Songbird of the Sorrows

To anyone trapped in a cage. Break free, spread your wings. May your flight be long.

Welcome to the Aviary, Starling. May your flight be long.

Goodbye, Raven." My voice is barely more than a whisper but it cracks under the weight of emotion - under the finality.

How did you become so strong?" he murmurs. ... I had someone who reminded me I could be.

I was wondering if I would see your face again, little bird." Xan sits slumped against the damp brick wall, his dirty silver hair brushed roughly to the side, as though he's been running his hand through it repeatedly. "Is that so?" I ask, keeping my voice low so it doesn't carry down the corridor. "It's nice to look at something pretty before you die." "I'm flattered," I deadpan,

For someone about to dazzle a room full of nobles, you look about as radiant as a rain cloud.

Being with Raven feels too much like standing on the edge of a promise, a perfect world I can't step into.

The rules. Don't ask questions. Obey your orders. Respect your masters. But most of all, love no one.

Trust is a double-edged blade, and I've learned to keep it sheathed.

We don't get to choose the things that happen to us, Starling. Those decisions lie solely in fate," he finally replies, and the weight shatters as quickly as it descended. "What we do get to choose is how we respond to them. Whether we stay the same or let them change us.

When they assigned you to Alpha Flight," I whisper, "you just... left. No note. No message. Nothing." "I know," he says, his voice rough, laced with something I can't quite name. "That was the point." "What does that even mean, Raven?" My chest aches, and I push away, only for him to pull me back right back. "If I had said goodbye, it would have been final." He takes my hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing the tips of my fingers. His gaze locks onto mine, raw and unguarded. "And I needed something unfinished - a reason to return.

My fear was so great I don’t know if I’m capable of dreaming anymore. Instead of adventure and dreams, I have poison in my blood and nightmares in my soul.

Tell me to stop, princess,” he tries again, “and I’ll take you at your word.