Destiny, Judgment and Lightning at a cafe
Lynne and Josh had a bit of difficulty locating the cafe, but finally the street names resolved themselves, and they found they were approaching a likely area. Ahead, out the front of the cafe, three figures were engaged in private conversation.
The one that stood out was obviously Karathiel.
All (save Josh) were intently aware of her celestial form. A giant winged panther suffused with a golden halo is superimposed upon her, intent, loud, present. This angel's aura was glaring for any with the eyes to see, and must have been so because of some form of dissonance. The fur of the beast was deep and soft and jet black, and the eyes glowed large and golden with a broad slitted pupil. In bright lights, golden tracings of spots were just visible on her dark coat. Dark mottlings were also just visible on her wings in bright light, although they in no way marred the perfection of the brilliant gold feathers.
Beyond the image, her vessel was a very large, very tall woman, however she didn't appear overly strong. Her movements were generally very smooth and controlled. She had shoulder-length jet black hair, although there were currently dull golden tints to some of the strands, as if sun bleached. Her skin was dark, although it was hard to tell whether that is natural or from tanning. Her facial features were mostly Caucasian, although there was a slight Asian cast to her appearance (aside from her height and size), particularly to her eyes. She was wearing casual clothes; jeans, blouse and a jacket.
A woman stood unobtrusively beside her. She had dark brown hair and a dark Asian complexion. Her facial features and mannerisms reflected both a Malaysian and American background, and her accent was fully American (Southern Californian). She was a very small woman, only coming up to Karen's shoulder. Her movements were both graceful and determined. Lynn did not recognize her.
Wearing nice looking jeans, a loose red T-shirt and clean white sneakers, the third figure was hardly an imposing man. Not overly tall, he was somewhat unobtrusive. He was apparently in his late 20's-early 30's. Of Anglican descent, he had tan skin and short brown hair and brown eyes. Jason. Jason was a cherub, servitor of Yves, and under him Raphael, the angel of healing.
A man and a woman, obviously old friends from the body language as they walked up the street. She was slim and stylish, probably mid-thirties, and wearing dark trousers with a tailored jacket and an open-necked white shirt. A heavy blonde braid fell across one shoulder, and her face was narrow and fine-boned. Bright, intelligent eyes flit from face to face, and she eased her hands into her trouser pockets casually. Her companion was perhaps a few years younger and a few inches taller, standing at just under 6'. He was running slightly to fat and has the kind of innocent 'trust me' face that any professional con-artist would die for. He was wearing a heavy sweater and jeans and had a camera slung across a shoulder. They both looked weary.
The man was unfamiliar, but the woman's eyes meet Jason and Karen's, and there was recognition. They knew her as Orli, Mercurian, and servitor of Domenic. Often defender, or prosecutor, or executor for the will of Judgment. It had been many thousand years since either had known Orli, probably since before the beginning.
The five figures stood for a moment, silent, before the companion of Orli, who had been pausing in confusion as she observed these other people, held out his hand to shake. "Hello." His voice had a strong English accent, educated and relaxed. He did not appear to notice or pay attention to the glaring presence of Karen's aura. "My name is Josh. This is Lynn. Which one of you is Sgt. McKinnon?"
Melanie smiled at the man, and tilted her head to Karen. "She is. And I am Melanie, and this is Jason." A clear, American accent, well spoken comes from the small woman of Asian appearance. She looked at the cafe doors. "Shall we go in?"
Karen smiled, although her expression clearly showed a wariness in her manner and that she was worried about something. Her eyes quickly rested on the woman, nodding in recognition, and then scanned over the man. She nodded and echoed Melanie "I am, although please call me Karen. Josh, Lynne, pleased to meet you." She then nodded in agreement at the suggestion to move into the cafe.
"Sounds like a plan," Josh agreed cheerfully, glancing at his companion. Lynne's expression was neutral as she studied Karen, perhaps the barest hint of distaste at the dissonant cherub, "It was good of you to make the time," she allowed, "I've had a fairly hectic day, and I'm guessing you're in much the same situations? I'm hoping very much that we can help each other out."
Her face did relax into a faint smile as she offered a hand to Jason though, enough that the tension behind her smile was more evident, "I hadn't expected to see you here, but its a nice surprise." she told him, waving a waitress across.
Karen registered the distaste in Lynne's expression and sighed, hesitating a moment before she answered softly "It's no problem at all, it was good of you to come. And yes, we've had our share of excitement for the day." She nodded and continued "I hope so too. There is much to talk about." She glanced at Josh, then at Lynne, her expression conveying a query.
Karen carefully glanced around the cafe as they entered, looking at each of the people in the cafe, then selecting a table that was as far distant from other diners as was possible. Once seated she spent more time simply looking around and listening to any other conversations in the room, perhaps out of habit. Her attention then turned back to the conversation at her table.
Josh had an easy grin which he unleashed on Melanie, "So.. you're involved in police work as well?" He added hopefully to the waitress, "Coffee would be a lifesaver!"
Melanie nodded, smiling at Josh "Sure am. Karen and I have been partners on the force for nearly 4 years now." She paused while the coffee was ordered, adding her own order to the group's order. She then continued "So you're a journalist, Josh?"
"'Fraid so," he replied, "At least that�s the polite word for it. What can I say? I wanted to do it ever since I saw Woodward & Bernstein in that film, and I hadn't realized I'd be spending like 15 years or so covering local council roadworks while I was waiting for that scoop." He grinned genially and glanced to the woman he came in with who already was deep in conversation. His expression was briefly uncertain but as she gave him no hints he made the best of an uncomfortable situation and drank his coffee carefully. "We've been working on the 'News of the Screws' for about.. ahh.. 3 years or so now, and on the Standard before that. You.. uh.. often get these slightly 'unusual' cases?'
Melanie shrugged. �On and off...� she said carefully.
Evidently Lynne had felt no need to keep her servant informed of anything she didn't think he needed to know. As the conversation wound on, Josh drifted into silence, simply listening and toying awkwardly with his coffee. He didn't interrupt.
Melanie in turn also let the small talk fade.
Jason watched Lynne's expression carefully and looked a little sad when she finally turned her attention to him. "Yes, it is nice to see you again after so long. Why is it that it takes a tragedy to bring us together after all this time?"
He smiled and let out a little chuckle.
He then turned more serious and glancing at Karen and back at Lynne he continued "You are correct in assuming that we have each had a bad day, and for Karen I am afraid it has been more like a bad two weeks. I hope you will not be too quick to judge...." he let his voice trail off while raising an eyebrow questioningly.
The blonde woman looked up to meet his gaze, "You haven't heard then?" she asked softly. She sank into silence for a long moment, looking down at her hands and her lips twisted into an oddly uncomfortable half-smile. She didn't look up as she spoke, "Lets just say that�s not ... really an issue right now. I will get round to it, I mean, someone should tell you; but there are other things I.. we.. should discuss first. We never were too quick, you know, that was always... bad PR... Its a very fine line between being too fast and not being fast enough." She trailed off and examined the backs of her hands in minute detail. Her companion glanced at her, an awkward concern etched into his face.
Lynne sighed, "I'm fine," she answered the unspoken question, and shrugged a tailored shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear you had a bad fortnight, Karen, I wish I could say I thought it was about to get better, but that�s not why I'm here." She reached out to pat Josh lightly on the arm, in a vaguely comforting gesture. He didn't look fooled but nodded politely.
"You are correct, we have undoubtedly not heard. Although we are beginning to guess more and more. I know you and yours do not judge too quickly, but I also know only too well that we are all having a hard time right now and that is when tempers flare and unpleasantness occurs. I think we all need each other too much right now to get off to a bad start." Jason smiled a smile full of warmth and good-humor
Karen listened carefully after ordering her coffee. As Lynne spoke she frowned slightly, a slightly puzzled look coming to her face. She glanced from Melanie to Jason, then back to Lynne, but remained silent. Still silent she shrugged off Lynne's concern. She nodded at Jason as he spoke, then asked quietly "What do you have to tell us Lynne?"
Just as she waited for this answer her phone rang again. She rolled her eyes, then after listening for a moment excused herself from the table and stepped outside to talk.
Jason ordered some black coffee and when the waitress had left he continued once more. "While we were waiting for you Karen and I were discussing the last day or so and what we have seen and what we can make of it. What have you heard that brought you here? I am assuming you came from London?"
"What have I heard?" the Mercurian smiled another of those odd half-smiles. "Well, the place has been falling apart since last night, much like the rest of the planet. I've spoken to my.. boss.." she seemed about to trail off again into another long silence but shook it off, focusing a sunny smile at the waitress instead from across the length of the room. "Anyway, I needed to find out more so I spoke to a woman, one of the.. most holy... her mind had been broken." She looked up finally first to Jason and then to Karen, and something of her true age shone in her eyes. "I'm taking advice from the mad," another of those odd smiles. "But she mentioned two names and both of them led to New York. Nathaniel, and Raphael. I /need/ to find them."
She leaned forwards on her elbows and directed a more intense gaze at Jason. "Is Raphael here?"
"Well we have had a similar occurrence here. Selindeal, the Seneschal of Yves' Tether at the NY Public Library, was insane. Thanks to Raphael's healing and some of Karen's Essence, she is doing much better now, although still in celestial form. As to Raphael, s/he would have come except that s/he is currently blind. Along with healing Selindeal, Raphael was able to heal the remainder of his/her own wounds, except for the blindness."
Seeing the inevitable question in Lynne's face he continued in a voice a bit tighter than usual "S/he took on the wounds of a young boy I inadvertently blinded and almost killed with fire. That was when I was looking for Nathaniel to see if he knew anything about the silence. I never did find him. Unfortunately Azazel, Demon of Despair, was also looking for him and found me instead. He is apparently a Shedim." The last was said with a bitter laugh.
Jason continued in a more neutral voice. "He had taken over the body of a teenager and when I used a molotov cocktail to keep him at bay while attempting to escape Nathaniel's church I burned him pretty badly and Azazel left the vessel to die. I got him out of the fire and the church, and was able to save his life, but it was Raphael, as I mentioned, who cured his blindness."
Lynne listened quietly to Jason's story, nodding from time to time to indicate that he had her full attention. She was a good listener.
"I see what you mean about having had a bad day," she commented finally, interlinking her fingers as she pondered the words, evidently adding things up in her head. "Interesting that you should mention a seraph of destiny. I hadn't said which one I had spoken with but her name was Apseph, also a seraph of Yves, also working in a library. A sample of two isn't much, but I can't imagine that�s a coincidence."
Jason speaks again, "So what can you tell us? I assume something that relates to where are hearts are, why we can't ascend and why Yves' tether links to Notra Dame?"
The blonde woman looked vaguely surprised, as if these weren't precisely the questions she was expecting, "You don't know where your hearts are?"
She sighed and pulled a packet of cigarettes out of a pocket, offering them around, and tapped one on the table before lighting it. "Let me start with something you didn't ask. I said I'd spoken to my superior today. He's been barred from heaven, there /is/ no more Judgment. He didn't tell me why -- I... don't know if he knew." She didn't look at either of the two celestials as she spoke. "Apparently all of His servants are now working for War, who speaks with the mandate of heaven. All other than myself, that is. I don't know what Michael actually said with the mandate of heaven though.. I'd hoped maybe.. you might have heard." This time she did look up and shrugged, perhaps apologetically, taking a deep drag on the cigarette.
"I.. don't know if I will ever see Him again," again Lynne paused, evidently one of the few people who found this a genuine cause for grief. "I was asked to come and find Raphael, there has been so much damage done, the world feels so wounded. So, I can't help you with the hearts because I know where mine is at the moment."
She tapped her chest with a forefinger, then shrugged again and took another deep drag, tapping ash into an ashtray. "Let me think, what else? Apseph was rambling when I spoke to her, she mentioned Nathaniel but she saw him with blood on his wings, falling. I don't know if that is something that hasn't happened yet though, or maybe it never will -- she really was quite.. broken. There was something about seeking out a library as well, but I wasn't clear as to which one. She did tell me that Raphael spoke to the tether, something about New York and Notre Dame. If the tethers are linked then that makes some kind of sense."
Lynne closed her eyes again and drew on the filter, exhaling a thin plume of smoke. "Have you spoken with your superiors at all? I only know I need to talk to Raphael, and I'm not even sure I know what questions I need to ask."
"As far as St. Sebastian goes, you may well know more than I do. We were talking to people up there, some who were in the congregation last night. Nat collapsed, you know? Apparently there was some doctor there who helped him up, a young women. I wondered if that might have been Raphael, actually, but you probably have a better idea than I do. And he told the people that he didn't plan to come in to preach today..."
Jason waved away the offered cigarette with a smile. "That would be a bit of a bad example for an Angel of Healing, I'm afraid. Perhaps I misspoke. We know where our hearts are, it is more a question of what they are doing there. We were just speculating on whether Yves may have been cast from Heaven, and here you say that in fact Dominic has. Raphael had attempted to contact Yves, but was unable, I have not attempted it. Raphael did speak, if only briefly, to Novalis, and she said that they would talk of the disturbance when more was known. Apparently she knew more than Raphael about what was going on, but I don't know how much."
He paused for a moment, considering what he should say next. "It might, based on what you have said, interest you to know that Michael was here... at least in NYC...this morning. He was speaking with Karlial, one of his Cherubim, and a group of others at Karlial's apartment. I went to see Karlial and overheard Michael, in his Mantle of Ender of Light. You may recall it as the one he had when he kicked another 'troublesome' Angel out of Heaven. This takes on a new significance based on what you have said. What I found most interesting about the encounter was that Karlial hid my identity from Michael and warned me, non- verbally, to make tracks. When Michael asked him, as I was leaving, who I was, Karlial said 'Oh, just an old friend. I don't know if we should bother him about this.' and Michael replied 'You know better than to lie to me, even by omission, Karl. Who is he.' My guess is that Karlial wouldn't do that lightly or without reason."
Jason let his words sink in, studying Lynne's face. "Karlial and others, led by a woman who everyone in the party treated as the Almighty, deconstructed a tether that the infernals had tried to build. Apparently the demons are taking what advantage they can of the absence or inattention of Laurence's guards. There have been a number of demonic disturbances, including the one I mentioned at St. Sebastian. I was not aware of Nathaniel's collapse, or who 'aided' him. I doubt it was Raphael, as s/he would probably have mentioned it to me."
Jason sighed, looking down at his coffee as he slowly swirls it around the cup. He took a sip and then continued. "Karen said that it appears that humans were affected less by the Silence and the more powerful Angels were harder hit, so maybe it is not odd that the Seneschals were badly affected. However, I still think that it has something to do with Yves. Like I said, I have not tried to make contact with any Superiors, except Raphael who ran into me at the church."
Lynne's expression grew a touch bleaker as Jason spoke and she gazed finally into the twisting curl of smoke, as if hypnotized. "The difficult thing," she said reflectively, "Is not to jump to conclusions. Excuse me if I am slow today, its a lot to .. take in."
Karen returned to the table and spent a few moments murmuring with Melanie who fills her in on all she'd missed. The others hear her exclaim softly "Nathaniel collapsed?" And then the murmuring continued, until she and Melanie brought their attention back to the conversation.
The cigarette turned inexorably to ash, which fell silently to the table. She stubbed the butt out absently and dusts ash from her fingers. This time she sounded more businesslike, "OK, I think we do have good reason to believe that Yves is indeed barred from heaven, that would explain the location of your hearts, which is the same as what has happened to mine. Presumably it would also explain why you were unable to ascend and why the tether no longer links upwards. The fact it doesn't link downwards either should mean that he hasn't fallen..."
Another pause, and this time she laughed and shook her head, "Can you believe I even said that? This should be.. unthinkable... Anyway, we do know that he isn't the only one, I've spoken to Dominic myself, and.. I'm going to guess that maybe Lawrence is also affected. That is really the only reason I can think for why his sentinels would be so lax, and also it would possibly explain why Nat collapsed when the silence fell." She considered this and pressed her lips together, "At least that had /better/ be the reason they've been so lax! Do you think we have any way to find him? There's no way one of you could attune or something so that we can track him down?"
Jason interrupted "interesting that you should mention him. It appears that there is a big meeting in Paris among Laurence's people. They do not appear to be extremely aware of what is going on or what the Silence was about. Karen spoke to Shebbath, who is a Kyriotate of Laurence, who mentioned the meeting. I spoke with Hablashim's, an Elohim of Marc, secretary who told me he was in Paris as well."
Karen nodded in acknowledgment, and then added "The reason Melanie and I are in New York at all is that we were sent on a search for Nathaniel by Shebbath, because apparently he hasn't been heard from at all by his friends since the Silence and they were concerned. I have done a few checks by phone and completely failed to find any trace of him.
In response to Lynne's question she shook her head "unfortunately it doesn't work that way. To become attuned we need to be touching him. After that we can find him anywhere..." her voice trailed off and her complexion pales slightly. She glanced at Melanie, then continued "I do think that tracking him down should be a priority though. I have to find out why they want him, which may perhaps lead to a connection to...another case I�m working on." She hesitated for a moment, then asked "Do you know if Nathaniel's collapse was at the exact moment of the silence? Could it be directly related? If so, then he is unlikely to have been the only one that that has happened to."
Lynne nodded to Karen, going back a step or two. "Good observation about the mortals I'd say, I'd noticed myself that they seemed affected, but not to such an extent as we have been. I wondered whether it was some manner of wide scale loss of essence... "
Karen nodded and then smiled at Melanie "Well it wasn't exactly my observation. But an interesting on nonetheless. The thing I find interesting is that it was associated with a citywide, and perhaps worldwide fluctuation in electricity. Unfortunately much of the evidence for that is likely to have been covered up already - by whom I�m not sure - so it'll prove difficult to follow that avenue of inquiry.�
Lynne fidgeted absently in her pocket again with the cigarette packet, "I don't know how to explain what Michael is doing, or why your friend was worried that he might find you. He speaks for the Seraphim council, surely. Why should any of us want to take issue with that? There must be a reason for all of these upheavals, right?"
Jason shrugged, "I have no idea. It has confused me quite a bit. As to our hearts, Karen has hers as well, and she is a servitor of Jean. I can't believe that so many ArchAngels are in disgrace. Maybe there is a general problem between the planes, I don't know. I would be interested to see how other tethers were
affected. Karen saw one here in NYC that appeared to be OK, but the Seneschal was not there. She had left a note saying she had gone on holidays. Also, if it helps, I know a demon we could _talk_ to about what has gone on and what other affects it has had on the Fallen."
Lynne studied Jason carefully for a moment, "You do, do you? And how did you manage to be on such good terms with one of..." She checked herself and glanced down at her hands again. "OK, never mind that. Sorry, its a bit difficult to break the habits of a lifetime, y'know?"
Karen's expression showed pain as she watched Lynne's automatic reaction, and a touch of guilt. She also became extremely interested in the table and her hands for a few moments.
Jason chuckled "I know only too well. And I would not have bothered mentioning her if I thought you were unable to put aside the familiar ways of the past in order to deal with our current state of emergency."
"Part of the trouble," Lynne commented, "Is that things will always look like a conspiracy when there are emergency meetings going on and significant numbers of people involved haven't been told. We've really no idea whether the silence /was/ the emergency or if it is a symptom of something else, have we? For good or bad, it looks as though we are all out in the cold. What we have to decide is... whether we wait around for someone to get around to informing us or.... " she looked up and smiled, a dangerously bright smile that didn't admit failure, "Or whether we do some digging around for ourselves. I don't know what you guys were planning really, but I would very much like to know more. Do you think your infernal contact is likely to be better informed than we are?"
She paused delicately and added, "And shall we toast it afterwards?"