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Chapter 3

Feeling her pulse quicken as she was caught off guard by the dazzling display of light, dancing so gently across that otherworldly plumage, Harvy regained her composure and approached the building. The avian's head perked up at the scent of an unknown visitor. Harvy froze as those ethereal eyes locked onto her. After several seconds of awkward silence, Harvy found her voice. "...Ummm...do you normally eat all alone?" The bleached raven merely stared curiously at her for several seconds and she briefly wondered if she said something wrong until her troubled thoughts were pierced by a familiar light, husky voice. "Alone...agony a plenty for those left alone, outcast by sins for which none can atone..." Harvy stared through wide eyes for a moment before finding her voice again. "...Wow...ummm...that's beautiful...is it from a book?"

The raven just grinned and replied, "...of sorts...the book of With..." Harvy blinked for several seconds and then lightly gasped. "You mean...YOU wrote that?" The avian tilted his head with an expression that said, "who else?" Harvy was speechless. The raven continued to look questioningly at her as if awaiting some response so she hastily spoke up once again. "Ummm...doesn't the school have a rule against flying on campus?" She mentally winced. Smooth move Harvy! She thought. He just grinned, closing his journal and rising to his feet. Spreading his incredible wings he hopped off the edge, gently floating to the ground as if made of air. Harvy's breath caught in her throat as she stared in awe. "Should the laws of mortals conflict with the laws of Gaea, it is the obligation of those who serve her to break those laws..."

Harvy stared yet again before mentally slapping herself for looking like an idiot. "I umm...never thought of it that way." Caught in his intense gaze yet again, Harvy stuttered over her next words. "OH! I umm...I'm H-Harvy." She mentally slapped herself again. The raven's expression softened as he extended the hand talon not clutching his journal. "Edgar With, but you may call me Gar, and please forgive the offered talon..." She blinked in momentary confusion before seeing the rather sharp and unretractable claws of his talon and nodding in understanding. Timidly she shook the apendage and offered a nervous smile. Feeling a bit brave or perhaps foolish, Harvy could not help but ask, "Umm...I've never known anyone named Edgar before...can I ask how you got that name?"

Gar just smiled and said, "My parents had quite a sense of humor. I was the first raven they had seen so they decided to name me after a well known writer from earth that was. His most popular of works was called 'The Raven' and his name was Edgar Allan Poe. So, I am Edgar Allan With." He finished with a grin. Harvy's eyes beamed. "You study earth that was? That is like my FAVORITE hobby!" Realizing she had probably gotten a bit too excited she cast her eyes down and flattened her ears, a blush making it's way through them. Then a thought crossed her mind. "Wait you said you were the first raven your parents had seen? You were adopted?" Noticing a distant look in his eyes she quickly apologized. "I-I'm sorry! That was rude of me..." Gar raised a talon to silence her. "Not at all. Yes, my parents were both crows. I never met my original parents, but the Withs had seen the last of their hatchlings off to college and wanted another child. No one would adopt an infant raven with such a bizzarre appearance, but they took a liking to me...they were very good to me..."

Noticing him trail off with a sad sigh, Harvy decided to push her luck just a bit further. "What do you mean by 'were?' " Gar looked her in the eyes with such sadness her heart ached. "My mother...she loved to fly...a true child of Gaea...there was a storm...she never came home..." Harvy gasped audibly and mentally kicked herself in the teeth for being so stupid. "I...I'm really sorry Gar I didn't mean to pry so much..." Gar smiled again. "No need to apologize 'Dire Wolf.' Perhaps now you could do me the honor of telling me a bit about yourself. New here are you not?" Harvy blinked, contemplating his curious nickname for her. "It would be only polite to repond." Shaking her head she spoke up. "Oh yeah...sorry. Yeah uh...I just moved here two days ago..." "From Nebraska." He interjected. "Uh...right."

Gar walked over to the trunk of the tree in the courtyard Harvy had been sitting under earlier. He took a seat, carefully folding his wings as he did so. She followed and timidly sat next to him. "So, if I may ask. How did you acquire the name 'Harvy?' " Her ears reddened in embarassment. "Um...it's short for Harvest. I was born under the Harvest moon so...yeah..." "Interesting..." was Gar's only response. "So if your name's Edgar why go by Gar instead of Eddy, or Ed or something?" That Grin of his was quickly becoming contagious. "How many Ed's and Eddy's do you know of Harvy?" She blinked again. "Umm...a lot I guess..." Gar nodded. "...and how many Gar's do you know of?" She answered quickly. "Just you." He smiled and nodded his head as if to say 'there you go.' She laughed lightly. "Okay...point taken." Her amber eyes sparkled as she smiled.

Harvy bit her lower lip as she pondered her next question. Seeing the curious expression on Gar's face she spoke up. "Ummm...Gar?" He gave her a look that said, "Yes?" so she continued. "Well...would it be all right to call us friends?" Gar smiled in good humor. "It would be an honor. Though I must inform you you'd be my first..." Harvy took on a sad expression. "You mean...you've never had even one friend?" Gar simply shook his head. Without thinking Harvy wrapped her arms around him in a loving hug. Gar flinched at the contact and she pulled back. "I-I'm sorry! I uh...didn't mean to make you uncomfortable..." Her ears flattened against her head as she lowered her gaze to the ground. Gar lightly touched her paw. "No...it's alright I'm just...not used to that sort of thing..."

Harvy looked up and offered a timid smile. Her gaze fell to the old leather bound journal at Gar's side. Seeing this he held it up. "The aforementioned 'Book Of With.' " He finished with that infectious avian 'grin.' Harvy looked at it with awe. "Ummm...would you mind if I read some of it?" With a moment's hesitation Gar handed it to her. Opening up to the first page her eyes were drawn to some ink cursive writing upon the back of the cover. "Nina With" Puzzled she looked up at Gar. "...It was my mother's...originally..." She smiled a sad smile and continued to the first passage. "Upon the wings of Gaea he came to me, a pearl amidst a blackened sea. Of form so frail yet spirit so bold, a warmth to stave the bitter cold..."

Harvy gasped and looked up to meet Gar's now distant eyes. He silently pointed to the date which was some sixteen years ago. "...My mother...ever the poet..." Realizing the true meaning of the prose Harvy rested a paw on Gar's talon. "She loved you very much..." Gar looked away and grinned a sad grin. "...Yes...now the task of completing 'The Book Of With' falls to me." Harvy grinned. "I know you will." Their eyes locked for a moment as their expressions softened... *RIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!!* The bell rang out at that moment signalling an end to the lunch hour. Harvy sighed in annoyance as Gar chuckled and helped her stand. "...to the moaning and the goaning of the bells...to quote my namesake." He finished with a smirk. Harvy grinned back. Hesitant to part ways she gave him a light hug which Gar accepted with only minor discomfort. "Let's hang out some time Gar!" She called as she darted towards her next class. Gar just smiled and waved back. When the wolf faded from his vision Gar gave a bittersweet sigh, his eyes glazed over with cryptic thoughts and discontent...

Harvy went through the rest of the day with a perpetual grin on her muzzle. Thoughts of her new friend filled her head. They seemed to have so much in common! Yet at the same time she could sense another side to him...a hidden layer burried deep below the surface, something that elevated him to a higher plane than the generic souls which surrounded him, yet also isolated him, and cast him out. A blessing and a curse she realized. He was such a mystery...one she would gladly unravel if given the chance...and for the first time since moving to Waterstone, she didn't feel so alone...

Gar absently gazed out the window as a rather monotonous armadillo droned on at the front of the classroom. His mind was drifting amongst the clouds, far away from the painfully dull algebra lesson occurring at the moment. He was feeling very...conflicted. He felt immensely...happy to finally have someone he could call a "friend" and truthfully he had found the shy young she wolf to be very endearing and sweet, yet he also felt...worried. He had lived such a solitary and melancholy life for so many years that he couldn't help but feel his good fortune were some cruel joke, a dream that he would awken from at any moment only to be faced with the crushing weight of "reality" once more...

No. He wouldn't let negative thoughts endanger his new found happiness. "...Mr. With..." He would live in the moment! Count his blessings! Enjoy what sparkling water this loathsome desert would yield! "MR. WITH!" Yes he deserved a chance at happiness! Now that such a chance had presented itself he WOULD NOT be a fool and push it away due to some misplaced and illogical fear! "MR. WITH!!!!!! ARE YOU WITH US!!??" Gar absently looked up to find an absolutely fuming middle aged armadillo hovering over his desk. "...Right then. Mr. With, please see me after class..."

Harvy practically skipped home and kept up her happy antics as she entered, smiling briefly as she gazed around the now decently furnished house. Her mother glanced over her shoulder from her place in the kitchen in order to greet her daughter but paused as she noticed her giddy demeanor. She thought for several moments before an ear to ear grin stretched across her muzzle. A mischievous glint came to her eyes as she swiftly padded into the family room where Harvy stood. "...Oh Haaar-vyyy!!!!" Harvy froze and mentally slapped herself for accidentally providing her mother with an excuse to invade her non existant love life.

Groaning, she forced a smile and acknowledged her mother's presence. "...Yes mom?" The older wolf just smiled even wider while Harvy wondered how that was even possible. "How was your day HONEY?" Harvy winced. CRAP, she thought. There is NO way i'm going to get out of this... She gulped and responded with a timid smile. "Oh, just fine...you know...same old same old..." The older wolf's eyes shone with a predatory glint. "Oh? Are you sure nothing INTERESTING happened today Harvy?" Harvy shuddered. "Ummm...n-no...nothing in p-particular..." The older wolf took a step closer and loomed darkly over her daughter. "HARVY...SPILL IT...NOW..."

Harvy gulped in audible fear. "OKAY OKAY! I just made a friend that's all! It's not that big of a deal alright?!" Her mother's gaze didn't falter. "Oh? And would this 'friend' happen to be...a boy?" Harvy face pawed...DEAR GAEA she thought. "-sigh- YES...it's a guy...but we're JUST FRIENDS okay?! For the love of Gaea mom I just met the guy today!" The older wolf took on an almost lecherous look. "...Is he cute?" A fierce blush siezed Harvy as her ears flattened. "Gaea mom!! Cut it out already! I'll get a mate when I get one alright! Stop pestering me about it!" Harvy paused before saying what she knew would get her mother to drop the awkward conversation. "Besides, he's not a wolf or a coyote..." The older wolf blinked. "Oh? A dog?" Harvy shook her head. "...an avian..." The elder wolf stared. "...a raven..." Harvy finished.

Mrs. Sellow was by no means as closed minded as some totems when it came to species and was indeed a very open hearted and kind person when it came to that particular subject. But like most she had a bit of a "preference" when it came to...intimate...relationships...namely that canines dated canines, felines dated felines, etc. After all if you could not have children with your lover you couldn't expand the family. Sure there was artificial insemination, adoption etc, but it was a bit of an abnormality for members of different species to become life mates. It certainly HAPPENED, just not as often. "...Oh..." Came Mrs. Sellow's reply after a moment. Harvy looked at the floor a bit uncomfortably as her mother continued. "Is he a nice boy?" Harvy met her mother's eyes. "...Very. And he's really smart and writes such beautiful poetry...I'm uh...his first real friend..." Mrs. Sellow smiled kind heartedly. "Well that's WONDERFUL honey! How sweet! You'll have to let me meet him soon okay?" Harvy sighed before breaking into a relaxed smile. "Yeah no problem mom."