The Romani of Night Raven

~Prologue 2: Fire and Illusion~

"Mom...? Dad...?" They won't wake up... Why... Why won't they wake up?"

The streets were cold and unforgiving. Some days were good, when he managed to make enough money from his performances or fortune tellings to at least eat.

"Stay away from him dear! He's a gypsy! He'll probably rob us blind!" A mother told her child that wanted to watch him dance.

"Hey there beautiful. You need money, right? Well I think I can help you." A man offers, but he declines and runs away, knowing what the man was really after.

"Are you alright? You poor thing, you look hungry. I have some food I can spare." A warm hand takes his cold one and leads him into the cathedral for actual food.

~*Twisted Wonderland*~

"...earn... Mr. Hearn?" He awoke to see the bird man, Crowley he remembered, over him. "Thank goodness. You gave me and the other students quite a fright when you suddenly fainted like that." The man says relieved.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ezera apologizes and goes to get up, but is stopped by the man.

"Now, now, don't be like that, and lay down, you need your rest." He says and gently lays the boy back on the bed. It's then the ravenette realizes where he is. Actually, he doesn't know where it is as he never seen anything like it before.

"Where am I?" He asks, then feels something hop onto his bed.

"Ezera! Thank goodness!" Grim cheers then proceeds to nuzzle his face. The said boy reaches up and scratches his ears.

"For a wild one, your familiar is very loyal. He refused to leave your side while you were unconscious. And to answer your question earlier, you're currently in the nurse's office. I brought you here so you could rest." The man says then explains.

"I told you! I'm not his familiar!" Grim says as Ezera sits up in the bed.

"Yeah, technically Grim isn't mine. I met him when his fire blew off the lid of the co... door, I was in." The Romani boy explains and strokes Grim down his back.

"Huh? So he isn't yours..." The man contemplates. "Oh, never mind, that's not the important thing at the moment. Before the school doctor left, he said you fainted from malnutrition. When was the last time you ate?" He says then asks.

"If you mean since I arrived, then back in the kitchen... but if you mean before I came here, then, I think a few days, maybe. I didn't keep track." Ezera replies.

"Well, that explains why you only took some of the honey bread." The dean says, making the boy look at him nervously. "Forgive me, I had to make sure you didn't take anything else, so I searched you. This was all I found though." He adds and hands Ezera his stuff back.

A deck of Tarot Cards, an ornate decorated dark wood comb, a longer version of the scarf in his hair, a few pieces of gold and brass jewelry, mostly bracelets and necklaces, and a tanned tambourine with multi-colored ribbons tied to it.

"Now, at the moment I'm not sure what to do with you. Stealing is a crime, but given your state and what you just said, it's more understandable." The masked man says pondering.

"The Dark Mirror couldn't sort you into one of the seven dorms, but it did say you had magic. Which, leads me to wonder... What kind of magic can you do?" He says then inquires.

"Mostly fire and illusion magic," Ezera replies and demonstrates. First by igniting a flame in his palm, then conjures up an illusion of Grim, who watched in awe of the spectacle. "And a little fortune telling too. Though that's only with my cards." The blue-eyed boy adds, holding up said cards.