Vultures soared in high winds of the desert searching for anything that did not have the strength to survive in the heat. The heat did not not even seem to phase the people of the oasis city. Istan City was thriving with activity. Old men were sitting about sharing stories of wisdom. Women held baskets of freshly picked fruit and vegetables for their families. Children ran around playing games with each other. Soldiers roamed about with leather armor and stell swords and axes. The city was alive and well.

Eden walked through the streets of Istan with a pleasant smile on his face. The aura of the people today was a good one. No one had yet stolen anything nor was anyone mugged or hurt. The children paused to look Eden and waived at him. He looked down at the younglings and smiled with a wave. Eden was at Istan to check on the military. They stumbled upon him when he lost in the blistering heat of the desert. They found him passed out under palm tree not too far from the city. He was revived and brought back to full health. Ever since then, Eden was good friend to the people. He learned much about the culture and often visited them. The old men waived for him to come sit with them and share stories, but he politely turned them down. He was here on business.

Eden turned walked up to the entrance way to the small palace, their government center. He was headed for the military headquarters. Even though the palace was small, it was still extravagant. The tiled floors echoed Eden foot steps as he walked on to the military quarters. Sunlight was let in through open spots in the domed ceiling. It was grand indeed for the people of Istan.

The entrance to the military quarters was large enough for a small dragon to walk through. It was decorated with swords and axes. A few pikes and other such weapons were stuck up there as well. Eden paused for a moment to look at the grandeur of the entrance. The people of Istan never seized to amaze him.

((I’m going to make this when Ranewen was about twenty-four in human years, but a fallen angel, with all her magic. ^_^))

Ranewen had stumbled in after he did, escaping the crowds outside. Deadened wings lay against the floor as her red and blue eye (the left was red, the right blue) looked around her. She was gasping for breath. The first person she had seen was Eden. She didn’t know who he was, or why he was here. But the poundings at the door insisted her on running to him for help. She gasped as she ran forward, tripping on the long ripped skirt that was held around her waist by a piece of cloth. She tripped, falling to her knees. She stupidly pushed herself up before running towards him yet again.

She had the looks of a young woman. Her facial features made her seem in her twenties in human years, but she was well beyond that. In fact, she was two hundred and four to be exact. Being a fallen angel, she lived, forever damned, on Imythess for a wrong that she didn’t even commit. Her once-angelic wings were blackened and clipped so that she couldn’t use them. They were only there to remind her of the crime she supposedly committed. She didn’t commit it, but put up no effort to deny the judgment of the other angels. And down she had been cast, forever cast in shadow. No, she wasn’t evil. She was simply neutral. She didn’t like either sides, but got along with people from both of them.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, she stumbled behind the man, her knees giving way. She pushed herself up yet again and tapped him on the shoulder. She used the sleeve of her tattered shirt to wipe some dust off of her sweating face, which turned it to mud. He didn’t look like a guard to her. He would be better than nothing, though. The pounding at the door was still back there, screams and yells accompanying them. “Sir please! Help me!” she gasped, finally giving in to her fatigue and collapsing onto the floor onto her knees, her head down, long black hair skimming the floor. She had run for hours in the damned city.

It was pretty obvious that the modern day society in Istan didn’t very much accept fallen angels into its region, for its residents had chased her here. They had chased her every which way, and then she stumbled upon this place. Now perhaps someone would help her out. Perhaps accompany her to an Inn or something, maybe even out of the city. She was lost. She honestly had no idea where she was. She didn’t even know the name of the city. She was breathing heavily, staring at the man’s feet. Would he treat her the same way? She never thought of it that way… She forgot that maybe he might be like them. She swallowed, almost expecting him to grab a weapon from the wall and strike her down. She wasn’t aware of the fact that they were mounted there and probably weren’t for use.

Before Eden could take one step into the headquarters, thuds of running foot steps echoed throughout the hall. A woman had spoken to him and asked him for help. She collapsed before he could turn to see what the commotion was about. A woman sat at his feet, panting for breath. Eden looked down at the woman and examined her features. When ever there was trouble about, Eden always searched what might have happened, it was in his nature. She looked terrified and in much distress. Streaks of sweat ran down her face, turning the dirt into mud. Some of city officials stopped to see what was going on and stared at the two winged people. Eden looked up and scowled for them to mind their own business.

Eden bent down and pulled out a kerchief from his side. His leather pants and tunic creaked as he crouched down to meet the woman’s eyes. He glanced at her dark wings and knew that they must have once been beautiful white wings. He wondered what she could have done to have her become a fallen angel. He knew she should not have been treated with respect, since she was a fallen angel. She had been branded to be forever condemned to be disrespected and untrusted. Eden thought that to be unfair and decided not to treat her that way. He placed his thumbs to her temples and rubbed to calm her down. With the kerchief still in hand, he took it and rubbed the mud off of her face. She was a beautiful young woman.

“Calm down m’lady. What troubles you? Are the peoples of this city treating you with disrespect?”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t understand. They threw stuff at me; ran at me with knives and daggers. They shouted at me, calling me a Demon… I’m not supposed to be like this: a fallen angel. It was a mistake, all a mistake. All a…mistake…” she said, looking at the ground. She was used to being looked down on. She was used to the stares and whispers that included her name, or at least her race. There were those select few people who had something against her so much that they would throw things at her, or say something to her face. One man actually backhanded her across the face before being pulled away by his wife.

“They wanted me to be dead, I know it. They chased me. It seemed like forever…” she said, looking back into Eden’s life. He didn’t seem like the type of person to hurt he. He had wings, too, except they weren’t dead. They didn’t make him look bad or receive stares or rude comments. He probably got nice comments. He was also probably looked up to. She wished she could go back to those days of being an angel. Now, though, it seemed that she held a permanent hate for those select few Celestials that cast her down. Especially the man that clipped her wings and sent her to fall down to Imythess.

Although her breathing had slowed down to a normal pace, she still look horrified. She didn’t think he would be able to understand, but he almost looked like the type of person to at least listen and see what he could find out. You never know… Don’t judge a book by its cover… she told herself as she looked at him, then to his whitened wings. She then looked at the dead feathers on her wings, the feathers that had turned black like death itself. In some places they had fallen off and revealed the bone. She glared at them and then looked back to Eden’s face.

Eden looked deeply into the eyes of the fallen angel that sat in front of him. He stood upright and held out a hand to help her up also. Eden did not like it when people treated others with disrespect. Especially when it got to the point of hostility. There should be no such thing when he was around. He frowned and looked over to the entrance of the small palace. He could hear some of the men screaming for her, wanted to get at her. He would not have it. Eden released her hand from his and walked over to the closed entrance. He opened the huge wooden door and saw the angry faces of the men. They all calmed down when they saw him. Eden gave them a smile and said,

“You may all go now. She is in my hands and no longer a burden to you.”

The men reluctantly turned around and walked down back the lively city. Eden closed the huge door behind them turned around to look at the fallen angel. He walked over to her and smiled, trying to comfort her. He remembered her saying that it was a mistake she was fallen. Eden was not a full blooded angel himself but he did know a lot about the Celestials. It takes a serious offense to be felled. Things did not go overseen either. It was hard to believe that it could have been a mistake. Eden was a trusting person, but his battle hardened heart did not let him easily trust others.

“You are safe now m’lady. They wont harm you, and I will personally make sure of that as you leave the city. I will not always be around to protect you when they again decide to attack. I advise that you leave this city and go somewhere safe. I know fallen angels to be disliked in this area. It is not wise to go meandering through the city streets.”

With that said, Eden laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. He studied them a moment and then shifted his gaze to her wings. He made no attempt to hide that he was looking at her dead wings. Once Eden looked back to her eyes, he said,

“I am highly respected here. I train with the military here. I will tell one of the servants to find you a room. Go clean yourself up and I will meet you for dinner. I plan to stay for the night. So we will have dinner then, I need to talk to you about a few things, and then we shall rest for the night. I will escort you out of the city in the morning.”

Eden turned to one of the passing servants and requested a room for his new acquaintance. He turned once more to face the fallen angel.

“My name is Eden by the way. As long as you stay in this palace, you will not be harmed. Should anything happen to make you uncomfortable, come to me. In the meantime, I have business to see to. I will see you at dinner time. Just follow the servant and she will lead you to your room.”

Ranewen nodded her head and she followed the servant without any hesitation. She would probably take a bath and then take a small nap, asking the servant to wake her up a few moments before dinner so that she could at least make herself look slightly nicer than usual. There was no way she could get rid of her tattered clothing, lest they had some for her in her room. When she had got to her room, she collapsed on the bed for a moment, dreading rising back to her feet. For one time in her life, she didn’t want to get up and go wandering curiously. She got up with a grunt, looking at the servant for a moment, which now had clothing in her arms that Ranewen could change into.

She was told where to go to find the women’s bath, which was where she could take one by herself. She smiled and nodded her head in thanks and then walked off quickly, going to take a quick bath and scrub the mud and dust from her face and hair, and clean the cuts she had on her arms from past duels that she had had to face to get out alive. Well, not really ‘duels’ but battles. She had to save her own life from more than one person in her life, and a lot of this happened in this town. They only had daggers; she had a fire and ice sword, which was double edged.

She quickly scrubbed the dirt and mud from her body, revealing the tanned skin underneath, which was once pale until she was forced to stay outside all day. Inns usually didn’t want her in there. Sometimes, though, she got in there quickly, ordered her food, and walked out. She didn’t have a job, so she basically just performed in the streets for money, finding something to hide her wings in the process. She then put on the dress that was provided for her. It was a light blue. It wasn’t plain, yet not fancy because they were provided for women.

So Eden was his name? She nodded her head, committing his name to memory. She picked up her spell books, which had been tied to her back while she was running. Luckily, the men hadn’t noticed them because her wings had covered them, and the straps that kept them on her blended in with her shirt that she wore. She looked down at the cuts. Then she remembered that some of those cuts hadn’t been from the men. Some of them were from running through thorn bushes to get away from them on the way here. She tore through there like no other, out of desperation for her life. Those bushes caused her clothes to get more tattered.

Frowning slightly, she headed back to her room. She sat down on the bed, placing her spell books down. Her one spell book held her plain wand that she used to cast her spells with. She laid back on the bed, shutting her eyes. Soon enough she was sound asleep on the bed. What seemed about five minutes later (which was actually three hours later), the servant woke Ranewen up like she had asked. She nodded thankfully and found a comb on the dresser. She brushed her hair and let it fall along her shoulders. She actually looked pretty decent.

Finally, she started walking towards where they were to have dinner. “Thank you, Milady, for your aid today. I am forever grateful of your deeds, regardless of my race,” she said and curtsied—since it seemed like the right thing to do at this moment—to the servant, who looked confused. She probably didn’t get stuff like that all the time. Soon, though, Ranewen was turned around and as walking to where the servant told her where she was to meet Eden. She looked around for a moment, trying to spot him, but had no luck. Perhaps she was early? Or maybe she just didn’t see him yet.

The lamps provided more than enough light at night time. They were large steel pillars with big metal bowls hanging in suspension. It was like looking at floating hearths. The fires in the metal bowls provided heat as well. Eden was at the end of the hall that lead to the Dining Room. He was pacing back and forth, waiting for his new acquaintance. The sound of his foot steps reverberated in the lavishly decorated halls. There were animal trophies of all kinds mounted on the walls and ground. Huge vases stood as tall Eden’s head and as wide as his spread arms. The small palace was grand indeed. It took many people and many years to build such a wonder. Grand pillars held the ceiling to the heavens. The hall was large enough for medium sized dragons to walk through.

Eden stopped his pacing back and forth and looked for his new acquaintance. There were many people walking around, to and fro. Every week the palace held a massive dinner for those who were noble and rich. Only the respected and those in power were allowed to show for the feast. Eden thought it unfair. He always thought that everyone should be allowed to eat at the palace. He considered many a time to say something about it, but he did not want to mess with the culture of Istan. It had been this way for hundreds of years. The Cavalry Commander and the Infantry Battalion Master General passed by Eden and waved. Eden smiled in return but did not speak to them. He was looking for the fallen angel.

After the crowd started to die down, Eden made his way to the guest rooms. He hoped that no one tried to harm her while she was alone. He got midway through the hall and saw her. He casually walked over to her and waved at her. Eden bowed down as he approached her. Some of the men gave him a weird look. It was not customary to bow down to women unless they were married to a noble or one who had power. The fallen angel was considered less valuable than the mud they let their swine bathe in. Eden came back up from his bow and looked her in the eye.

“You know I do not even know you name. Come”

Eden held out his elbow in a mannerly fashion so that he may escort the fallen angel to the Dining Room. The Dining Room was one of the grandest rooms of all the palace. Food servers and table escorts were scurrying about, trying to keep everything in order. There were hundreds of people sitting, waiting for their food to come. A servant came to Eden and motioned for him to follow. They were seated near the front of the room. At the front of the room was a massive, long, dark Norwood table for the highest city officials to sit and eat. Eden turned in his wooden chair after looking around and smiled at his new acquaintance.