Hung the Moon

An Ardent River We Walked Together

Looking down as we fly through the night over the Rochester skyline

it all looks different from this height, a city simplified

every home a tiny light, with a family inside

I Will Go Anywhere With You, Julia Nunes

As if summoned, the Them arrived just in time for dinner. Crowley and Wendy had made enough food to feed an army, neither of them quite sure when they should stop turning out pasta and stirring sauce . The children flitted about the house, bringing light and playfulness with them. Aziraphale welcomed it, caught up on its breeze like a dragonfly.

Pepper still had that lovely glimmer to her aura. It reminded Aziraphale of the Heavenly Host, but only the best parts. It reminded him of the Archangel Muriel in particular. Muriel, always with a crown of flowers atop her dark coily hair, bringing the scent of lilies and tea rose begonias in a cloud of gentle perfume . When she touched you, her skin was petal-soft, and her eyes were pale lavender ringed in gold. Just like a fresh peony.

But Pepper's aura was missing Grace. And eldritch qualities too, for that matter. It was neither of Heaven, nor Hell. He studied the others, wondering if he could discern who might receive a strange gift next. Perhaps with Heaven and Hell tending to their failures, the earth was beginning to claim champions of its own .

The Big One, Aziraphale thought, as they'd come to call the as yet to arrive second apocalypse. He pushed the thought away the same way a diner would push away a dish they had found a cockroach in.

Adam's aura had diminished in the wake of what had happened at the airbase. Yet, he still had so much power it frightened Aziraphale to look at it. It was familiar too somehow, though the Devil had been purged . It no longer held that evil fire, but it had something dark and lively that had filled the empty spaces. It reminded him of church grims and primordial seas and thrones sat atop great piles of skulls.

And...Anathema?

Still, Adam seemed as if he'd settled into himself. As powerful as he might be, at the moment nothing within him felt as though it were on the verge of change.

He followed Brian out to the back patio, plates of pasta in their hands. He kept one eye trained on Brian and the other on his path so he could avoid tripping while holding his food. Brian's aura was like looking straight through a pure emerald, complete with the feel and smell of the earth it had come from . He could detect nothing but pure sweetness. It was as if Artemis Herself had come to lay a blessed hand on him.

But nonetheless, Brian had yet to receive anything the way Pepper had.

Crowley lounged on the bench under the kitchen window, Wendy next to him doing her best not to bolt her food and failing . The aroma of basil filled the space, and the cheerful striped furniture cheered Aziraphale in turn . The fairy lights they'd strung up twinkled over Crowley and Wendy, and there were yet more over the patio. They'd strung them across so a gentle, blinking canopy would light up once night fell. He went to the biggest table, with its centerpiece of cut flowers.

Pepper was sat there also, idly twisting her fork across her plate and kicking her feet. She looked the definition of pensive, her sharp dark eyes narrowed, a determined cast to her chin and forehead . For once she'd shed her poncho, to reveal a hand-knit red jumper with a daffodil and a duck embroidered on it. It clashed with her mood, to say the least.

"You rather look as if something is on your mind, dear girl," Aziraphale said, swiftly spinning a bite of pasta on his fork and popping it in his mouth . Fresh herbs burst on his palette, the rich tomato coming behind to mellow and marry the flavors. Quite good, considering neither Wendy nor Crowley had attempted cooking before.