Elvirund | ✔️

Chapter Seven

The soothing sounds of the night pierced the usual silence of my room, where I had opened a window. Chip was asleep, at least for now, and a few night owls were walking in the gardens. I couldn't fly without risking the possibility of one of them seeing me; sitting with my head out the window was the next best thing.

"Alethia."

The voice was nearly inaudible but I heard it as clearly as if someone had whispered it right in my ear. From the corner of my eye I saw a sparkle, a small pinprick of light approaching me. As it touched the window sill the light expanded to form a sized down Raphael, a two foot tall mirage of him sent to allow him to deliver a message. I nodded in recognition, gazing into the night without moving.

"You shouldn't be here, Raphael."

"And there are a lot of things you should not have done, child. I have come to warn you."

"What about? I've already gotten myself cast out of Elvirund, what else are they planning on doing to me?"

Raphael sighed quietly and sat down. He looked tired and old beyond his years; I knew I was the cause, but the thought was filling and it didn't strike the same terror in me that it used to.

"They have an eye on you. They believe you are about to break the last rule."

Closing my eyes, I tried to recall the last rule. Speaking out, disobedience, rebellion, and romanticism. That was the one. They couldn't possibly think that I was breaking that rule, could they?

"They think I'm seducing Chip."

"They do. I came on very delicate circumstances to tell you. Make out of it what you will."

I pressed my lips together and frowned. The Elders were always much too paranoid, but I should have expected this after breaking nearly every law in angel history.

"Thank you."

"I will also give you one last gift before I depart. Watch for the one named Falour."

With that, Raphael's image burst into shards of light and filtered away. For a long time, I sat pondering what he meant; that wasn't much a gift, really. Falour could have been a last name, or it could have been a first name. For all I knew it could have denoted a thing instead of a person. I guess I would have enough time to figure that out, although knowing myself I would forget within a few days.

"Raphael, what are you doing?"

I resumed my observation of the mountains off in the distance. Below me, the wanderers still ambled through the hedge walls, preventing me from yet another potential flight. The Appalachians would have to wait till a different day for my visit. Fortunately, the moon was still big, and it shone on the small fountain in the center of the garden maze with a soft white light. It quite reminded me of our fairy lamps back home. Which, all things considered, I was not returning to. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would most likely end up stuck here on Earth to live out a human length life or die at the hands of one of their more violent breeds.

Morning came after a long tedious rest of the night. Inhibited by my gunshot wounds, I'd had little to do when I wasn't watching the moon. The middle of the night was also, however, not much of an interesting time without my nightly trips to the high peaks. I had cycled between playing music through a smartphone, testing my vision's limits and walking around the gardens, thoroughly unamused by anything and everything.

"Good morning." Chip yawned.

"Go back to sleep if you need to."

"Humans are always tired. No matter how much sleep they get."