Finding Heathcliff

Fifty-Five

They left the cave early the following morning and it took the angels only a couple of hours to reach the surface of the promontory despite having to carry more people-- Izar decided to join them and Rigel's parents insisted on returning home.

The group reached the outskirts of Vega shortly after sunset the following day, and Michael and Azrael, glowing eerily under the moonlight, used angel magic to disguise themselves as fallen angels, deciding on making themselves visible to human eyes like the others.

Evangeline, Ramiel and Camael spread their arms and three pairs of doves, so similar and yet so different from Azrael's, swooped in from the nearby copse of trees, each finding their angel without a mistake. The birds were off again just as unexpectedly, but Astrid didn't have time to question anyone about how had they found them and where they had been sent to because they heard footsteps from the direction of Rigel's house, and Jophiel rounded the corner a few second later.

"Here you are! So much has happened. Regulus, the regent's men tried to burn your house down. We fought them and repaired the cottage as well as we could, but some of your books..." he spoke fast until he approached the group enough to spot Michael in their midst.

"I thought you never come into this country, Michael," Jophiel said, smiling at him.

"And I thought we would never meet again, friend, because you decided, I've heard, not to claim your wings back."

The two men embraced, then Jophiel turned back to Rigel's father.

"As I said, we did our best to restore your house, but we couldn't replace your books. Come, let me show you."

Jophiel led the group around the house towards the entrance of the cottage. To Astrid, in the faint light cast by the almost full moon, the house looked just as before. Even inside, in the warm flicker of the oil lamps which Regulus lighted when they entered, nothing seemed out of place, apart from the strong scent of charred wood, until they reached Regulus' bookshelves. There, the curtain which hid them from view, and more than half of the books were missing. The sight brought tears to her eyes, but Regulus only shrugged.

"It could have been much worse, I'm sure. I hope none of your people got hurt, Jophiel. Thank you."

Andromeda, who had been quiet until that moment, on seeing it was really only the books the fallen angels hadn't repaired, remembered her duties of the lady of the house and started planning where she would make all of them sleep.

"I'll take some of them with me, Andromeda," Jophiel said, placing one hand on her shoulder. "There are many things we must discuss before they move on."

In the end, it was only Rigel with Astrid and Azrael who remained to sleep in Regulus' cottage; the others followed Jophiel to his house.

"Didn't you want to go with the others to hear the news?" Astrid asked when she reached her room, the same one she had been assigned before, after her bath. The only difference was that this time, her sharing the bedroom with Azrael seemed so natural to Rigel's parents that they never questioned it. And it made Astrid happy, people's accepting them as a couple, as if they had been destined to be together. That was exactly how she felt, she thought, walking across the small bedroom towards Azrael, who sat on the bed.

He reached out for her and pulled her between his legs as she approached, wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, and pressed his face to her chest, among the damp folds of her clean shirt.

"No, they can tell me tomorrow. I'll have to fly over later, only to hear when Michael wants to leave in the morning, but I'm not going anywhere before you fall asleep."

He looked up at her, and she cupped his face in her hands, bringing her lips to his. Her feelings for him were indescribable and unfathomable, and they were still growing. And the best thing was that she could feel that his feelings for her were the same.

"Then put me to bed," she said, feeling breathless after the long kiss, "go speak to Michael and come back. Don't be too long, please."

"You know I won't," he said, standing up and helping her climb into the bed. "I can't stay away from you."

She smiled and kissed him again as he climbed in with her, letting him hold her in silence, feeling too tired to talk, until she fell asleep.

When Astrid and Azrael exited the cottage in the morning, ready for the next part of the journey after having said their goodbyes to Regulus and Andromeda, the others were already gathered there.

Two things surprised Astrid, who hadn't had enough time to learn what had been said at Jophiel's the previous night-- the absence of Evangeline and Camael and the presence of several horses.

Azrael opened his mouth to reply to her thoughts, but Michael beat him to it.

"We will always send someone ahead to see what is waiting for us along the road. And we will ride, keeping ourselves visible to everyone," the archangel said, taking her hand from Azrael's and helping her onto one of the horses.

"Are you expecting danger ahead?" Astrid asked him, making sure that Azrael was close behind with Rigel, Izar, and Ramiel before she let her steed fall into step with Michael's.

The archangel shrugged. "It is possible that we will meet Arcturus' men. Jophiel's house had nearly been burned to the ground, too, but the people of Vega united against the regent's men and stand strong on our side. I don't expect to find such allegiance everywhere. That's why we travel in this form, visible to humans, to see where the people's loyalties lie."

Astrid nodded as the new information registered in her mind.

"Why are there uncle's guards around? I thought they used to be sent out once a month to collect taxes and such, and they only used to venture as far as they felt safe because of the Black Nights."

"He sends them out on pretence of looking for you, but they seem to have permission to attack any, hmm, insufficiently loyal subjects of the regent."

Astrid's heart skipped a beat as she recalled Lord Acrux and Lady Alioth-- from what Izar had told her about them, they were too free minded to be considered perfectly loyal to either side... She was about to beg Michael to let her check on them on their way to Starling but she didn't have to, Azrael appeared at her side when he felt her worries and a silent exchange passed between him and Michael even as his hand came to rest on her shoulder, calming and encouraging.

"All right. We will check on your friends, daughter," the archangel promised, his bright eyes boring into Astrid's, "but please let's not make many of such stops, Polaris might need us."

Astrid smiled at him thankfully then fell behind with Azrael, until it was his and Ramiel's turn to fly ahead when Camael and Evangeline returned, saying they had seen none of the regent's men in the surrounding countryside.

Then, after a quick meal, Astrid rode next to Michael again and as the day progressed and she got to talk to him more, she began to realise how differently he acted here, above ground...

She saw his eyebrows draw into a slight frown as he replied before the thought was completed in her mind. "I haven't been upon the surface of Earth for more than sixteen years, and I didn't miss this place. If it wasn't for Polaris, I would never have returned. This country reminds me of my times as a fallen angel, which I'd rather forget, unlike Jophiel and your Azrael, I have never been entirely satisfied when I was banished from Heaven. We're all different, I guess," he shrugged, leaving his place next to Astrid to Azrael, who had just returned.

Michael rode on ahead, refusing Evangeline's offer to join him, as if he needed to be alone for a while.