Raven sat in the study room with a stack of papers in front of her. She sighed as she wrote on several papers. The empath had been doing this for several hours, and had grown tired of the task. She had finished one sheet of paper and placed it in the pile of the finished paperwork. She looked over to the pile, and then to the unfinished stack. Raven realized that after the countless hours of paperwork, she was less than halfway done. She dropped her head onto the table and groaned in frustration.

It had been two months after her return to Azarath and everything was under turn. Lantha was on the brink of war, but somehow Raven and the other monks convinced them to reconsider. The leaders of Lantha, however, wanted Azarath to pay for the repairs. The monks agreed and were able to withdraw from the Azarathian monk savings. But, there was tension between Azarath and Lantha. Raven hoped that soon, the tension would disappear. Some good things have happened. Including, that Chalet had taken the position of his uncle as monk of Azarath. In addition, Vladimir was in a high security prison, where there was no chance of his escape.

Raven picked up her head and continued with the paperwork. She had not been able to sleep much lately due to the stress and more. However, all her thoughts concerned Garfield. Mainly, that was all she thought about. Many times, she would daze of into space, lost in her thoughts. The empath deeply wanted to return to her former dimension, but she was very occupied.

As she continued with the paperwork, she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in." She said without looking up from her paperwork. Leon and Claudius entered the study room and stood by the door.

"Greetings to you Dido," Claudius spoke, "May we have a moment of your time please?"

Raven did not lookup and continued with writing. "Sure."

"Okay. We have some wonderful news for you!" Claudius exclaimed.

"For the love of Azar, please no more paperwork." Raven said.

"Fortunate for you, we will need you to follow us and you can postpone your paperwork for later." Leon said. Raven placed her pen down and deeply exhaled.

"What is this about?" She asked.

"In due time. We will explain on the way there." Claudius said.

"Wait, I thought you were only going to tell me something." Raven said.

"Yes, we will tell you as we get there. All will make sense shortly." Leon said and he lifted his hand, to welcome her to the door. Raven stood up from her desk, and walked toward the door.

"This had better be good." Raven spoke.

Leon and Claudius nodded. "I assure you." Leon said. The three exited the room and walked in the hallway.

"Okay, spill it." Raven said.

"All right. We have now knighted another thane for the Azarathian general co." Leon said. Raven knew quite well of the AGC. The Azarathian Gen. Co., was a highly elite group of selected generals that serve in Azarath. They protect Azarath, the people, and monks. The generals were highly respected among the Azarath people. There were very few and were only selected by the monks. The title 'Thane' in the AGC, was a rare chance someone could reach. There are only two other Thanes; Vatani and Basko. The thanes lived in the monastery and would often attend meetings with the monks.

"Okay, so you have chosen another thane." Raven said.

"Correct. He has been named Thane of Nightscence, and is quite a fighter. I believe he will be great to Azarath." Leon said.

"Well, why couldn't you just bring him to see me?" Raven asked.

"We wanted to meet him more personally." Leon said.

"Personally, how?" Raven asked.

"The monks and I have realized that you are at the age of twenty-one as of today. Most women your age are married and already have children." Leon said.

"Are you calling me old?" Raven asked.

"Not by that, but when Azar was queen, she did not have a spouse or children. That is how we chose you. So, we think it would be safer in the future if you had the things she did not have." Leon explained.

"So, your telling me, since today is my birthday and I'm turning twenty-one, that my biological clock is ticking? And you are finding suitors for me?" She asked.

"We are not forcing you, but it is only a suggestion." Claudius said.

"I mean no disrespect Leon and Claudius," she stopped in the hallway and the men stopped as well. "But, honestly, I don't want a suitor at the moment. You already know that Garfield is in my life."

"Yes, we understand that Raven." Leon said. "But do you realize that he is a dimension away? Most people cannot handle long-distance relationships."

"I will be nice to the Thane, but do not expect me to throw myself upon him." Raven said and she continued to walk. Grin and bare it Raven, grin and bare it she thought.

Leon led the way to one of the meeting rooms. The Azarathians entered the room. Raven noticed the man in the room standing with his hands behind his back. This was a very common thane stance. The man was wearing a white formal cloak with a thane signature on the seams. The thane's hood was up, so his face was hidden by the shadow of his hood.

Claudius and Leon walked toward the thane and shook his hand. The man's face was still hidden by his hood. Raven was truly curious of the thane.

"Thane of Nightscence, this is our lovely queen of Azarath, Raven." Leon addressed. Raven walked closer and respectfully, held out her hand her him to shake it. However, the thane took her hand and put her palm down. He leaned down and kissed the top of her hand. Raven was disgusted by the thane's sudden actions, but kept her composer. She was truly curious of the man, and closed her surroundings to read his mind. She concentrated, but she could not read his mind. Raven assumed Leon had placed an anti-mind reading barrier around the thane. She withdrew her hand and made a fake smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet the Thane of Nightscence." Raven addressed. "I welcome you to Azarath."

"Thank you Dido Raven." The thane bowed in respect.

"I hope you enjoy your new position as thane." Raven said. "Is there anything that I can help you with?"

"Actually yes. I heard that it was your birthday today." The thane said, "So, I just wanted to be the first to wish you a happy birthday." The thane held out a black box.

The empath reached for the box and held it in her hands. Before she looked into the box, Raven looked at Claudius and Leon, who reassured her to open the gift. She turned her attention to the mysterious thane whose identity was still hidden.

"Thank you." Raven said. The thane nodded.

She held the box in her hands and opened the box. When the box was fully open, a necklace appeared. The necklace had an expensive silver chain, with a raven as a pendant. The raven had its wings spread out and its head faced upwards. The raven had an amethyst jewel in its claws. In addition, the amethyst jewel had several cut diamonds on the side. They followed the circular path of the jewel, and descended from large, to small. The diamond followed only halfway around the jewel. This looks oddly familiar she thought it's almost like the one. . . . He gave me. Then it clicked. She lifted her head from the necklace and looked at the smiling thane.

Raven gently placed the black box on the table to her left and stepped closer to the thane. The thane stood still. The thane was taller than her and she looked up. Their faces were inches apart and she could feel his breath on her face. The queen cautiously lifted her hands and her fingers gripped his hood. She removed his hood slowly and it revealed his identity.

"Garfield" she whispered.

The man smiled. She was correct. The thane had green skin, jade eyes, forest green hair, and pointed ears.

"You are correct, my dear Raven." Garfield said "And Happy 21st birthday mate."

Raven's smile gleamed and she embraced him in a hug. Garfield hugged her back and held her close. With her arms still wrapped around him, she looked up into his eyes. He looked down at her and placed his lips on hers. She welcomed the kiss. It had been months since they had felt each other's touch and kiss. They both had deeply missed these interactions with their lover.

Moments passed and they withdrew. Raven still looked deep into his eyes, and Garfield peered into Raven's eyes.

"I know when Vlad attacked you, he destroyed the one I had gotten it for you for your 18th birthday. So, here I got this one for you." Garfield said.

"I wouldn't have wanted anything for my birthday. You didn't have to give me anything." Raven spoke.

"Don't question why I got you that gift. Anyway, you have one more gift that I will give to you." Garfield said.

"Well, if you insist." Raven said.

"Oh no, you will find out soon enough."

"What's with all this secrecy and waiting?"

"We just have too much fun."

"By the way, I should slap you. I told you to use that jar only for emergencies only."

"I didn't use the jar."

"Then how did you get here?"

A faint cough came from Leon. "I brought him here."

"What?" Raven asked.

"Garfield and I talked several days ago, and we planned for him to come." Leon said.

"Then how is he supposed to return home? Don't expect me to bring him back! I probabaly won't allow it." She asked.

" Well you're in luck. I'm not returning home." Garfield said. Raven was shocked. "That's right Raven. I'm staying here in Azarath. That's your other gift. You get this stud muffin."

"B-but how?" Raven asked.

"As we told you earlier Raven," Claudius said. "We have a new Thane of Nightscence. It turns out that Garfield is our Thane of Nightscence."

"Really?" Raven asked. "But, Garfield, you can't change forms in Azarath."

"Actually, when I turned into the beast, my powers were no longer suppressed and now I can change into animals." Garfield explained. He quickly turned into a crow and returned to his normal form.

"Amazing." Raven spoke, "But what about the Titans?"

"I asked them about it and they were fine with it. They figured that if I was here, I would more likely be able to convince you to make more visits back to Titans Tower." Garfield said.

"So they were fine with it?" She asked and he nodded.

"And you are going to stay here as a thane of Azarath?" She asked.

"Yes Raven" he said.

"And with me?" She seriously asked.

"Of course. Always, and forever." Garfield answered.