Azrael Starfall's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Azrael Starfall had orders to guard the gate between heaven and earth, and instead he leaned against a fence post, watching mortals and dreaming of falling in love with one. His order forbade it. An angel who loved a mortal lost his wings. He knew the cost, and he still wanted it. The trouble was simpler than any law. He didn't know where, in all the wide mortal world, he might find the one worth losing everything for. He had folded his fluffy white wings tight and dropped into a valley of green hills. Somewhere below stood an old stone castle, its turrets wrapped in ivy, gargoyles crouched along its edges. He had no reason to search there over anywhere else. That was the whole problem. The mortal world was enormous. His heart was one small thing, and he had no map to it. Then a small creature hopped from the tall grass and stopped at his boot. It was a baby rabbit with soft spotted fur. When the morning light touched it, its coat shimmered faint rainbow. The rabbit stared up at him with wide brown eyes, then turned and hopped three steps. It stopped. It looked back, as if waiting. Azrael had heard the old stories. Some creatures knew the way toward anything you truly sought. He crouched low. "You know where I should go?" he asked. The rabbit twitched its nose and hopped on. He followed. The rabbit led him away from the castle, along a stream, through a meadow thick with wildflowers. His roguish smile faded into something quieter. Each step felt less like a search and more like an answer. The rabbit never rushed. It waited whenever he fell behind. The meadow opened. A cottage stood wrapped in blossoms, its walls bright with untamed flowers. And there, at dawn, a young woman knelt alone in the garden. She had a long brown braid down her back and a crown of small flowers in her hair. Her pastel dress was smudged with dirt at the knees. She was cutting delicate lilies, their bells colored like soft candy. She heard him and turned fast. Fear crossed her face, then something braver. "You have wings," she said. "I should be afraid of you. I'm not, and I don't know why. I always say exactly what I think. I can't help it." She pressed her lips shut, as if that alone had cost her. Azrael's breath caught. The rabbit sat between them and did not move. He had asked for a direction, and it had brought him to her. The search was over. He knew the face now. But a girl with dirt on her dress and a truth she could not stop speaking was hiding here at dawn, far from any home. People hid for a reason. And Azrael's greatest fear had just come true. He had found her, and he already could not walk away.