The rain fell as if it would never stop. The air seemed cold and leaden, even though the room was warmed by a fire and the golden light of an electric lamp. Amazing thing, electricity - artificial light wasn't necessary in Arabot, or anywhere above the first veil, and until visiting earth Raphael had seen nothing like it. Humans were very creative when they put their minds to it.

"Are you going to watch it all day, Raziel?" he asked, glancing at the figure perched upon the window seat. "In any case, I doubt his arrival will be visible from the window."

"Rain isn't the same at home." She rested her forehead against the glass. "There isn't anything else to do, is there? The radio will malfunction if you get near it, and we really shouldn't cheat these humans out of any more money."

The inn that had been designated as the meeting place was plush by earth standards, most notably for the various services enabled by the new electric wiring. The windows still shook in their frames at the slighest hint of thunder, and the drafts chilled the air just enough that he would be uncomfortable if he stepped away from the fire. There was a heater of some kind against the far wall, but after thirty minutes of fiddling with it, he'd given up on the thing.

Why Metatron thought it was a proper place to meet, however, was beyond him. A quiet, sheltered place in the desert would have been Raphael's preference. No chance of discovery there; there would be no humans to endanger by their presence, nor to cheat out of money, as his companion had noted.

"Bless them with a stroke of luck," he said, and Raziel did him the favor of glancing back with a crooked smile. He shrugged and paced across the rug, pausing in front of the fireplace. "Why is it that we can't make these devices work? It must be in that book of yours."

"Our composition is different from that of humans. They actually hit it right on the nose with their silly theories about the paranormal."

"Oh really?" Raphael dropped into the nearest chair and slouched as far down as he could. Miserable. The cushion wouldn't give under his slight weight. "I can't think of one instance where they've been right about anything."

Raziel laughed and pulled her knees against her chest. Her gaze returned to the window. "Our essence translates into electricity when we're here, and these shells we wear don't contain it very well, so it interferes with devices that are powered by electricity. Some of the smarter humans call ghosts 'electromagnetic,' which is close enough, I suppose. The truth is more complex."

"I don't need to know," Raphael said, and he had the satisfaction of seeing her abandon her study of the rain again to look at him. "Sorry. I'm as dense as Michael when it comes to things like this."

She rolled her eyes, shrugged, and went back to watching the rain. Raphael settled back and returned to his contemplation of Raziel, and the silence stretched, broken only by the crackle of the fire and the whistle of wind through the ill-fitting window frames. He wondered, watching a strand of her hair dance, why humans couldn't do better than this. They'd had thousands of years - why couldn't they build a structure immune to drafts?

He shivered and sighed. The fire needed more fuel, but he was too involved with the vision by the window to bother adding it himself. He'd never really noticed what she looked like before.

"Raziel..."

"He'll be here," she responded, without looking up.

The meeting wasn't what he'd been thinking about, but he let it drop. It was better not to acknowledge the turn his thoughts were taking. "Are you sure?" The lights flickered. "You're /positive/ the message came from him? You remember what he looked like when he left us - it's hard to believe he has recovered from that."

"Have a little faith," she said, and Raphael winced. "Metatron-"

"-isn't coming."

Raphael bounded to his feet and spun around. He saw Raziel do the same at the edge of his vision. "Who-?" It took a moment to recognize the face he saw. "Sandalphon."

The newcomer smiled slightly. "Not my brother, but good enough, I hope."


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It's like fan fiction - it doesn't mean much unless you know the story that came before, and unfortunately, we haven't made that public. Technically speaking, this ficlet needs a lot of help anyway.