Best Behavior (74)

Four days before Harvest, Raven arrived at the doors of Caeli's chamber.

He knocked softly to have Bat greet him at the door.

Once opened fully, Bat turned and ran to Caeli who sat at a chair, a book resting on its surface and open.

"Good night my lord.", Caeli said with surprise, her brows raised.

She attempted to stand before Raven stopped her.

"That would be unnecessary. Please. May I join you?", he asked, to which she nodded.

Carefully, he took a seat.

"The Harvest will be held in just three days. I was planning to have an outfit commissioned for you. Something appropriate. I realized that the clothes made for you since your arrival were made without your input. I came to inquire on if you'd like to have a say this time around.", Raven said, scratching behind Bats ear just as Caeli always did.

Caeli was astonished at his inquiry but found it endearing nonetheless.

Her first instinct was to refuse the gesture but she recalled his thinly veiled joke the day he had taken her to the village.

"There is nothing in the wardrobe that would do?", she asked hesitantly. It seemed hard to believe considering the sheer amount of clothes she already possessed.

And it wasn't a refusal.

Raven shook his head.

"I did not have anything fit for an event made, only things for daily wear. At the time, we were unsure of what your progress would be, I decided to wait and see how you were doing.", he said thoughtfully.

Caeli sighed.

"Well, I suppose I should know what would be considered appropriate? What is expected?", she asked.

Raven shook his head.

"Truthfully, it is not a common thing for us to have a royal… female guest. A floor length dress would likely be most expected.", he said thoughtfully.

"And colors? What will you be wearing?", she asked.

Raven glanced down at his current attire, a black long sleeved tunic and black leather breeches that reached just above the hock of his large reptilian feet.

Caeli laughed.

"So I shall wear the same, so long as it would not cause offense in anyway.", she said hastily.

Raven smiled internally, the idea of them matching making him inexplicably happy.

"Anything else?", he asked.

Caeli thought for a moment.

"Perhaps long sleeves. And for my wound to be, mostly, covered.", she said self-consciously.

She didn't need all of the Midnight Kingdom, and it's guest, to be aware of her handicap.

Her response dampened his mood.

He turned to meet her gaze.

"You are beautiful Caeli. There is nothing to fear.", he said softly.

Caeli smiled sadly.

"Thank you my lord, but you needn't say such things out of sympathy. I simply would like to avoid making my disability so well known. The knowledge maybe useful to any potential enemies I may accrue moving forward.", she said furrowing her brow, recalling the galaxian assistant of Callon's.

Raven reached across the table to lay his hand gently on hers.

"The safest place you could be is by my side.", he said seriously.

Caeli stared at him in surprise before heat rushed to her face. She swallowed hard before nodding slowly and looking away.

*Reign yourself, fool.*, he thought to himself as he retracted his hand.

"The seamstress will be by later today to take measurements, so long as you feel up to it. She will be available a little after dinner.", he said standing.

"Yes, that should be just fine.", she said with a soft smile and nod.

Raven bowed.

"Should you like to join us for dinner you are more than welcome. If not, I do have something I'd like to show you before the seamstress arrives if that would be alright?", he asked, to which Caeli nodded. "I shall leave you then. Good night.", Raven said before pivoting and exiting the room.

Caeli slumped in her chair and turned to Bat.

"Why does his touch make me feel so… disgruntled?", she asked the creature, no longer expecting a response.

Bat pounded his tail against the floor happily in response.

Caeli laughed, the creatures unwavering positivity always seemed to buffer the overwhelming inconsistency of her own feelings.

Bat came to sit beside her chair where she turned to her book on witches.

Aside from the children's story and some distasteful recollections about Raven, she had found very little that would help in her understanding of her past, or future.

The woman in the story having been a witch, and knowing that she had a Seeing Stone in her possession, well, in a way, she figured witches would be a good place to start.

She reached her hand down and absently caressed the top of Bats head as she began to read.

——————————————————————————

Saxum stood at the edge of the Midnight Forest with his large clawed hands resting on his hips.

"I'm quite sure this was where I entered last time..", he mumbled to himself, taking in the enormous trees.

After a couple of hours he began to try and find ways to entertain himself, whistling age-old ditties, naming shapes in the clouds.

It was when he began to balance a pile of rocks on his chest that Lucius appeared from black mist.

"What's the point in doing something like that?", Lucius asked, standing over the dragon. Green and almost as large as himself.

Saxum smiled and sat up, the stacked rocks tumbling to the ground, forgotten.

"Just because I can use my elemental powers to balance rocks larger than cities doesn't mean I have to. Where's the fun in that?", Saxum replied standing and facing the Lord of Midnight, outstretching a hand. "Hello brother.", Saxum said delightedly.

Lucius chuckled and clasped the green and brown dragons claw and gave it a firm shake.

"Hello old friend. If you're ready, I'll take you in.", Lucius said simply, half of his body still submerged in black smoke.

Saxum nodded and went to take a step forward before Lucius reached out a hand to stop him.

"Before we go, you must swear that you will be on your best behavior.", he said solemnly.

Saxum stopped and pressed a hand to his chest daintily in mock offense.

"Me? Of course! I'll be a perfect gentleman to your lady friend.", Saxum said wagging his brows.

He took a step forward and Lucius allowed him into the swirling mist. A moment later they were gone, the wide open space before the tree line, empty, no evidence of their presence left behind.

——————————————————————————

Saxum stepped through the portal into the depth of the Midnight Forest and made their way to the castle entrance.

"And you see, when I went to open the chest it was-", Saxum stopped mid-sentence to stare at something high above him.

"Have you always talked so endlessly? I don't recall you being quite this bad before.", Lucius said with a chuckle, following Saxum through, the portal closing behind them.

Lucius saw that Saxum had stopped to look at something on the second floor of the castle.

"Who is THAT?", Saxum asked.

He turned his gaze to see what the dragon referred to.

Caeli sat at the edge of her rooms balcony, her head resting on the wide marble bannister.

She was too far away to discern what she had been reading but a book lie open under her cheek, her long hair loosely braid. Strands of it moving gently with the breeze, creating an illusion of a halo around her head.

Through the stone pillars of the bannister, Bat could be seen lying at her feet.

"Caeli.", Lucius said breathlessly.

Saxum turned to him, his mouth slightly open.

"The woman you mentioned in your letter?", Saxum asked slowly, turning his gaze back to the girl.

He could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Was it an angel? A fairy of starlight?

"I must meet her.", Saxum said, unconsciously working his way to the doors of the castle.

Lucius appeared in front of him in a puff of black smoke.

"Not right now you don't. She's resting. Allow her to sleep. She needs it.", Lucius said, his voice deep and stern.

Saxum raised his hands in surrender.

"Yeah, yeah, best behavior and all that. But you will tell me all the details, no if's, and's, or but's about it.", Saxum said waving a finger through the air as he passed Lucius to enter the castle.

Lucius grunted in response.

——————————————————————————

He took Saxum to his study and explained the circumstances in which he met Caeli, and everything there after. He also disclosed what happened 20 years ago to lead to his disappearance.

"Hells Lucius….", Saxum said quietly in shock.

Lucius nodded at his response.

"It's a right mess and she's caught in the center of it. Because of my foolishness.", Lucius said sadly.

Saxum crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak under his immense size.

"Lucius, you can hardly be so hard on yourself. Whoever cast that spell on you made it so that you were no longer yourself. Quite frankly, it must have been powerful sorcery. To be able to take away so much of your magic, so much so that you become a mindless beast, is an incredible feat. This is concerning to hear.", Saxum said thoughtfully, resting his chin in the crook of his fingers.

Lucius heaved a heavy sigh.

"Indeed. But with Caeli recuperating here, I can't leave for extended amounts of time. I was gone for so long, my kingdom stands weakened by my absence. The barrier thin. Our headway has been little to none on the matter.", Lucius said.

Saxum nodded.

"And tell me more about her.", Saxum said leisurely. "Don't look at me like that.", he said in reply to Lucius's glance.

He stood and paced the floor beside his desk.

"She is kind, intelligent, curious, and most obviously, beautiful. What more would you like to know?", Lucius asked shortly.

Saxum shrugged.

"Explain to me how she's come to break down the walls around your heart? Lucius, need I remind you that you've not entertained company, let alone female company, in hundreds of years? Why now? What's different?", Saxum asked with confusion.

Saxum could certainly understand the woman's appeal to himself but he had not expected the same of Lucius.

Years ago, after a woman had caused so much turmoil amongst the Five, Lucius had stopped keeping company of any woman. Aqua, the Dragon of Lanayru, the Fourth, pursued Lucius relentlessly. To which the dragon solved the problem by being impossible to find, effectively disappearing.

Why go through the trouble if he didn't feel a true commitment to his unspoken celibacy?

Lucius shook his head.

"Those nights we spent together. Saxum she feared me only for a moment, and understandably so. After that she treated me with kindness, acceptance. She never shied from my touch, she never looked at me in fear. Her love of learning is contagious and her laughter is intoxicating.", Lucius said softly, turning his head to look out the window, imagining Caeli still soundly asleep on her balcony.

Her enjoyment of the balcony made his heart swell.

"Hells Lucius, you're in love with the girl.", Saxum said, even more shocked than he had been minutes before.

Lucius swallowed around a lump in his throat before slowly nodding in agreement.

Saxum sighed.

"Do you think she feels the same way?", he asked seriously for once.

The woman was beautiful, and perhaps wonderful, but he worried for his friend.

Lucius had a past that would shock many. A few eggs needed to be cracked to make a cake and Lucius had never hesitated to take life if it meant the safety of his people or getting what he wanted.

Of course, Lucius never killed needlessly. But it could not be denied that the dragon was lethal. His past not untarnished.

Now with the new revelation of someone's bid for the Midnight Kings throne, it was more evident than ever that Lucius had enemies.

All of this on top of the fact that she appeared to be human and he was a dragon.

The whole thing reeked of heartache for the dark master.

"I don't know. I think she is lost, confused, and vulnerable. I feel I took advantage of that, and I've worked every day since to make things right. I try not to speculate about her feelings towards me. Not long ago I thought, and deserved, to be hated by her and barred from her life. I am thankful that she stays here… with me. However she is feeling is her secret to keep so long as she chooses. I am at her service, and in her debt.", Lucius said solemnly.

"Such sweet poetry, my lord. This woman truly has captured your heart. Your declaration so fierce I think I'm experiencing palpitations.", Saxum said theatrically clasping his clawed hands in front of his chest.

With a chuckle he stood and patted Lucius's shoulder.

"I am happy to hear this my old friend. You deserve some happiness. I wish you luck in this affair of the heart.", Saxum said seriously with a genuine smile.

"Thank you, Saxum.", Lucius said appreciatively. "Let me show you to your quarters so that you may rest.", he said moving to exit the study.

Saxum stretched before following.

"Rest indeed. I'm fiercely out of shape friend, the flight here used to be a cinch back in the day. Now I feel battered. Are we so old?", Saxum laughed as they walked down the hall. Staff bowing and curtsying as they went along.

"Yes. We are the oldest things in existence, that makes us old by definition. Yet another reason I feel like a scoundrel. Caeli's only barely a woman. A child in comparison to us, to ME.", Lucius said shaking his head in shame.

"Lucius, for all intents and purposes, that is a full grown woman up there. Quite frankly, it's a shock that she's not yet married and with children. Humans insist on this arrangement as soon as a girl becomes a woman with the bleeding. You're hardly pilfering a crib with your affections.", Saxum said with a snort.

"I understand that. But it's difficult to put it into perspective.", he said.

"Because you're so CLOSE to it? Get it?", Saxum asked with an excited laugh, elbowing the black dragon.

Lucius rolled his red glowing eyes.

"This one is yours.", he said stopping in front of a set of double doors. "Rest and we will have dinner two hours hence. I will see you then. It's good to have you.", Lucius said patting the dragons back before taking his leave.

Saxum watched in disbelief as he walked away.

What temptress could finally capture the interest of the most solitary creature he'd ever known in his long life?

*I need to meet this young lady.*, Saxum thought to himself as he entered his temporary chambers during his stay in the Midnight Forest.