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Isabella is generally referred to as: promising.
Angels in general are a breed apart. Of course they've all got lovely voices, they've all got classical music training and know the masses and prayers, they're all blessed winged creatures -
But that doesn't mean they're all smart, or all good, even (Isabella was taken to see Windy Point, once, or what's left of it, and of course she sees the scars on Galo Mountain every year at the Gloria; there stood angels who were not good). And Isabella is smart and good.
Isabella is always the first to volunteer for an intercession. She likes them. She'll call down weather, plead for seeds, pray a shower of medicine to fall from the sky, and she will get what she asks for, and she loves nothing more than to dive from hours aloft in prayer and clasp the hands of the people she helped and go home to the Eyrie to take on her next assignment. When there are none - when there is the right amount of rain and sun in the province, when there is no plague and no famine - she studies. She studies a bit of everything, but she fancies herself particularly a historian, investigating the accounts of Archangels' reigns past. From books, mostly, although once she wrangled herself a year in Cedar Hills to assist the Archangel Linus, and when she is in the Eyrie she closely follows the leader of the host there, the former term-lapsed Archangel Delilah.
She tried to get in with the other living former Archangel, too, Alleluia the oracle who served as Delilah's interim while the latter's wing recovered from an injury, but after a few hours' conversation Alleluia said that she could not accept Isabella as even a temporary acolyte and sent her to Peninnah instead. Isabella learned a lot from Peninnah, but she's confused about why Alleluia turned her down personally only to send her to another oracle, after such a prolonged interview. Particularly since Sinai is in her own province; what was the point in sending her all the way to Gaza?
But the instruction came from an oracle, and oracles' words more often than not come from Jovah. She went to Gaza, learned from Peninnah, and went home.
Now she is back at the Eyrie, and the first thing she wants to do is let Delilah know that she's back. Her wings aren't so tired that she can't immediately fly to the Corinnis or the outskirts of Semorrah or anywhere and accomplish something. Failing that, she'd love to sign up for harmonies again now that she's home and wants to know what she ought to schedule around.
Delilah is with her husband Noah, and a visitor. He doesn't seem like a petitioner, and he doesn't look like an Edori, although the fact that he and Noah are talking in Edori suggests that he might be an adopted one. (There are hardly any Edori of either sort left; most of them live in Ysral, now.) Isabella waits patiently outside the door for the host leader's attention.
jovahs_heiress
The young woman returns shortly after, and she brings Judith.
"What's this about my son joining a children's choir?"
"What's this about my son joining a children's choir?"
jovahs_heiress
Isabella repeats the out-of-context fact about the director wanting voices from farther afield and having seen Nathaniel through the window.
jovahs_heiress
"Is there someplace I can talk to your son where some singing won't bother anyone?" Isabella asks with a winning smile.
"I'm afraid he's with his father now, and they're not to be disturbed," Judith says in a tone of polite regret. "Would you like to come back another time?"
jovahs_heiress
"Finding children for the choir is not my primary business in Semorrah, and I don't plan to be in the city for much longer," Isabella says slowly. "I suppose I can go get lunch and come back in an hour? Will he be available then?"
She doesn't like it, but her cover story doesn't have an opening for pushiness.
She doesn't like it, but her cover story doesn't have an opening for pushiness.
jovahs_heiress
"Of course. I'll be back then. Do you happen to know if there are any restaurants here with angel chairs?" Isabella asks.
jovahs_heiress
Isabella thanks her. She goes there. She eats lunch, and minds the time, and, an hour later, returns to the house.
The same servant from earlier answers the door.
"Come in, angela," she says. "Did you want to see Nathaniel in the music room?"
"Come in, angela," she says. "Did you want to see Nathaniel in the music room?"
"This way."
The music room is very quiet, and contains Nathaniel and a few musical instruments. The servant shuts the door and leaves them there. With the door closed, almost no outside sound is audible.
The music room is very quiet, and contains Nathaniel and a few musical instruments. The servant shuts the door and leaves them there. With the door closed, almost no outside sound is audible.
jovahs_heiress
"Hello there," says Isabella, looking for someplace acceptable to sit. "Did your mother tell you why I'm here?"
Nathaniel is sitting on the piano bench. He stands up and drags it out a little and offers it to her.
"She says you're from the Eyrie and you want to put me in the children's choir," he says. "I've never been in a choir before."
"She says you're from the Eyrie and you want to put me in the children's choir," he says. "I've never been in a choir before."
jovahs_heiress
Isabella is sort of reluctant to take his seat, but it's the only chair without a back; she sits on it, legs on one side and wings on the other. "Thanks. That's about the size of it. The director is very good and he'll be able to teach you to blend in with the other children. Can I hear you sing a little something? River Cara is fine, if you don't have another idea."
(She's going to declare him, at a minimum, "trainable", regardless of whether he sounds more like a frog than like an angel. But she has to hear him sing for that declaration to make sense.)
(She's going to declare him, at a minimum, "trainable", regardless of whether he sounds more like a frog than like an angel. But she has to hear him sing for that declaration to make sense.)
Nathaniel hesitates for a moment, and then sings. It is not River Cara.
He is not 'trainable', he is trained. And he has worked very, very hard to get as far as he has. He's a little quiet; in a choir, his voice would be easily lost. But he doesn't miss a note.
He is not 'trainable', he is trained. And he has worked very, very hard to get as far as he has. He's a little quiet; in a choir, his voice would be easily lost. But he doesn't miss a note.
jovahs_heiress
"Beautiful!" applauds Isabella. "You're a little quiet, but that's okay, so am I. I can tell you like to sing. You know that if I take you to join the choir you'll need to live in or near the Eyrie - in a room with one of the other boys or possibly in the Gabriel School. You can send letters, of course, but it would be a few months without coming back here to see your parents."
jovahs_heiress
"I can take you with me today if you can get ready. You're not afraid of heights, are you?"
jovahs_heiress
"Okay! Why don't you run along and pack and say your goodbyes?" Isabella says brightly. "It's a bit of a long flight, so you might want to pack a snack, too. The Eyrie is far from here."
"I will," he says, and leaves the room.
A very short time later, he is at the front door with a small bag and his mother is pressing a wrapped sandwich into his hand.
A very short time later, he is at the front door with a small bag and his mother is pressing a wrapped sandwich into his hand.
jovahs_heiress
"All set?" Isabella asks. "We can tie your bag to my belt loop so there's no risk of dropping it."