telling about her day and the most recent happenings, as well as inquiring about life in her hometown. There was one thing bothering her though…

Who should she address it to?

Her grandfather would be the obvious choice of course, but she was informed that he was on a trip to visit an old friend from his youth, so he wasn't even there. And as much as Cheria wouldn't let that stop her, she didn't know where that friend even lived…

And the only ones in Lhant whom she would have any reason to send a letter would be Asbel and Sophie.

Well, what is stopping her from doing so?

To put it bluntly, the healer was afraid. Not of her two friends of course, but of the chance that they didn't care about her anymore and wouldn't write back… What if they didn't care and would just ignore it?

Of course, the fear was totally uncalled for, seeing as her two friends were as caring for her as anyone could ever be. But the young woman couldn't help but feel it.

The dread and pessimism she felt weren't anything new either. She remembered that when she was left alone by all of her friends a few years ago, she was feeling much the same way, except for the fact that she wasn't away from home, but everyone else was.

Pondering over such a seemingly simple decision took her a few more minutes, before she decided that this bridge was to be crossed another day. Of course then her information in the letter wouldn't even be up-to-date anymore…

Huffing in frustration, she quickly wrote down his name and address on the envelope before she could chicken out again. It would be another question though if she would even have the nerve to send it, considering writing his name had taken such a toll on her nerves…

Relieved that that was off her list of her things to do and totally relaxed again (yes, she was!), she slipped under the thick covers of the inn bed, quickly falling asleep after a hard day of work.

"Hey, um, Maria? Have you seen this one letter that was lying on the desk?"

The members of the relief organization were just preparing to leave Zavhert, when Cheria noticed that said letter was missing. She was sure she had left it there, so that she would be reminded of sending it when she woke up. Surely, none of the other women would have just taken and read it. They all learned to respect each other's privacy after traveling together for a few weeks. (She wished the same would've happened on her journey with her friends…)

"Oh, you mean the one addressed to this "Asbel"? I thought somebody had left it there to be mailed… So I gave it to Bailey when he was collecting letters this morning when you were still asleep." The middle-aged woman with short brown hair replied innocently, probably wondering if she had done something wrong.

'Great… Bailey always sends them first thing in the morning. There's no way that I can keep it from being sent…'

Even through her depressed thoughts that her letter had just been sent without her actually wanting it, Cheria saw her chance to finally test if her childhood friend would actually write back and therefore prove her worries as unnecessary. It would be a nerve-wracking wait…

Sighing heavily, the young woman decided to just go with it for once and continued to pack up her things so they could leave soon.

It had been a week since her letter got accidentally sent. She was getting embarrassed about that. No, wait, she has been embarrassed about it ever since she knew that Asbel would read what she hadn't even really intended him to. Now though she was also getting more and more nervous about his response… if there was going to be any…

Let's be honest, he wasn't the type of man to write letters. He never had been and he probably wouldn't ever be. It's just who he was.

Asbel had never really enjoyed reading books or stuff like that either. She was glad he got all of his paperwork done as the lord of Lhant, even if he still complained about having to go through so many reports and charts and all those things that the title involved.

But he had promised her…

The day she had played the piano for him again after so many years, telling him in the language of music just what he meant to her… That day she brought up her letters and reminded him that he never wrote back… And he promised that he would answer her if she were to write him again one day! But would he really?

Cheria supposed she was going to find out soon enough…

Too weeks had passed now. She supposed it would be nonsense to keep sticking to her hope that Asbel would write back. It was getting embarrassing how desperately she was waiting for his reply, she thought. Seriously, it was just a letter…

Except that it wasn't.

It was a promise… And Asbel would never break his promises! That's also who he was. Honest and loyal to a fault, dense as a rock (romantically speaking at least) and just about the worst liar in history (and just downright adorable when embarrassed). But he never breaks his promises! Cheria also knew that he was very busy in Lhant with his work, but she just didn't want to believe that he couldn't spare a few minutes to write her even a few lines to show that he hadn't forgotten about his childhood friend.

She knew that this term didn't even begin to describe what she felt for him, but the healer supposed that she couldn't expect any more than that from the dense young man.

Well, that doesn't matter anyway. She would continue to hope that one day somebody will forcefully open his eyes… She wasn't sure though if she still had the nerve to try any more.

Three weeks were seriously ridiculous to answer to a single letter…

Yes, Cheria was starting to get aggravated at the man of her affections. That jerk could at least afford to let her know that he was alright! (Except, maybe he wasn't… but Cheria didn't want to think about that…)

Nonetheless she tried asking for any mail for her one last time before she would decide that she gave up. Not on the idiot, of course; she doubted she could stand trying to forget about him. She would just resign to the fact that he didn't care for writing her…

"Hey Bailey…?" The young woman approached him after lunch. She had seen the man hand out letters to one of the fellow girls, so she thought it would be the perfect chance.

"Oh, Cheria! Perfect timing as always! I just got this letter-" She instantly perked up. Her hopes may not've been for naught after all! "-for Maria. You mind giving it to her? She didn't feel well the last couple of days, so she's resting right now."

… She wanted to rip her hair out for getting her hopes up only to have it crushed the next second!

"S-sure, I'll give it to her when I return to the room…" She pressed out awkwardly, trying to hide her anguish.

"Cheria, you're such a sweetheart!" The middle-aged woman exclaimed smiling when she received the letter, before quickly skimming the contents. "It's just another one from my elder sister, who's bragging about her easy job with a lot of pay and her perfect family life, but I'm glad she's okay…"

Apparently Maria noticed her awkward silence when the topic was brought up.

"What about you? Didn't you write a letter to someone a while back?"

"Well, yes… but-" A slight blush had begun to cover her pale cheeks at the thought of whom she had sent the letter, seeing as she still didn't have any idea as to how he had taken it. Before she could explain her reasoning any further however, the older woman had interrupted her outrageously.

"Don't tell me he forgot to answer!" Her answer might've as well been written on her forehead, judging by how easily this woman could read her expressions. "Hm, that's odd, I never took your friend as the cold-hearted kind of guy judging from what you told me…"

"No! He's far from being cold-hearted… He's probably just had a lot of work lately…" It didn't feel right to hear such things about him, even if she was mad at him right now. He was still her friend, if nothing more, so defending him was natural, right?

"Oh my, you must really like him, huh?" Maria giggled a little, before a coughing fit interrupted her mirth and forced her to think of her own problems again.

"That's enough, now. You have to rest, Maria! We still need your help so you have to get better soon, okay? So don't worry about my petty problems!" Cheria's expression was seemingly serene, but she was actually just trying to cover up her embarrassment at the older woman's (correct) assumption. Her orders were met with minimal resistance and so the topic was soon forgotten about…

Of course that didn't include her…

The relieve organization was back in Zavhert almost two weeks later. This time there wasn't any special occasion, they were just checking up on the situation there. It seemed that at least for the moment, the world was at peace, so there wasn't much to do for them. That didn't stop them from travelling around and helping people of course.

"Cheria! Wait!" Bailey's voice rang over the young woman's thoughts as he approached, rushing through the masses of the city population. When he finally caught up to her he was out of breath and didn't manage to say anything for a few seconds, wondering why in the world she took a walk when it was so overcrowded, not to mention freezing as always in the snowy country of Fendel. "I got-… a letter… for you…!" He finally wheezed out between taking deep breaths handing her the envelope.

"A letter…?"

Could it be?!

Yes, it really was from Asbel!

Cheria could recognize his slightly messy scrawl anywhere! (It got worse over time of being a lord, she noted… but not beyond recognition…) Not to mention the mark of Lhant used to seal off the envelope.

He really did take his sweet time, didn't he…?

Although her thoughts would sound bitter if spoken aloud, she just couldn't help the enormous smile growing on her face. She was just so happy that he actually kept his promise! (And now she felt a little bad for not trusting him to do so… But just a little…)

"Thank you, Bailey!" The young woman exclaimed, smiling brightly before taking off to her room to read the letter in peace. Meanwhile, Bailey couldn't help but be happy for the girl he had known ever since she was a child, happy that she found someone to make her this happy.

Arriving at the women's room at the inn, Cheria threw herself on the mattress of her bed and buried her face in the pillow to muffle her excited squeal, not even noticing the older woman in the room.

"So, did your darling friend finally decide to write you back?" Maria's voice startled her, but right now nothing could bring her down from her high of happiness. Nodding into her fluffy pillow, Cheria was almost too excited to actually open the letter and read what Asbel wrote her. "He sure took his sweet time doing so. Well, at least the waiting was worth its while…" The woman smiled warmly, wondering if she had ever seen the girl so high-spirited.

"Yes… He actually kept his promise…!"

"Asbel! Asbel!" Sophie's excited cry rang throughout the Lhant mansion, offering a perfect distraction for the maroon haired man from his paper work. He had been working without a break for the past three hours and he seriously wondered if he would ever regain feeling in his fingers. He had always known that being the lord of Lhant wasn't an easy job, but that didn't mean he liked spending the day at his desk with nothing but paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork in front of him. He should be used to it by now…

"What is it, Sophie?"

"It's a letter from Hubert! The postman just delivered it!" She answered, skipping into his office with the said letter in hand, pushing his paperwork aside for the moment so Asbel would be forced to open it immediately. Doing so, the young man silently read the letter, smiling lightly at his little brother's words. "C'mon, what does it say?"

"Oh, basically he's just complaining about life with Pascal. He brought that upon himself though, so I don't see why I should feel sympathy for him. But all in all he sounds happy, to say the least…"

"That's great. But how do you know what he sounds like when you just read his letter?" Asbel had to chuckle at his adoptive daughter's innocent query. There was still so much she had to learn about being human and the world they were living in. Then again, she had all the time she would need…

"Even so, you better answer him soon. You know how impatient the guy gets…! One can take only so much of Pascal's insanity without normal human contact before going mad themselves…! And you know that Hubert's tolerance is… not really the highest…!" Another playful, yet soothing voice resounded suddenly.

"Yeah, better keep him sane as long as I can… I'll write back as soon as I'm done with these requests from the local merchants, okay Cheria?" The young man responded with a sigh, looking towards the entrance she had entered through. As he laid his eyes on his beautiful fiancé, he couldn't help but smile. Cheria, in turn, continued on her way towards him until she was standing behind him, hands on his shoulders as her gaze wandered over his work place, probably about to tell him to clean it up once in a while, but thinking better of it.

"… Alright, but don't forget about it! You don't want to make him wait for months like you did with some people, do you?" Had Asbel been able to see her face, he would have noticed the pointed look she gave him, but found himself aware of it even without turning around. She never had let him live it down that apparently his letters were always awfully late by her standards.

"Oh, you know that wasn't my fault! I always wrote you back that same week I got your letters but with you always moving with the relief organization, the postman couldn't track you down before you were gone again!" It was a reflex to justify himself, even if they both knew this by now. Maybe it was just his wish that she finally dropped the subject, but it didn't matter either way. However judging from the way the young woman giggled next to him, her warm breath hitting his ear from the side as she leaned over him from behind, she had decided to stop humoring him. "Either way, what's important is that I wrote back, right?" As he murmured this lovingly, the maroon haired man let his head fall backwards onto the shoulder of the woman he loved, his content smile never wavering even a little, before kissing the cheek in front of his face gently.

"Yeah… And I'm glad you were able to keep your promise…"

As always, thank you very much for reading this one-shot!

It's actually my first attempt at Asberia or Tales of Graces in general, but I have known and loved this fandom for so long, I just wanted to write a story about this cute couple!

It turned out rather short in my opinion, but I guess it's as long as it will get, since I think that any more would just make the story boring. And I'm out of ideas for anything to add! XD (I hope it isn't too boring already...! ^^')

So I hope you enjoyed reading it and that Cheria wasn't OOC... But yeah, I'd love it if you could tell me what you think about it in a review (or a PM or whatever you like)!

And last, but not least: I don't own anything! Honestly, even the idea belongs to the plot bunny hiding under my bed!

Sincerely, Tracy247