An Archangel, an old woman, a walk along the beach. Each with stories to tell, each reluctant to share them with each other. Neither knows why they were brought together on this lonely strip of autumn beach except the one who arranged their meeting. A story of faith tested, grief and love lost and hope restored. Of Michael and his fallen brother, Lucifer. Of man's place in heaven and the sacrifice of their angelic guardians. "Before. We were. Before there was light, before the stars were hung, before the galaxies were fashioned and the planets set to revolving around their suns, before the oceans were mixed, before the mountains were formed, before creatures were created, before there was sound, before there was matter, before there was time, before all except the One, we were. He formed us first to be His companions and His servants, to share His joy, and receive His light. Joyfully we glorified His name. We delighted in the newly formed universes. We tended His gardens, lovingly stood watch over his creations, His will always our delight. The secrets of the ages we kept and still keep. In our eyes stars are born and rise and have their being. They bring light and warmth to the nothingness of space, until the morning comes when the dawn of a new day fails. Their work complete, their fire extinguished, they fall back into the emptiness from where He first called them. Out of this nothingness they are given new life, content to be molded into the shape of whatever form He would have it so. All of His creations delight in His holy will, obey His every thought, and joyously dance to the tune He plays for them. Only man, who was formed in His holy image, dares to defy His laws. To your kind He gave generously of even the highest gifts, that none but we, the first born, knew. Those of us who always were did not know of His intent, nor did we understand the implications at first of these new children. Although it wasn't long before our interest was piqued, roused by the discovery He, who knows all things seemed not to recognize this latest creation was not of us, was not fit to be called one of His children. We believed it impossible for Him to be mistaken. We assumed it was our own perception in error. For was He not perfect? Were not all possibilities contained within Him? So we searched for the fault in our own eyes, frustrated our vision was proving so fallible; we who knew Him so well. Why could we not pierce the mystery of His forbearance with these new ones? Though we did not understand His impenetrable will, we bowed, as always, before it. And why should we presume to understand Him? Was He not also our creator? Were we not formed to serve? Who were we to question, judge even, the Almighty, in whom all beings live and move and find life? We waited for Him to reveal His purpose to us. And we watched with curiosity, not unmixed with dread, as He busied himself with his new creations. So many gifts He gave them: dominion over their world and over the beasts of the field, rule over the birds of the sky and the fishes in the seas. But these were the least of His blessings upon them. For He gave them also immortality, self-awareness, and an awareness of His holy being; but the most curious, and to our minds it has proved the most dreadful of all, the gift of free will. These new children were given the right of self-determination, to choose their way, for good or ill and it was not long before the first among them chose defiance over obedience. We waited for His just condemnation of their poor choice, but He relented. We whispered amongst ourselves, questioned in our hearts, but never to Him, though we knew He reads all hearts and knows all thoughts. All minds are laid bare before Him. We watched horrified at the appalling consequences of His holy gift to one who proved over and over again he was unworthy of the condescension shown him.