Draft87


 * 0: In the wake of Queen Lilith's parley with Samael the status of the Fallen Angels was left dangling. They could not return east of the frontier, nor would the Cherub Meta- tron receive them before speaking to Lilith hymself. They made their en- campment on fallow land and waited.
 * 1: They lived on what supplies they had filched from Samael's ice cache, but these were finite, and as the days of waiting became weeks, they plowed up the land around their encampment and prepared to gamble the last of their grain as seed for more food. No word came to them.
 * 2: Lilith was aware of their pre- dicament but sha was preoccupied. Immediately after the ruined mating between Chokhmah and Keter, while Samael was still incapacitated, Mi- chael, Lilith and Leliel escaped in the avatar of Chokhmah on a curve directly for the land of Magodon.
 * 3: Leliel always joined them on such flights now, if only for the peace of mind of Lilith, who worried Samael or Israel might contrive some mischief involving a fold-door. Mi- chael had warned of retaliation should hyz daughter be harmed by the seraphim, directly or indirectly.
 * 1) For Leliel's sake the flights in the avatar were gentled somewhat, with less of an impulse at takeoff and landing, and more of a continu- ous acceleration and deceleration. This made the period of free-fall at the top of the arc so short it wasn't safe for Leliel to fly free.
 * 2) Instead, Lilith held fast to har daughter and said to Michael, 'It occured to me that when we arrive in Rumbek I might have to do most of the groveling. Metatron will accept me as the queen of Salem in exile but I deem hy knows little to noth- ing of your union with Chokhmah.'
 * 3) 'You had little time to appraise hyz son Barachiel of that,' said Michael in reply. 'You were about the business of stopping an inva- sion.' Still, Michael weighed what hyz wife said and altered the path of the avatar to a degree before their weight began to pile up once more.
 * 4) Pastoral  Seliah Island was  the breadbasket of Rumbek. Forested up- lands ranging between one and three thousand feet high ran the length of the island in two long undulating ridges, north and south, with one connecting ridge from east to west, thus forming a rough letter 'H'.
 * 5) At the head of the Dul Valley on the north side of the connecting ridge was the castle of the Ophan Barachiel. But Michael choose to bring the avatar to ground on the south side, where gently-rolling slopes of grass were sparsely dotted with trees as benign as any of Earth.
 * 6) Michael helped hyz wife down out of the avatar as sha carried Leliel, and led them a safe distance away where they could watch the artifact rise into the sky once more. Looking around Lilith expected to see the largest city in Heaven, but there were only scattered hovels.
 * 7) When Michael saw the questioning look in Lilith's eyes hy said, 'Something you told me on the flight led me to choose another sort of opening gambit with Metatron than frightening the king and hyz sub- jects with my avatar. I well remem- ber Chokhmah's first visit to Salem.'
 * 8) 'So a seraph and a cherub  march from the hinterlands to Rumbek,' Lilith said, bordering on disbelief. 'And Leliel almost too big to carry. 'Walk,  yes,  to begin,  but  we shall also ride and even float. And there is no need, I think, to carry Leliel. Let's see how sha does.'
 * 9) The land was open and airy  with grass kept short by grazing animals and trees that resembled those of Earth in one important way: none of them tried to kill Michael, Lilith, and their daughter. Toiling north and west they gained six hundred feet of elevation in three miles.
 * 10) Leliel  seemed  not to  tire  at all. By noon they reached the place where the connecting ridge joined the west ridge at an elevation of about a thousand feet. Michael indi- cated a long prominence to the south that rose another thousand feet. 'They call that Living Mountain.'
 * 11) To the north Michael indicated a round hill that rose five hundred feet more. 'They call that one Yam Hill. Leliel! Let's see how fast you can get to the top! The doll sped off and Lilith was shocked. Sha had never seen even wild animals run so fast after their prey.
 * 12) Lilith guessed that Michael  had changed her daughter somehow, made har swift of foot and tireless, and sha saw the utility of the change. One question remained. 'When did you do it?' 'On the flight. I doubt that sha felt anything. The reentry would have distracted har.'
 * 13) Leliel  attained the  summit  of the hill far faster than Lilith would have imagined possible. Sha was waving at them furiously. Mi- chael said, 'Let's ascend after har to assure ourselves sha remains safe.' 'Perhaps now sha no longer needs such protection as I can give har.'
 * 14) They  began to ascend the  hill, with ever an eye to the summit to assure themselves Leliel remained in view. Michael said, 'It was not mag- ic, Lil, what I did to har. Or at least it was a kind of magic that will cease to be magic someday when I can find a way to explain it.'
 * 15) 'I  am your first  student,  Mi-chael, and more, I am the mother of that doll. So let us see if you can explain it to me.' 'Yes, you are Leliel's  mother,' replied Michael, 'and so there are things about har that resemble you. Yet if sha had a sister they would not be identical.
 * 16) 'This  is  because  all# living things are governed by both law and by chance. We run so fast and no faster because there is a fire that burns within us that burns so hot and no hotter, and this is a law. Yet of old, purely by chance, some living things burned hotter.'
 * 17) But  these creatures  could  not endure long, because the hotter fire within demanded more food than they could find, and so they perished before they could pass this new law to their young. But Leliel is an ophan, and sha will never want for as much food as she can eat.'
 * 18) 'And this change you wrought  in our daughter that you call a law, will sha pass the same down to har son or daughter when she is of age to become a mother in har turn?' 'No,  it  is imposed by  me,  it does not rise up from that which makes Leliel who sha is. Shall I undo it?'
 * 19) 'No, husband, let the change you have made stand. You have seen what a joy it seems to be for har, and if by some misfortune sha runs across enemies who would do harm to har, sha can easily outrun them. And you are right. Leliel, being noble-born, shall never want for food.'
 * 20) They took considerably longer to attain the summit than did their daughter. Michael had started a tra- dition of giving each member of the B'nei Elohim a special talent, but Lilith started the tradition of giv- ing them an apropos nickname when sha asked, 'Are you well, Scout?'
 * 21) 'Yes  momma!  Look  how  far  we walked!' Leliel pointed far below and far away where they could still see a circle of burnt grass. That was the place where the avatar had landed and taken flight once again.
 * 22) Michael  directed their gaze  to the west where houses could be seen.
 * 23) 'Do  you  see?  Our  walking  is nearly at an end. That is the town of Vennor. There I will hire a car- riage and we will be driven to edge of Tala Strait yonder.'
 * 24) Lilith  raised har head and  be-held a swath of blue some seven miles distant, and a dark wall of rock beyond the blue. 'And what will you pay, Michael, when you hire this carriage? You carry no gold about your person, unless you've hidden it well.'
 * 25) 'I  have  some  small  diamonds, Lil. I can produce them without lim- it within my own body. I am speak- ing, of course, of my body as a liv- ing sun.'
 * 26) In  town they ate a late  lunch. Lilith was astonished to see how much food har little doll Leliel put away. Sha wondered if sha had spoken prematurely to say Leliel would nev- er want for food. But their hosts, amply compensated with a diamond, ever brought Leliel more.
 * 27) Afterwards  they rode  within  a carriage down the undulating creek valley that led from hillside Vennor to the well-ordered fields stretch- ing west to Tala Strait. The hills they passed were lower, and fewer, detached from one another like lone sentinels over the plowed fields.
 * 28) As  they rode past the  thinning hills Leliel fell asleep in har mother's lap, so Michael and Lilith grew silent, content to stir their own thoughts. And Michael recalled how hyz wife had reminded hym that sha was his first student. That was true, and sha was a good student.
 * 29) Michael loved Lilith as hyz mate and as the mother of hyz daughter, but hy longed for a better student, one who would understand how hy had changed Leliel on the deepest level. This culture did not even have the concept of atoms, let alone machines made from atomic groups.
 * 30) But hy guessed that Lilith would have another child, a son or daugh- ter, and Michael vowed to make a change in that child as well. Rather than being a fast runner, Michael would give the child a greater ca- pacity to understand things than any planet-dweller who had yet lived.
 * 31) When  Keter  and  Daat  suffered their inevitable defeat it would be at the hands of Leliel's younger sibling, a mere angel who would out- think elohim. Michael even had the name picked out for his next off- spring, whether it was male or fe- male. Ithuriel, the Brilliant One of God.
 * 32) The  final leg of their  journey to Rumbek by sea took place over- night. It was not far, but there was no wind so the ship was rowed. Mi- chael and Leliel slept for the en- tire passage, but Lilith mostly lay awake, ruing every passing hour with no answer for har Fallen Angels.
 * 33) At  dawn  when they  awoke  they went outdoors to the rail of the boat to watch its slow approach to the seaport. Everything Lilith had heard about Rumbek was true. Har eyes could not be denied. This capi- tal of the Larund kingdom was by far the largest city in all of Heaven.
 * 34) The Great Sea of the West  Lands is divided into a pair of lobes by the Magodon Peninsula, which is as large as Florida on Earth and an- chored to the mainland on the west. But sheer cliffs rising as much as four hundred feet guard every ap- proach to the peninsula by sea.
 * 35) This wall is sheer sandstone and cannot be scaled by any army. Where it is eroded by gullies the streams fill the entire channel. At the foot of this bluff around the peninsula lie impassible swamps and sinkholes that would swallow horses and trap the wheels of chariots.
 * 36) Also  none  can  pass  by# land around the Great Sea to the north or to the south. There roaring waves run nigh to the Ice, and often froz- en slabs melt and slide into the sea with great thunder. No permanent road can be carved and no tunnel bored to permit passage east or west.
 * 37) Between  Seliah Island  and  the city of Rumbek lay the much smaller Krone Island and Fanok Island, walled suburbs linked by a network of bridges. Even the smallest islet, Krone, was covered with dwellings and fortifications that alone made it greater than all of Salem.
 * 38) The  mainland was  little  wider than the road that traversed it. But behind this rose the Nine Mile Wall, that part of the cliffs ringing the Magodon Peninsula which was forti- fied by angels and nephilim and men. The Nine Mile Wall and the City of Rumbek were one and the same.
 * 39) The  dwellings of the city  were carved into the wall, connected by tunnels with endless ramps and stairs. Where these dwellings faced the open air they boasted a faC'ade of ornately-carved harder stone. Rumbek was so large it even spilled over onto part of Seliah Island.
 * 40) Where Tala Strait met the shore-line road there existed many ware- houses and piers for the ships of merchants and for the peerless navy of King Metatron. On the other side of the road, at the base of the Nine Mile Wall, there were storefronts and market stalls beyond number.
 * 41) A rare mood of unhappiness over-came Lilith when sha saw these shops and this distressed Michael in turn when he saw it. 'What is wrong, be- loved?''I can't excape the memory  that I used to extort shopkeepers for their money, when I already had ev- erything I could ever need.'
 * 42) 'That  was before  you  embraced Chohkmah,' Michael said. 'You are ashamed because cannot fall back on the justification others make that they fell in with the wrong sort of friends.' 'I was always their leader,' sha acknowledged. 'I was the wrong sort of friend for them.'
 * 43) Michael  took  out  hyz# little leather pouch of diamonds. 'I know it hurts, Lil, but you can let it go. The shame you feel now is suffi- cient punishment for the misdeeds of your past. Take three deep breaths! Good. Now, will you help me choose something to purchase for Leliel?'
 * 44) The  tip  of a large  knife  de-pressed the skin at Michael's neck. The yang holding the blade said, 'Give to me what you hold in your hand or I'll let flow your life's blood!' This  would  have  seemed  sadly familiar to Lilith's brother, Mel- chizedek, who was accosted in Har- ran.
 * 45) 'Scout!'  barked  Lilith.# 'Run away!' And such was Leliel's train- ing that sha immediately obeyed har mother as though it were a battle command, despite being only two years of age.
 * 46) The robber scowled at Lilith but dismissed har as any threat. Sha was standing too far away.
 * 47) Michael  carefully  offered  the bag of precious stones, knowing hy could always make more. While the attacker greedily grasped the pouch a terrifying hiss began to be heard. Lilith, standing well away from Mi- chael, extended the dark shaft of the Golden Gift as long as a pike.
 * 48) Sha  sliced the  attacker's  own weapon in twain, leaving only the hilt and letting the blade clatter to the ground. That was Lilith's idea of a warning shot, but it was a hint hy did not take. Hyz other hand stashed the diamonds in hyz pocket and fumbled for a second blade.
 * 49) When the weapon came out  Lilith swept the black shaft closer to the yang's wrist than the first sweep had been. Hy screamed as his hand and the blade it was holding fell to the ground together. Michael kicked the bloody mess away as Lilith brought the Golden Gift to repose.
 * 50) 'Hold out your arm and I'll help you,' Michael told him. The yang brought out the gushing stump from under his armpit and Michael laid on hyz hands to staunch the wound. 'You should be grateful. The way the rel- ic cuts leaves arteries wide open. Only a flame would seal them.' Lilith  drew near to  them.  'No rebuke from my teacher?'
 * 51) 'It  was a good  deed,'  Michael admitted. 'Hy could not have killed me with yz blade for the same rea- son he's not dying from yours. Hy seemed set on hyz unprofitable course of action even when you of- fered hym a way out.'"
 * 52) When  Michael was satisfied  the robber would survive hyz wound hy stood up and looked around. Leliel still had not returned from the place where sha had made har escape. Michael noted that many onlookers had witnessed the robbery attempt and the healing of the attacker's arm.
 * 53) Lilith  darted off to  look  for har daughter. Shortly Leliel came to har father alone, showing off har new talent as soon as sha had learned from har mother that it was safe to come back. 'Where did you go?' hy asked. Sha pointed to a place high above in the Nine Mile Wall.
 * 54) 'You did well to obey your moth-er so quickly.' 'Thank you father!' After a long interval that spoke of Leliel's new speed, Lilith re- joined them. 'Five levels over our head my Scout was,' said sha. 'And sha got there so quickly sha was able to watch all that transpired.'
 * 55) 'One good thing will come of all this, at least,' Michael said to har. 'You have been seen wielding the Golden Gift. The Ophan Barachiel has seen you do the same on the frontier and has no doubt spoken of it to many. We should have our audi- ence with the king soon.'
 * 56) True  to Michael's words  troops arrived and began questioning the crowd that had gathered around the scene. The robber attempted to scramble to hyz feet but Lilith pushed hym back down, digging in hyz pocket for the pouch of diamonds, which sha returned to har husband.
 * 57) The  troops were commanded by  a yeoman of the king's court who ad- dressed Lilith as respectfully as hy could while yet being unsure of har identity. 'I am Gruen, a humble servant in the court of King Meta- tron. Do I have the honor of ad- dressing Har Majesty the Queen of Salem?\
 * 58) 'I am Lilith, yes, the  rightful ruler of Salem. Yet I am dispos- sessed of that city.' 'Your Majesty, you shall be  re-ceived by the king at mid-morning tomorrow. A messenger shall be dis- patched to Ophan Barachiel in the Dul Valley expressing for the Ophan to return hither."
 * 59) 'Meantime  the king bids you  to lodge together with any who travel with you within chambers in the highest level of hyz castle. I as- sure you these lodgings are second in opulence only to those of the king hymself.' 'I  would be honored to stay  at the castle with my family.'
 * 60) Gruen  looked  unfavorably  upon the prisoner as hy was bound. 'Were you but common travelers from Adan I would still be filled with shame for what this yang tried to do.' Lilith  said, 'Do you think  the king will listen if I tell hym the yang has already been amply pun- ished?'
 * 61) 'Probably  not,' Gruen  replied, 'and more's the pity. No doubt hyz missing hand will argue with hym should hy ever again consider rob- bery 'But  you should try,' said  Mi-chael. 'Reckless forgiveness is all I ever had to teach at the Sunset Discourse, and nothing more.'
 * 62) The Nine Mile Wall angled  south and east for half its length, then abruptly changed direction to march south and west. At the pinnacle a razor-thin ridge of sandstone half as high as the Wall jutted into the Strait. This was the skeleton of the castle of King Metatron.
 * 63) The flesh and bones of the  cas-tle were hard stone on the whole exterior, and what windows existed were only large enough for archers to fire their darts upon attackers below. There were three hundred ninety steps to the top, yet Lilith and Michael did not ascend them.
 * 64) Instead  they were ported  indi-vidually to the top in seats carried by staves. Thirteen teams of serv- ants handed their passengers off to another team after ascending thirty steps. And all the while Leliel walked beside har parents, summing everything up with one word: 'Lazy!'
 * 65) Their  lodgings were  everything Gruen had promised. Lilith said to the attendants who waited upon them, 'My daughter shall need at least five times the amount of food you would guess a child har age would need, and har chamberpot must be emptied with corresponding frequen- cy.'
 * 66) The  castle stood  straight  out from the Nine Mile Wall and when day became night the lights of the dwellings of the city stretching north from them burned for a time. Michael extinguished the lights in their own dwelling to let Leliel marvel at them, but sha soon fell asleep.
 * 67) Leliel was gently put to bed.  A side-effect of Leliel's new talent was sha tended to sleep much more than sha ever did. Michael and Li- lith saw an opportunity to share intimacy, one that that had been delayed for many weeks. Michael and Lilith kissed and began to disrobe.
 * 68) When Lilith laid aside har weap-on, har brass, and the leather that protected har, as well as the mental armor that lay beneath all these, there was revealed, to har husband alone, a yin of exquisite tenderness who could not deny har sex. Michael this found very provocative.
 * 69) Michael thought the changes Ket-er wrought in some of the humans brought to Heaven to be one of his better ideas. Two organs of joining rather than just one. When Michael went down on Lilith only one of the two would first trigger har climax and neither hy nor sha knew which.
 * 70) Michael  reached a  hand  around one of Lilith's magnificent thighs to pleasure the upper nub while rolling the inside of har other leg to feast on the lower one. Lilith was plunged into a wall of sensation that steadily rose beyond all rea- son. Sha went crazy under har hus- band.
 * 71) Lilith  threw har head into  the pillow, arched har back and crushed hyz shoulders between har knees. Michael knew which crease sent har over first and clambered into the other. They moved together expertly as har second climax and hyz first arrived with stately inevitability.
 * 72) Michael thought there was  noth-ing better in life than to have a happy lady lying under hym while hy enjoyed har body for as long as hy wished, but there was always a lit- tle selfishness to that, as though Lilith had diminished from a person to an object after har orgasms.
 * 73) But the ecstasy that was evident on har face, the little sounds sha made, the touch of har fingers, even har special scent communicated di- rectly to Michael's body that Lilith needed hyz affirmation on the deep- est level. Blameless, hy boiled over with hyz own second peak.
 * 74) After  this  they  lay  together holding hands, limbs entwined, watching the pattern of light on the wall of the chamber slowly change as the king's subjects who dwelt in the Nine Mile Wall extinguished the lights of their own homes as they would. Sleep quickly overtook them.
 * 75) In the morning after a leisurely breakfast a gentle knock on the door announced the return of Gruen, who inquired how they had fared over- night. Hy was come to escort them into the presence of King Metatron. 'What has come of the yang who ac- costed us yesterday?' asked Lilith.
 * 76) 'Hyz Majesty is incensed,' Gruen replied, 'and hyz view of justice is that the punishment should ever fit the offense. Hy is in the place where he did the crime and there is a knot of rope that obsesses this yang more than your gems or the goods of any other of his victims.
 * 77) 'The yang hangs by one arm,  you see. Hy could untie the knot and release hymself of hyz torment if only hyz mouth weren't gagged to free hyz teeth, or if only hy had a second hand to grasp the knot. And so hy remains, because the king has not said hyz suffering should end.'
 * 78) To  this Lilith said only,  'Let no one question the wisdom of the Larund King.' But Michael could see, as they gathered Leliel with them and departed their guest chambers with Gruen to come before the throne of the Cherub Metatron, that Lilith was troubled in har heart.
 * 79) The  King received them  at  the end of a long, narrow colonnade ex- posed to the elements, where hyz throne had been set with its back to the very face of the Nine Mile Wall. From here hy often enjoyed watching the doings of hyz subjects in the streets of the city far below.
 * 80) Lilith was brought before  Meta-tron with har daughter Leliel in hand and with Michael at har side. Sha found the Larund sovereign to be like an echo of har beloved father of happy memory. It was as though both yeng were the angelic incarna- tion of a couplet of rhyming verse.
 * 81) And  yet, Lilith was  forced  to acknowledge to harself, if the greatness of a lord was reckoned by the realm over which hy was sover- eign, Metatron bordered on the sta- tus of a seraph. All the angels of Adan at the heart of the Gerash lands would fill a mere burough of Rumbek.
 * 82) Sha  saw  that the  king's  son, Barachiel, sat at hyz right hand. So hy was neither dead nor in fetters, which told Lilith that hyz father had accepted the conditions of the truce hastily worked out on the field of battle between har and Sa- mael. Metatron noted har glance.
 * 83) 'I am not certain I should  wel-come you to Rumbek, Queen Lilith,' said hy, after Gruen made the formal introductions. 'My son Ophan Barachiel told me it was you who gave a fair portion of my land to the Black Beards in such a way that I must either ratify it or go to war.'
 * 84) 'Your Majesty,' replied  Lilith, 'Ophan Barachiel was at a disadvan- tage even with my Fallen Angels fighting at hyz side. It would have been a rout and your new frontier with the Adanites would be that much closer to this city. The King no doubt understands battle decisions.'
 * 85) Metatron# grunted#  dubiously. Then: 'It is said you are exiled from Salem. How come you to such a strait?' 'I  spoke truth to yeng  of  the House of Gerash, but they hated the truth because it was like a bright light that threatened to reveal the dark things they do in secret.'
 * 86) The  king's  next  question  was sharp and to the point. 'What is truth?' Lilith glanced at Michael,  then said in reply, 'Your Majesty, truth is the way things are. We know this truth when our thoughts and deeds echo the world as it plainly is, without a single contradiction.'
 * 87) 'What  do you ask of  me,  Queen Lilith? Shall I put my armies at your command? Shall I use force to protect the purity of your truth?'# Lilith said, 'Nay, Your Majesty. If what I teach is so fragile that I must shield it from contamination, what I have cannot be the truth.'
 * 88) 'The Eyes of Keter fight to con-vert others to their view and make war against other views, because what they call truth is too weak to sell itself to those who seek the truth with sincerity. They are cer- tain they already possess the one truth and refuse to look at reality.'
 * 89) 'If  truth  comes to  those  who seek it with sincerity, then tell me, Queen Lilith, what is the most sincere truth?' 'Only  this, your  Majesty:  the noblest activity is unending love.' Metatron pondered this silently.'There  is a yang who  tried  to rob my husband yesterday.'
 * 90) The king emerged from hyz rever-ie to search the face of Lilith. Sha went on to say, 'Your Majesty, what hy tried to take from Michael was of little account. If hy chose Michael could flood both Heaven and Earth with so many diamonds they would be like so many wooden beads.'
 * 91) Hy said, 'Yet it has come to  me that your own daughter had to flee for har life.''Sha  did so at my  command,  in the event the attacker threw hyz blade. I severed the hand of this yang to preserve the life of my hus- band. And that, I think, is a most extravagant punishment.'
 * 92) Metatron  saw  to the  heart  of Lilith's words to hym. With great tact sha was trying to balance hyz absolute sovereignty in Rumbek with the radical graciousness sha had learned from har husband and teach- er. 'Gruen!' barked the king, and hyz yeoman sunk to hyz knees before hym.
 * 93) 'Gruen, tell the malik supervis-ing this yang's punishment that in my desire for justice it did not enter into my mind to be excessively cruel. Let hym be released from hyz suffering and let hym be cleaned and fed. Go in haste!' The king's yeoman bounded to hyz feet and fled.
 * 94) Lilith  made  a  small  feminine gesture of respect from one Cherub to another. 'Hyz Majesty is merciful and wise, yet a far greater thing weighs upon my thoughts than the chastisement of this thief. Some four hundred yen, exiles of Salem, are stranded on the frontier with Adan.
 * 95) They  cannot return  east  under the same covenant that stays the forces of Samael from marching west, and even now their meager supplies are running out.' 'Queen  Lilith, have  you  again established conditions on the field that leaves the House of Larund with little choice?'
 * 96) 'Nay, Your Majesty, at the  last throw Queen Aurra has offered to settle the Fallen Angels in Rammon, yet this would have the effect of disbanding them as an army. What an army they are indeed that Samael has mustered all hyz warriors to drive them out of the Middle Land.'
 * 97) 'It is well that House Sala  has opened their gates to you, yet I deem it would be a journey of at least two years to reach Rammon. Is that what you crave of me, Queen Lilith? Provender for your four hun- dred Fallen Angels, and leave to pass peacefully through Magodon?'
 * 98) 'Nay,  Your  Majesty.  Give  the word, rather, and to a yin my Fallen Angels will become your most loyal subjects.'
 * 99) 'Yet as an army they would be of no use when I march east to regain the lands occupied by Samael. You said yourself they are forbidden to cross the new border.'
 * 100) 'That is true, Your Majesty, but for such an endeavor you would no doubt muster your whole army to strike the Adanites. The Fallen An- gels could patrol your western marches, lest those of House Bellon or perhaps even rebels within Mago- don itself covet your unguarded lands.'
 * 101) 'And  let us say I did not  make your Fallen Angels my subjects,' Metatron suggested, 'nor send them provisions, nor give them leave to cross my land. What then?'
 * 102) 'In  that event,  Your  Majesty, the avatar of Chokhmah would come into play. May my husband address the king?'
 * 103) 'By all means let the consort of the Queen speak freely,' said Meta- tron. 'I would learn of this avatar, and of those things which converted the whole House of Sala to follow Chokhmah, and which tamed the heart of a warrior yin.' 'Your Majesty is gracious,' said Michael.'
 * 104) 'An avatar is an object not made by angels nor nephilim nor men. If Your Majesty is willing to accept this, an avatar is made in the heart of a sun that is the body of an elo- ah, yet it can fly free, and part of the mind and will of the eloah is bound with this artifact.'
 * 105) 'But  mere words  concerning  an avatar will not suffice. If Hyz Maj- esty will come to the edge of hyz colonnade hy will soon see the ava- tar with hyz own eyes. It was set into motion from an idle state just moments ago.' And  indeed  Metatron  did  rise from hyz throne to watch.'
 * 106) A  streak  of rushing  fire  ap-peared in the sky over Tala Strait followed by two thunderbursts so loud it seemed to Metatron hy would be knocked over. The fire streak, the king could see, formed behind a small dark object that raced across the sky almost too quickly to fol- low.
 * 107) 'Behold, Your Majesty, the first avatar of Chokhmah. With this con- trivance world-dwellers were discov- ered on Earth, whom the elohim name the Students. The same artifact once whisked me to a hidden place to be brought into full union with Chokh- mah as a kind of living avatar.'
 * 108) 'Tell  me, Lord  Michael,'  said the king, 'are you like Samael and Israel? In times past they have ap- peared before me, unheralded, and seem to have the power to come and go as they will heedless of my cas- tle guard. Samael calls hymself a seraph, a master even of cherubim.'
 * 109) 'I  was the first angel to  join with an eloah, Your Majesty. As Chokhmah I taught the art to Keter, and he in turn taught Daat. I have the same power to move about Heaven at will but a covenant with Keter restricts my use of this power to the lands west of the Wall of God.
 * 110) 'Here  I must resort  to  riding within the avatar. It brought me to Seliah with my wife and daughter and if needs be it can bring supplies to the Fallen Angels and the Fallen Angels themselves to Rammon, if aid is refused. In Magodon you rule ab- solutely, even over a seraph.'
 * 111) 'You  need  not resort  to  your avatar,' said the King, 'for any of the yen willing to swear fealty to the Crown. A choice land will be given to them in my realm. They shall have whatsoever they might need to begin to become productive subjects, and you shall dwell with them.'
 * 112) Lilith was visibly relieved.  'I am grateful beyond all telling, Your Majesty, and the Fallen Angels who look to me will be much gladdened. Yet if you say they must lay down the sword, so shall it be, for this too would be their fate scattered among the ringhouses of Rammon.'
 * 113) 'Nay,  Queen  Lilith,'# replied Metatron, 'let them grasp the sword even so, and see that you train them well. Samael is faithless. I portend his army will one day pour through an overlooked loophole in the cove- nant and then your Fallen Angels will repay me a hundredfold.'
 * 114) Michael said, 'I am sure  Samael will never directly assail you with the main bulk of hyz army, Your Maj- esty. Elohim cannot break the bonds of even the smallest concession. Yet hy can still send assassins and spies, and arm all your enemies, both within Magodon and without.'
 * 115) 'And  Samael  will  continue  to foment hatreds between House Larund and the other houses, that you would remain at each other's throat, so that hy might sell hyz remedy in the form of arms, first to one, then the other. Queen Aurra and King Uriel have said this must end.'
 * 116) 'Give  the word of assent,  Your Majesty, and I will bring the rulers of House Sala and House Bellon hith- er to take counsel with the aim of forging some form of peaceful union between the kingdoms of Heaven.' 'A council as you describe would be a good thing,' agreed the King.'
 * 117) 'And  it would be, I think,  thefirst such council ever taken in the history of Heaven. But for now let us find a land to settle the exiles of Salem, and watch for a time whether Samael will break the truce hy made.'Michael bowed and said, 'Let  itbe as the king commands.'
 * 118) 'Your  Majesty,'  said# Lilith, 'when we came to your realm we touched down in a fair valley that runs south through the middle of Seliah Island and we fell in love with the place at first sight. There are some houses and farms but it seems to be lightly settled in the main.'
 * 119) 'You# speak# of# the# Living Valley,' said the Ophan Barachiel, who turned to face Lilith. 'It is near to my own castle in the Dul Valley, though a high ridge inter- venes. The high hills run nigh to the water, so it is difficult to bring the increase of the valley to Rumbek.'
 * 120) 'The  Fallen Angels shall  dwell in the selfsame vale,' said the king.'You, Barachiel, my son, shall extend generous hands until the Salemites are able of their own to work the land. This is the labor I lay upon you for your part in what Queen Lilith named a battle deci- sion.'
 * 121) Barachiel  bowed hyz  head  low. 'It shall be as you command, my fa- ther and liege-lord. But meantime, Queen Lilith and har family shall stay in a wing of my own house until a dwelling is built for them in the Living Valley. Alas, I cannot extend the same to har four hundreds.'
 * 122) Then Michael, Lilith, and Leliel departed from the presence of the cherub Metatron. They were taken to dwell in the Dul Valley for a time while the Fallen Angels were sup- plied by goods carried by the avatar of Chokhmah and made ready to settle the land apportioned to them.
 * 0: In the wake of Queen Lilith's parley with Samael the status of the Fallen Angels was left dangling. They could not return east of the frontier, nor would the Cherub Meta- tron receive them before speaking to Lilith hymself. They made their en- campment on fallow land and waited.
 * 1: They lived on what supplies they had filched from Samael's ice cache, but these were finite, and as the days of waiting became weeks, they plowed up the land around their encampment and prepared to gamble the last of their grain as seed for more food. No word came to them.
 * 2: Lilith was aware of their pre- dicament but sha was preoccupied. Immediately after the ruined mating between Chokhmah and Keter, while Samael was still incapacitated, Mi- chael, Lilith and Leliel escaped in the avatar of Chokhmah on a curve directly for the land of Magodon.
 * 3: Leliel always joined them on such flights now, if only for the peace of mind of Lilith, who worried Samael or Israel might contrive some mischief involving a fold-door. Mi- chael had warned of retaliation should hyz daughter be harmed by the seraphim, directly or indirectly.
 * 4: 'Lilith can take care of har- self, but assail my baby doll, or send others to assail har, and all covenants between us are void, El Elyon be damned. Why should I know better? How should I know our cove- nants are unbreakable? I'm isolated from all the other living suns.'
 * 5: 'Breaking our covenants would only cause El Elyon to ratify your isolation, should you contrive to reach across space and make contact with an eloah. You would be shunned for undermining the sole basis for enforcing agreements between our- selves: our absolute word-bond.'
 * 6: 'Do you really believe I would be shunned, Father? After all, news of the discovery of Students would dominate the chatter of El Elyon like none other, and the Students originate in my system. The City of Stars will never content itself with your pitiful colony here.
 * 7: 'And did you know, Father, that on two occasions I've sent a time signal to myself here? On a tight beam, of course, nothing that would violate our agreement. But now I know the precise distance that sepa- rates you and I in real space, and the rate of our relative motion.
 * 8: 'That gives me one leg of a triangle. Then I pick a star, let's say grandmother. I carefully note how much grandmother shifts against the background stars both here and on Earth. That gives me the whole triangle. So by all means send a squad to Anshar to kill Leliel.
 * 9: Because the very next thing to happen will be my avatar accelerat- ing on a course that will bring it very close indeed to dear old Gevu- rah sitting there at the apex of that triangle. Can you imagine what she will say after learning what a naughty dirk her Keter has been?'
 * 0: It was a rhetorical question and Michael expected no answer. They all knew that if and when this harem caper was exposed to El Elyon it would mean an immediate trial and extinction for Keter, Daat, Chesed, and any other co-conspirators iso- lating elohim and the Students.
 * 1) So with Keter and Daat duly  no-tified that an attack on hyz daugh- ter would be a certain case of mur- der-suicide, and with the greatest warrior in Heaven, Lilith, unwilling to let Leliel out of har sight, Mi- chael knew hyz daughter was as safe as any angel in Heaven could be.
 * 2) For Leliel's sake the flights in the avatar were gentled somewhat, with less of an impulse at takeoff and landing, and more of a continu- ous acceleration and deceleration. This made the period of free-fall at the top of the arc so short it wasn't safe for Leliel to fly free.
 * 3) Instead, Lilith held fast to har daughter and said to Michael, 'It occured to me that when we arrive in Rumbek I might have to do most of the groveling. Metatron will accept me as the queen of Salem in exile but I deem hy knows little to noth- ing of your union with Chokhmah.'
 * 4) 'You had little time to appraise hyz son Barachiel of that,' said Michael in reply. 'You were about the business of stopping an inva- sion.' Still, Michael weighed what hyz wife said and altered the path of the avatar to a degree before their weight began to pile up once more.
 * 5) Pastoral  Seliah Island was  the breadbasket of Rumbek. Forested up- lands ranging between one and three thousand feet high ran the length of the island in two long undulating ridges, north and south, with one connecting ridge from east to west, thus forming a rough letter 'H'.
 * 6) At the head of the Dul Valley on the north side of the connecting ridge was the castle of the Ophan Barachiel. But Michael choose to bring the avatar to ground on the south side, where gently-rolling slopes of grass were sparsely dotted with trees as benign as any of Earth.
 * 7) Michael helped hyz wife down out of the avatar as sha carried Leliel, and led them a safe distance away where they could watch the artifact rise into the sky once more. Looking around Lilith expected to see the largest city in Heaven, but there were only scattered hovels.
 * 8) When Michael saw the questioning look in Lilith's eyes hy said, 'Something you told me on the flight led me to choose another sort of opening gambit with Metatron than frightening the king and hyz sub- jects with my avatar. I well remem- ber Chokhmah's first visit to Salem.'
 * 9) 'So a seraph and a cherub  march from the hinterlands to Rumbek,' Lilith said, bordering on disbelief. 'And Leliel almost too big to carry. 'Walk,  yes,  to begin,  but  we shall also ride and even float. And there is no need, I think, to carry Leliel. Let's see how sha does.'
 * 10) The land was open and airy  with grass kept short by grazing animals and trees that resembled those of Earth in one important way: none of them tried to kill Michael, Lilith, and their daughter. Toiling north and west they gained six hundred feet of elevation in three miles.
 * 11) Leliel  seemed  not to  tire  at all. By noon they reached the place where the connecting ridge joined the west ridge at an elevation of about a thousand feet. Michael indi- cated a long prominence to the south that rose another thousand feet. 'They call that Living Mountain.'
 * 12) To the north Michael indicated a round hill that rose five hundred feet more. 'They call that one Yam Hill. Leliel! Let's see how fast you can get to the top! The doll sped off and Lilith was shocked. Sha had never seen even wild animals run so fast after their prey.
 * 13) Lilith guessed that Michael  had changed her daughter somehow, made har swift of foot and tireless, and sha saw the utility of the change. One question remained. 'When did you do it?' 'On the flight. I doubt that sha felt anything. The reentry would have distracted har.'
 * 14) Leliel  attained the  summit  of the hill far faster than Lilith would have imagined possible. Sha was waving at them furiously. Mi- chael said, 'Let's ascend after har to assure ourselves sha remains safe.' 'Perhaps now sha no longer needs such protection as I can give har.'
 * 15) They  began to ascend the  hill, with ever an eye to the summit to assure themselves Leliel remained in view. Michael said, 'It was not mag- ic, Lil, what I did to har. Or at least it was a kind of magic that will cease to be magic someday when I can find a way to explain it.'
 * 16) 'I  am your first  student,  Mi-chael, and more, I am the mother of that doll. So let us see if you can explain it to me.' 'Yes, you are Leliel's  mother,' replied Michael, 'and so there are things about har that resemble you. Yet if sha had a sister they would not be identical.
 * 17) 'This  is  because  all# living things are governed by both law and by chance. We run so fast and no faster because there is a fire that burns within us that burns so hot and no hotter, and this is a law. Yet of old, purely by chance, some living things burned hotter.'
 * 18) But  these creatures  could  not endure long, because the hotter fire within demanded more food than they could find, and so they perished before they could pass this new law to their young. But Leliel is an ophan, and sha will never want for as much food as she can eat.'
 * 19) 'And this change you wrought  in our daughter that you call a law, will sha pass the same down to har son or daughter when she is of age to become a mother in har turn?' 'No,  it  is imposed by  me,  it does not rise up from that which makes Leliel who sha is. Shall I undo it?'
 * 20) 'No, husband, let the change you have made stand. You have seen what a joy it seems to be for har, and if by some misfortune sha runs across enemies who would do harm to har, sha can easily outrun them. And you are right. Leliel, being noble-born, shall never want for food.'
 * 21) They took considerably longer to attain the summit than did their daughter. Michael had started a tra- dition of giving each member of the B'nei Elohim a special talent, but Lilith started the tradition of giv- ing them an apropos nickname when sha asked, 'Are you well, Scout?'
 * 22) 'Yes  momma!  Look  how  far  we walked!' Leliel pointed far below and far away where they could still see a circle of burnt grass. That was the place where the avatar had landed and taken flight once again.
 * 23) Michael  directed their gaze  to the west where houses could be seen.
 * 24) 'Do  you  see?  Our  walking  is nearly at an end. That is the town of Vennor. There I will hire a car- riage and we will be driven to edge of Tala Strait yonder.'
 * 25) Lilith  raised har head and  be-held a swath of blue some seven miles distant, and a dark wall of rock beyond the blue. 'And what will you pay, Michael, when you hire this carriage? You carry no gold about your person, unless you've hidden it well.'
 * 26) 'I  have  some  small  diamonds, Lil. I can produce them without lim- it within my own body. I am speak- ing, of course, of my body as a liv- ing sun.'
 * 27) In  town they ate a late  lunch. Lilith was astonished to see how much food har little doll Leliel put away. Sha wondered if sha had spoken prematurely to say Leliel would nev- er want for food. But their hosts, amply compensated with a diamond, ever brought Leliel more.
 * 28) Afterwards  they rode  within  a carriage down the undulating creek valley that led from hillside Vennor to the well-ordered fields stretch- ing west to Tala Strait. The hills they passed were lower, and fewer, detached from one another like lone sentinels over the plowed fields.
 * 29) As  they rode past the  thinning hills Leliel fell asleep in har mother's lap, so Michael and Lilith grew silent, content to stir their own thoughts. And Michael recalled how hyz wife had reminded hym that sha was his first student. That was true, and sha was a good student.
 * 30) Michael loved Lilith as hyz mate and as the mother of hyz daughter, but hy longed for a better student, one who would understand how hy had changed Leliel on the deepest level. This culture did not even have the concept of atoms, let alone machines made from atomic groups.
 * 31) But hy guessed that Lilith would have another child, a son or daugh- ter, and Michael vowed to make a change in that child as well. Rather than being a fast runner, Michael would give the child a greater ca- pacity to understand things than any planet-dweller who had yet lived.
 * 32) When  Keter  and  Daat  suffered their inevitable defeat it would be at the hands of Leliel's younger sibling, a mere angel who would out- think elohim. Michael even had the name picked out for his next off- spring, whether it was male or fe- male. Ithuriel, the Brilliant One of God.
 * 33) The  final leg of their  journey to Rumbek by sea took place over- night. It was not far, but there was no wind so the ship was rowed. Mi- chael and Leliel slept for the en- tire passage, but Lilith mostly lay awake, ruing every passing hour with no answer for har Fallen Angels.
 * 34) At  dawn  when they  awoke  they went outdoors to the rail of the boat to watch its slow approach to the seaport. Everything Lilith had heard about Rumbek was true. Har eyes could not be denied. This capi- tal of the Larund kingdom was by far the largest city in all of Heaven.
 * 35) The Great Sea of the West  Lands is divided into a pair of lobes by the Magodon Peninsula, which is as large as Florida on Earth and an- chored to the mainland on the west. But sheer cliffs rising as much as four hundred feet guard every ap- proach to the peninsula by sea.
 * 36) This wall is sheer sandstone and cannot be scaled by any army. Where it is eroded by gullies the streams fill the entire channel. At the foot of this bluff around the peninsula lie impassible swamps and sinkholes that would swallow horses and trap the wheels of chariots.
 * 37) Also  none  can  pass  by# land around the Great Sea to the north or to the south. There roaring waves run nigh to the Ice, and often froz- en slabs melt and slide into the sea with great thunder. No permanent road can be carved and no tunnel bored to permit passage east or west.
 * 38) Between  Seliah Island  and  the city of Rumbek lay the much smaller Krone Island and Fanok Island, walled suburbs linked by a network of bridges. Even the smallest islet, Krone, was covered with dwellings and fortifications that alone made it greater than all of Salem.
 * 39) The  mainland was  little  wider than the road that traversed it. But behind this rose the Nine Mile Wall, that part of the cliffs ringing the Magodon Peninsula which was forti- fied by angels and nephilim and men. The Nine Mile Wall and the City of Rumbek were one and the same.
 * 40) The  dwellings of the city  were carved into the wall, connected by tunnels with endless ramps and stairs. Where these dwellings faced the open air they boasted a faC'ade of ornately-carved harder stone. Rumbek was so large it even spilled over onto part of Seliah Island.
 * 41) Where Tala Strait met the shore-line road there existed many ware- houses and piers for the ships of merchants and for the peerless navy of King Metatron. On the other side of the road, at the base of the Nine Mile Wall, there were storefronts and market stalls beyond number.
 * 42) A rare mood of unhappiness over-came Lilith when sha saw these shops and this distressed Michael in turn when he saw it. 'What is wrong, be- loved?''I can't excape the memory  that I used to extort shopkeepers for their money, when I already had ev- erything I could ever need.'
 * 43) 'That  was before  you  embraced Chohkmah,' Michael said. 'You are ashamed because cannot fall back on the justification others make that they fell in with the wrong sort of friends.' 'I was always their leader,' sha acknowledged. 'I was the wrong sort of friend for them.'
 * 44) Michael  took  out  hyz# little leather pouch of diamonds. 'I know it hurts, Lil, but you can let it go. The shame you feel now is suffi- cient punishment for the misdeeds of your past. Take three deep breaths! Good. Now, will you help me choose something to purchase for Leliel?'
 * 45) The  tip  of a large  knife  de-pressed the skin at Michael's neck. The yang holding the blade said, 'Give to me what you hold in your hand or I'll let flow your life's blood!' This  would  have  seemed  sadly familiar to Lilith's brother, Mel- chizedek, who was accosted in Har- ran.
 * 46) 'Scout!'  barked  Lilith.# 'Run away!' And such was Leliel's train- ing that sha immediately obeyed har mother as though it were a battle command, despite being only two years of age.
 * 47) The robber scowled at Lilith but dismissed har as any threat. Sha was standing too far away.
 * 48) Michael  carefully  offered  the bag of precious stones, knowing hy could always make more. While the attacker greedily grasped the pouch a terrifying hiss began to be heard. Lilith, standing well away from Mi- chael, extended the dark shaft of the Golden Gift as long as a pike.
 * 49) Sha  sliced the  attacker's  own weapon in twain, leaving only the hilt and letting the blade clatter to the ground. That was Lilith's idea of a warning shot, but it was a hint hy did not take. Hyz other hand stashed the diamonds in hyz pocket and fumbled for a second blade.
 * 50) When the weapon came out  Lilith swept the black shaft closer to the yang's wrist than the first sweep had been. Hy screamed as his hand and the blade it was holding fell to the ground together. Michael kicked the bloody mess away as Lilith brought the Golden Gift to repose.
 * 51) 'Hold out your arm and I'll help you,' Michael told him. The yang brought out the gushing stump from under his armpit and Michael laid on hyz hands to staunch the wound. 'You should be grateful. The way the rel- ic cuts leaves arteries wide open. Only a flame would seal them.' Lilith  drew near to  them.  'No rebuke from my teacher?'
 * 52) 'It  was a good  deed,'  Michael admitted. 'Hy could not have killed me with yz blade for the same rea- son he's not dying from yours. Hy seemed set on hyz unprofitable course of action even when you of- fered hym a way out.'"
 * 53) When  Michael was satisfied  the robber would survive hyz wound hy stood up and looked around. Leliel still had not returned from the place where sha had made har escape. Michael noted that many onlookers had witnessed the robbery attempt and the healing of the attacker's arm.
 * 54) Lilith  darted off to  look  for har daughter. Shortly Leliel came to har father alone, showing off har new talent as soon as sha had learned from har mother that it was safe to come back. 'Where did you go?' hy asked. Sha pointed to a place high above in the Nine Mile Wall.
 * 55) 'You did well to obey your moth-er so quickly.' 'Thank you father!' After a long interval that spoke of Leliel's new speed, Lilith re- joined them. 'Five levels over our head my Scout was,' said sha. 'And sha got there so quickly sha was able to watch all that transpired.'
 * 56) 'One good thing will come of all this, at least,' Michael said to har. 'You have been seen wielding the Golden Gift. The Ophan Barachiel has seen you do the same on the frontier and has no doubt spoken of it to many. We should have our audi- ence with the king soon.'
 * 57) True  to Michael's words  troops arrived and began questioning the crowd that had gathered around the scene. The robber attempted to scramble to hyz feet but Lilith pushed hym back down, digging in hyz pocket for the pouch of diamonds, which sha returned to har husband.
 * 58) The  troops were commanded by  a yeoman of the king's court who ad- dressed Lilith as respectfully as hy could while yet being unsure of har identity. 'I am Gruen, a humble servant in the court of King Meta- tron. Do I have the honor of ad- dressing Har Majesty the Queen of Salem?\
 * 59) 'I am Lilith, yes, the  rightful ruler of Salem. Yet I am dispos- sessed of that city.' 'Your Majesty, you shall be  re-ceived by the king at mid-morning tomorrow. A messenger shall be dis- patched to Ophan Barachiel in the Dul Valley expressing for the Ophan to return hither."
 * 60) 'Meantime  the king bids you  to lodge together with any who travel with you within chambers in the highest level of hyz castle. I as- sure you these lodgings are second in opulence only to those of the king hymself.' 'I  would be honored to stay  at the castle with my family.'
 * 61) Gruen  looked  unfavorably  upon the prisoner as hy was bound. 'Were you but common travelers from Adan I would still be filled with shame for what this yang tried to do.' Lilith  said, 'Do you think  the king will listen if I tell hym the yang has already been amply pun- ished?'
 * 62) 'Probably  not,' Gruen  replied, 'and more's the pity. No doubt hyz missing hand will argue with hym should hy ever again consider rob- bery 'But  you should try,' said  Mi-chael. 'Reckless forgiveness is all I ever had to teach at the Sunset Discourse, and nothing more.'
 * 63) The Nine Mile Wall angled  south and east for half its length, then abruptly changed direction to march south and west. At the pinnacle a razor-thin ridge of sandstone half as high as the Wall jutted into the Strait. This was the skeleton of the castle of King Metatron.
 * 64) The flesh and bones of the  cas-tle were hard stone on the whole exterior, and what windows existed were only large enough for archers to fire their darts upon attackers below. There were three hundred ninety steps to the top, yet Lilith and Michael did not ascend them.
 * 65) Instead  they were ported  indi-vidually to the top in seats carried by staves. Thirteen teams of serv- ants handed their passengers off to another team after ascending thirty steps. And all the while Leliel walked beside har parents, summing everything up with one word: 'Lazy!'
 * 66) Their  lodgings were  everything Gruen had promised. Lilith said to the attendants who waited upon them, 'My daughter shall need at least five times the amount of food you would guess a child har age would need, and har chamberpot must be emptied with corresponding frequen- cy.'
 * 67) The  castle stood  straight  out from the Nine Mile Wall and when day became night the lights of the dwellings of the city stretching north from them burned for a time. Michael extinguished the lights in their own dwelling to let Leliel marvel at them, but sha soon fell asleep.
 * 68) Leliel was gently put to bed.  A side-effect of Leliel's new talent was sha tended to sleep much more than sha ever did. Michael and Li- lith saw an opportunity to share intimacy, one that that had been delayed for many weeks. Michael and Lilith kissed and began to disrobe.
 * 69) When Lilith laid aside har weap-on, har brass, and the leather that protected har, as well as the mental armor that lay beneath all these, there was revealed, to har husband alone, a yin of exquisite tenderness who could not deny har sex. Michael this found very provocative.
 * 70) Afterwrds  they  lay  together holding hands, limbs entwined, watching the pattern of light on the wall of the chamber slowly change as the king's subjects who dwelt in the Nine Mile Wall extinguished the lights of their own homes as they would. Sleep quickly overtook them.
 * 71) In the morning after a leisurely breakfast a gentle knock on the door announced the return of Gruen, who inquired how they had fared over- night. Hy was come to escort them into the presence of King Metatron. 'What has come of the yang who ac- costed us yesterday?' asked Lilith.
 * 72) 'Hyz Majesty is incensed,' Gruen replied, 'and hyz view of justice is that the punishment should ever fit the offense. Hy is in the place where he did the crime and there is a knot of rope that obsesses this yang more than your gems or the goods of any other of his victims.
 * 73) 'The yang hangs by one arm,  you see. Hy could untie the knot and release hymself of hyz torment if only hyz mouth weren't gagged to free hyz teeth, or if only hy had a second hand to grasp the knot. And so hy remains, because the king has not said hyz suffering should end.'
 * 74) To  this Lilith said only,  'Let no one question the wisdom of the Larund King.' But Michael could see, as they gathered Leliel with them and departed their guest chambers with Gruen to come before the throne of the Cherub Metatron, that Lilith was troubled in har heart.
 * 75) The  King received them  at  the end of a long, narrow colonnade ex- posed to the elements, where hyz throne had been set with its back to the very face of the Nine Mile Wall. From here hy often enjoyed watching the doings of hyz subjects in the streets of the city far below.
 * 76) Lilith was brought before  Meta-tron with har daughter Leliel in hand and with Michael at har side. Sha found the Larund sovereign to be like an echo of har beloved father of happy memory. It was as though both yeng were the angelic incarna- tion of a couplet of rhyming verse.
 * 77) And  yet, Lilith was  forced  to acknowledge to harself, if the greatness of a lord was reckoned by the realm over which hy was sover- eign, Metatron bordered on the sta- tus of a seraph. All the angels of Adan at the heart of the Gerash lands would fill a mere burough of Rumbek.
 * 78) Sha  saw  that the  king's  son, Barachiel, sat at hyz right hand. So hy was neither dead nor in fetters, which told Lilith that hyz father had accepted the conditions of the truce hastily worked out on the field of battle between har and Sa- mael. Metatron noted har glance.
 * 79) 'I am not certain I should  wel-come you to Rumbek, Queen Lilith,' said hy, after Gruen made the formal introductions. 'My son Ophan Barachiel told me it was you who gave a fair portion of my land to the Black Beards in such a way that I must either ratify it or go to war.'
 * 80) 'Your Majesty,' replied  Lilith, 'Ophan Barachiel was at a disadvan- tage even with my Fallen Angels fighting at hyz side. It would have been a rout and your new frontier with the Adanites would be that much closer to this city. The King no doubt understands battle decisions.'
 * 81) Metatron# grunted#  dubiously. Then: 'It is said you are exiled from Salem. How come you to such a strait?' 'I  spoke truth to yeng  of  the House of Gerash, but they hated the truth because it was like a bright light that threatened to reveal the dark things they do in secret.'
 * 82) The  king's  next  question  was sharp and to the point. 'What is truth?' Lilith glanced at Michael,  then said in reply, 'Your Majesty, truth is the way things are. We know this truth when our thoughts and deeds echo the world as it plainly is, without a single contradiction.'
 * 83) 'What  do you ask of  me,  Queen Lilith? Shall I put my armies at your command? Shall I use force to protect the purity of your truth?'# Lilith said, 'Nay, Your Majesty. If what I teach is so fragile that I must shield it from contamination, what I have cannot be the truth.'
 * 84) 'The Eyes of Keter fight to con-vert others to their view and make war against other views, because what they call truth is too weak to sell itself to those who seek the truth with sincerity. They are cer- tain they already possess the one truth and refuse to look at reality.'
 * 85) 'If  truth  comes to  those  who seek it with sincerity, then tell me, Queen Lilith, what is the most sincere truth?' 'Only  this, your  Majesty:  the noblest activity is unending love.' Metatron pondered this silently.'There  is a yang who  tried  to rob my husband yesterday.'
 * 86) The king emerged from hyz rever-ie to search the face of Lilith. Sha went on to say, 'Your Majesty, what hy tried to take from Michael was of little account. If hy chose Michael could flood both Heaven and Earth with so many diamonds they would be like so many wooden beads.'
 * 87) Hy said, 'Yet it has come to  me that your own daughter had to flee for har life.''Sha  did so at my  command,  in the event the attacker threw hyz blade. I severed the hand of this yang to preserve the life of my hus- band. And that, I think, is a most extravagant punishment.'
 * 88) Metatron  saw  to the  heart  of Lilith's words to hym. With great tact sha was trying to balance hyz absolute sovereignty in Rumbek with the radical graciousness sha had learned from har husband and teach- er. 'Gruen!' barked the king, and hyz yeoman sunk to hyz knees before hym.
 * 89) 'Gruen, tell the malik supervis-ing this yang's punishment that in my desire for justice it did not enter into my mind to be excessively cruel. Let hym be released from hyz suffering and let hym be cleaned and fed. Go in haste!' The king's yeoman bounded to hyz feet and fled.
 * 90) Lilith  made  a  small  feminine gesture of respect from one Cherub to another. 'Hyz Majesty is merciful and wise, yet a far greater thing weighs upon my thoughts than the chastisement of this thief. Some four hundred yen, exiles of Salem, are stranded on the frontier with Adan.
 * 91) They  cannot return  east  under the same covenant that stays the forces of Samael from marching west, and even now their meager supplies are running out.' 'Queen  Lilith, have  you  again established conditions on the field that leaves the House of Larund with little choice?'
 * 92) 'Nay, Your Majesty, at the  last throw Queen Aurra has offered to settle the Fallen Angels in Rammon, yet this would have the effect of disbanding them as an army. What an army they are indeed that Samael has mustered all hyz warriors to drive them out of the Middle Land.'
 * 93) 'It is well that House Sala  has opened their gates to you, yet I deem it would be a journey of at least two years to reach Rammon. Is that what you crave of me, Queen Lilith? Provender for your four hun- dred Fallen Angels, and leave to pass peacefully through Magodon?'
 * 94) 'Nay,  Your  Majesty.  Give  the word, rather, and to a yin my Fallen Angels will become your most loyal subjects.'
 * 95) 'Yet as an army they would be of no use when I march east to regain the lands occupied by Samael. You said yourself they are forbidden to cross the new border.'
 * 96) 'That is true, Your Majesty, but for such an endeavor you would no doubt muster your whole army to strike the Adanites. The Fallen An- gels could patrol your western marches, lest those of House Bellon or perhaps even rebels within Mago- don itself covet your unguarded lands.'
 * 97) 'And  let us say I did not  make your Fallen Angels my subjects,' Metatron suggested, 'nor send them provisions, nor give them leave to cross my land. What then?'
 * 98) 'In  that event,  Your  Majesty, the avatar of Chokhmah would come into play. May my husband address the king?'
 * 99) 'By all means let the consort of the Queen speak freely,' said Meta- tron. 'I would learn of this avatar, and of those things which converted the whole House of Sala to follow Chokhmah, and which tamed the heart of a warrior yin.' 'Your Majesty is gracious,' said Michael.'
 * 100) 'An avatar is an object not made by angels nor nephilim nor men. If Your Majesty is willing to accept this, an avatar is made in the heart of a sun that is the body of an elo- ah, yet it can fly free, and part of the mind and will of the eloah is bound with this artifact.'
 * 101) 'But  mere words  concerning  an avatar will not suffice. If Hyz Maj- esty will come to the edge of hyz colonnade hy will soon see the ava- tar with hyz own eyes. It was set into motion from an idle state just moments ago.' And  indeed  Metatron  did  rise from hyz throne to watch.'
 * 102) A  streak  of rushing  fire  ap-peared in the sky over Tala Strait followed by two thunderbursts so loud it seemed to Metatron hy would be knocked over. The fire streak, the king could see, formed behind a small dark object that raced across the sky almost too quickly to fol- low.
 * 103) 'Behold, Your Majesty, the first avatar of Chokhmah. With this con- trivance world-dwellers were discov- ered on Earth, whom the elohim name the Students. The same artifact once whisked me to a hidden place to be brought into full union with Chokh- mah as a kind of living avatar.'
 * 104) 'Tell  me, Lord  Michael,'  said the king, 'are you like Samael and Israel? In times past they have ap- peared before me, unheralded, and seem to have the power to come and go as they will heedless of my cas- tle guard. Samael calls hymself a seraph, a master even of cherubim.'
 * 105) 'I  was the first angel to  join with an eloah, Your Majesty. As Chokhmah I taught the art to Keter, and he in turn taught Daat. I have the same power to move about Heaven at will but a covenant with Keter restricts my use of this power to the lands west of the Wall of God.
 * 106) 'Here  I must resort  to  riding within the avatar. It brought me to Seliah with my wife and daughter and if needs be it can bring supplies to the Fallen Angels and the Fallen Angels themselves to Rammon, if aid is refused. In Magodon you rule ab- solutely, even over a seraph.'
 * 107) 'You  need  not resort  to  your avatar,' said the King, 'for any of the yen willing to swear fealty to the Crown. A choice land will be given to them in my realm. They shall have whatsoever they might need to begin to become productive subjects, and you shall dwell with them.'
 * 108) Lilith was visibly relieved.  'I am grateful beyond all telling, Your Majesty, and the Fallen Angels who look to me will be much gladdened. Yet if you say they must lay down the sword, so shall it be, for this too would be their fate scattered among the ringhouses of Rammon.'
 * 109) 'Nay,  Queen  Lilith,'# replied Metatron, 'let them grasp the sword even so, and see that you train them well. Samael is faithless. I portend his army will one day pour through an overlooked loophole in the cove- nant and then your Fallen Angels will repay me a hundredfold.'
 * 110) Michael said, 'I am sure  Samael will never directly assail you with the main bulk of hyz army, Your Maj- esty. Elohim cannot break the bonds of even the smallest concession. Yet hy can still send assassins and spies, and arm all your enemies, both within Magodon and without.'
 * 111) 'And  Samael  will  continue  to foment hatreds between House Larund and the other houses, that you would remain at each other's throat, so that hy might sell hyz remedy in the form of arms, first to one, then the other. Queen Aurra and King Uriel have said this must end.'
 * 112) 'Give  the word of assent,  Your Majesty, and I will bring the rulers of House Sala and House Bellon hith- er to take counsel with the aim of forging some form of peaceful union between the kingdoms of Heaven.' 'A council as you describe would be a good thing,' agreed the King.'
 * 113) 'And  it would be, I think,  thefirst such council ever taken in the history of Heaven. But for now let us find a land to settle the exiles of Salem, and watch for a time whether Samael will break the truce hy made.'Michael bowed and said, 'Let  itbe as the king commands.'
 * 114) 'Your  Majesty,'  said# Lilith, 'when we came to your realm we touched down in a fair valley that runs south through the middle of Seliah Island and we fell in love with the place at first sight. There are some houses and farms but it seems to be lightly settled in the main.'
 * 115) 'You# speak# of# the# Living Valley,' said the Ophan Barachiel, who turned to face Lilith. 'It is near to my own castle in the Dul Valley, though a high ridge inter- venes. The high hills run nigh to the water, so it is difficult to bring the increase of the valley to Rumbek.'
 * 116) 'The  Fallen Angels shall  dwell in the selfsame vale,' said the king.'You, Barachiel, my son, shall extend generous hands until the Salemites are able of their own to work the land. This is the labor I lay upon you for your part in what Queen Lilith named a battle deci- sion.'
 * 117) Barachiel  bowed hyz  head  low. 'It shall be as you command, my fa- ther and liege-lord. But meantime, Queen Lilith and har family shall stay in a wing of my own house until a dwelling is built for them in the Living Valley. Alas, I cannot extend the same to har four hundreds.'
 * 118) Then Michael, Lilith, and Leliel departed from the presence of the cherub Metatron. They were taken to dwell in the Dul Valley for a time while the Fallen Angels were sup- plied by goods carried by the avatar of Chokhmah and made ready to settle the land apportioned to them.
 * 119) CMA: When everything was done in preparation for the Council of Royals, there remained only the impending arrival of the Great Personages. Queen Aurra's serving wench, a woman named Lamassu, attained to the astonishing situation of having nothing to do and removed to a nook.
 * 120) CMB: Lamassu was perched above the great hall of Barachiel's airy castle high enough to see all the nobles when they paraded in to be seated. She was joined by Gabriel then and they shared a sweet kiss. They had been together for only six days, but for as many wonderful nights.
 * 121) CMC: For Lamassu the wild affair had been entirely bewildering. Gabriel seemed to know everything about her. In bed there was not a single awkward move. It was as though they had been married for a lifetime and Gabriel had returned to the very beginning to start all over again.
 * 122) CMD: Lamassu was already in love with this nephil who towered over her, this dark-skinned boy who was so beautiful because che was also a girl. Gabriel told her che was a servant of Michael but that che really came from the other world where the nephilim were almost nonexistent.
 * 123) CME: Gabriel adored how Lumassu communicated only with music. To Gabriel she sang: 'I sing of woe brought by those of black beard. When noble ones stood against what they fear'd. Just close your eyes to see them meet the king. Mark two slave women who watch all unseen.'
 * 124) CMF: Gabriel said to her, 'Technically, Lamassu, I'm not a woman, but never mind that, it's your art, right? By the way, if anyone catches you here avoiding work I think Queen Aurra has a pet whipping tree somewhere that will make the skin on your back become bloody ribbons.'
 * 125) CMG: Lamassu ran a delicate hand over the cloth of the tunic covering Gabriel's back, knowing that che, too, was no stranger to the touch of the lash. Five of the scars had been given hem, che said, by men on Earth asking questions of hem, before Gabriel could extricate hemself.
 * 126) CMH: She said: 'Now Gabrielle is one slave woman's name And one Lamassu is her female flame. They shirk toil in the valley castle As Uriel walks before hez vassal.' Indeed King Uriel of House Bellon had entered the chamber first, accompanied by hez daughter Princess Dafla.
 * 127) CMI: They looked none the worse after their flight on the dragon Demonstroke to the Dul Valley. Ophan Barachiel excluded all weapons from the council chamber save for the Dragonthorn alone, the diamond blade in the possession of Dafla, which she wore in a scabbard on her back.
 * 128) CMJ: Gabriel knew the Dragonthorn was useless as a weapon of war, yet it was something more than merely a ceremonial blade. Here in Heaven, in this time, the word talisman was wrapped around it. Where Gabriel originated, it was just a transmitter and antenna to control a machine. Ophan Nithael followed King Uriel into the chamber arm-in-arm with hez spouse Losna. A jen and an ambi, red of hair in the nephilim crop, they looked less a married couple so much as nearly identical twins. The city of Vaska was theirs to rule on the western shores of Thalury.
 * 129) CML: Of two these nobles Lamassu sang: 'They rule distant Vaska where I was born. Queen Aurra greets them with no trace of scorn. Yet their bitter clash of arms claimed her son And is fresh in the minds of everyone. 'Not bad,' said Gabriel. 'I should have brought my sax.'
 * 130) CMM: Lamassu shook her head and sang to Gabriel: 'Your horn with an otherworldly sound Will make it sure that we will both be found.' And Gabriel had to admit she was right. They both watched as other servants pulled out tall chairs where the king and his daughter were to sit.
 * 131) CMN: The Hashmal Phanuel entered then, alone, as the final delegate of the House of Bellon. Hy ruled the city of Atria in Haaretz. As an angel rather than a nephil, Phanuel served to remind everyone at least some members of the great family of Red Beards actually had red beards.
 * 132) CMO: Atria where Phanuel dwelt, at the head of navigation on the River Sabik, was the only civilized place in a land nigh to the Wall of God that was rich but largely uncrowded and untamed. Lamassu sang: 'Alodra the source of oxen and gold All guarded well by Phanuel the Bold.'
 * 133) CMP: Samael made hyz entrance without pomp, in a gait that showed forth that hy was at heart a soldier. Gabriel knew the seraph came in the role of a spoiler. Certainly Samael knew that any league of kingdoms forged in this council would be far stronger than the Adanites alone.
 * 134) CMQ: Lamassu had never seen the stocky and brash Adanite Emperor before. Hy came with only a single human female. No cherubim nor ophanim nor hashmalim accompanied Samael. Lamassu thought the woman looked very much like she was Gabriel's kin but she was lighter in skin and hair.
 * 135) CMR: Gabriel knew much about the woman, but little che was willing to tell. Che said, 'She's from Earth, and has chosen to use the name Joy because she loves irony.' The name meant nothing to Lamassu in her own tongue. The cold and exotic woman seemed to halt her flow of verse.
 * 136) CMS: The nobility of House Sala entered Barachiel's chamber. At the side of Queen Aurra walked Royal Consort Duke Evandr. The titles of human aristos differed from the titles of nephilim or angels. Lamassu, silent now, would publicly lampoon her queen later and come to regret it. CMT: Queen Aurra ruled inland Ramman, the most fertile, well-watered plain in Heaven. Left unchecked, the Gold Beards would multiply until they outnumbered everyone else on the Slush Belt. And House Sala venerated Chokhmah alone. Samael did not intend to leave Ramman unchecked.
 * 137) CMU: Following Aurra and Evandr was the Countess Ayani, the recently widowed wife of Aldred Firegem, which made her the most eligible bachelorette in Heaven. But many at the Council noted the continuous eye-lock Ayani had with Hashmal Phanuel, who was already seated at the table. CMV: For hyz part Phanuel returned the gaze of the willowy and now, apparently, the flirty Ayani. Something was obviously happening there. Lamassu was slightly disgusted because it had been less than a month since Count Aldred's death. In Rammon the people were still mourning. CMW: Gabriel knew Lamassu lived for saucy drama of this sort. Remembering the finest horses in Heaven were bred in Ayani's city of Locotin in the coast range of Rammon, Lamassu sang: 'Heeding no more her grand prize winning stallions. Ayani now seeks two-legged medallions!'
 * 138) CMX: Following Ayani was her kinsman the Baron Alastor Firegem of Thorgram, who was also eligible for marriage, but his ever-wandering eye made marriage impossible. When his dalliances annoyed his mother she would send him abroad. By now he knew Heaven better than anyone else.
 * 139) CMY: Lamassu found the man easy enough on the eyes. He was as brawny as any angel of greater stature, but always smirking, as though frozen in perpetual boyhood. Of him she sang: 'Alastor's a feast for many a talebearer. 'Whomever he's with, he finds the next much fairer!'
 * 140) CMZ: Thorgram was nestled in the range of high hills that formed a fence between the fertile heart of Rammon and the narrow coastal plain along the shore of Thalury, amid a vast forest of gopher trees. These produced lumber that was found neither on Earth nor natively in Heaven.
 * 141) CNA: Gopher trees were a hybrid of both worlds and their wood had been used by ships in the Deluge, for it could not be destroyed by expanding ice. It is ridiculously easy to cut and work. Perhaps Alastor was so boyish, Gabriel thought, because he ruled a city made of tree forts.
 * 142) CNB: The delegations came into the chamber ordered by lots, lest any think the sequence represented the opinion of Ophan Barachiel which noble one was the greater. Hy only decreed that the hosting Larund delegation must enter last. So Michael entered next with hyz growing family.
 * 143) CNC: There hy was, thought Gabriel, grandpa in hyz younger days, a bit more well-dressed than usual, but still just a glassblower's son. Lamassu was too filled with awe for the incarnation of her God to see Michael as less aristocratic and regal than any of the others present.
 * 144) CND: Gabriel's own mother Leliel walked in front of Michael, just four years old. Gabriel found it a unique sensation to realize che was seeing har now, in the flesh, and not through something like a film. Even more interesting was how sha had somehow been tamed to a slow walk.
 * 145) CNE: Gabriel recognized hez grandmother Lilith, of course, walking next to Michael, but it was the first time che had seen har with hez own eyes rather than through the memories of others. Hez first impression was a dark thunderstorm had somehow been frozen as a long-legged yin.
 * 146) CNF: Lilith was attired in the gray and black lines of a Fallen Angels dress uniform, a recent thing which had appeared as the Sealiah colony took root. And Gabriel saw that sha carried in har arms hez uncle Ithuriel as a very young infant dirk, perhaps only a few weeks in age.
 * 147) CNG: When Leliel seated harself sha methodically removed a white scroll from a fired clay cylinder and prepared quills in what was taken to be a precious parody of an adult scribe. Lamassu sang: 'I thought the child would sit and fidget Now I think sha is really a midget!'
 * 148) CNH: The Hashmal Raphaela, second-in-command of the Fallen Angels, followed Lilith wearing an identical dress uniform. Sha walked beside Ophan Barachiel while they held hands. The two apparently grew quite close in the months they were left to watch the empty frontier with Adan.
 * 149) CNI: The green island of Sealiah held in fee by Ophan Barachiel kept the people of Rumbek well-nourished, and many more besides. It was a great blessing but perhaps not all thought so. Lamassu sang: 'The more the soil yields in Dul Valley The more we toil in Ophan's galley!'
 * 150) CNJ: Uzziel of Elketz entered at a stately pace. Hyz city lay west in cattle country, where the animals raised were driven throughout Magodon to be slaughtered. Lamassu sang: 'Check your soles Uzziel before further you roam, I just caught a whiff, a small reminder of home!'
 * 151) CNK: When Uzziel reached the place where hy was to sit, hy did not take hyz seat, but said rather, in a loud voice, 'Lords and ladies, please rise to your feet, Metatron king of Rumbek is come.' Nineteen complied with this rule of etiquette, but Samael and Joy remained seated.'
 * 152) CNL: Cherub Metatron entered the chamber through a massive door behind the head of the long table where hy was to sit. Lamassu sang: 'Fishers circle the island in a ring All of them subject to Metatron King.'Your pardon,' Gabriel told her. 'The Lord Michael has need of me.'
 * 153) CNM: Since all eyes were already on Metatron, Gabriel started there. Walking to the king's side, inverting and restoring his leather pouch to show here was nothing inside, che reached in to withdraw a crystal goblet of golden wine and set it on the table to gasps and applause. C
 * NN: Gabriel repeated hez trick down the table on the king's left-hand side, omitting wine only for Leliel and Ithuriel. Samael seemed to be deeply impressed by the magic. Only Joy seemed bored. 'Hush, daughter,' che said to her in the tongue of the latter-day B'nei Elohim.
 * 1) CNO: 'You hush, father,' she said in reply, and Gabriel could do nothing but just that, though che longed to ask her why she was in the company of Samael in this pivotal moment. Instead, che produced more goblets of what would be called a crisp, oaky Chardonnay in hez own time.
 * 2) CNP: After a time that was far more brief than if Gabriel had poured wine rather than pulled full goblets from hez leather pouch, everyone had been served, and Gabriel stood a distance from the king with wine in hez own hand. Metatron said, 'Lords and ladies of Heaven, welcome.'
 * 3) CNQ: The king picked up hyz goblet since hy deemed it more mannerly to raise a glass in the direction of someone than to point a finger. Hy shifted hyz wine and said, 'Queen Lilith of Salem and har husband Lord Michael have been my honored guests on this isle for over two years.'
 * 4) CNR: 'They arrived through the air inside what Lord Michael has called an avatar, made by the hand of Chokhmah himself. With them came their daughter Leliel, who even now is marking down the words I say here, and har mother insists Leliel will not merely play at being a scribe.
 * 5) CNS: 'Now Lord Michael and Queen Lilith have experienced many lamentable misfortunes which have led them to be driven into exile from Salem, but recently the birth of their son, Ithuriel, on this very isle, has been an occasion of great joy, and I rejoice in union with them.'
 * 6) CNT: Metatron turned hyz hand holding wine to where Samael and Joy remained seated, both unmindful of decorum in the presence of the king. Hy said, 'It is well that the ruler of the Adanites, Lord Samael, has also made hyz appearance. We do not conspire against hym in secret.
 * 7) CNU: 'Lord Samael has come to us in the extraordinary way that some among us have seen before, as hy is of the seraphim and can travel anywhere in Heaven at once. An Earthwoman named Joy accompanies hym. I am told she is a warrior of rank that would make her as one of the sarim.' # CNV: The king looked along the table and said, 'The Baron Alastor Firegem of the House of Sala has come, and he did not need to go far as he was already in Rumbek on an errand laid upon him by his mother.' At that Ayani could not help making a sharp chuckle, to her embarrassment.
 * 8) CNW: Metatron had intended to mention Ayani next, but her short eruption of mirth did not suit the words hy had prepared touching the recent death of her spouse Count Aldred. Annoyed, the king passed over Ayani and introduced instead King Uriel of Jelaket and hez daughter Dafla. C
 * NX: 'I think in all of Heaven the only means of travel more unusual than the one employed by Lord Samuel must be to come hither on the back of the last surviving dragon, even as the nobles from Jelaket have done. I am certain the Cherub Uriel will have more to say about that.'
 * 1) CNY: Metatron's eyes moved further up the table. 'We are honored to have with us here the Ophan Nithael of Vaska and also hez spouse Losna. They traveled by means of the avatar of Chokhmah which whisked them over the wide expanse of Thalury, the Wall of God, and most of Magodon.'
 * 2) CNZ: 'We have with us also Hashmal Phanuel and I am told hy was the traveling companion of Baron Alastor. They had perhaps the most arduous journey of all who have attained to this council chamber, for they went by foot and by steed, and took the better part of a year to arrive.' COA:'I am pleased to see my son the Hashmal Uzziel is also here today,' said the King. 'Hy is come from Elketz, the nearest city to Rumbek west of the Nine Mile Wall, yet hy sent the better part of the summer riding here, as this Heaven where we dwell truly is great in extent.'
 * 3) COBB : Metatron then introduced Raphaela of the Fallen Angels, who sat between Uzziel and Barachiel. 'Of har doings on the marches of House Larund to the east sha has much to say, for indeed events there precipitated this very council, which is, I think, unique in the long history of Heaven.' COCB : 'Yet it is long overdue. The question before us is nothing less than this: Will there be lasting peace in Heaven? Such must be foremost in the thoughts of Queen Aurra Firegem of Rammon, and Duke Evandr, and the Countess Ayani, who come to this council still deep in grief. COD: 'Not a one present here can be unaware that the nobles of House Sala have come to us soon after the life of their kinsman Count Aldred was taken on the field and in the days leading up to this conclave it first came to my mind to utter soothing but empty words in his memory.
 * 4) COE: 'Let us drink to a better sentiment instead,' said Metatron as hy raised hyz goblet. The lords and ladies seated at the table raised their own at the bidg of the king. 'As we trot our grudges at this council may we resolve to forge something truly lasting and meaningful.
 * 5) COF: 'Let us see through to making Count Aldred's otherwise useless death significant in an enduring way.' Then the King and all the attendees quaffed the wine, save for Samael and Joy, who remained seated and did not share Metatron's sentiment. There were gasps around the table.
 * 6) COG: The gathered noble lords and ladies marveled how the wine was somehow as chilly as a mountain stream after being poured from Gabriel's wineskin. Even Gabriel joined them in the toast, standing near the King, and Lamassu marveled that che was not rebuked for drinking on duty. COH: But Gabriel was finished with hez task for now. Che polished off hez crystal goblet of wine and returned to the high nook where Lamassu waited. The Cherub Metatron bade everyone to be seated. Then hy rang the little bell that was set before hym and the council had begun.