Raven and C'elie: A Love Story

By P.B. Cannon

Raven is not human. It is, in fact, a member of a species of gentle giants with aspects of both male and female.
When it finds a hurt and bedraggled human female lying in the woods, it didn’t know if it could help her but felt it had to try.
It did not bargain on falling in love with her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: P.B. Cannon
• Release date: Feb 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301076963

P.B. Cannon

P.B. Cannon was born and raised in Charlotte, NC, and though she has visited other cities and states, she has a preference for Charlotte and expects to live there for the rest of her life.She is a teller of tales who enjoys concocting yarns of science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, and other stuff. She relishes reading, drawing and painting, walking, working crossword puzzles, and she likes to dance.She is a retired electronics technician and admits to having worked at a variety of other jobs during her life, including being a dishwasher, a busgirl, a housemaid, a motel/hotel maid, working in a fast-food joint, a telephone operator, and a store clerk. There have been other, even-less-glamorous jobs.She also daydreams a lot.

Book preview

Raven and C’elie

A Love Story

By

P.B. Cannon

Raven and C’elie: A Love Story

Copyright© 2012 by P.B. Cannon

Cover updated 4/2024

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License Notes:

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval without permission in writing from the author.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed herein are imaginary, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

Cover art, layout, and design, by P.B. Cannon.

Warning: Contains material which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a very young audience.

Table of Contents

Chapter One.........The Bedraggled Human

Chapter Two……An Unexpected Attraction

Chapter Three…..Resisting and Teaching

Chapter Four……Capitulation

Chapter Five……An Unforeseen Consequence

Chapter Six……..Leader Falcon

Chapter Seven…..Verification

Epilogue………...Going Forward

Other Works by the Author

About the Author

This story takes place a thousand years before the events of Boucher’s World: Emergent.

Chapter One

The Bedraggled Human

Raven heard a noise. Not sure of what it was it slipped warily through the grove of quana trees.

Getting closer, it thought the sound was one it had heard before, a Human, weeping. It was an indication that the person was, perhaps, distraught.

Raven hurried forward - but with caution. Humans could be deceitful and treacherous. It might be trying to lure someone in by pretending to be in distress, whereupon it would attack. Raven had no desire to fight. It might have to hurt the Human, and as all Elvwist, it abhorred hurting anything, let alone a sentient being - even if that being was trying to hurt it. Besides, usually, such attackers thought they were ridding the world of a demon. Sometimes, they were simply hungry, only trying to steal food.

It saw a small clearing ahead and quietly crept up to it. It silently lifted into a nearby tree, landed on one of the sturdy branches, and looked down. There, huddled into a curled position next to a large stone, was a small Human. After studying it for a moment, it concluded it was a female child. Wary of being caught in a trap, it watched her for a while to ensure she was not being used for bait; put there as a decoy to pull it in. The nearest Human settlement was a two days walk and it had never before encountered any in the area. From where had she come?

It decided to scout the vicinity, just to ensure there were no others around. It rose above the trees and hovered, turning in a full circle, looking for any kind of movement. Seeing nothing, it landed back on its branch and considered its next move.

It lifted off and settled on the ground. It went stealthily around the clearing searching for any signs of other Humans. It found nothing except a trail leading from across a meadow of dhison grass, through the edge of the grove, to the clearing where the Human female lay. She was no longer weeping but she was shivering violently and occasionally whimpering or moaning.

Its hearts clenched at her obvious distress. Like all the Elvwist, it was a gentle soul, and the little Human’s misery troubled it.

Perhaps her family or settlement had banished her. The Elvwist learned from the Cats that Humans were undergoing a Change, becoming psychic as had the Cats and Dogs, and this was happening only in the young ones. Some of the older Humans were frightened by this and, sadly, would sometimes banish the Changed Humans.

Those banished were the lucky ones - if they managed to get to the Elvwist, who would help them understand what was happening to them. The not-so-lucky ones lived in areas where Humans had taken to killing them, denouncing them as demons or witches.

Raven watched the little Human, uncertain if it should do anything at all. However, it did not want to leave her there without at least trying to ascertain her problem and seeing if she needed assistance.

It thought, Perhaps she is hungry. It hesitated for a moment and decided that surely it would not hurt to offer food and water so she could continue to where ever she had been going. It had brought a good-sized meal with it when it left its tent