Tales of the Titans: Reconciliation
Raven paused outside the door to Athena's room. She'd deliberately picked this time because she knew Blackfire wasn't in, and the two girls had been sharing a room now for about two weeks. As far as Raven knew, it was a totally platonic relationship, but whether it was or wasn't really wasn't any of her business. Nor did she truly care.
What was her business was something that had recently come to her attention, something that only she could do. And, even though it wasn't something she wanted to do—gods knew it wasn't something she wanted to do—still, it was something that needed doing.
She signaled for entrance. "Enter," said a voice from within.
She did so. Athena, in the process of packing a pitifully few items, looked up from what she was doing in surprise. Of all the people in the nine worlds, Raven was certainly the last person she expected to see. In fact, Raven wasn't even on the list. "Blackfire is out," she said.
"I didn't come here to see Blackfire."
"Omega is not here, either…" Athena was clearly struggling with who else Raven might be seeking.
"I came here to see you, Athena. I understand you're planning on leaving, on leaving this planet, in fact."
"Yes, I am." Athena glanced at the sorceress cautiously. Although physically the more powerful of the two, by her background and nature she'd come to accept Raven as being above her in the chain of command, so to speak. Even though she was no longer being controlled by the Lords, or any Lord, for that matter, nonetheless, she respected Raven for that.
"May I sit?"
"Uhm. Of course." In Athena's world, Raven shouldn't have to ask. Raven knew this, but she felt the need to, anyway. It never hurt to be polite. Once Raven was comfortably seated, and Athena in her customary kneeling posture, "Might one inquire-*?" Athena's people didn't have the custom of offering tea, cookies, or any sort of refreshment to visitors; in any case, Raven supposed, she probably didn't have any to offer.
"One might." Raven drew a deep breath. "I came to ask you not to leave."
To say that Athena was confused would have been an understatement of cosmic proportions. Of the entire population of the planet Earth, she could think of no one who would welcome her departure from Earth with greater acceptance than Raven.
But she was learning. "Does this request come from yourself?"
"It does. Nobody put me up to it, if that's what you're asking."
"I don't understand. Why would you, of all humans, wish me to stay?"
Raven didn't answer right away. Instead, she got up and went to window in Athena's room, looking out over the bay. "Starfire pretty much blew up when she learned Blackfire was staying here, that she was here at all."
"Yes. She did." Blew up was the best way to describe it. It hadn't been a pretty sight; some parts of the Tower were still in need of repair. It would take some time. And the Tower was still suffering from the damage it had incurred when Athena had tried to kill Omega, back when she first arrived. She'd been so deeply under the control of the Lords then that she had regarded him as a traitor, rather than the friend she remembered.
There was silence for a while, with Raven looking out over the bay. Then, Raven spoke up. "I came by to ask you not to leave. I understand that Blackfire intends to leave with you, as her furlough has been extended, changed to a kind of guarded probation, due to good behavior. Whether or not she goes is her own decision, of course. But I wish that you would not go."
"But why?"
"I am….I have taken this opportunity, these opportunities, to, to learn about myself. One of the properties of meditation is to see inside oneself. Some of what I've learned…..Well. Let's just say, I'm doing some interior remodeling."
"I'm….not sure what you mean."
"Why do you wish to leave?"
"I think it should be obvious. My continued presence here is a disruptive force, in the group." Not long after she arrived—they were still trying to figure out just how—Athena had revealed the presence of a book in Raven's possession regarding an extremely intimate topic, to the colossal embarrassment of Raven. "I understand that I embarrassed you horribly, and now that I know you a bit better, and know more about your world, your culture, I am more fully aware of the way and degree to which I embarrassed you. I…would never have done that, had I known. But I did, and actions, once undertaken, cannot be undone. I feel I am a divisive element here. Even were I to join some other group, there would no doubt be some interaction between us, and then there would be….friction, I suppose is the best term for it."
Raven smiled, looking out across the bay. "So this is a self-sacrificing gesture, on your part?"
"Given that I've the right to sacrifice none but myself, I suppose you could frame it that way, yes."
"I wish you'd stay."
Athena glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "You…don't really mean that. You can't."
"Yes, I can. Yes, you embarrassed me…it would be pointless to deny that. But perhaps, just perhaps…..I needed that."
Athena stared. "You're joking. I can never tell when humans are joking, but you must be. I don't understand it, the joke, I mean, but I suppose I don't have to…"
"I'm not joking. I'm quite serious. Perhaps I needed to be reminded that I'm—mostly—a human being very much like the others in this world, that I'm, well….only human, in that way, at least. Not some high and mighty being who's above the cares and needs of the world of humans."
Athena didn't know quite what to say to that.
"So I really do wish you'd stay. The matter between us, as far as I am concerned, is settled. Over and done with. I can't answer for your part, as you are not me, but, for me, it is over with." She turned from the window and looked at Athena, still sitting in her kneeling posture. "Perhaps the matter with you and Omega, when you were controlled by the Lords, or the ongoing conflict between Starfire and her sister, has brought to my attention the…problems with holding on to the negative parts of the past. Grudges, in other words. There simply isn't any value in it, and much destruction, needless destruction, and much…heartache."
She looked away again. "As an empath, I can tell that Blackfire has changed. How or why, I don't know. But Starfire has not, and I am beginning to believe she never will. Her hatred for her sister is literally eating her up, alive. I don't want that for me.
"So I truly wish you'd stay. I've a hunch Blackfire will stay if you do, but…I have hopes that someday, Starfire will also put aside her enmity. Having no real family of my own, aside from my mother, I…understand the importance of it. And it can't be denied that you'd be a valuable addition to the team.
"So I wish you'd stay."
Athena said nothing, but got up from her kneeling posture and approached the sorceress. She got within a few inches of her face, and seemed to stare directly into Raven's eyes, from the space of only two inches away, for a long, long moment. It made Raven a little nervous. What was Athena seeing, anyway? Then, "You are sincere in this. You really want me to stay."
"Yes. So…what is your answer?"
Athena thought for a long moment. Then, Raven extended her hand towards her. "I cannot say if we will ever be truly friends or not—that depends upon a variety of factors—but I am willing to let bygones be bygones. Are you?"
Athena took her outstretched hand, the human gesture of a handshake. She smiled. "Yes. I can certainly let such things go, if you can."
"Well, then, good." She frowned at the small bag Athena had been packing. "Is that all you've got, that you were going take?"
Athena shrugged. "It's more than I came here with. Mostly mementos."
"We'll have to see about getting you bigger quarters. I'll talk with Robin. There's bound to be someplace larger for you….but first, I have something for you." She fished something, a wrapped package out from her cloak. "I've already given one of these to Gar and Terra, a sort of early wedding gift. I see no reason to deny you one, as well. Call it a peace offering. Well, go on. Open it."
Athena did. The book thus revealed was….extremely familiar to her. It was a copy of the one she had, in her ignorance of Earthly customs, taken from Raven's room not all that long ago, the very one she'd embarrassed Raven with, by revealing its presence to the entire group. She gave Raven a slow smile. "This is…Earthly humor?"
Raven's poker face didn't budge one inch. "Of course not. It….contains information that I hope you will someday soon put to good use."