Time went by. Not only did Janos recover from the shock of learning that his body was cloth, but he seemed to completely forget about it. Janos' elemental checkers had been knocked off the balcony in the struggle, and some of the pieces never were found. Jennifer had been able to make a better-looking set with Raziel's help, but it wasn't necessary as a peace offering. The friendship between Janos and Raziel had not suffered too greatly from the incident.
Raziel promised Jennifer that he would go with her to a fantasy convention only if Janos was in good health. Since the odd delusion Janos had about still being completely flesh didn't count, there was no good reason to stop them from going.
Jennifer rented a car so they could drive to the convention. She was a little rusty, and lucky that she hadn't let her license expire. Raziel was still disturbed by her driving style, even after she had announced, "Okay, now I remember."
The drive took several hours, and was relatively uneventful save for becoming severely lost in the mountains. Jennifer stopped the car and got out to look around. "If I could just figure out where here is," she muttered.
"If I knew you were capable of becoming this disoriented, I would've taken more time to study the map," Raziel said in irritation. "I thought you knew where you were going."
"We're going to the convention," Jennifer said, totally ignoring Raziel's meaning. She glanced up at the mountainside behind her. "I bet that if I was up higher, I could get my bearings."
The climb was steep, but not too difficult in the deepening twilight. They stood for a long time while Jennifer tried to identify the twinkling communities laid out below. "It's pretty," she murmured.
"But do you know where we are?" Raziel asked.
"I think we're going in the right direction," she said at last.
On the way back down, Jennifer had the misfortune to step on a loose stone. She cried out as she fell over the steep edge of the mountain. Even as he pitched himself over the cliff, Raziel knew that it was impossible to glide with her in his arms. There was only one way that he could save Jennifer.
Raziel willed his wings to once again be whole, desperately casting aside the memory of their destruction. Elegant bones stretched the skin out to catch the air. He caught Jennifer and held her to him as he glided down to firmer ground.
Now that the crisis was over, Raziel again remembered the pain of Kain ripping the bones from his back. Those same bones now twitched in response to his struggle to keep them from disappearing. He was determined not to lose his wings again.
Jennifer barely dared to breathe while Raziel was fighting with his emotions. There was still enough light to see the uneven splotches of blue chasing over his skin. She saw that Raziel was losing the battle.
"Are you going to let him rule you forever?" Jennifer demanded.
Raziel's eyes burned with rage and balefire. "No," he growled through gritted teeth. He wearily collapsed to his hands and knees, but he refused to give in. He shuddered once more as he finally settled into his accomplishment. A triumphant smile spread across Raziel's face as he flexed his newly restored wings.
"You did it," Jennifer whispered happily.
Raziel could only nod wearily. He remembered something about moments of desperation. Truly, that's what it had taken for him to regain his lost wings. He sat quietly, admiring the way they felt on his back.
After a long silence, Raziel finally spoke. "When I first emerged from the state of change, I was confused. I didn't know what to make of my new gift, or the honor of surpassing my master. I hoped that he would know what it meant." He paused to reflect. "I feared that Kain might be angry, but I never imagined…" Raziel let the sentence fall incomplete. "I was just beginning to think that I was safe when he did it."
Jennifer touched Raziel's forearm in a comforting gesture, believing that a hug would make him too nervous. "He can't hurt you anymore," she whispered.
When they finally decided that it was time to get on the road again, Raziel discovered that flying wasn't as easy as it looked. He did not have an opportunity to try it before. It was only through blind strength and determination that he was able to rise, and he could not do it with Jennifer's weight. Instead, he was forced to guide her back to the car on foot.
Raziel was again faced with a challenge as he was forced to fold his wings completely in order to get into the car. He could barely remember how he had managed it before, and it had taken the help of his two most trusted children to figure it out. He unsuccessfully tried it by himself, accidentally snagging the sharp bone of his right wing in the tender skin of his left.
"Hold still," Jennifer said as she gingerly unhooked his wing. She stood close, but only watched to see if Raziel would need any further aid. He had twitched away from her helping hand.
Once the first one was securely folded, the other followed easily. Raziel could see that there would be no possible way for him to fold or unfold his wings simultaneously. Still, he could see the advantages in such a complex design.
They had decided to continue on to the convention, and made it to the proper building in the dead of night. Jennifer had never planned to stay in a hotel, instead opting to sleep in the car. Raziel had been planning to spend the night exploring, but now he could do it by air.
After two hours, Raziel still was not soaring. He felt more like a drunken chicken than anything that rightly belonged in the air. He hollered in frustration as a muscle cramp forced him to the ground. Raziel gloomily thought of the possibility that he was never meant to do anything more than glide. Irony was cruel.
Raziel was a bit overwhelmed by the convention crowd. Some of them were dressed oddly, but it was simply the volume of people that got to him. He did not like the idea, but he conceded to letting his wings fade while he was here. He was sure that only vampiric strength could break them, but he still didn't want to risk them getting damaged in the crowd. Jennifer tapped Raziel's arm, "Do you see that guy over there?"Raziel nonchalantly looked in the direction she indicated. "Are you talking about the one who's got Turel's mark on his jacket?"
Jennifer grinned. "That is the biggest fan that your story has. He's the one who keeps track of the forgotten histories."
Raziel widened his eyes in surprise. "What do you think he would do if I approached?"
"It's hard to tell," Jennifer mused, "but be careful about how many people see you go wraith. You're too skinny to be some guy in a costume."
"I'm always careful," Raziel said as he wandered after the fan in question.
"Yeah right," Jennifer muttered under her breath, knowing that care was a very new skill for Raziel.
Several hours later, they found each other again despite the crowd. "Did you know that it's no coincidence that we're all named after angels?" Raziel asked.
"I heard something about it once," Jennifer said.
"That guy knows everything that never happened," Raziel said in wonderment.
"I told you so," Jennifer said smugly.
"I hope you didn't get bored while waiting for me," Raziel said.
"You would've gotten bored if you stuck with me," Jennifer said. "I met up with someone and we got into the subject of custom plushies. This guy wants a bunch of D&D monsters to sell in his shop."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Raziel asked.
"Dead things only," Jennifer assured him. "Besides, I prefer sewing to working as a temporary secretary."
Surprisingly enough, absolutely nothing interesting happened when they drove home in the evening.A/N: I feel like this chapter wasn't one of my best efforts, despite the amount of effort it took. Oh well, I felt that these things were necessary, and it was a choice between doing it this way, or having the characters remember it without having it described anywhere. Hey look, Raziel has his wings back.
A/N: Jennifer has always been a temporary secretary. That's how she can make a living, yet still have the irregular schedule that I've put her through. I just didn't find a place to mention it before now.
A/N: That guy with Turel's mark on his jacket is supposed to be a parody of the real greatest fan that LOK has, Ben Lincoln. He owns himself and and thelostworlds. Ironically enough, I have a whole deleted chunk of story that has more of him.