Lonesome

John Swanson 

"Come back to bed Brother!” called Cedro from the dark.

"Cedro" was his new name given him, after the Cedar tree, for the strength he had shown (relinquishing a life of lust and desire), his full title was ‘Cedro the Fornicator’, but he preferred the abbreviation.

On this night Francis had taken himself for a walk - he ever had difficulty sleeping.

The truth was his spirit was lonesome for one, and not for the many. People made him feel claustrophobic - and as kind and accommodating as they were, his soul could never find enough space to put between himself and them.

The animals were very different - they complied, and over time became something of an extension of himself. This was precisely how he imagined himself to be in relation to God - as the animals were to him. This, Francis believed, was not obedience, but rather an intuitive alignment.

Francis chose this allegiance above all others, even before his relationship with the Elven people, which was often a point of discussion between them all.

“Why designate at all?” the Hode quizzed him meaningfully. “One does not surely exclude the other?”

But Francis shrugged. He felt displaced amongst the Mortals and equally so with the Elven. The saints were the only company he had found that held a place for him.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances