Tears of Raven

66

Raven couldn't find rest that day. It didn't help that Zed had crawled by her side and asked if he could sleep with her. She couldn't find it in her heart to send him away. He looked devastated by the way they had argued and how he had treated his sister. It seemed to Raven, that every time he argued, it was like she pierced his heart with a dagger and she couldn't' understand why it was so heavy on him. They just exchanged opinions. Everybody had an argument every now and then, but to Zed every time she got mad it was like he had failed personally to make her happy and it stuck on him making him look wobbly. He had dropped the second he had hit the mattress. Didn't dare to pull her closer but Raven didn't miss how, in his sleep, he crawled closer and buried his nose in her hair and only then he stopped startling. She tossed and turned and when she eventually found herself lost in her thoughts enough to graze the surface of sleep, she heard her door open. Raven sneaked, forming a long piece of ice in her hands so she could defend herself and crept on the intruder ready to strike when she noticed the invader didn't even get to her waist and was sleep walking to her bed.

Raven dissipated the ice and watched as the small girl attempted to climb on the mattress, her eyes half closed as she slithered her way under her brother strong arms. He didn't move one inch however Raven knew he had felt it, there was no way he didn't. Raven crossed her arms and smiling, reached her bed. Zelda didn't take much space but she had managed to lay down sideways and so there was no space for Raven but she didn't mind.

She found it curious how Zelda seemed to be doing it on purpose while she pretended to be asleep looking from her thick eyelashes.

Raven kneeled before the mattress and she stared at the girl amused.

"Can't sleep either?"

Zelda pretended some more until Raven spoke again. "Do you want to come and try my special recipe for sleeping?"

She opened one eye, hiding under her brother's arm.

"Do I have to go in my bed afterwards?"

"If you wish to."

She turned her back to Raven snuggling closer to Zed's shoulder. Raven leaned in and whispered.

"Let's make a pact. If what I give you isn't enough strong, I authorize to come and sleep with us every night from now on."

"Can I sleep next to Zeddy?"

Zeddy? That was something Raven would pick on him later. It was so cute that she called him that.

"Of course."

Zelda jumped off the bed quickly as she trotted her way to the door. Unbothered by her brother growled as she brought Raven to a small kitchen. Raven grabbed some herbs she recognized and crushed them to make an infuse that she boiled and poured in two mugs as she sat next to the little girl. They stayed silent, looking at the animals sleeping or walking by.

"I'm sorry for what you saw today." Raven said softly blowing on the hot liquid.

"They fight all the time. The three of them. I hide so the noise doesn't find me when I sleep but sometimes, I hear their voices turn mean and I can't sleep."

Raven kept drinking. She knew that if Zelda could see how startled she had been by her sincerity, she would stop talking.

"What do they say? The voices, I mean."

The girl's little legs stop rocking and she stared at her tea for an eternity, so much Raven thought she would not talk again.

"That I'm alone. None of them likes me and if I wasn't their sister, they wouldn't even notice me. Sometimes I hide just to see if they can find me. Once I stayed under my bed for an entire day before Zay discovered me."