* * *
"I know the three of you are familiar with your own planet," Armaros said, "so I'm not going to bore you with details and descriptions. But if you will, try to imagine seeing it all at once for the first time. Try to imagine seeing it when it was almost entirely unpopulated and undisturbed. It was savage but perfect."
Thane, Basia, and Father Lucas all did as Armaros asked. Each paused and took a moment to reflect upon the beauty of the planet they so often took for granted. Thane even closed his eyes and called upon memories of his own in order to try and get a better understanding of how Armaros may have felt when the big angel first saw Earth. It didn't work. He feared that the bit of awe he mustered inside of his own mind probably fell short of what Armaros experienced.
"How can you want to leave a world so badly that you hold in such high regard?" Thane asked. "You told me early in our conversations that you yearned for the first estate continually, but you seem to have some strong feelings for our little planet too."
"I must have given you the wrong impression when we first spoke Thane," Armaros countered. "My longing for the first estate has everything to do with my prolonged absence from its perfect simplicity, and nothing to do with any negative feelings towards the Earth. In fact, towards the end of my time spent in the first estate I was longing to visit this planet. But I've been here long enough now. I'm ready to go home. Sadly, I fear that will never happen, but I yearn to feel the grass just the same."
Nobody said anything for awhile. Melancholy had settled in the trailer much like the thin layer of dust that sat atop most of Cain's furnishings. It was Thane that finally broke the silence.
"What was it that you saw next?" he asked.
"You," Armaros answered with a smile.
The Peacock Angel: Rise of the Decarchs Page 44
