ELs in disguise walk among us

—Kraej City graffiti

Sariel

She’s an idiot. No, worse than an idiot. Even an idiot would know that she was treading in dangerous waters, but Asteria just swam merrily towards danger, oblivious to the undercurrent that was about to sweep her away.

How else to explain why she didn’t think twice about going to the Snow Queen Winter Festival with her precious hero?

She claimed the hero could be anyone, and Uriel had hoped that it was his protégé, but it has become increasingly clear that she was mainly focusing on Oren.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Asteria and Oren on a sleigh ride together.

On the other hand, the sleigh ride looked fun and romantic, though the price they charged sounded like highway robbery to me.

“Would you like to go on a sleigh ride?” I asked my date.

“Yes, lets.”

The Winter Festival was the place to be for couples. I pitied all the lonely single people who didn’t have anyone to spend the festival with.

The Snow Queen Winter Festival was a yearly event held in Kraej Park. During the day, families had snowball fights and skated in five different skating rinks. At night, multicolored lights and giant ice sculptures turned it into a romantic dating spot. A legend spread by the festival committee claimed that lovers who kissed beneath a giant ice sculpture of Elyon would be blessed by the goddess.

I winced internally when I saw Oren with his arm around Asteria’s waist, helping her over an icy patch when they got off the sleigh.

My date, a nice enough young man from Korsor, noticed the direction I was glaring at and said, “You know that boy?”

“I know both of them,” I said. I looked around, and my instinct was right on the money. He was there. Too far away for normal people to spot without binoculars, Seraph was watching them like a hawk.

“Excuse me for a moment,” I said to my date. Without waiting for a reply, I made my way towards Asteria and the boy.

“Sariel!” Asteria waved when she caught sight of me. When she tried to walk towards me, she was only able to take a few steps before her feet slid out from under her. Faster than even my enhanced perception could see, Seraph ran to catch her, but even he wasn’t fast enough. The cadet caught her before her butt hit the ground just as Seraph arrived.

“Oops, I fell again. Sorry,” she said.

I smacked my open palm over my forehead. The silly girl was hanging on to the boy’s shoulders while she tried to regain her balance, heedless of the S-class EL glaring down at them.

Seraph, who was just a step behind her, cleared his throat. Oren paled but, to give him credit, he didn’t shrink from Seraph’s glare.

“Ely? I thought you had work today,” said Asteria. She was still holding on to the cadet.

I hurried over to them to forestall a bloody murder. Uriel would never get fully cured if Seraph killed the hero now.

“Seraph, Asteria!” I said. “And you, what's-your-name.”

“Hi, Sariel. Who’s your date?” said Asteria. She finally let go of the boy, but Seraph still had that tense, alert look he always had right before he killed something.

“Commander Seraph. Commander Sariel,” said Oren. Seraph and I both ignored him.

“It’s getting late,” said Seraph.

“We just finished seeing the sights. We’re off to have dinner with Katja!” said Asteria.

“Why don’t we have dinner at home instead? You look cold,” said Seraph.

“No, Katja’s waiting for us!” said Asteria. “Why don’t you come with us to Freedmen’s? You, too, Sariel.”

Freedman’s was a food stall that was very busy during the festival. They sold cheap soup and grilled sandwiches.

“No, thanks,” I said.

The expression on Seraph’s face was less than pleased. I could tell he didn’t relish the idea of having dinner with Oren, Katja, and Asteria.

“Sariel!” said my date. He wisely kept his distance from Seraph, and I decided that it would be best if I do so, too.

“Enjoy the festival,” I said to Seraph. I patted him on the shoulder once to show my commiseration then left him to continue my date.

***

The next day, I thought I should check in on them to see if everyone had survived. I brought a package with me for Asteria.

“Is everyone still alive?” I asked Seraph when he opened the door to his apartment.

“No, I killed him,” said Seraph in a deadpan tone. He led me inside where Asteria was lying on the sofa then went to the kitchen. “I’m cooking lunch.”

Damn, those two were wearing matching clothes. Asteria and Seraph had identical blue sweaters on, but Seraph was in jeans while Asteria was wearing a grey skirt over black tights. I sat on my usual comfy armchair.

“How was your date?” Asteria asked me.

“Great. How was yours?”

“Oh, that was just a friendly outing. Katja was supposed to go with us, but her boss offered her more overtime pay.”

“And that’s why he had his arm around you the whole time, I guess,” I said.

“The ice was super slippery!” said Asteria.

“Right. Here, you need this.” I handed her the package.

“What’s this?” Asteria opened the package to reveal the Extreme Grip brand of winter boots I’d bought for her.

“This is the best type of non-slip winter boots for the icy ground,” I said. “I’ve included the crampons that you can add to them.”

Asteria laughed. “The best? I bet they are.”

She went inside her bedroom and emerged a moment later with an identical pair of boots in one hand and an identical set of crampons on the other.

“I also think it’s the best brand,” said Seraph from the kitchen.

I laughed.

“I hope you kept the receipt,” said Asteria as she tried to give the boots and crampons back to me.

“Keep it. You’ll need more than one pair,” I said.

“Thanks,” said Asteria. She lay down on the sofa again and sent me a mischievous look. “Ely, don’t you think Sariel’s expression when he saw us at the Winter Festival was really funny?”

“Yes, it was,” said Seraph. No surprise. That besotted fool would say that fire was cold if Asteria said so.

“He looked so worried! Poor Sariel,” said Asteria. She sat up and tried to pat me on the head, but I drew back and snarled at her.

“Poor Sariel? You mean poor Seraph,” I said.

“You mean lucky Ely,” said Asteria. “He’s as happy as a clam now that I’ve moved in with him.”

“What’s a clam?” I asked.

“Why, he should be thanking the goddess in his prayers every night before he goes to sleep that I’m here to save him from being eaten by a mad goddess,” said Asteria.

I had to admit that that was a good point, but going on dates and being lovey-dovey with Oren was not a wise thing to do.

“My expression was funny? How about Seraph’s? He looked like he was going to murder Oren!” I said.

“No, he wouldn’t do that. Killing him would be the same as killing me,” said Asteria. “It would probably cause my mission to fail.”

Only “probably?” She must have a backup in case something goes wrong.

I shook my head. “You don’t know how jealous Seraph was.”

Asteria laughed and laughed. She was almost hysterical, curling up and clutching her stomach as though she was in pain.

“He… he… thinks… oh… my stomach hurts!” said Asteria in between bouts of laughter.

Seraph went over to where she was lying and crouched over her with one hand on the sofa’s back, not touching her except for the locks of his black hair that fell on her prone form. “Are you laughing at me?”

Asteria made a gesture as though to push Seraph away although she didn’t touch him. Seraph obligingly straightened up.

“Come and have lunch,” said Seraph.

Asteria turned a smiling face towards me as we walked to the kitchen counter where Seraph had laid out lunch.

“Of course, I know how jealous Seraphiel is,” said Asteria.

“You didn’t seem to notice at the Winter Festival,” I said.

“Sariel! Do you think I’m an idiot? Of course, I noticed,” said Asteria.

“...” Seraph silently spooned vegetables and choice cuts of meat onto Asteria’s plate.

“Thank you, sweetie,” said Asteria to him. To me, she said, “Only a drooling moron wouldn’t have noticed. You must have a low opinion of my intelligence.”

Great. Now she was pouting at me.

“Well…” I said.

“Oh my goodness, Sariel really does think I’m stupid!” said Asteria.

“Show him your calculus skill,” said Seraph.

“Listen, Sariel. I know Seraphiel is a jealous person, but I can’t let that stop me. I have very important things to do.”

Important things? Like going on a sleigh ride with Oren while leaving poor Seraph high and dry? I suppose that was unfair since I know she was on a mission from the goddess to keep an eye on the hero, but I felt bad for Seraph.

“Must you discuss Seraph when Seraph’s right here?” said Seraph.

“If I didn’t ignore Seraphiel’s jealousy, I’d never be able to do anything!” said Asteria. “He’s jealous of everyone and everything. The waiters at the restaurants we go to, the clerks at stores, the delivery guy I talked to on the phone, even a cloud.”

“Cloud? What cloud?” I asked.

“You know that cumulus clouds are rare in winter, right? So one day I was looking up at one, and I said I’d love to lie down on a soft and fluffy cloud,” said Asteria.

“Because you were talking about leaving me for that cloud,” said Seraph. “And the delivery man on the phone was flirting with you.”

A cloud? He was jealous of a cloud? That was a bit much even for Seraph.

Asteria tugged on one of Seraph’s braids and said, “Silly. When service people are nice to you, they aren’t flirting. It’s their job to be pleasant to customers. The guy just wanted a good tip.”

“I heard him say ‘Your voice sounds sweet. You must be beautiful. Are you single?’ to you on the phone.”

I covered my mouth with one hand to hide my laughter.

“Ely, you were on the extension listening to us? Rude!”

She still hadn’t figured out how good our hearing was.

“Stop fighting you two. You’ll give me indigestion,” I said.

They dropped the subject of Seraph’s unreasonable jealousy, and we made small talk until after dessert.

“Sariel, how has Uriel been?” asked Asteria.

“He’s fine,” I said.

“Is he really?” asked Asteria. “He seems a little depressed to me.”

“He was upset when he got reinfected. We all were,” I said.

“Do you think he might cheer up if I gave him something to do for my mission? I’ve got some plans for spring,” said Asteria.

“Finally!” I said.

“We’d be happy to help,” said Seraph.

Asteria told us her plan. Come spring, when there was no snow on the ground anymore, she wanted to take a few days off to go to the ruins of the Ancient Temple in the Pleasant Mountains. I suggested that we take advantage of the New Year holidays that marked the end of the winter season. She wanted us to clear the temple grounds of monsters and help her “set things up for the hero” though she declined to give any details.

“You’ve never seen me fight, have you Asteria? I’ll show you what I can do with the Radiant Vortex,” I said.

“Sariel has a scary look on his face,” said Asteria. She did a double-take when she turned to look up at Seraph. “Ely, you too!”

“Let’s call Uriel,” I said.

“We need to make plans,” said Seraph.

“I’m gonna be alone in the wilderness with three scary people…” said Asteria.

Never mind Seraph’s romantic struggles. Soon it would be time for me to wreak havoc.