Chapter Text
She stood on the roof, watching the beginnings of the sunrise. Against the dark blue of the ocean, faint smudges of orange and white began to streak the horizon as the star began to push its way into the sky. If the sorceress was being completely honest with herself, she loved the sunrise for more than just its beauty. She loved how the sun rose every single day, regardless of the weather. She loved the memory of flying alongside Kory as her black magic took the male Titans up above the clouds so they could all watch as the sun rose after the cloudy harvest moon. She loved how meeting up on the roof nearly every morning only strengthened the bond she shared with Robin. She loved just having a chance to watch the city she loved slowly wake from its slumber and start living again.
Jump City was special to her; her family was even more so. Dick guiding her and becoming her most trusted friend, Kory unabashedly loving her and showing her how to love in return, Gar constantly trying to make her happy and showing her what optimism meant, Victor teaching her to allow herself to be loved and protecting her as a big brother would. Feeling free atop the tower, she allowed a few rare tears to leak out, her lips moving into an honest smile as she sent up a quick thanks to all the gods, goddesses, demigods and deities of Azarath for granting her this wonderful chance at happiness.
She felt as Dick approached and stood next to her, his maskless blue eyes soft as they scanned the blend of colors unfolding into the sky. There was a light breeze that carried up to their ears the gentle sounds of the waves crashing, the birds starting their love songs, his cape and her cloak rustling, the soft fluttering of her hair around her cheeks.
She chuckled as strands of violet hair continued to brush against her face, tucking them back behind her ear. His eyes immediately noticed the smudged tear tracts and he looked at her pointedly.
Before he could ask, she spoke, “I feel happy, Dick.”
The teen raised an eyebrow at that, but the curve of his lips rose just a bit. He nodded and looked back out at the dawning sun sensually overtaking the darkness of night. Many tiny blots of stars had happily succumbed to the pastel heavens, but some clouds remained firm, their light grays contrasting with the pale masterpiece. It would probably rain a bit later on, but for now the two heroes watched as dark turned to light and day finally broke when spots of fluorescence flickered out of the windows down below. Blue and purple, they watched as cars and boats began to move, shifting into life. Feeling content, sapphire and lavender eyes met and they smiled at their city.
They stayed like that, their bodies silhouetted against the sky, their shadows clinging on by their feet, stretched out nearly to their limit by the ascending sun. Neither spoke as they bathed in the sunlight, neither moved aside from their blinking and soft breathing as they mentally prepared for the day. Raven loved spending time with her best friend like this, where they spoke through their bond, spoke without words and simply felt the other’s emotions. Their contentedness seemed to make the colors surrounding them even more brilliant, oozing out from their diluted happiness.
Eventually, the sounds of Cyborg and Beast Boy arguing in the kitchen climbed the stairs until they reached her ears. Starfire’s joyous greetings to Silkie soon followed and Raven sighed, eyes soaking up as much of the sight as she could. She noticed out of the corner of her eye how Robin began to do the same. She turned to make her way to the stairs and caught his eye.
She smiled, knowing that while her lips only twitched up the slightest bit the detective would be able to see the unmuted happiness in her eyes. He grinned back at her and they made their way to the staircase. As they descended the two enjoyed the always companionable silence that stretched between them, hearing only the light thud of his boots softly reverberating against the metal.
They entered the common room and went into the kitchen then separated. Robin went to help Cyborg with the waffle batter and Raven went to the counter. She poured water into her kettle and put it on the stove, grabbed Robin’s mug from the cabinet, and filled the well-worn ceramic container with coffee, adding two teaspoons of creamer and half a tablespoon of sugar. Once she placed the drink in front of him, she pulled out three glasses, filled them with apple juice, mixed a bit of mustard into one, and placed them in front of the other three’s plates.
Finally, she grabbed her mug and placed it near the stove, gathering the honey, sugar, and ground ginger from the shelves. She tuned out the noise of the mad dash behind her, not listening to Beast Boy’s whines about how “there was so much bacon!” and the whap! of Cyborg hitting him with a spoon with the declaration that “there’s no such thing as too much bacon!”
Her kettle began to whistle and she filled her mug, smiling as the scent of Earl Grey slithered into her senses. She lazily slid between the arguing heroes, using her dark magic to prevent getting hit with a slice of raw bacon and sat beside their leader. Robin was reading the paper, easily fending off Starfire’s attempts to put some of her Pudding of Friendship on his plate. He sneakily pushed the Tamaranean to Raven’s side and the two glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes.
He smirked and Raven hid her smile by drinking some tea, appreciating the sudden flavorful warmth that flooded her mouth. Together they sat at the table, silently chuckling to themselves as they allowed themselves this reprieve amidst the normal chaos.
Flying a few feet above the ground, Starfire considered the options in front of her face. There were so many choices! She was in the fiction section and there seemed to be a book of every color, every size, every genre. Red romance books the height of her hand with golden trim laid to her right, to her bottom left were brown and beige mystery novels, directly underneath her were adventure stories in shades of blue. She just couldn’t decide.
She looked to down both sides of the aisle but didn’t see her dark friend, so she flew to the top of the room and eyed about. Quickly lowering herself back onto the floor -- they were going incognito, after all -- the alien made her way to the classics section. Raven had an old navy book in her palms and she was reading the summary on the inside flaps. She glanced at Starfire from her peripheral and smiled a tiny smile, raising an eyebrow in question at the empty orange hands.
Looking around, Starfire gasped loudly as she spotted a wonderful book cover to the side. It was red, black, and white and there was a wonderfully cute pig on the front. She picked it up and read the title: “Animal Farm.” Smiling, she presented the book to Raven excitedly; the purple-haired girl raised an eyebrow as she glanced from her friend’s shining face to the cover again, wondering if she should warn the alien of the contents.
Her hesitation lasted merely a few seconds. She instructed Starfire to read the summary before renting the book and went back to her own selection. Once both were ready, Raven led them to the counter and grabbed two bookmarks as they checked out, the novels placed in Starfire’s waiting arms.
A few minutes later Raven leaned against the large oak tree, a well-worn copy of Moby Dick settled in her hands. She had read it before and decided to reread some of her favorite scenes; now and then she allowed herself a brief smile, especially as she read of Queequeg jumping in after a trapped Tashtego. Starfire softly nudged her from her reading and Raven’s eyes moved to her face. The alien looked bashful as she pointed at a word.
Violet eyes easily scanned the word above the tangerine finger, smiling a bit as she read the phrase. “The words are ‘La Cucaracha’, Kory.” At the look of confusion in the wonderfully green eyes, the sorceress elaborated. “La Cucaracha is a Spanish folk song. The word itself means ‘the cockroach.’ As far as I am aware there’s a whole song associated, but the single stanza is all I know.”
Gray shoulders shifted under her shirt and she smiled a tiny smile at the taller girl; a brow raised and her look was asking if there was anything else the Tamaranean needed. Starfire shyly glanced back at the song’s name and then back at her goth friend, smiling widely. “Will you sing it for me?”
Raven’s nose crinkled and she was about to reject her, but stopped as Starfire made her eyes large and shining while she pouted. Weak under the dreaded puppy-dog routine, Raven rolled her eyes but relented, leaning her head against her teammate’s bare shoulder. She sighed and teasingly threatened, “You better not laugh.” A happy giggle escaped and Starfire quickly declared, “I promise that I will not!” Raven cleared her throat and looked around. A few children and their parents were milling about on the other side of the grass, but the two were pretty much outside of anyone else’s hearing distance.
Satisfied that no one else was close enough to hear, she began, “La cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar; porque no tiene, porque le falta, una pata de atrás.” She had to keep her voice lively, a stark contrast against her usual deadpan, but her audience didn't seem to mind. A short, happy squeal escaped as Starfire clapped her hands, her bookmark already nestled within the pages. The short novel toppled to the ground when Starfire impulsively swaddled Raven in her arms in a bone-crushing hug.
After waiting a beat within the strong arms and enjoying the warmth of the girl’s emotions, Raven gently disentangled herself. The redhead’s eyelashes were fluttering as she giggled, although she resituated herself against the ridged trunk. Letting out another breathy chuckle, Starfire complimented her, “That was really good, friend Raven! You must sing some of the songs for me at a later time, do you not agree?” Pausing under the intense joy emitted from the bright emerald gaze, Raven allowed herself a slight smile at her companion’s pure glee and she hesitantly nodded in response, “Perhaps.” She brought her book back up near her face as she started reading again.
She made it merely half of a paragraph before Starfire nudged her again. Raven looked up, surprised. While she had been helping her friend improve her reading with the help of her library card, the half-demon’s assistance was only ever needed a few times per occasion, due to the alien’s quick learning. She peered down at the book at the italicized letters, reading aloud, “Oh My Darling, Clementine.”
She blinked once and glanced back up at Starfire’s face, less surprised. Both had been on the planet for barely four years, but there was still a lot of human folklore that the alien had yet to discover. Clearing her throat again, Raven explained, “‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ is an American folk ballad about a man mourning the loss of his love Clementine. You know of the California gold rush, right?” At the affirmative nod she continued, “While the song has uncertain roots, in this English version Clementine was the daughter of a miner and she drowned. It’s pretty popular, I am actually surprised you haven’t heard it yet, with how much old TV shows Vic always watches.”
Starfire chuckled at that and settled in again, both cognizant that she did not ask her friend to sing the tune for her. Raven resumed her reading as well and the two stayed quiet, hearing only the rustling of leaves and the rush of cars in the distance. Starfire rested her head on top of the violet strands as she leaned into the girl, happily reading about Snowball and Napoleon and Squealer. Her ears perked up at a muted sound and she paused in her reading.
Lazily, almost silently at first, Raven had begun to hum a low tune. Realizing that it must be about Clementine, Starfire held her finger over her spot in the book, listening. After another moment, the hybrid started to sing out loud, the soft gravel of her voice flowing through the air.
She sung distinctly, placing consistent breaks in between her lines, “Near a cavern, near a canyon, excavating for a mine. Dwelt a miner, forty-niner, and his daughter Clementine. Oh my Darling, Oh my Darling, Oh my Darling, Clementine. You are lost and gone forever, Dreadful sorrow, Clementine.”
Starfire snuggled further against the soft fabric of the shorter girl’s vest and continued reading, her mood lulling into comfort. While the song was melancholy, Raven’s singing made it incredibly romantic; the cynic really had a beautiful voice. Under the shade of the tree the two sat, eyes vaguely scanning their pages as Raven quietly sung out the entire song, “How i missed her, how i missed her, how i missed my Clementine! Til' i kissed her little sister, and forgot my Clementine.”
His black eyes watched her curiously, obviously attempting to figure out what she was making. An apron was tied around her waist, the sleeves of her uniform rolled up, and her hair was contained in an impossibly small ponytail at the nape of her neck, held together more by the pins than the scrunchie. He had seen her like this before; she always made some sort of desert at least once a week. Although she would vehemently deny it, everyone in the tower knew that the goth had the biggest sweet tooth of them all.
So caught up in trying to figure out the puzzle of ‘what sweet thing was Raven making this week?’ he barely noticed as she called out his name. She had already placed the sweet potatoes in the boiling water and was now washing a large amount of apples in the sink, her face turned towards his direction. He jumped slightly as she spoke out his name again, “Garfield, are you going to help or just watch me like usual?”
Lazily laughing, the shapeshifter seemed content to remain where he was. Rolling her eyes Raven placed the apples in a bowl and dropped it in front of him, a knife and a plate soon following. He looked from the fruit to her face and back again, asking confusedly, “Um, Rae?”
“Peel them for me.”
At that she turned and began to open the bag of flour, lightly frowning as the flimsy material allowed a cloud of white to puff up and coat some of her front. Carefully measuring the flour in a well-worn metal measuring cup, she determined that the lines were even and poured in three and a half cups. She added salt, baking soda and was filling up a mug with cold water when Beast Boy finally spoke up, his voice barely a foot behind her. “Uh Raven? I have no idea what I’m doing.”
She turned and was nearly stabbed, saved only by both of their quick reflexes. Grinning abashedly, a green hand rubbed at the back of his neck as Raven pointed the knife’s blade towards the floor, casually stepping to the table. She grabbed a knife of her own and picked up an apple, showing the shapeshifter the proper way to hold the two.
“Make sure you cut away from yourself in case you slip.” Beast Boy watched her hands as she peeled vertically, stripping the flesh of its bright red skin before placing the peels on the plate and putting the apple back in the bowl. Always a quick learner, the changeling easily copied her movements; pleased at the result, Raven returned to the bowl of soon-to-be-dough, wiping any apple moisture off her hands.
She took the butter out of the fridge, eyeballing a cup and scooping it out and into the dry ingredients. She used a fork to mix the butter into little pea-sized circles, adding water and a few drops of vanilla before grabbing a plastic spatula and mixing. Satisfied that the dough now resembled dough, Raven spread a few teaspoons of flour over the sticky bundle and began to knead within the container.
As her shoulders heaved and her fingertips folded, she glanced over at her teammate, who was nearly done with the apples. Her lilac eyes flicked over to the stove and she caught his attention. “Gar, when you’re done check if the potatoes are ready.” Nodding, the green teen was soon peering down at the boiling pot, curious on how to check. “Grab a fork and puncture the potato; it shouldn’t be hard but it should give a bit to the pressure.”
Doing as she said he took removed them from the boiling water, using tongs to pull the potatoes out and placing them in another bowl. He began to peel them, deciding to use a knife and his fingers sparingly rather than try to fight with the potato peeler; never again would he mess with that evil plastic peeler - he tried that once and was left covered in cuts with his ego bruised.
So caught up in his peeling he didn’t even notice as the half-demon moved to the apples, slicing them up into wedges and removing the cores and stems. She was casual as she added salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, vanilla, and a heart-stoppingly high amount of white and brown sugar to the fruit, mixing until the filling was ready. She placed the filling aside, covering it with a clean towel, and made her way over to him. She observed the orange flesh, raising a brow at the tips of his fingers, glowing an angry red, and went to the drawer, digging in until she found a masher.
She had him mash the potatoes, pouring in butter, two eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg as they went. She took the bowl and moved it to the outlet, using a mixer and blending the ingredients until they were smooth. She took a spoon and scooped a bit of the batter trying half and handing the utensil for him to taste.
At his appreciative grin she returned to the dough, finding a wooden rolling pin and began to work, stretching it out and rolling it into a thin sheet. Beast Boy grabbed four pie tins and placed them in front of her. Together they rolled out and filled the bottom of the pans. Raven used a fork to cut off the edges as Beast Boy poked holes in the bottom of the pastries. They went back to the table and Raven had her teammate add the filling to the pies; two apple, two sweet potato. The sorceress rolled out the bits of remaining dough into twelve strands.
She had the shapeshifter beat an egg in a bowl as she carefully latticed the dough above the apple pies, using six strands for each. He came over and they brushed the egg on top of the exposed dough. Holding out another fork, Raven left Beast Boy to crimp the edges of all four pies while she set the oven’s temperature and timer.
They placed the pies in the oven and stepped back, green lips grinning and gray ones barely curving upwards; small compared to her companion, but a smile by Raven standards nonetheless. The sounds of Cyborg and Starfire returning from the mall filled the kitchen, punctuated by Cyborg’s boisterous calls for the changeling to “get his ass out here, can you believe Kory’s never even heard of Mario before!” The purple-haired girl grabbed the dishes and began to clean up, motioning for him to go and enjoy himself.
He grinned boyishly and placed the sticky utensils and powdery bowls in the sink in front of her, nudging her shoulder and bursting out to the common room, calling over his shoulder for her to “let me know when they’re done, RaeRae!” Crinkling her nose, she called back, deadpan as ever, “Don’t call me that.” However, she lightly smiled as she added soap to the sponge and started to wash.
The sound of Robin joining the fray entered her ears and she decided the dishes could wait; she pulled her plum strands out of the ponytail and rolled down her sleeves. She looked down at herself, glad there was hardly any flour stuck on her uniform. Donning her cloak but keeping her hood down, the hybrid made her way to the couch, squeezing in beside Beast Boy and Robin, watching as Cyborg explained the controls to the alien. Leaning back, she watched as the redhead began to play, barely containing her chuckle as she leaned against the cushions, smelling the pie in the air.
He woke up with a start, clutching the edges of his bed. Fumbling, one hand went up to the back of his head, unplugging himself from the charging station. He checked the time, 2:46 AM; he checked his battery, 87 percent. He would be fine not sleeping for the rest of the night. Stepping down he shook his head, trying to forcibly forget about his dream. Leaving his room, he made a quick stop at the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water, before he entered the elevator and pressed the second lowest button, rolling his shoulders and stretching as the box began to travel down the tower.
Arriving at the garage, he wasn’t surprised to see her lazily lying on his workbench; in fact, he expected it. She was still in her pajamas, the soft material of her robe brushing the floor, her slippers firmly stuck to her feet. Her violet hair was sprawled out and her hands were folded above her stomach, softly moving up and down as she breathed.
Her eyes were closed but he knew she was awake. He made his way to the T-Car, grinning at the sight of his greatest feat. His brows furrowed as he noticed the smudged rims and he turned to check the tires. He heard her head move and felt the stare of her eyes on his back. Ignoring the sorceress, metal hands grabbed the tire pump and a rag; a screw was embedded in the front right wheel. Cyborg frowned; he was going to kill Robin for being so inattentive while driving his baby.
As he squatted down he caught her eye. A sleepy smile stretched across her lips and he grinned back. He set to work on fixing the car, falling into a diluted state of calm. Although neither spoke, both knew how much he needed her to be there. While the bionic teen never questioned exactly how she knew when he had nightmares, he also didn’t want her to stop this routine. Nightmares were a common occurrence in the tower since it seemed a requirement to have some sort of troubling, traumatizing past to become a hero. None of them would have been surprised, really; it wasn’t uncommon to find that Raven spent the night in someone’s room or to wake up with Beast Boy curled up as a cat in someone’s arms.
So they coexisted in silence, one laying on a bench and the other busying himself with busywork. Cyborg knew that they would talk eventually; with Raven, she never pushed him to talk about what was troubling him. This time, however, he wanted her to act differently. His dream was more of a memory, more like a living nightmare he couldn’t stop and he really wanted her to initiate this time; he didn’t think he could do it on his own.
Seeming to sense his thoughts, Raven stood up and made her way next to him. Without realizing it, Cyborg had been frozen, crouched against the tire and aimlessly staring at the shiny metal in front of his eyes. She moved until she was next to the tire, half of her face within his sight. She sat and pulled him down to her, giving him space to lay down with his head in her lap.
Safe within her grasp he pushed his face into her stomach and he squeezed her tightly, shivering as the unnerving terror of his memories resurfaced. It was so clear and felt so real, reliving the day he was driving with the radio blasting: running that stop sign, not remembering what had happened visually but feeling the mind-breakingly intense crush as the truck was hit, as it rolled, as his body throbbed as he bled all over the seats. His father’s worried face, the hidden hope in his eyes that his son wouldn’t mind being a half-metal abomination. The constant stares and comments of him being a monster, his isolation within the apartment, how he lived for petty criminals getting into trouble, since it gave him an excuse to show his face and actually interact with other humans.
Raven softly rubbed the pads of her fingers against his head, sending a subtle wave of tranquility into his mind. Lowly, she began to sing out a song, an old Azarathian lullaby that her mother would sing to her on the rare occasions that Raven could spend the night with her. Her voice was slightly raspy and deep, since her singing was only a little higher than humming, but the melody sounded delicate and captivating coming from her lips; Cyborg felt the terror within him placating.
Shifting himself so that he was sitting up, he sat next to the half-demon and leaned on her. Wordlessly, a pale hand came up and began to rub calming circles on his earlobe; a trait that only she and his grandmother knew about. She bared the weight of his body and he sagged against her, delicately weaving a spell into the air through her song, granting all the sleeping Titans a deep, dreamless sleep. It was bad enough that Victor was struggling, she wanted to ensure that the other three were having a serene night.
The pair stayed like that for a while, Victor curled up against Raven, until he groaned and shifted, sitting up straight again. He stood and offered her his hand; she took it and they headed towards the elevator, turning off the light as they went. The walk to the common room was silent save for their breathing and the barely noticeable rubbing of metal against metal.
The taller of the two immediately dropped onto the couch, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv. He flipped through the channels, settling on a nighttime marathon of Courage the Cowardly Dog, and shifted against the cushions. Thinking for a moment, he moved until he was sitting on the floor, cross legged and patiently waiting for the purple-haired girl to return.
She came back with a tall glass of apple juice, his favorite, and a steaming mug of what smelled like chamomile, her favorite. He leaned back and she sat in between his legs, moving her arms accordingly as he wrapped himself around her and laid his chin on top of her head. Breathing in and releasing a sigh, Victor mindlessly watched as the pink dog screamed dramatically, his forlorn “the things I do for love,” causing the goth to chuckle under his shoulders.
Together they sat like that, watching sleepily as Muriel and Eustace got into impossibly strange situations, illuminated by the windows as the night turned to day and the sun prepared to rise. It wouldn’t be until Dick awoke and joined them in their nighttime marathon that either would think of moving from their position; for now they were content with relaxing against the clutches of sleep together, curled up tight.
Raven carefully held a mug in her hand, the worn ceramic distributing heat pleasantly into her palm and curling around her fingers. As the elevator slowed to a stop on the ground floor the sorceress inhaled deeply, filling her nose with the scent of deep-brewed chamomile. She stepped out, aware of her special edition copy of “The 1,001 Arabian Nights,” trailing a foot behind her in a shroud of inky black magic.
Stepping out onto the yard, her gait slowed a bit as she considered the state in front of her. Up above, the sky was splattered in fluffy splotches of gray and a few areas of near black. Raven moved her mug away from her face and inhaled, smelling the salty air blowing into her face from the sea and the promise of rain in the miniscule drops of condensation clinging to the inside of her nose.
Smiling, Raven continued walking to her edge of the yard where a small but wide building stood. She grinned, a broad one by her standards, at the sight of her greenhouse. With plexiglass walls, a sturdy metal frame, and a ‘Cyborg-sanctioned safety rating,’ the half-demon’s personal arboretum was one of her favorite places to spend her downtime. She casually entered her little domain and headed towards the back corner where a wooden armchair, a crocheted blanket, and a semicircular glass table sat.
Depositing her drink and book on the table, she removed her shoes and softly walked around the area, smelling the dampness of the soil and accumulating herself to the lower oxygen levels. Lilac eyes shined as she looked down at the leafy vegetation and imperceptibly wriggling insects as they moved about. Taking in her surroundings, Raven couldn’t help but let out a tiny laugh; what a wonderful mix of her two homes. Azarath’s atmosphere contained only a small percentage of additional nitrogen and a considerable but not extreme drop in oxygen, so the two planet’s flora could thrive in the same conditions. It didn’t take long to acquaint an animal, an insect, or a plant to the gas levels, and within a few weeks Raven’s greenhouse housed over forty plants, half being from Azarath, one beehive, and numerous colonies of various insects, both Azarath and Earth dwelling.
The goth balanced on the tips of her toes as she sauntered around the room, a spray bottle filled with water in one gray hand, moving about as she checked the roots and spritzed water under the leaves. She ran her fingers over the fruits and vegetables hanging in rectangle pots from the roof, set aside some of the ripe herbs she was growing on the vines, and set the thermostat to prepare for the stormy night.
Gray lips twitched upwards as Raven turned in a full circle, taking in her work. Feeling free, a light laugh escaped her lips. While her fellow Titans knew she enjoyed being around plants, none had any idea how much she absolutely adored nature in general. The environment was so simple and yet so impossibly complex, the half-demon could spend days just observing all the efficient cogs in the ecosystem as they went about their day. On the rare occasions that Robin or Cyborg would stop by to ensure that she hadn't fallen asleep, one could briefly witness her unbridled joy. It was incredibly out of character for the stoic, but something about the complete entanglement of life on Earth made her feel childlike wonder again. Her eyes trailed to the honey beehive nestled near the corner, her small smile persisting. Raven’s amethyst eyes watched as the last few bees lazily bobbed in the air, entering their nectar home for the night. Already, the blossoms on some of the Azarathian plants were curling up and along the vines a few beetles scurried about.
The half-human inhaled once, centering her mind. She felt the ordered buzz in the air, the clouds’ held breath in anticipation of rain, the sea’s melodic heartbeat against the cliff under her feet, the quiet release as the environment prepared for the night. Gray feet padded softly against the smooth floor as the sorceress made her way back to her corner.
Wrapping the soft material of the afghan around her waist and draping it across her legs, Raven sat on the chair and grabbed her mug. Comfortable and content, she took a sip with a nearly mute hum and enjoyed a quick moment of peace. Setting aside her drink, gray hands picked up the book and flipped to the first page. A plain bookmark sporting the hours the library was open laid on the table and the barely noticeable flicks of water droplets hitting the roof reached her ears.
She smiled down at her book, unable to focus on the words. Her mind was meandering elsewhere, at a very fond time in her past. She thought of her childhood in Azarath and the High Priestess’s fondness of her; how she, a mere half-demon, was selected as the High Priestess’s apprentice. She remembered how once every month she would be given a few hours of calm solitude in an approved place of her own choice. She recalled how she always chose the same place and would relax among the vegetation in the middle of the High Priestess Azar’s herbal garden, a book in her hands as she read.
Looking down at the collection in her hands, a thin smile grew on her features. Raven thought back to how she felt observing the High Priestess’s collection; Azarath valued knowledge above all else and it was the job of the High Priest or Priestess to accumulate and understand all the works and literature of distant species, planets, dimensions, and realities. The awe and excitement that came with starting a new book, just with the possibility of gaining more knowledge and experiencing a brand new world, a whole new reality spawned from imagination; Raven could never get enough. She opened the hardcover, feeling muted giddiness at what the pages held. She leaned back and began to read.