"Can you take human form now?" Raphael cut across Celeste's thoughts.

Celeste remained still for a time, her face expressionless. Then, with a slight shrug of her shoulders and the slightest of glances around her, she slowly moved. She reached up with both hands to caress the delicate feathers of her wings with affectionate strokes.

Celeste opened her mouth to speak but paused as her delicate fingertips ghosted across the shattered bone of her damaged wing. Her face twisted in pain and reluctance, knowing there was no other choice.

"Does it still hurt?" Raphael inquired of Celeste, who answered with a somber nod of her head.

All of a sudden, the faint light emanating from Celeste's body began to swell, growing ever brighter until Raphael was forced to shield his eyes. For what felt like an eternity the forest was filled with this brilliant radiance, and then gradually it began to dissipate. Gradually the light dimmed until the forest fell into darkness once more, leaving Raphael in shock at what he had just witnessed.

"Open your eyes, Raphael," Celeste commanded.

As his eyes began to come into focus once more, his mouth dropped open in awe and wonderment. Sitting before him was a beautiful woman with cascading gray-white hair that fell around her shoulders like a cloak of mist. Her gown was long and white, fitted like a second skin that seemed to glimmer in the light as she moved her hands gracefully in the air as if weaving an enchantment. He was unable to suppress the burning sensation in his chest that could only be quenched by a singular thought.

"Did you know, Raphael, that when an angel takes human form, only a fraction of their former power remains? But even that may be enough to lay waste to countless mortal lives," Celeste remarked, her voice gentle yet firm enough to regain his attention.

"You can transform, but you cannot mask your wings?" Raphael enquired skeptically.

"I can't," Celeste replied, her voice pitched with fear. "If they catch me in my transformed state, I won't be able to hide from them later. They'll be able to follow me whenever and wherever I go."

Raphael gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head in agreement, though truly he was only asking a veiled question to conceal the burning admiration he felt for Celeste's divine beauty.

Celeste looked down at her chest in wonder, something rising within her. "So this is how it feels to be human," she said softly, almost awed by the sensation inside of her.

Raphael furrowed his brow in confusion, not quite understanding what she meant.

Celeste exhaled shakily, her chest heaving with the effort. "It feels like I'm about to burst," she panted, "and there's something inside of me that I can't quite explain."

"What's wrong with you, is it the effect of your change in shape?" asked Raphael, approaching the beautiful angel.

"No, not because of that, but because of your words."

"What did I say? I was just listening to you all along," said Raphael curiously.

"What was it I heard you whisper in the depths of your heart? 'How can this damn angel be so beautiful, and why does my stony heartache for them?' It was then that I felt a deep stirring in my chest," Celeste mused.

Raphael felt the heat of embarrassment in his cheeks as he hastily hung his head, a sudden reminder that angels had the power to read the hearts of men.

"How can I possibly begin to describe it?", Raphael mused, shaking his head in bewilderment. "I'm not sure I've ever felt it myself, but let's just say it's the human body's response to being admired," he continued, glancing over at Celeste who nodded her head in agreement.

Celeste sighed softly, turning her gaze toward the horizon. "It all seems so simple in theory," she said with a hint of melancholy, "but as it turns out, humans are more complicated creatures than I imagined--with their seemingly endless weaknesses that have been so hard to overcome." She shook her head in quiet resignation, marveling at the seemingly insurmountable task before them.

"It's something you'll have to become accustomed to, now that you're mortal. So best close your eyes and get some rest."

*****