His lips parted at this drop of new information, “Your father?” he looked back towards the home they’d just left as if the man would be waiting outside to stare them down. Of course, there was no one. If what Raziel was piecing together was true, then…His jaw locked, but his eyes saddened. Without thinking, his arm moved around Raziel when she leaned into him. Both of them were being toyed with, and worst of all he didn’t know why.

He remembered all too well the feeling of that inky darkness filling him back in the planes. All of them were being played with. Who would do this? Why would anyone do this? What sense was there to be so cruel…? “When this is all said and done we can find your family. Your real family, not this illusion. At least that’s a silver lining, right…?” Who knows when she might have discovered all of this about herself otherwise?

“It doesn’t matter what I saw,” he said dismissively as if it were nothing. Raziel’s family may be here, but his own was still out of reach, and all of this was just a painful reminder. One he’d rather not linger on if he could help it. What good would it do to talk about it anyways? Besides, they had more important things to worry about, like where they could seek shelter for the night. The temple would be best, but who knew if they could even find it given everything that was happening?

“We need to be somewhere safe, somewhere that none of this can touch us,” he mused. Where could that be? At least here there wasn’t anything attacking them, just painful illusions and fantasies of family. “If not the temple then maybe one of the greenhouses would be best,” he suggested. “It’s warm and no one would bother us…Maybe we could sleep in shifts, just enough for us to recuperate and go somewhere else. Some place where this trick isn’t happening…” At just the mention of sleep his eyes felt droopy. Why was that…?

The way he said his reassurances felt full of conviction, such hope and confidence. Raziel desperately prayed he was right. To have her father and sister found before her mother's demise would be a dream come true. But why hadn't mother mention Ramiel? She nodded, obviously distracted. ”We will find them.”

Once more, Najima mentioned someplace safe and warm. An idea popped into her sleepy head. ”Zander, medicinal greenhouse.” With an acknowledging bark, Zander began to lead them into town. Without her staff, the star was her guide as Zander led them toward the specified building. Upon slipping inside, the warmth enveloped them comfortingly. Raziel took Najima’s hand, leading him through rows of a myriad variety of herbs.

At the back, she fumbled slightly before finding and opening a door which deposited them into a descending corridor, lit by the traditional lighting of the city. Most of the green houses led down into this area, a storage center and warm paths, also allowing for easy feeding of livestock. Raziel mentally counted her steps and stopped before another door. Behind this noe was a decent sized room with several tables and a few chairs. Herbs were everywhere; in jars, hanging in bundles of varying drying stages.

The angel confidently strode to the back wall of this room where she removed her cloak and spread it out. She blinked sleepily as Zander padded over, huffing as he curled up beside the cloak. His head rested on his paws and was nearly instantly snoring. With a soft giggle, Raziel sat upon her cloak, patting the available space beside her for Najima, her legs demurely tucked to the side. ”No one enters here but once a week. We should be uninterrupted.”

A soft blush rose to her cheeks as she realized the possible implications. ”Um, I mean… Undisturbed… In our rest.” Raziel wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her face. Her wings circled around her, hiding her within a feathery cocoon. Even so, her soft voice could be heard as she began to muse aloud. ”It’s all like a dream. A yearn fulfilling dream. Family, answers, things forgotten. Wishes materializing before us dreamers.”

He kept a protective arm around Raziel’s shoulders as Zander lead them through and to a greenhouse. The space was fragrant of earth and the pungent scent of fresh herbs. Despite her blindness, Raziel took him by the hand to a hallway that led them down. It was still much warmer here than outside, but it was cooler than the main room of the greenhouse since they were, presumably, underground. Here it felt safe, as if they were buried from the troubles of outside. Of course, nothing was that easy.

Zander seemed enough at ease at the very least: resting at the edge of the spread cloak and dozing off into sleep. Maybe slumber was better than being awake. If the world of the waking was a dream then what would it be like to be asleep? He was so tired that he knew it wouldn’t be much longer that he’d be able to ponder.

His eyebrows rose, smiling playfully even though he knew she couldn’t see it. Her words did leave implication and there was normalcy in the blush of her cheeks. He settled down next to her, letting her have her bashful moment behind her wings and merely rested his fingers between her shoulder blades. He was sure to be careful of them, not wanting to cause her any harm.

How could he comfort her when he was barely able to keep his mind straight? What was he supposed to do to keep them safe? Sure, he’d taken them from the darkness, but this hardly seemed any better in the abstract. How much longer could all of it last? Family, that’s what she’d said, and he looked forward, not even wanting to chance meeting the eyes of a blind woman.

It was good to know that who he’d seen hadn’t actually fallen like he had, but there had been a brief moment in his terror that he’d felt shameful relief. For once one of his kind, someone from his home, would have been down here with him. But it wasn’t real, none of this was. His fingers curled on her back as if she too might disappear any moment now.

Before he could stop himself, he slid his arm around the small of her back and rested his face in the soft cushion of her wing. The feathers tickled his nose and cheeks, but he felt no urge to laugh. He couldn’t lose someone else, especially not someone as important as Raziel was becoming. Until today he hadn’t known what it truly felt like to possibly lose her, and he wasn’t sure how to react. He was tired of being alone but too guilty to try and keep her; whatever that might mean.

“Don’t disappear…” he whispered into her feathers. His hand gently gripped her side as he leaned towards her more and wrapped his other arm around her waist. He wanted to rest his head in her lap, to hide with her in her wings where maybe they’d finally find refuge.