Anael

[offthebeatenpath]

Flying, Em discovered, hadn't lost any of its thrill in the year she'd gone without. It felt every bit as wonderful and natural as it had in Duninnean, only now there was a hint of anxiety too, that she might be seen. She'd flown a few times since Halloween and the new understanding of her powers, but only at night, and usually further out from the city center, over quiet neighborhoods or wooded areas where there would be fewer people to see.

Autumn nights in England weren't exactly warm at ground level, let alone in the air, but she'd found if she bundled up, the warmth of her real clothes was just as real no matter what the projection over herself appeared to wear. So she could enjoy her flights without being too cold on her way back to the squat. Tonight she 'wore' a long, white dress trimmed in gold that matched the golden angel wings lifting her into the sky. The wings were the strangest thing, mostly because they didn't feel strange at all, as much an extension of her thought as they would be on her Knight of Swords. She wanted to fly, so they beat and she flew.

The moon was just past full, making it all the more likely someone could see her, but Em wanted to clear her head, and flying worked even better than Askani meditations sometimes. She could soar on the wind, looking down over the city, heart-free and head-quiet, no distractions, and just be for awhile.

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[whispersoflove]

Anael watched her curiously for a long while, remaining cloaked as he did so. She was not one of them, of that he was certain, not because he would have known all of his brethren (they were many), but because she did not feel like one of them. Some of them might have wings this small, for all he knew, and some of them definitely had golden wings, but she was not angelic, for all that she looked like an angel stepped right out of a picture book. Aside from her eyes. Fully white eyes, everything but angelic.

He reappeared to mortal eyes a little way away, and flew over to her, looking much less the part of the angel in his usual jeans and t-shirt, if it weren't for the large wings protruding from his back and disturbing a lot more air than her smaller ones did, each time they beat. He stopped a few feet from her, hovering in the air and watching her curiously, with no trace of hostility.

"You didn't have wings last time we met," he ended up settling on, and then smiled. "Then again, neither did I."

[offthebeatenpath]

There had been a lot of flyers at Muir and in the village, and Em had crossed paths with several while taking the pegasus express. But in this world it was a surprise at first, meeting another person in the air. No, not person, she corrected, once she recognized him and remembered the reading she'd done for him the last time.

"Yes, you did," she said, once she adjusted to the idea of a mid-air conversation. "I Saw them." She gave a small smile. "But you're right about me. The wings are new."

[whispersoflove]

Anael's small smile widened. "You've got the Sight. Or - whatever it's called these days." He looked over her shoulder, at the golden wings flapping behind her back, then shifted in the air so he could be looking at them more easily. "And how did you go about acquiring those? They're beautiful."

[offthebeatenpath]

"They're just a picture," she said, wanting to shrug but not knowing how with the wings and their motion. "I just give them form."

[whispersoflove]

"I don't think they're 'just' anything," Anael told her warmly, circling around her before stopping in front of her to face her again. "Aren't you afraid of getting spotted up here?" He rarely flew above any densely populated area without being cloaked, himself.

[offthebeatenpath]

"Yes." Em couldn't help thinking of all the things that could go wrong, the people who could be hurt, if she was discovered by baselines, and that worry was audible.

"But I've missed flying, and I hate having to hide what I am. So I try to be discreet, and hope anyone who does get a glimpse decides they couldn't have seen what they thought they saw."

[whispersoflove]

"Most men are very good at ignoring that sort of thing," Anael agreed, hopefully. He wouldn't want her to end up in trouble, and there were some who were very good at noticing that sort of thing.

[offthebeatenpath]

"Most," she repeated. That was the problem, wasn't it? There were those who would notice and believe, and everything could go to hell. Or they'd find out about mutants, and the UK could prove as much a refuge here as it was in her world.

"You're really an angel, then," she said, not exactly a question, but still seeking confirmation. She laughed softly, and gestured toward herself, wings and all. "It was this same picture that let me See you."

[whispersoflove]

Anael smiled, as warm as he got. "I'm really an angel. Anael," he introduced himself by his real name.

[offthebeatenpath]

"Anael," she repeated softly, searching her memory. She landed on a book she'd read about John Dee, which had led to reading several more, and Anael being one of the archangels mentioned in a mystical figure, but that was all she knew of him.

"I'm not sure what you're supposed to say to meeting an angel," she told him shyly, and somewhat awed.

[whispersoflove]

Anael grinned at her, now less overwhelmingly warm than simply amused. "I believe the correct etiquette calls for - 'hello'."

[offthebeatenpath]

Cheeks already rosy with the wind's chill heated a deeper red, her gaze lowering as she laughed again, at herself. "Hello. It really is nice to... really meet you." A thermal buoyed her wings, lifting her slightly as she shifted instinctively to catch it.

[whispersoflove]

Anael smiled again and followed her slight shift, holding his hand out to her. "Come on. I'll cloak you, and we can go fly around any part of London you like."

[offthebeatenpath]

Em's eyes brightened with excitement, along with a smile, and she took his hand, curious if he could feel the gloves she wore under the projection. "Anywhere. Everywhere. As long as we're flying."

[whispersoflove]

"Have you got a favourite neighbourhood?" Anael asked as he cloaked them both - as long as they held hands, anyway. Once they flew in a direction, it would mean flying a little above her, so his wings didn't beat into hers, but they would make do. Vertical as they were for now, it wasn't yet an issue.

[offthebeatenpath]

There were so many parts of London she'd like to see from the skies, Em didn't know what to choose first. "Camden?" she suggested after some thought. "I have a... friend who lives there. I have no idea what the building would look like from above, and I'd like to find out."

[whispersoflove]

"A friend," Anael echoed off of the feelings he could sense from Emma, but he did not push further, and gently led the way in what he thought was the right direction. He was much better at this from up here than down in the streets, but he still ought to warn her. "I've a rather terrible sense of direction, you might not want to trust me entirely."

[offthebeatenpath]

Em, on the other hand was better getting around London at street level, so she wasn't confident about her sense of direction either. "Hopefully I can pick out a familiar landmark or two to help. But if not, the view will still be good. We're flying."

[whispersoflove]

"It's so lovely, isn't it," Anael agreed with a warm, fond smile. There was nothing quite like flying, if you asked him, and this was easy, simple flying, it wasn't playing with the winds up where it was so cold he usually came back down a little frosty.

[offthebeatenpath]

"There's nothing like it," she agreed. One more thing being brought here had taken from her - the ability to do this whenever she wanted, without fear of who might see and not understand.

[whispersoflove]

Anael smiled when she expressed his exact sentiment, and he squeezed her hand in his. "Let me know if you grow cold." He could help, between the winds and his Grace.

[offthebeatenpath]

That just gave Em more questions, but she wasn't sure she should ask. Yet, at least. "Thanks. I'm okay for now. I'm dressed more warmly than I look."

[whispersoflove]

"You'll have to explain," Anael gently requested, but he didn't mean right now. Right now, he was happy to focus on the sensations that came with flying, and the buildings they were flying over.

[offthebeatenpath]

He was an angel. Em not only could explain, she would. But maybe later. When she wasn't savoring the feel of riding the wind, and searching the city below for the bits that looked familiar.

[whispersoflove]

Anael was content to remain silent as they flew - until he spotted the familiar market below. "We're over Camden. Where does your friend live?"