16 Endless Nights (16)

Raven walked silently through the woods, his arms full of assorted berries, fruits and fungi that he had found for Caeli to eat once she awoke.

*Why was that man having Caeli followed?*, he couldn't help but think to himself.

He found himself irritated and annoyed that someone had invaded her privacy thusly. How could someone dare to take such liberties?

Like he had.

The thought flashed across his mind and he felt the boulder heavy weight of guilt sink into his stomach.

He had done the same. Stalking her for days, weeks even just to be in her presence. Raven would not be surprised if there were men in the world who felt like he did.

Caeli was kind and beautiful, and even more so for her lack of knowledge of these traits. Her ignorance made her humble and considerate. Too often, creatures that possessed the same beauty were poisoned by greed and manipulation.

How many millennia had he existed and the vast majority of the souls he encountered were warped and tainted. Their own desires always out-weighing their instinct to do good by those around them.

Caeli was different. Others would notice.

Unless she was kept from the world. In a place where she could be happy and stay kind. In a place where the world and its inhabitants couldn't poison her.

But she would never allow that. Her hunger for freedom and knowledge would suffocate her in the safety of a gilded cage and he knew it.

Raven arrived back at the tent. He dropped the items he had collected to the ground. Kneeling beside the pile he separated the items by similarity and then rose to turn towards the dwelling he had summoned for Caeli to rest in.

Raven closed his eyes and gently probed the space inside to see if she had risen yet.

His mind reached out and gently touched the edges of her consciousness. Cupping it in his minds hands, pressing gently against the edges, just as tenderly as a mother would assess her child's wound.

He could have pushed harder, taken a quick and imperceptible look at what her dreams looked like. He could carve a small hole in her mind, without her realizing, and see what it was that she dreamt of at night. The urge to do so was almost too much to take, but he had already violated her privacy more than he'd like to admit. Better to leave her be.

She was still asleep.

Raven sighed to himself. What would he say to her? How would he explain without making her turn away from him? What could he do to convince her to stay?

Here.

With him.

In this endless night.