Under Heaven's Lights

chapter one: in omnia paratus

There was a small, abandoned shop tucked between a restaurant and a jewelry store. The neon sign that hung over the door was coated in dust, long dead. Once, it read "cafe". Now, whatever remained of the cafe was packed away in boxes in one of the many city storage facilities. It was nothing but another failed dream gone unrealized by a human who'd once had a passion for coffees. Or it was a family business, finally driven to extinction by cheaper brands. Atraea created stories for the space as she explored it. The paperwork was already signed and the keys jingled in her fingers like music from harps.

"It's perfect," she whispered to herself. It was-- Atraea hadn't known what plans she had when she signed her name on the deed an hour after the offices opened. A library or a plant store, perhaps; she needed some way to make money while living in the city.

Her free hand ran over the smooth granite of the counter. This place was perfect. It also had to be a bar. Atraea couldn't shake the vision spreading before her. The new wallpaper for the corner, different furniture, stashes of beers and liquors arranged neatly behind the counter, the little signs tying the whole room together, she could already see it. Customers strolled in, laughing and kissing while she mixed a cocktail. The next step was to put it all together.

Atraea considered using her angelic abilities to do it quicker but decided against it. She was among humans now, and she would live as they did. She hadn't needed any help in securing the lease; truth be told, they had seemed glad to be rid of the property, though she couldn't fathom why. She wouldn't want to start cheating now.

She locked the door behind her and slipped the keys into the pocket of her parka. After a night in the city, the white had already turned to a light brown-yellow. It blended in better with her surroundings now, the dull greys and rigid metal frames of steel. Atraea had heard of beautiful cities filled with extravagant architecture. This was not one of them. Nevertheless, it had a captivating charm that she couldn't ignore. The way the sun caught on the skyscrapers reminded her of starlight's reflection on angel wings.

It fascinated her as she watched the light play with the buildings in front of her for several minutes before shaking her head and beginning her foray into furniture shopping. She wasn't here to spend her days dreaming; those belonged to the humans confined to existence in miserable cities. There was no need for daydreams in the starlit cities. Goals existed, like Atraea's position in the guarde, but not dreams. There was no reason for them in a place where pain and unhappiness didn't exist. Dreams were the realm of the broken.

Furniture proved difficult to procure, much to her surprise. Dozens of stores lined the streets: groceries, clothing departments, large coffee shops and tiny juice bars, but no furniture shops. They all teemed with people, half in business suits and half in workers uniforms. She observed them as she walked. One man in a dark maroon suit was talking animatedly to his phone, waving a hand around in excitement. A young girl was telling a story as her mother dragged her along to daycare.

The city was alive in the same way the starlit city was. Hundreds of souls with their own stories, all coincidentally in the same place at the same time. That everyone present existed at the same point in time was already a miracle but to be in the same place was a defiance of statistics in every metric. Atraea closed her eyes, briefly struck with the unlikelihood of it all.

The smell of hot coffee and chocolate overwhelmed her. Everyone walking around her held a cup with their drink of choice. They sipped at the black lids in between snippets of conversations. She found a small coffee-shop, less busy than the others, and stepped inside.

The whole place tasted like cinnamon. It looked like cinnamon and brown sugar, too. Everything was in varying shades of dark red and brown, muted colours that glowed underneath the warm light of lamps strategically arranged around the whole of the building. Cursive scrolled across chalkboards shared a menu that bewildered Atraea. She'd heard about coffee in the abstracts. Souls in the starlit cities spoke of it like a dear companion. There for them during all of the highs and lows of their lives, a steady, warm presence. She hadn't know there were so many types of it. All the options were daunting.

"Hi, welcome to Andy's-- what can I get for you today?"

Atraea stared at the barista, whose nametag also read Andy. It was covered in stickers but she could just make out the letters. There were different different coffee names scrawled on the menu and she had no idea what a latte was and how it differed from a cappuccino.

"Do you need time to think about it?"

"Actually," she paused to take in the girl's face. It was tilted to the side, observing the new customer that looked completely lost. "Andy, I don't know what I want at all. What's your favourite?"

"I'm personally a big iced coffee fan but that's not everyone's thing. What do you like?"

"I don't know. I've never had coffee before."

"Never had-- how?"

"I just haven't," Atraea shrugged. She couldn't figure out how to explain it without bringing up the starlit cities of Heaven and her real appearance. That was too much information.

"Do you like strong tastes? Chocolate? Milk. I'm sure we can find you something you'll enjoy."

"I don't know how I feel about any of those but I imagine I'd like something sweet?"

"Sweet," Andy nodded. "I can work with that. Do you have a budget?"

"Budget?"

"For how much you wanna spend on your coffee. You know-- the price point."

"Oh, no! Not at all," Atraea assured her, glad for the gift of several hundred bills in her pocket. Heaven hadn't sent her unprepared. "You take cash, right?"

"Yep. I'll be right back with your drink."

Andy didn't vanish into another room like her words suggested. She only turned her back and began pressing buttons on a large machine. Liquid poured out into a white styrofoam cup. She added milk from a metal container and then squirted a golden syrup onto the coffee. A black lid covered it.

"Caramel latte. That'll be four dollars."

Atraea handed her four dollars in coins and took a sip of the drink. Her eyes widened.

"Do you like it?"

"I'll be back every day," she announced. "Thank you for your gracious help, Andy. Do you know where I can find a furniture store, by any chance?"

Confusion passed over Andy's face but she pointed to the other side of the street. "If you keep walking, there's a department store like three blocks down. Maybe that'll have what you're looking for?"

"Thank you!" Atraea held up her cup in farewell. The bell on the door clanged as it closed behind her and she crossed the street without looking either way.

Andy served the next customer and forgot all about her.