jeriendhal | "Sinking" conitnued, (In Nomine, Elsa & Zadkiel, no warnings)

"This is not possible," Zadkiel said, staring at Retzel. "All of Love's servitors either Fell with Andre or are dead."

"Not all, Lady Zadkiel," Retzel said softly, but with steel in her voice. "I survive."

"Why were you kept locked away like this?" Zadkiel demanded.

"Even if she stayed every moment in Heaven, if he knew she was here then there would always be a chance that Andre might come up with some kind of temptation that would force her to come to Earth," Elsa explained. "And if Andre somehow got his claws into her, his last servitor of Love, the tortures she would experience would be to horrible to contemplate."

"I must not allow that to happen," Retzel said, "for I must be prepared to stand at his side when he returns to Heaven."

Zadkiel had been dealing with Seraphim Council meetings, not to mention training of Relievers, too long to allow her jaw to drop at this statement. But she was never more tempted…

"Return…" she repeated carefully. "You think there is a chance for Andrealphus to redeem?"

"Others have," Retzel replied, with that same, maddening calm.

"Fallen servitors," Zadkiel said. "Not any of Hell's Princes. And Furfur does not count, he had barely achieved his Princedom by the time he gave it up for Heaven, and he wasn't one of the original Rebels anyway. They all Fell because they believed Lucifer, not because they were created in a place where they never learned any better."

"My Lord Andrealphus will Redeem," Retzel repeated fiercely, "for he is Love, and he has only forgotten the joy he once brought to the world. And when he returns, I will return to my place by his side, and all will be as it once was."

"And how do you reconcile what he's probably doing to Lord Christopher right now, with your belief in his redemption?"

Retzel blinked once, then let her head bow down. "I hope that Christopher will find it within his Heart to forgive Andrealphus' actions, taken during his time under Lucifer's Balseraphic lies and tyranny."

"I see," Zadkiel said, and God help her, she could see the twistings of logic that this poor, mad Mercurian had taken to reach this state of denial. "Forgive me, Retzel, for intruding upon you, and please forgive Elsa for leading me here. I ordered her to reveal her oaths to me, and were it her will she would have allowed you to remain in your seclusion."

"I understand," Retzel said. Then she hesitated a moment and said to Elsa, "You will bring me news, when Christopher returns?"

"Of course," Elsa said, and then stepped aside to let Zadkiel shut the door once more, adding her own seals of Protection upon what Christopher had already put into place. The locks clicked home, on both sides of the door, and when all was as it was before Zadkiel let out a short sigh of relief.

When they had stepped away, past the defensive switchbacks, far enough to be safely out of Retzel's hearing, Zadkiel shook her head once and stated, "I think I see why she remains locked away, and it has nothing to do with Andre."

"She isn't mad, Milady," Elsa protested. "I mean, not like Gabriel's sort of madness. Retzel is just a bit, um, off."

Zadkiel ignored this outrageous bit of understatement. "Wouldn't it have been simpler, and kinder, just to place her memories of Andre in a memory pearl rather than resort to that?"

"As I understand it, from what Eli told me, she wouldn't hear of it," Elsa explained. "I mean, yes, potentially he could have, and then reworked her appearance so that no one recognized her, but she refused. From the time of the Fall, she has maintained her belief in Andre's eventual redemption. I mean, she's kept faithful to him, faithful to his original self. I think it's rather touching."

And how did Elsa reconcile Retzel's faithfulness, with demonstrated unfaithfulness of a certain absent Archangel that she had once served, Zadkiel had to wonder.

"How long have you been part of this… concealment scheme?" she asked.

"I was brought into it ten years before Eli abandoned Heaven," Elsa said. "When he told me of Retzel, he explained that he always had a single Malakite sworn to the secret, should anything happen to him."

"What happened to your predecessor?"

"Eli said my predecessor had gotten caught at a Tether under attack by The War. Rather than risk capture, and perhaps interrogation, he destroyed himself."

"I see," Zadkiel said. "A great responsibility to be given, to a Malakite fledged only forty years."

"I'd just earned my Word," Elsa said, her face drooping. "I think Eli wanted someone young, whom he thought wouldn't argue with him that much."

"What happened when Eli Outcasted himself?" Zadkiel asked. "I mean… why Christopher? He wasn't even an Archangel yet!"

"Christopher was on the verge of being accepted as an Archangel, Milady," Elsa said. "It was obvious to everyone. And he took his responsibility quite seriously. I don't think even David suspected when he spirited Retzel into the Caverns. I was ordered to follow Christopher discreetly, and ask to be placed into his service when the time came for Creation's servitors to be given new homes. And so it was done."

Zadkiel nodded gravely. It was a plausible scenario, though it implied that Eli might have been boosting Christopher's power base behind the scenes, prior to Children's ascension to archangelic status. Then a thought occurred to her that brought a chill to her bones.

"Do you think that Christopher, if he is not rescued from Andrealphus' clutches, will tell him of Retzel?" she asked Elsa.

"Christopher would never speak of it, and that is Truth, Milady," Elsa said, her face grave. "I was there when he swore to protect her. He'll die first"

I wish I had your confidence in him, Zadkiel though enviously. "One last question. Does anyone else in Christopher's service know of Retzel, or even suspect of her existence?"

"No one," Elsa said confidently. "There might have been a few of his higher Wordbound that thought he might have hiding something in the Caverns, true, but there is simply no way they could know it was Retzel. And none would ever speak of it to Heaven's enemies."

Zadkiel paused. They stood at the entrance of the last, or first, depending on your point of view, of the fierce, illusionary gaurdians that Christopher had set into place to discourage wanderers from approaching this section of the Caverns of Adventure. The illusion was of a dragon, ancient, fierce, and protective of its treasure.

"Could one of those suspecting Wordbound have been Druiel?"

Elsa's look of horrified dismay was answer enough.

TBC