Raphael

Reminescent of The Man Who Fell to Earth and Tale of the Body Thief, Archangel Raphael is rendered human by Lucifer. Guided by Damiano and a feisty fellow slave, he struggles to find his place, stranded in a mortal body. He discovers his physical senses and love, in an enlightening journey of wonder and sorrow.

Two young people sat quite comfortably on the grassy bank of a stream, leaning against a willow whose ancient body seemed designed for leaning. Plangent water reflected the little green leaves of the willow, including even the tiny round crystals of dew which hung from the leaves, with only artistic distortion, while below the line of the water cool fish brooded, wearing coats of bright enamelwork. On either side of the stream a lawn spread out, tended by cloudy sheep. Other beasts, too, roamed at their graceful will across the landscape: the ox and the wide-horned aurochs, the slouching camelopard, the corkindrill-each animal as fat as a burgher and similarly complacent. None were ragged, none scarred. None raised its elegant head except in wonder at the sweetuess of the air. Of course there were birds, and even in the lacv mass of the willow they sang, regardless of the presence of two or three sleek and platter-faced cats who meditated while resting upon the largest branches, their white, gray, or manystriped tails curled below them like fishhooks trolling the air. Although there were aurochs and a camelopard, and it has been said that these are wary beasts and unsocial, this park which contained them had not the appearance of wilderness. Beyond the copse of fruiting trees on the far side of the river rose a white palace of intricate shape and exquisite proportion, though through distance and the balmy air its exact lineaments were confused. Another more homey sort of house tose closer to hand, on the bank of the stream itself This edifice was square, three stories tall, and also white-sparkling white-except for a roof of red tile and certain tasteful borders of red and gold about the windows.