Insects hummed all around, frogs croaked, and her bangs matted to her face. There was no desire to merely open a gate to leave this place, for she had no direction to go. Everything she had been so preoccupied with has been done, and she felt like an empty shell because of it. Almost two years ago, her mother had set Raziel on a quest. Find Rammie and Gabe. Her only clue was “You know everything you need to know”.

The first year was unfruitful, garnering a group of people who promised to keep an eye out, an ear open, and gave useful tips to assist. It was also quite daunting, as she had never left home alone in her near century life. Her lack of sight made things quite interesting, but she was guided by her trusty timberwolf Zander. What she did not know that her questions would open her to a world of violence.

All she found were groups who wanted to beat on her, torture her, warning her to leave Gabe in the dark where he was. Stop seeking Gabe. But she couldn’t. After meeting Ensarrian, things seemed to escalate. Raziel was kidnapped, tortured, and saved by both Ensarrian and Ramiel. Also known as Rammie. It was then she was learned her suspicions of Gabe being her father was correct, and Ramiel was her twin sister. Neither girl knew they had a sister the entire century of their lives.

A few months later, Ramiel and Raziel found their father in the Void, where he was beaten and hidden away. Despite the angel’s intimate knowledge of healing, her father was sadly too bad off for her to save him. They got to meet, and he smiled at her. Told them both how proud he was. After his passing, Raziel took her sister to meet their mother, who was on magical life support to preserve her life until Raziel’s quest was complete. With both of her parents now passed, Raziel didn’t know what to do now.

Ensarrian was freed from his torn conflicts of spending quality time with his betrothed and protecting Raziel. The half angel managed to convince the wyverns to spend the time they needed to get to know one another. She left them in their lovely treehouse. Mikhail stayed by her side quite dutifully, for being as young as he was. But she didn’t even attempt to train him anymore. What was left for her? Ramiel had taken on their father’s mantle of protecting the innocent. Her parents were gone, and her friends all had their own lives. Raziel did not want to be a burden on anyone, but she had never lived alone before either.

The young timberwolf gave a soft whine as Raziel’s foot stepped into a river. It was quite difficult to travel this riverous swampy area without getting soaked, at least for the blind. She sighed, wondering how she missed it with her staff. ”It’s okay, Mikhail. Just a calm little river.” What she hadn’t been paying attention to was the steadily growing roar of water as it approached her. ”Come on, we should be able to cross it.” Mikhail whined more urgently as he took a step back. Raziel was already up to her knees in the water when it hit.

It felt like a solid wall hit her back, sending the angel sprawling into the water with a surprised yelp. There was no time to take a deep breath, or anything as she went tumbling through the river. The wolf was barking up a frenzy as he raced along the river’s edge. Raziel had no idea which way was up, but somehow she managed to break the surface for a gulp of precious air before being swept under again. Her forehead bashed against something solid, and her world went black, completely at the mercy of the raging river.

”Yes yes, I do not like the feeling much myself. Not here to hurt you though.”

Zehrili said as the snake that head grabbed managed to wrap its body around his arm, a small container with a membrane of skin was held by the creature's mouth before it finally lashed out and pierced its fangs through it. Zehrili quickly acted and pressed his index finger down hard on the top of its jaw to keep its fingers extruded. ”There we go, just a little more and you are free to go,” He whispered watching as a milky liquid collected at the bottom. Snake poison was always valuable especially to someone in his profession.

”There we go, you're free to go.”

He placed the reptile on the ground and quickly removed his hand, the snake of course trying to lash out at the man. He took a few steps back as he watched the creature slither away probably not very pleased at all. Zehrili raised the small container and swirled it around. He gained enough to test how its effects would also work with his own venom. ”Not many know of the fauna in this new land, so even still those who succumb to it won’t have a cure.” It was his only reason for being here in Onnen, to gather various venom and poisons from the surrounding flora and fauna.

His concentration was broken at the sound of, barking? He did not know of any wild canines in the area at least that he knew of, and most of the time wild ones did not bark. Yet it seemed to be in distress so the Wyvern quickly stored his container in one of his side pouches and made his way to the sound of the barking in a slight rush. Getting closer he could see a small timber wolf, chasing down the side of the river, it was so focused that it didn’t pay any mind to Zehrili approaching. He rushed to catch up with the wolf and that’s when he noticed the small frame of a body in the river.

His own adrenaline kicked in and he managed to overtake the wolf and ran ahead to intercept whoever was in the river by reaching down and taking ahold of their arm. He managed to maintain good footing as to not get swept away himself and he pulled them out of the water, the waters own force and weight cause it to be more of a struggle than it should have been. He dragged the away from the water’s edge and that's when he noticed the purple hair that was on their head. He turned them to face up and saw that it was a female, and not only that he knew of this woman.

Few of the meetings he had been allowed in with Amen-Ra, she had been there just sitting in the corner. Always just silent patiently waiting for the meeting to be over. This did not bode well, especially if she ended up dying in such an awful place. He could see blood trickle from her head, but was more concerned with other matters than the wound. His fingers placed on her neck felt a slight pulse but she wasn’t breathing. The wolf that had been chasing her ran up, and Zehrili looked over. ”Don’t worry young one, you did good.”

He laced his fingers and pressed hard in the center of her chest I apologize about the pain. Still nothing and he leaned down pushing her head up and opening her mouth. He took a deep breath before closing his mouth over her, pinching her nose shut as he breathed let his breath go into her and repeated it once before before starting the compressions again. ”Come on!”

Mikhail continued his barking as someone had come to the rescue. They darted past the wolf, positioned themselves ahead of his master and caught a limb to pull her out. As he tried to catch up, Mikhail had no choice but to watch as they hoisted her small body from the rushing current to safety, not that he could do anything to help as a wolf. By the time he caught up to Raziel and the rescuer, Mikhail pressed his nose against her cheek with a whine. He stretched his front paws out and laid his head on them while he witnessed the wyvern perform chest compressions on her small body.

Each moment seemed to stretch longer and longer between pressing on her chest and breathing into her. Again and again, he kept fighting to get her breathing for herself once more. Finally, water filled her mouth, her body forcing it out of her lungs, Mikhail jumped and yipped happily in circles. Raziel coughed as she rolled over. Her lungs burned, trying to catch her breath, bringing painful attention to the ache of her chest. She moaned as she grabbed her head, which throbbed something wicked. ”Who?”

Another fit of coughing overtook the angel as she began to shiver. She couldn’t think straight. ”My bag…” Mikhail gave a soft whine as he pushed himself before her, taking an opportunity to lick her face insistently. Raziel weakly pushed him away. ”No, Mik…” Raziel groaned. ”I need… um…” She shook her head, only to grab it as it only increased the throbbing. ”Ian…” That’s who she needed, with his warmth and gentle chastising. He would scoop her up and place her in a giant protective bubble if he could.

He kept going with the compressions, his arms burning for how much he had pushed down. He didn’t want this life to end, it seemed so sad for them to die in such an unforgiving place. The wolf that had alerted him to her had made his way to lay down next to her still unresponding body. ”Come on, breathe damn it. Reject that damn water in your lungs.” Zehrili hissed as if he was mad, but not at the woman but at the water itself. One more time he leaned down and blew air into her body before. He was slowly starting to lose faith that she would make it when her opened mouth suddenly filled with water and she started to cough violently.

”Thank god,” He breathed heavily as he removed his hands from her to let her turn over and cough and drain the water from her body. The wolf companion started to yip happily and run around thankful that their master was safe. Weakly she asked who before another coughing fit took her over. Already she was trying to push herself into talking which wasn’t the best idea. While turning herself over was prudent, trying to talk was not the wisest of ideas, especially with the injury to her head.

She pushed the wolf away as it licked her face, and Zehrili let out a small sigh. ”You really should not be trying to move or talk as you have been. Let your body relax.” He told her and looked around for the bag she had mentioned, he did not see it nearby at all. ”We will find your stuff, do not fret about that. I do not know how far the waters took you ever since you fell in.” He wasn’t trying to be hard on her especially since she just had a close call with the reaper but at the same time being stubborn would not help either.

”I need you to sit still, you also have a pretty nasty wound on your forehead.” he said softly placing a hand on her shoulder, he could feel she was cold. He didn’t know what to do, as he usually wasn’t the one saving people rather he was the one dealing the death blow.  Maybe introducing himself would calm her down a bit? ”My name is Zehrili, I have seen you before you came with Ensarrian and his mate to talk with Amen-Ra have you not? I am part of his clan, trust me when I say I mean you no harm, I do not think your Ian would have wanted you to fade here.”

By a stroke of irony, it was the healer who needed healing. His voice was trying to be calming as he tried to get her to calm down, Raziel flinching at the sudden touch on her shoulder. It wasn't from a traumatic past, just a reaction from being unable to see the touch coming before it happened. She frowned as her mind placed the familiarity of the name. Zehrili, Amen-Ra's clan member, instantly instilling a sense of trust in her. "Yes, I recall…" she started.

Her bag had everything they needed. Blankets, dry clothing, materials to tend to her wound… "Don't tell Ian… Please." If he knew how close she came to death, with him unable to help her, he would be furious and try to glue himself to her side. He had a clan and his mate to attend to and could not afford to spend too much time on his half angel healer when she was now aimless in her life. "Brother mine will be cross… Ensarrian must not know…" Raziel could hear her teeth beginning to chatter.

"Mikhail… Lead us back." The wolf shook himself, gave a single soft bark and set off upstream, pausing to look back, making sure they were following. As the wyvern wanted to ensure she was resting, he picked her up, cradling her tiny body against his. Zehrili's arms were just as strong and safe as Ensarrian's own, something she was not expecting as she snuggled against his warmth. "Raziel… My name." Satisfied that they were following, Mikhail followed his own scent back.

Zehrili let out a small sigh when she asked him to not let Ensarrian know what had happened. He had originally decided to let Amen-Ra know who he had found and let the two Alphas discuss it out, but now he had been requested not to say anything. ”I promise not to tell anyone about this, it will be our little secret.” he replied jokingly trying to lighten up the mood a little, yet the chatter of her teeth had him worried nonetheless. She needed to get warm and he unfortunately was one that travelled light. So it seemed finding her things would be in order.

She asked her wolf, Mihkail to find the bag in which it eagerly agreed to. She herself was in position to walk, so put his arms under her legs and back and picked her up. She was extremely light cause of her small stature far more so than what he expected. She snuggled into his chest as he followed the wolf, his warmth was probably comforting to her. He looked down briefly and saw her silver eyes were not really focused on one thing. He looked back up, it now made sense why she seemed to stare off during meetings.

”Your eyes, they do not see the world do they?.” He didn’t want to pry where he shouldn’t, but a sight curiosity lay in the back of his mind.

The wolf then started to bark like crazy after they walked quite a distance. He looked ahead to see a back on the ground that the wolf was circling. Luckily for them that it didn’t get washed down the river along with the woman. ”Seems your friend has found it. Mayhaps something in there that I can patch your head with.” he let her know and made his way over. He lowered her so that she could stand on her own before grabbing her bag and placing it in her arms. He did not want to get in the bag, especially without her permission.

”I must ask something else, what exactly where you doing in these lands…especially with your condition I would expect you to have an escort or something to help,” he said and looked around the area. “Never know what you could run into here, and as you have found out the water changes in an instant.”

"Thank you," she replied softly to his promise to keep this a secret. Raziel fell into silence until he asked a question. Had she really been that invisible as she waited in her corner for the meeting's end? Her head shook in response. "I was born blind. But I've managed," she gave a soft giggle, attempting to make light of the subject. There seemed so much that they shared, yet none of it had anything to do with her. It wasn't her clan, her deal to be brokered, a union of allegiances between two bloodlines. She just shared a close bond with alpha and mate.

So she fell into silence, concentrating on trying to get warm in his arms until Mikhail could find her belongings. Find them he did,  and she slowly nodded to Zehrili. He put her down and gave her the bag, which looked like a large pouch with a single large strap to carry on her shoulder. Raziel carefully knelt until she was sitting on her knees before going through her bag. She pulled out a fresh dress, a blanket, rolls of cotton, and a jar. The jar was opened and brought to her nose, revealing a gray and pungent ointment. With a wrinkle of her nose, she capped it, put it back into the bag and pulled another one out.

The second was more honey colored, and smelled almost sweet as honey was a main ingredient. This she placed down on her blanket. Slowly, as to keep herself from falling prey to a dizzy spell, Raziel stood and spread her wings, shaking as much of the water out as she could before she began to undress, pulling the straps of the soaked dress over her shoulders. Holding the fabric to her chest, she stooped to pick up her dry dress, only to nearly fall from the sudden rush of blood, causing her to straighten herself and hold her head with another groan. "Blast it all to hell," she muttered to herself.

On some level, Raziel was quite aware that this was a good thing. Her frustration of simple matters meant she wasn't dwelling on being alone with nothing left to strive for. Nevertheless, she had to take care of herself, or Ian would throttle her himself. So she dropped to her knees to finish undressing, pulled the clean dress on and held the wet one to her head. "Can you help? Tell me if it's deep or wide enough for stitches? Then… The ointment and bandaging?" While he assisted her, making sure the wound was cleaned, the ointment applied and her head bandaged, Raziel gave him the answer he sought.

"Ian built Sanyi a home just north of here… But, I'm awkward there. He has a mate, and I… I am just a distraction. Someone who he cannot stand see harmed, so he will ignore Sanyi for me. I… Didn't want to be the one to prevent them bonding." When he was done, the extra cloth and the jar put away, the blanket placed around her shoulders, Raziel seemed to deflate. "My quest is over. My parents are gone. My twin has her job, and Ian has his… But me? I have nothing. Do I have a purpose anymore?" She sniffed and rubbed her eyes suddenly. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't drop my woes on you."

He watched as she started taking her belongings out of the bag, he was amazed by how well she could feel for things and know what they are even without the aid of sight. He could not understand it, but how could he for as long as he could remember he was always able to see. Her other senses must be so much more heightened after losing such a vital one. It was no wonder that Ensarrian seemed to have such a protective nature over her, yet Zehrili did not think she was as lost as he first made her out to be. She checked the aroma of one, her face curled up as she put the lid back on and pulled out the other one and did the same. He caught a glimpse of the honey colored liquid, a ointment to prevent infection perhaps?

Slowly she stood, after getting all the she needed and spread her white wings. He had made sure not to damage them when he pulled her out of the water and while carrying her, but to see them fully spread he had to admit it gave her an air of exoticism and beauty. Yet his gaze upon them was interrupted…as she started to undress before him! Quickly he turned around, before his eyes looked upon anything and he closed them. Did she not realize that he was still standing there? Oh you are a bloody moron Zehrili he thought bringing a hand to his forehead. She was blind, something she had just told him about.

She muttered something, that he wasn’t able to pick up, under her breath and he almost turned around to see if anything was alright. He stopped himself short and cleared his throat. He would not look, not until she called for him even if she hadn’t realized that he was there. A few moments later she did call for him, asking to help her with her head wound. He had already planned on doing that anyways, wasn’t going to leave her with an open wound. He walked over kneeling down and moved her hand away from the wound gingerly. ”No, I do not believe it will be stitched up. It's pretty wide but not deep, it must have hit a rock pretty good.”

She started to speak about why she was her, and about Ensarrian and his mate Sanyi. How she thought that she would prevent them from bonding. ”I doubt you would have prevented anything, he is protective of you that I have picked up,” He replied back as he spread the honey colored ointment over the length of the wound, ”If he had claimed her as his mate I am sure they will have plenty of time to bond.” He finished up patching the wound and helped her put the stuff back in the bag. He also put the blanket around her shoulders to help warm her up from the cold. He sat down in front of her and listened as she seemed to not know what to do. Wiping her eyes she apologized to him.

”You have nothing to apologize for. Sometimes it is good to get things out that are weighing you down. Yet, you saying that you may not have a purpose I don’t believe.” He spoke, he did not like hearing someone doubt themselves. ”Sometimes it takes us a while to find why we walk this world, but everyone has a reason to be here. For example, I may not have the most glamorous profession…One that is rather quite sinister,” he started not exactly proud of what he did, ”Yet it is to serve my clan. I take care of enemies of both the clan and Amen-Ra…before they become enemies you could say. It is my purpose and the reason I am out here today. I do believe you will find something, I heard you have great healing potential. Perhaps something will bloom from that?” He had hoped his words would bring her more comfort than sorrow.

She listened as he expressed his disbelief in her lack of purpose. Zehrili went on to explain his own purpose, and reasoning, for being her rescuer today. When he went on to point out her talent as a healer, Raziel couldn’t help but give a small smile. ”My mother raised me among the angels of Zets’Ki Cradle. It was they who taught me my craft. Their lessons were harsh at times, but it served a purpose.” Mikhail laid down next to her, pressing his warm body against her small frame as he waited for his next command. It seemed that her near-death experience matured her young timberwolf. ”Ironic it would be if I did open a clinic or something. Heal the victims of evil since my sister works on slaying the evil who victimizes the innocent.” She gave a dry chuckle

It brought to question, however, of capital to start the clinic. If her practice can manage to be started as a business, would people actually trust a blind healer? That alone threatened to close her doors before they even opened. Raziel quirked her head to the side. ”Tell me, Zehrili, would you trust a blind healer to perform surgery on you, should you require it?” By this time, the river she had tried to cross was as harmless as a small trickle, the fact that she had been washed away by the sudden current seemed laughable now. The angel stood, pulled her bag over her head and shoulder. ”We should leave. This moist atmosphere isn’t going to help me right now.”

Mikhail studied the water for a long minute before deeming it safe to finally cross. ”Pneumonia,” Raziel started as she began to walk toward the river, squeaking as a hand landed on her shoulder, nearly jumping out of her skin at the contact. Before she knew it, he had picked her up again, water soon sloshing over his boots as he carried her across. Her eyes were wide as saucers the entire way, still trying to comprehend the fact that he just scooped her up. Even as he carefully set her back down once on the other side, she stood there stunned momentarily. ”Warning next time?” she asked softly, her cheeks turning a bright red.

It seemed that he would lead her out himself, ensuring her safety. ”Pneumonia can easily set in after one nearly drowns. Coughing, fever, sweating and shaking chills, shallow or shortness of breath, chest pain that worsens with deep breathing, no appetite, low energy, nausea… All are common symptoms which means I must be analytical of my body over the next couple of days,” she explained as she followed his lead. But she did not want him obsessing over her as Ian did, so Raziel attempted a change of topic. ”How’s Amen-Ra and the clan? I heard there was a mysterious visitor?”

The small smile appeared and her face, and he could help but to think that it suited her better than the shivering cold or the worry she had early about Ensarrian finding out what had happened. A smiler after all always better suited a lady. He listened as she explained that she learned her skills from the angels that resides within the cradle, it explained a lot especially since she seemed to be one herself. A small laugh escaped as she talked about her being the healer and her sister being the one who destroyed the evil. ”There are always two sides to the same coin. You maybe the one who cures, but to balance out the spectrum your sister is the one who destroys. Just like I believe there is my opposite as well..I kill, there must be one who saves.”

He head quirked to the side as if she had suddenly thought of something, and then asked a question he had not anticipated Would he actually allow a blind woman to heal him? To perform a surgery if it was need? He brought a hand up to his chin, and took her words to thought. He didn’t know if he had the answer to that right away. His train of thought was broken as she stood and gathered her things saying the needed to leave.

He agreed, she needed to get somewhere warmer to dry off completely, especially her long purple hair. Her reasoning was solid pneumonia would easily set in in these conditions. She made her way to the river again and immediately the wyvern sprung up. The water may have been calm now, but as he stated these waters were not normal and could change any second. He put a hand on her shoulder, which was reward with an highly adorable squeak before he knelt down quickly and swept her into his arms. He couldn’t help but to laugh at her expression as he guided her across, the water soaking into his boots.

”Next time, sure, but there are so little times that I get to sweep a lady off of her feet,” He chuckled as he saw her face light up. He took the lead as she started to ramble the conditions of pneumonia, he had to admit that she definitely knew her stuff. ”The clan is doing just fine not much had happened besides the mysterious figure you speak of.” He spoke as she inquired about the clan. ”She goes by the name of Phoenix, doesn’t really…interact with a lot of us, it seems like she is afraid of something from what I have picked up.” He was adept at sneaking in the shadows so he could easily spy on her but Amen-Ra had brought her in so he trusted his judgement.

”Amen-Ra has definitely…taken a liking to her though, he had made it quite obvious to us all. I do not blame him, she does have the looks though. Though he does not act upon anything…I do not see why he doesn’t though,” He said with a slight shrug once again forgetting that she would not be able to pick up his body language.