I'm really very sorry... My family and I have been quite busy for the last few weeks. I'm sorry it took that long...
Well, in this chapter, the first indication of the mind link between Robin and Raven appears. It's not much, but I hope it's all right... (Thank you very much to ravenslair for the encouraging words.) I experimented a little with the writing style, so please tell me what you think.

Neither the Teen Titans nor The Raven is mine, I disclaim.

After he had walked about the world for a long time, he entered into a dark forest, and walked for fourteen days, and still could not find his way out. Then it was once more evening, and he was so tired that he lay down in a thicket and fell asleep. – The Raven, the Brothers Grimm

One year later

If he was honest with himself, Richard did not know why, after all this time, still he continued to search for her.

Every now and then, in his travels (to which he had told Bruce was purely for interest of the world), he would find a hint; a soft-spoken word, a vague picture, a subtle something he encountered, seemingly random. He would pursue it, and every time, it always led to a dead end, a stone wall barring his way. Each time, he would get frustrated, blame himself indefinitely, grit his teeth, and wonder why in the world he should continue looking for someone he did not even know.

Each time, the gold ring on his finger suddenly called for attention, weighing heavier on his hand somehow. He just needed to look at it, and suddenly all his doubts cleared.

More often than not, he wondered absently whether the ring contained any sort of magic, to affect him so, or it was just him. He found he cared little either way.

Richard fiddled with the piece of paper, now slightly yellowed and more worn at the edges and the creases where it folded into half, twice. Now and then, as he rested under a particularly large bough tinseled with leaves, he opened it, just to reread it repeatedly. It had become his habit to do so since a few months after he received it, and whenever he did it in front of others' presence, they would ask what bothered him, was it the letter, blah, blah, blah… When he replied it simply was his habit, they would send him odd looks and stop questioning the matter.

Therefore, it was no surprise to him when he discovered, one day, he had memorized everything that was written on the piece of paper.

No, he thought. It is more than just a mere piece of paper… Did she cast any spells upon it? Then again, it might have only been him. Every time his eyes focused on the clumsily written letters, he felt as if he'd found some remnant of a long-lost friend, someone who had been very dear to him but lost contact with. A faint, warm feeling, almost shy, crept up and into his chest.

He shifted his position into a more comfortable one and laid back into the bark. The grass rustled as he moved his feet toward him, so that his knees were quite close to his chest. He folded his hands lightly on them, holding the letter, and turned his face sideways, feeling the light breeze. The wind was cool, and brushed at his skin like soft layers of feather downs. The sky's color had mellowed into a dustier greenish blue. It was so comfortable…

Richard blinked. Where was he?

All around him were walls built from great blocks of what looked like stone; there were maroon drapes, lined with gold, all over them. He felt that a tapestry would not have been out of place, but there were none to be seen. There was something strange about the walls, though. Instead of the dull grey, they were somewhat yellowish and… he thought he was hallucinating, but where the light caught it, it gleamed.

He looked to his left. There was a large window, though not fitted with glass. It resembled the long, pointed shapes a church was decorated with. There was someone leaning out the window, watching the moon wane. He could see that it was a woman.

She was not very tall. She was wearing a dress of midnight blue, a color contrast to the rest of what he could see in the room by weak moonlight. To his utter surprise, he recognized her hair.

It was the exact color of what he had seen of Raven (as he'd taken to calling her), the hue of her hair before he had passed out and fell asleep. Her voice rang incandescently in his mind.

'Come find me.'

Unconsciously, he walked so that she was within touching distance and reached out. However, before he could touch her shoulder with his hand, the woman straightened and turned around, her eyes growing wide for a split second.

The same feeling of finding-a-long-lost-friend seeped into the core of his very being. It was Raven. Her eyes, which could be called two irresistible maelstroms, betrayed her identity. Of course, he would know by her eyes – it had been the last thing he'd seen of her. Strange that he could remember them so vividly, after a year.

"You are Raven, aren't you?" he asked, just to verify.

She seemed almost speechless. "Yes, but…" Her fingers fidgeted with themselves. "How come you to be here?"

He had not listened to a word she had said after Yes. He was marveling of how lush it sounded, despite the fact that it was very soft and low, so that it sounded somewhat hoarse and husky.

Raven's eyes – it felt strange to use her name and actually connect it to a person now – looked bewildered, though her facial expression betrayed nothing. "Well? How come you can be here?" Irritation clouded her voice for a moment. "You, stranger… You're not a part of this."

Richard was confused. "Excuse me. A part of what, exactly?"

She sighed impatiently. "The dream," she answered, folding her arms in front of her. "My dream. Do you happen to possess any magical skill?" In spite of sounding annoyed, a hint of curiosity also leaked out; not in her voice, Richard surmised, it was more as if he felt it.

"No," he replied, looking curious, as well. "Should I be?"

She looked slightly alarmed now. "I… Perhaps…" She trailed off, not finishing her sentence. Her arms returned to her sides slowly, and she looked down slightly, murmuring incoherently to herself, though Richard caught words and phrases like 'mind shield', 'kept any presence out' and 'need to train more'.

Interesting, he thought. She can shield her mind? I wonder what that means…

Raven looked up sharply then. "Did you say anything?"

Richard blinked twice, already lost. "I didn't. Why?"

She looked even more confused then, and started fidgeting her fingers again. "I wonder…" She looked him in the eye. "You should probably go now. I don't know how safe it would be for you to remain in my consciousness for so long."

He hesitated. "How do I do that?"

"Do what?"

"Go."

"Azar help us." She sighed, but it was more of a resigned sound more than anything.

Something crossed his mind. "Don't you think it unfair?"

Raven looked at him, her head cocked slightly to one side. Cute. Richard shut off that trail of thought. "I'm sorry. I do not follow."

"I know your name, yet you remain ignorant of mine."

"And this is unfair because…?"

Richard laughed lightly. "Do you think that it doesn't take away introductions? You first." He gestured to her right hand.

"What? …Oh." She looked slightly hesitant, but not unwilling, and offered her right hand. "My name is Raven."

Richard smiled at her, and it dawned on him, as he took it with his, that he had only ever seen her smile once. "A pleasure. Mine is Richard."

Though her lips did not curve upwards, her eyes glittered in a friendly way, almost smilingly. "The pleasure is mine, Richard."

To his utter annoyance, his eyes opened and he awoke.