[rknop]

The sundry angels assemble in Golden Gate park, in a small open field enclosed on all sides by trees, with a small walkway leading to the field. There are a smattering of picnic tables about the field. The agnels gravitate towards two tables that are near each other. Some of them may have met before, but most of them are unfamiliar with each other. Knowing that they're all there for a purpose, they wait patiently. It's a pleasant June 4 afternoon. This being San Francisco, it's not hot, but it's sunny, and warm.

They do not have to wait long before they notice two things. First, the hubbub of the city and the park faded out; it's as if they were no longer in a park in the middle of a city, nor in the middle of a park visited routinely by many, especially in the summer when some kids are already out of school.

The second thing they notice is a young woman's voice saying, "Welcome, friends."

Turning, they see three figures before them, all of whom they immediately recognize. One is Novalis, the Archangel of Flowers. She appears as a young woman, wearing a sarong and a loose shirt, with long blond hair that has flowers weaved into it. Another is a tall woman in beige slacks, a light blue shirt, a a white cardigan sweater: Zadkiel, the archangel of protection. The third was a large African lion, with a magnificent mane, sitting clamly, but looking rather large and threatening being there all of a sudden in the middle of a public park. While the angels could only speculate where the lion himself came from, they were able to immediately perceive that it was serving as a host for Jordi, the Archangel of Flowers.

Novalis continues, similing broadly. "Thank you all for coming! It's so great to see you all. I know some of you haven't met each other, and I hope you'll all introduce yourselves in a few minutes. But, first, I want to make sure you all understand why we've called you together.

"Each of you is a very important angel, more powerful than the average Servitor, and one who has earned the trust of one of us."

With a brief pause, Novalis looks at Baz, and says, "Well, Baz, you haven't worked with us yet, but we've heard great things about you and think you'll be a great help!"

The archangel goes on. Her face assumes a more grim aspect. "The issue, as most of you know by now, is Eli. As you know, a bit more than fifty years ago, he left Heaven, and has been wandering-- aimlessly, as far as any of us can tell-- around Earth ever since. This made some of our more rigid fellow archangels angry right away, but most of the rest of us shrugged, and figured, hey, he wanted to immerse himself in the blossoming creativity of humanity as this last century encourged more and more godly individualism."

"However, as time went on, we all began to get more worried. He stayed away. Now, most of you understand that fifty years is not a very long time for an archangel... but the pace of human society is accelerating, and the shape of the War has changed more in the last fifty years than in any hundred years previously. Remember that it was centuries of debate and discussion between the Eden experiment and the Fall!"

"As many of you have doubtless heard, Eli hasn't been talking to other archangels, except when he runs into one of us coincidentally at a party. And, then, he won't talk business. When he meets with his servitors, they often report that he's 'not all there'-- that he seems distracted, distant, confused."

"It's gotten worse in the last eight or ten years. I haven't seen him at all myself in that time, and I still do like to go to parties. Lilith also reports not having seen him in that time, if she can be believed, and she's almost as much of a partier as Eli used to be. As far as we can tell, it's getting harder for those servitors he didn't assign to somebody else to contact him, and he's been even more distracted and out of it when they do talk to him."

"What really prompted the three of us, though, to gather you folks together is that Dominic has announced that he's going to be stepping up is investigation of Eli. He and Laurence have long believed that Eli is guilty at least of abandoning his duties. Dominic has become ever more convinced that Eli is skirting a fall, or is guilty of heresy similar to what the Grigori were exiled for millenia ago."

Novalis sighs. "Zadkiel, Jordi, and myself want to give Eli the benefit of the doubt. That's why we are send you forth as our agents. Try to find Eli. Talk to his servitors. Follow any clues you find. Your goals are twofold. First, find out just what it is that Eli is up to... and help him accomplish it, or tell us what he's up to so we can help him. Second, make sure he knows what is going on in Heaven, and do your best to protect him and his servitors from any overly harsh action on the part of Judgement."

Novalis stops, and gives each one of you a penetrating look.

"I know this is a huge burden we're placing on you," Novalis says. "But we have faith in you."

"Once you go forth, we're going to expect you to be able to trust your own instincts and to follow this as far as you can yourselves. Obviously, if there is something that the three of us MUST know, contact us, but we have chosen you-- capable angels whom we trust-- to do this so that we would not have to micromanage it."

"So, now is your chance. We're here for you right now. Do you have any questions, or any discussion about the mission, or about Eli in general?"