All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter

Chapter Three

Sunlight filtered through the wooden slats on the window, waking up Aaron who was sprawled across Raven's bed. He groaned and attempted to block out the sun with his arm, but even that small movement sent lightning bolts of pain through his head. He closed his eyes and wondered briefly if he'd taken his shirt off in the night or if Raven had undressed him.
"Morning, Cabrón," Raven said. Aaron opened one eye and rolled it back to look at her. She was leaning against the doorway calmly sipping coffee. Her wings were lazily flapping and-wait a minute. Wings?
Aaron popped his head off the pillow, winced, and turned to stare at Raven, his mouth falling slightly open.
"What're you gaping at?" Raven snapped. Aaron closed his mouth with a slight pop.
"Nothing." He let his head fall back on the pillow. Raven raised an eyebrow and slowly took another sip of her coffee.
"How's your head?" she finally asked.
"It feels like my skull is being split from the inside," Aaron replied. Raven held out her coffee cup to him in a silent offering. He shook his head. "No thanks, I don't drink coffee. Do you have any tea?" Raven pulled her cup back and her eyebrow went up even higher. 
"Interesting," she mumbled. She turned to leave, but looked back at Aaron. "Be ready in thirty minutes."
"Ready for what? Where are we going?" Aaron rolled off the bed and landed on the ground with a dull thump.
"You're going home to Verdancy Keep. I've got some questions for this Braxton character. After that, we're going to the temple your sister was last seen at. Try and get some information there."
"I don't want to talk to Braxton," Aaron said, wincing internally at how childish that sounded. Raven frowned thoughtfully.
"Don't you want to find your sister?" she asked. Aaron started to say something but stopped and hung his head, his shoulders drawing in, making himself look small enough to disappear. His hand drifted to an old scar that wrapped around the back of his neck, and his fingers just barely brushed it before he looked back up at Raven. His eyes reminded her of an animal waiting to be slaughtered. Resigned, but full of pain and sadness.
"I— I do. I want to find her. I'll go with you." He paused, searching for a new topic. "How did you know I lived in Verdancy Keep?" he asked. Raven took another sip of her coffee before answering.
"It's obvious if you know what to look for. Your clothes, first of all gave a hint. They're city clothes, made for city living. Except for the cloak, though I suspect you got it after you left. The painting you showed me had the Verdant Wall in the background, or at least one that looked awfully similar. Lastly, when you declined the coffee in favor of tea, that kind of confirmed it for me. Nearly everyone I've met from there prefers tea to coffee. No idea why, coffee is amazing. Of course, all of that could have been complete coincidence, so thank you for verifying it."
Aaron nodded, wondering if it really was that obvious, or if Raven was just very observant. Considering her job as a bounty hunter, he decided it was the latter. He scratched his shoulder and suddenly remembered the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Did you—? Did I—? I woke up without my shirt on, and I wanted to know—"
"You went to bed with it on, don't worry. I only took off your cloak so you wouldn't suffocate yourself in it. Don't worry, you're not my type." She winked at him. "You're a bit young for me, don't you think?"
Aaron chuckled nervously, suddenly curious as to what Raven's type was. He watched as Raven left the room, her wings folding against her to avoid hitting the doorway. He then turned around and scanned the room for his shirt and cloak. He found his cloak first, draped over a stool. His shirt he found tangled in the blanket.
Raven was waiting with a pair of horses when Aaron came out, squinting in the sunlight. She finished tying the saddle bags and turned to face him, suppressing a smile at how miserably hungover he looked.
"Which one is mine?" he asked. He noticed suddenly that she no longer had her wings. "Where did your wi—"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Raven interrupted him, her cry far louder than her usual quietly powerful voice. She scowled as she glanced around, making sure no one had noticed the exchange. Her glare settled on Aaron and he shrank back as she pointed at the taller of the two horses, a beautiful gray roan mare. "Climb on," she ordered. Aaron did. Raven swung herself up onto the smaller horse, a modest black mare. The second the mare felt her weight on her back, she broke into a fast trot. The roan watched them, with seemingly no intent to follow. It took some urging before she eventually trotted after them.
Aaron wasn't sure how long or how far they'd traveled but it was nearing dark, and they were deep in the middle of nowhere when Raven finally slowed her horse to a walk, and then stopped her altogether. Aaron's mare trotted past her a few steps before she too stopped. Aaron slid off her back and led her back to where Raven was sitting on a stump, watching him with amusement.
"You aren't much of a horseman," she observed. Aaron cracked his  back and shrugged.
"I may not be great with horses, but no one is better at climbing than me," he boasted.
"If only we had a need for someone who could climb instead of ride a horse," Raven retorted. She tossed an apple to him but it passed through his outstretched hands and landed at his feet. She sighed and rubbed her brow. "Cabrón," she muttered as she turned back to her horse.  Aaron's face flushed with embarrassment.
"Sorry," he mumbled, picking up the apple. He wiped it off on his sleeve before taking a noisy bite. His horse pricked up her ears at the sound and butted her head against his arm eagerly. "Oh, sorry, of course. Here you go." Aaron took another bite and then fed the rest to the horse. "Raven?" he said nervously. Raven continued stroking her horse's neck and didn't turn, just grunted at him to continue. "What are the horses' names?"
"This one's Sueño Oscuro. I don't know about yours, I acquired her recently and never bothered to name her."
"Can I name her then?" Aaron asked. Raven gave Sueño one last pat and turned to face him.
"Only if I like the name," she answered.
"What about... Neodrach," he suggested. "Neo for short." Raven nodded thoughtfully.
"I don't hate it. In fact, I don't even mind it." She unfastened her bedroll from the saddle. Aaron did the same, copying her movements to arrange his blankets. As she laid down to sleep he hesitated.
"Raven?"
"What."
"Shouldn't we have someone stand watch?" Aaron's stomach sank as Raven slowly sat up and stared at him, the ghost of a grin hovering on her lips.
"Why yes, I think we should," she said. "And I think, since you're the one who seems so concerned about it, you should get the experience all to yourself." Raven snuggled into her pillow with an exaggerated sigh of contentment, leaving Aaron still sitting up and wishing he hadn't said anything. He stared out into the blackness of the forest, his thoughts running around and around in his head, turning as dark as the trees around him.
"Raven?" The cracked word fell out of his mouth before he even realized it.
"What," Raven growled. Aaron looked down and brushed away the tear drop that fell on his leg.
"Do you think she's still alive?" he asked. Raven levered herself up onto her elbows and met his eyes.
"I know you want me to tell you that I'm sure she's still alive and that she's been safe all this time, but I can't. Because all we might find at the end of this is her body, and maybe not even that. And I don't want to make you believe that she's okay if that's the case, and you're just going to have your hope ripped out from under you," she explained. Her voice was soft, yet strong as steel at the same time. "You should sleep. I'll take first watch."
"No, it's okay. I won't be able to sleep anyway." Aaron watched Raven collapse back onto her side. His first instinct was to be angry with her, but he just couldn't muster the energy. Besides, who knew how many people she'd made promises to of loved ones returning that she could never deliver on. It must really change a person.
Across from Aaron, pretending to sleep, Raven was thinking of the exact same thing.