for the world slows and the stars falter

[jovahs_heiress]

Isabella sings harmonics - including with Micaiah, once he's learned the mass to performance quality; there's a forty-five minute section in the middle that's perfect for extracting and presenting to the wee hours of the morning at the Eyrie.

She flies on intercessions, and generally brings him along, for rain, to halt a blizzard, to calm a storm, and once she finds a plague flag and puts Micaiah down far away from the settlement while she quizzes the healthier community members about their symptoms. Angels rarely catch the plague; she feels safe enough picking Micaiah up again so he can listen to her sing through the verse designated for each complaint (this for fever, that for cough, the other for the rash) and watch the pills fall to earth. The flag comes down and they continue home.

She keeps half an eye on Nathaniel, and quietly informs Baruch of the situation as well so he'll be mindful of the boy's potential sensitivities.

She falls into an assistant role with Delilah - nothing so formal as the situation she had with Linus, because Isabella would be living at the Eyrie either way, but Delilah sends her to greet visitors and has her take notes at meetings and occasionally even asks her opinion on questions about this or that.

And one morning, Isabella opens her door to leave her quarters and sing a pre-dawn duet with Serah - and the hallway is not there.

"Micaiah," she murmurs.

Comments

[pythbox]

"Maybe," he says doubtfully.

[self_composed]

"...Can I get you to take some coins?" Stella asks. "In case you change your mind? You can bring them home with you and lock them up and never think about them again if you want, but if your theological opinions shift a bit in a year, or two..."

[jovahs_heiress]

"I'd be too tempted," says Angela. "Even if I weren't fully sure that Jovah wanted me to I'd always know they were there, it would itch, and even if I threw away the key, Micaiah can pick locks."

[pythbox]

Micaiah shrugs.

[jovahs_heiress]

"It's very kind of you to offer," says Angela formally to Stella. "But I cannot accept."

[self_composed]

"Okay. Color me surprised," says Stella. "We can still hang out, though, let's go back to the Belltower. You sing beautifully." She conjures a flute. "Want some accompaniment? I can improvise or conjure up sheet music for whatever song."

[jovahs_heiress]

"That sounds lovely," says Angela.

[pythbox]

"I like any plan where you sing," Micaiah says happily to Angela.

[jovahs_heiress]

A musical interlude at the Belltower ensues. Angela doesn't object to Stella using her magic for herself, even though a few more unexpected uses make her flinch enviously. But after it's been and gone and the Whistles have exchanged carnal knowledge and the Bells have swapped the more usual sort, Stella decides she is done for the day at Milliways and Angela is left up in the Belltower with just Micaiah. She decides to get in that nap she'd been thinking about.

[she_sells_seashells]

...until more visitors barge in, not particularly quietly.

"Oh! Someone new!" exclaims a Bell.

[pythbox]

Micaiah peeks out from under Angela's wing and waves cheerfully.

[she_sells_seashells]

"I'm Shell Bell, and this is my Sherlock," says Shell Bell.

[jovahs_heiress]

"It's lovely to meet you. I nicknamed myself Angela," says Angela. "I seem to have arrived on a high-traffic day. Amariah and Kas met us when we first came in, and then Amariah recognized an alt of Sherlock - a male one - who was here for the first time, and then after they'd gone Stella was here, and now you."

[she_sells_seashells]

"I guess if Stella's already met you I don't have to ask you if you want mint powers, then," says Shell Bell.

[jovahs_heiress]

"She made the offer," acknowledges Angela.

[sicaria]

"Why did you decline?"

[jovahs_heiress]

"How did you know I declined?"

[sicaria]

She shrugs.

"Your phrasing makes the most sense in that context."

[jovahs_heiress]

"I turned her down because I don't believe Jovah wants me to have that kind of power. For a moment Micaiah had me half-convinced that Stella was an instrument of Jovah, but he can't even hear me here. I went outside and tried praying for rain and none fell; he wasn't listening."

[sicaria]

"...If I knew of someone who did not want Bell to have access to a mint," says Sherlock, "I would start to question that person's judgment on other matters."

[jovahs_heiress]

"I - have no idea what to say to that," says Angela frankly. "I... well. Jovah isn't a withholding god or anything. When I'm home, if I pray for something, it falls. But our ancestors gave up a lot of less divine power to be able to live in harmony with each other, and Jovah carried them to Samaria, and I don't think suddenly disrupting that with a gift that cannot possibly have any connection to him would be wise. However tempting it is."

[pythbox]

"We could ask an oracle," Micaiah suggests.

[jovahs_heiress]

"We could. I think I'd want to make a trip to Gaza for that, though, Peninnah knows me well enough to let one strange question slide," says Angela, laughing weakly. "And if he says no, or if he's cryptic - he often is - I can't have any of those coins sitting around itching at me. So I'd have to hope to meet one of you again if Jovah said it was all right."

[she_sells_seashells]

"We could come visit your world," says Shell Bell. "I promise not to use magic in unapproved ways on your world or give you powers unless Jovah says it's okay, but then you wouldn't risk being stuck without access to them for years if it did turn out to be fine. I mean, if you want to go on a trip, Sherlock," she adds. "But I think I could use a vacation from dealing with Coin, and all the appeals from the moon, and - everything."

[sicaria]

"I think that would be lovely," says Sherlock.