I fainted, of course.
When I opened my eyes from sleep for the second time that morning, heat rose to my cheeks. I felt like some pubescent girl at a ball in a fairy tale, swept away with passion after the prince asked her to dance.
Something soft and squishy supported my back. Softer, at least, than the stone I had woken to earlier.
Surprisingly, the sun's streaks were pink, nearly setting. I must've been unconscious most of the day, but my body felt better for it. The ache was not so raw as it was that morning.
The warm voice that began to make itself familiar in my mind spoke. "Sacks of potatoes were the best I could do."
Lumps of the root made themselves clear in my back.
"They should be a little soft by now, though. Being in the sun all day has rotted them, I think."
My eyes squinted up at him, the young black-haired man. He sat beside me, hand on his smooth chin, looking up at the sunset. This second time seeing his face affected me as much as the first.
"You can stay there as long as you need to, old man. I'll be here for a little longer."
I moved my hand up to my side, could feel it tightly wrapped in the thin shirt I'd been wearing, dried flakes of my blood on the outside. My brain felt like the fog had cleared a little.
I pushed myself to a sitting position, my muscles screaming quietly in protest. "I'm sorry. I'm not usually this... unrefined."
Raven turned his head to look down at me and smiled, holding out a hand. I took it.
"I'm used to surrounding myself with unrefined people," he said. "Life's a lot more interesting that way!" As I stood, shaking, to my feet, Raven gave me his shoulder to lean on, and steadied me.
He waited patiently for me while I struggled to stay standing, breathing heavily.
Raven asked, "Do you live somewhere? This square gets a little rougher at night."
The answer to this question came swift to the lips. "Not really. I'm more of a wanderer."
I'd found it the best way to explain my lack of knowledge of customs, traditions, what have you. If someone really pried, they might ask "where I came from", I would answer "nowhere really". The only situation where this didn't work was interrogation. And usually by then I'd seen a map and picked up a few details to survive. Hopefully.
Raven was never a person to pry. He took what you said, and then just listened closely.
"I'd offer my apartment," Raven began. "But I suppose introductions are in order. What's the name of the old man I'm keeping upright?"
I went with a name I wore many times. There's freedom to waking up old, abandoned and alone and picking your own name.
"Icarus," I said.
Raven paused for a moment, pursing his lips, eyebrows creased. "I don't believe I've heard anyone with that name before. Are you a performer?"
"Only to gain the charity of others."
Raven laughed. Like a tumble of thunder and sunshine. "A philosopher, then," he said, catching his breath. "Or a comedian."
I smiled along with him. I couldn't really help myself.
"Well," Raven began, "I'm a man whose chosen his own name, as well. A full-time performer, mind you, unlike yourself." He smiled at me. "I'm Raven."
Although his arms were caught up with holding me, somehow he managed to bow a little, his black cape fluttering in the wind.
"Are all performers named after birds, where you come from?" I joked.
"A surprising amount! Only one Raven, though."
"You're a famous bird then?"
He shrugged. "In my home country. Here, I'm like an exotic fruit from a far-off place. Only the rich get a taste." Something shone in his eyes as he held me and said this. "It'll change, don't worry. I have a reputation for breaking things."
Just as a wind blew through, it's sound broke with the sound of something ricocheting off the side of my head. It had a slight spring to it, thank goodness, and I stumbled only a little. I lifted a hand to my head.
This pain was accompanied by a snort, a giggle and the sound of small feet running very fast past us.
Raven spit out a word in a foreign language, then turned his head. "Die a slow death!" he yelled. He turned his kind eyes towards me. "You alright, Icarus?"
I rubbed the growing bump beneath my hair. "Fine."
"Good," he said, looking around. "It's only going to get worse. Let's try and pick up the pace if you can."
We did, slightly, although my weary legs could only pick it up so fast.
Raven kept a watchful eye on the shadows around us as we shuffled our way down wide-open cobblestone streets shrouded in the night, avoiding archways and alleyways between buildings, leering at us.
"So..." he said, after a time of silence. "You seem like a man who keeps his cards close to his chest, but I have to ask, what happened to you last night?"
The story came to me easily. "They came on me, and before I knew it I was on the ground. I woke up without anything on me but my clothes, so I imagine it was a robbery."
"I thought as much. I wanted to make sure you weren't part of the church or the mafia or something."
"Is the church frowned upon here?" I asked.
Raven's pause was almost indiscernible, his foot hovering in the air for a moment, then moving again, like time had hiccuped. "How far away have you been for the last five years?"
"It's, well, I hardly listen to rumours." I fumbled a little to explain what was so clearly a blunder. "Hardly ask questions, really."
"You may want to ask more. Otherwise you could find yourself in a considerably worse situation than last night."
"I assume the church is a topic to stay away from with strangers?"
"Always." Raven looked me over.
"If you have time," I began cautiously, "I don't mind stories."
"It's a short one," he began, glancing around quickly at a nearby alley. "The Court of Fools banned any religious order, although there's a million rumours as to why. People talk about scandals, pedophiles, whores, the like. I believe it had to with a simple conflict of interest."
"And that is?" I listened intently, now. These tidbits, and the people they came from, can be hard to find.
"The priests started asking their parishes to stop paying taxes. They said the government wouldn't protect them in the days to come."
"That was enough to ban a religion?"
Raven looked down at me, pointedly. "It was enough to ban all religions." He gave that a minute to sink in, then shrugged. "But it's what happens. The state is here to protect us, and anything that hinders that won't help them do that. Better to wipe the slate clean."
I paused, thinking. "I suppose."
The sun disappeared quicker than I thought. The buildings rose to hide its light and the shadows reared their heads. Street-lamps dotted the road with flickering candlelight, and we passed a few officials with swords strapped to their hips, patrolling the street. They eyed us, but didn't approach. I suppose Raven and I wouldn't have been a threat to anyone.
"I'd been meaning to ask you, Raven, were you waiting with me by the docks the entire day?"
Raven smiled. "I was! But I had planned on performing there when I saw you. You woke up a few minutes after they'd rolled the piano back to the tavern."
"You're a pianist then?"
"One of the best." He sighed. "I usually have a full band with me, though. Today was less busy, so I came by myself, otherwise you would've met them." His eyes lit up. "Are you a fan of jazz?"
"Not a particularly intent one, I'm afraid," I admitted.
"Ah, you don't need to be. That's the beautiful thing about jazz. It's music for the people, to pick them up and sweep them along to. It's music of the beating heart." Raven was always happiest when he talked about music. His smile was almost a grin then, like a child telling their mother about a story they'd heard. "The kind of jazz I play is impossible to tune out. It forces you to listen and come along for the ride."
With a laugh, I said, "I guess I'll need to give it a shot!"
"I'm living with two of my band members at the moment. Perhaps, if they're not busy, we can give you a concert!" Then, he flicked his head down and changed his mind. "No. You should wait for the real thing. It'd be like half a whore, not worth the time or money."
We talked idly the rest of the way through the winding streets. Raven told me stories of his homeland, his jazz band, and folk tales about the city we were in.
Although some haggard faces watched us with hungry or suspicious eyes, no one approached after the boy who'd thrown the ball earlier.
As I watched the moon begin to poke its head above the buildings of the city, Raven announced with a flourish of his cape and a bow, "Welcome to the home of Raven and Company." Still bending at the waist with a hand steadying my shoulder, he poked his head up and laughed at himself.
He straitened himself. Brushed some dirt off his cloak and flung the door open.
"Romeo! Thunder!" he yelled. "We have a guest tonight, so make yourselves pretty."
"A woman?" came a mid-pubescent, crackly voice.
"Not quite," Raven replied, as footsteps came tumbling down the stairs.
A young man rushed into the hallway, tie undone, shirt half-buttoned, pants without a belt. He was skinny and bespectacled, but as he looked in a mirror and ran a hair through his hair, he came across as attractive, in a strange way.
He glanced over me quickly, then went back to work taming his hair in the mirror. It was blond, but stuck up all over the place like wild grass.
"I didn't know we were a hospital now, Raven," he said. "You should really start letting us know when you decide to open up the place like this, so we can buy a bigger apartment."
"Don't worry, he won't be staying long." Raven winked at me as he said this. Aside, he said softly to me, "Ignore him. He thinks being callous makes him seem more confident."
Louder, to the young man now yanking his tie up to his throat, Raven said, "This is a new friend of mine, Icarus, and he's going to be here until he can find a better place. For now, you should take a moment to introduce yourself."
The young man at the mirror froze. For a moment, his eyes looked like he wanted to strangle someone. Probably me.
He swivelled on one foot and stuck out a hand, a smile plastered on his lips. "Good to meet you, Icarus. Name's Romeo."
I shook his hand, and I felt the scabs break beneath the bandage. Before I knew it, Raven's arms caught me and set me against his shoulder.
Raven said, "Icarus needs to lie down, but I'll let you get on with preparations." He paused, pursed his lips. "You're not going on a date, are you?"
"Of course I'm going on a date!" Romeo said, spitting into his hand and sliding it down one particularly stubborn hair. "Why wouldn't you assume that?" Without looking, he addressed me. "Icarus, you should know. If I'm ever going anywhere by myself, it's probably a date. I have lots of dates, and each of them are very successful. Just assume I'm on a date whenever I'm not around."
"Of course!" Raven said, nodding. As he adjusted his arm on my body, he said, "I'll only be a few. Remember to practice tonight. We have the performance tomorrow."
Raven led me down the hallway and past a small kitchen, where soup sat bubbling on the stove, up a narrow staircase and into a bedroom the size of a cupboard. As I collapsed on the bed, I heard the springs groan and creak, my feet hanging off the end of it.
"It's a little small I know," Raven apologized, "But it's all we have. I'll ask Romeo to buy a bed from one of the sellers tomorrow that will fit you better."
"Thank you," I said. "This means more than you know."
As I finished saying it, I began to drift off to sleep. My eyes, in the darkness, watched as Raven's eyes glittered with a feeling I couldn't name. He seemed cold and distant then, like God. I felt like a puppet looking up at his master, in between the strings and wood, his eyes careful, his fingers gentle. He seemed to know me in that moment, but I didn't know him.
It was not a feeling I was used to.