Raven & The Angel

Chapter 18 - A Long Journey

The Reef and Angelina spent the whole seven days talking and sharing knowledge of their own worlds, painting imaginary pictures of their histories and dreams for their futures.  Their combined intelligence, along with that of the many contributions from Penfold, created a huge collection of wisdom and knowledge never before attained by two different civilisations, two different beings (3 including the goat...).

But Angelina learned more than wisdom and knowledge. As the hours and days passed, she began to learn more about herself, her emotions and about feelings she had not experienced before. Throughout the whole journey The Reef never took off the mask that covered his face, but as she gazed into his eyes and listened to his deep yet gentle voice as he described the wonders of his world, Angelina began to fall in love...

It seemed impossible to Angelina that she could have such feelings for someone whose face she hadn't even seen, but then it felt so good to like someone without feeling obliged to judge them by how they looked - something she had wished others had done with her many times when she was a child. To like or even love someone for who they were inside, became the most natural feeling to Angelina as the planet Savon drew ever closer. She wondered whether The Reef knew how she felt inside, with his telepathy-like gift but he didn't say anything, so neither did she.

In truth The Reef knew exactly how Angelina felt - as the week passed he could sense her feelings for him becoming ever stronger. And it scared him.... It scared him because he was falling in love with Angelina. She was so beautiful, so intelligent and so wise for someone so young. Her passion for knowledge and understanding was unlike anything he had experienced throughout the galaxies he had travelled - she was unique. He drank in every one of her perfect features, her long black silky hair, her perfectly proportioned body, but most of all her stunning blue eyes. At times he felt guilty for not unmasking his face, but he was terrified that showing his own features might change what Angelina felt for him.

The day before they were due to land on planet Savon, Angelina couldn't bear it any longer - she had to know if The Reef knew how she felt inside. She couldn't face stepping foot on an alien planet with him, without knowing what he could sense about her feelings and, scarily, whether others on his planet would feel it too!

"The Reef" she began. "I need to ask you something and I want you to be very honest when you answer me"
"I know..." he replied, looking into her eyes.
"Ah...er..."Angelina stuttered, feeling her cheeks redden.
Penfold was lying on the floor, absently chewing on a seatbelt that was hanging from one of the chairs. He stopped briefly, looked from Angelina to The Reef and back again, then stood up and wandered away from them as diplomatically as a goat could.
"Ah..." said Angelina again.

The Reef held her hand in his and took a deep breath before speaking.
"Angelina, I know what you are going to ask and the answer is - yes, I can sense what you feel for me."
She looked away, embarrassed that it must be so obvious that even Penfold knew how she felt. The Reef touched her chin and turned her head back towards him so he could gaze into her eyes again.
"Please, don't be embarrassed. Knowing how others feel inside is very natural for us - we would be lost if we could no longer share others emotions. It is difficult to explain, but its a part of who we are."
"But I don't know how you feel and that makes it so hard for me." Angelina sighed.
"Don't you? Are you sure? I think you can sense how I feel Angelina...  I love you. I have loved you from the moment you had the courage to take this journey to my planet. But it scares me because I have no idea what it might mean for us, or even if there could be any future for us.  We live on different planets!  It also scares me that you might not like what you see if I take off my mask and my cloak. My features are... different to a human's..."
"Take off you mask. Please..." Angelina asked. "If you can sense what I feel inside, then surely you know that it is you, the person (well Savonian), that I have fallen in love with. The Reef, please trust my feelings - I do."

The Reef slowly placed his hand on the mask, hesitating before slowly pulling it away from his face. He bowed his head. It was Angelina's turn to touch his face and lift it, so that she could look into his eyes. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

The Reef had no hair on his head or on his face. His creamy complexion was not unlike human colouring, but his skin was as smooth as silk and without any pores or blemishes.  His lips were full and handsomely shaped, but they were black rather than red.  The Reef had high cheek bones that made his face look masculine but friendly, as they seemed to make his eyes smile as well as his mouth.  Like his lips, his tongue was human like and also black.  Angelina already knew that his eyes were completely black, like deep pools that she could step into and lose herself...  Again she smiled at him and ran her fingers across The Reef's face, tracing every curve.

At that moment Angelina and The Reef knew that it was possible to fall in love with an alien...