Uriel set Ophelia down once they arrived at the forest. He smiled to himself watching her take in her surroundings; the ancient trees that reached to the skies, their leaves providing a dense canopy that only few rays of sunlight shone through.
"It's beautiful here, Uriel!"
He offered her his hand, and his heart leapt as she took it. His day had gone from miserable to perfect within a few hours, and he hoped it would last forever, just the two of them in this moment, in this forest. "Would you like to explore a little? We won't go too far, I know the Archs make you nervous."
Ophelia nodded. "I would love to." Her hand felt small in his, but something about the way he held her hand made her feel safe.
As they walked among the peace of the trees, the couple did not notice the patrolling Archangel that had fired off a signal to his comrades that there were others nearing their territory.
"So what is it like, being the Ruler's messenger?" Ophelia looked up at Uriel, her eyes full of wonder, before noticing that his shoulders hunched forward and his wings dropped low. "...Uriel?"
"It's... well, I get to see a lot of things. Talk to a lot of different angels of a lot of different ranks. I mostly work with the Seraphim Brothers, and they've all been very kind to me. Do you enjoy working for the Brothers like I do?"
"I loved working for Seraphim Michael. It wasn't like working for him, it was like working for a friend. He treated me and Victoria like we were equals, he never acted like he was above us because he was a higher rank. He was a good man. I really miss him. Seraphim Zerachiel took us in after his Brother Fell, before the Ruler could remember about us and make us Palace servants. He has treated us wonderfully, but we can tell he misses his Brother too." Ophelia blinked quickly, refusing to let her tears fall on her outing with Uriel.
"He always treated me well too. I miss him as well. Seraphim Zerachiel is also a good man, but you have to watch out for his jokes. How many times have you had to rescue him from his own bad ideas?" The messenger tried to keep the conversation light, not wanting to let his guilt about helping the Ruler rally the Archs against Michael show.
"Rescue him?"
Uriel laughed. "Both Raguel and I usually are the ones he calls on to help when he's got himself into a mess. He had bet his maidservant something, I don't even recall what they had bet, but I spent one afternoon with Seraphim Zerachiel holding me down his chimney by my ankles to retrieve his ring after he lost it. I don't know what the bet involved, but I know he had to try to skip it across the chimney and he lost."
Ophelia held her sides as she giggled, tears dropping from her eyes. Seeing that she was interested in his story, Uriel got more animated, stepping between the realms to a nearby tree, where he hung upside-down by his knees on a low branch to mimic being held by Zerachiel, his fire-red hair hanging freely. He stretched his arms toward the ground, wrapping his wings around his torso.
"So he's got me by my ankles like this, right? And I'm just a little too short to reach the ring. I can see it, but I just...can't... reach! He's saying my boots are slipping off, he's going to drop me, and..." Uriel let his grip loose, falling from the tree, crumpling to the ground dramatically.
"He actually accidentally let me go! I landed in a bunch of soot in the fireplace, but I managed to get the ring on my way down. I crawled out of the fireplace, and Seraphim Zerachiel was in the parlor waiting for me, laughing harder than I've ever heard him."
He rose to his feet, as if he was being helped up by the Seraphim. "He apologized, but he still laughed. He helped me get cleaned up, but would you believe not an inch of my wings were white anymore?"
Ophelia pulled a handkerchief from her dress pocket and dabbed at her eyes, the tears from her laughter had cascaded down her cheeks. "You certainly have a much more... adventurous life than Victoria and I do! I don't think Seraphim Michael would have ever thought of putting either of us down the chimney, but I'm too small to be of much use anyway. Is that what my new master was like before... before we lost his Brother? He just seems so... sad and angry now."
Uriel ruffled his hair back into place. "All of the Brothers have changed. They were all good men, wonderful to work for. But now, it is like they lost a part of themselves when they lost their Brother. A smile is rare. They make more errors, and the Ruler...ah..." He trailed off, not wanting to reveal the truth about the Ruler's wrath.
"What does the Ruler do?"
"Oh... He... does not like errors in His presence. The Brothers just have made more since Seraphim Michael Fell."
Ophelia reached out toward the messenger, about to ask if he had been punished the way she had seen Michael be punished. She had spent many evenings cleaning wounds on his back and wings from the Ruler's whips, seeing the defeat in his eyes after being beaten. –Have all the Seraphim been treated as badly? Has Uriel? Is the Ruler really a bad man after all?– Before she could speak, an armed angel appeared from deeper in the trees, his bow drawn back and aimed at her.
"What is your purpose here?!" The armed man demanded an answer from her, not seeing the messenger angel.
"Put your weapon down! She is here with me!" Uriel realm-travelled to stand in front of Ophelia, who trembled, terrified. He spread his wings to block the man's view of her, making sure that if he loosed the arrow, there would be no chance of her being a target.
"Uriel! Friend, why did you not announce yourself earlier?" The Archangel removed the arrow from the bow string, and placed the bow on his back.
The messenger angel fumed; his outing with Ophelia was not supposed to be intruded on by Archangels, especially armed ones. He folded his arms across his chest, frowning up at the sandy-haired Arch. "I did not think I had to alert everyone in the Kingdom to my whereabouts. Especially when I was trying to take a beautiful woman on a nice walk. I believe she is owed an apology for being aimed at."
To his shock, the Archangel knelt before the trembling maidservant, taking an arrow from his quiver, holding it in front of his chest, the arrowhead pointed downward. The Arch bowed his head, before looking up at Ophelia. "My sincerest apologies, Miss. I am Sandalphon, one of the Archangels. It was not my intention to scare you. I had instructions to patrol our territory and took my orders to heart. I hope you can find it in yours to forgive me."
Uriel bent down next to the kneeling Archangel, putting his hand on Sandalphon's back. "A word?"
Sandalphon reached for Ophelia's hand, kissing the back of it before standing. "Excuse me, Miss. We shall return." She nodded, her legs still shaking terribly at the shock of his arrows.
The messenger angel led the Arch a few steps away before he began to whisper his rage toward Sandalphon. He wanted to shout, but he didn't want to scare Ophelia any more than she already was.
"What are you doing out here? Orders to patrol the territory? And approaching her armed? Are you insane?" Uriel hissed his anger, trying to be brave in front of the much larger man.
"Uriel, friend, I meant no harm. We have orders from the Ruler. You are a friend, no? You have celebrated the Fall of the Seraphim Michael with us."
The messenger bit his lip, knowing he was being offered a unique opportunity. "Yes. I am."
"Orion was sent back to us for a moment with instructions from the Ruler to begin to train more aggressively. He does not trust that the Seraphim Brothers are going to take the Fall of one of their own lightly. So we must train more rigorously in case they try to get revenge for their Brother. We must prepare. And the Ruler thinks they may try to investigate us, so we must patrol our territory. I heard you here, and signaled my brethren that there was a disturbance. I am sorry that I have intruded upon your outing with the lady, she seems very delightful."
Hearing Sandalphon's words, Uriel blanched.