Bleeding Heart 18 I Wish I Was Nearly As Easy To Like

No one paid any attention to the flirtatious young woman.

After a light breakfast, they set out again. Dawn found it amazing how fluidly Raven could get up on her griffon. It seemed almost innate, like it was ingrained into him.

She got up onto her steed after making sure that Raven was all good and secure. Of course, he was. He had amazingly good posture for riding she noticed, easy and relaxed too. As she talked rather quickly about the plan for the day, she was aware that Raven was ignoring her as he talked with her griffon.

"Mornin' Zyph. Hope you are ready for a day of adventure and travel. Sorry that you still have to stay on the ground."

That was what Dawn heard as she turned back to get her griffon to start moving. She raised her eyebrow, nearly laughing at this man's antics.

"Did you just name my griffon?" She kept her voice calm, almost eerily so.

He straightened up, head turning towards her, so that his ear was more inclined, which was his equivalent of looking someone in the eye to show he was listening. "Well, you never told me his name so I nicknamed him, yes? Sorry if that was out of line, but names give a handle. They are necessary, you know."

Had she taught him that when she had given him a name, just like Arrion had her? She smiled to herself. In no way could she be upset with him for this, "Well, he did need a name and I was having trouble coming up with one. Zyph works I suppose."

His lips twitched upwards making his whole face light up. The smile looked natural, like his face was used to making that expression. He must have smiled a lot before his memory loss. He still did actually, but she had never really seen it up this close.

They set off, at a hurried pace, but one that the horses had no trouble keeping up with. Dawn kept her eyes trained on the road, though she was aware of the man sitting in front of her and how he leaned over the neck of Zyph as he did his best not to get in her way.

They rode for hours, not much happening. The others engaged in banter and some teasing. But Dawn was removed from this. After midday though she did engage Raven in some light conversation.

"So, Raven, any more memories coming back yet?" She wondered whether he did or not because she knew that he would undoubtedly be excited about them.

"No, not really, glimpses but nothing concrete." Despite this he was still smiling. "Nothing new about my past I'm afraid."

"Pity."

"Eh, these things take time."

Dawn smiled just a little and patted him on the hand, doing her best to be comforting, "You take this rather well, my friend."

"Worrying about it and fretting would hardly change it." Raven shook his head with a soft laugh, "And I think that my memory will return sooner or later. Not like my eyesight. I figure that is pretty much never going to fix itself."

Dawn found herself really admiring this man. She was not sure that she would have been able to be so calm to have to live in perpetual darkness, without even the comfort of knowing who she was. The thought was actually quite a scary one to think about even if she had a lot she wished to forget.

It might have been surprising that Raven had imprinted on her, but under the circ.u.mstances of how they had met and what was going on with him it was not actually so. Hence why he was willing to follow her to do something that could easily cost his life if something went wrong. Dawn hoped it did not.

Raven, she was pretty sure, was a good man. Perfectly decent, probably the sort who would do anything for those he cared for but not go out of his way to hurt those he did not like.

In some ways he reminded her of Arrion in this. He seemed to be cut from a similar cloth of caliber. The cloth of someone who would come to care deeply for someone and do their all for them. The type of person willing to help people they hardly knew, no matter whether there would ever be something in it for them.

And she found herself envying that easy personality that made it so easy to like the person it belonged to.