Author's Note: Hey, everyone, sorry about the wait, but I'm sorry to say, you're probably accustomed to it ;) I'm afraid I'm probably not going to improve over the summer, though. Looks like a really busy season at the dinner theater this year, which is a good thing :)

"She's dying," the servant said softly.

"She is dead already." The King replied forlornly. "Only her last two elements remain now."

"If she is dead, how then can she be saved?" the servant asked. This was not the first time he had posed this question. He hoped that it would be the first time it was answered.

"In My method." The King answered, in the method of His non-answers. It was His way of saying wait and see.

The servant sighed. "Well," he said slowly, "I suspect that Your method involves passage of time in her world, am I correct?" The King nodded. "Do you wish me to sustain her remaining elements while she waits, or do You intend to do that personally?"

"Both of us will. You and she will be friends, so she should get to know you as well." The servant nodded this time.

"Do You wish me to go now, or do you reserve that for Yourself?"

"The first visit is Mine; however, you shall make the second." The servant dipped his head and left.

Lily was in the palace, sleeping peacefully in the room she and Lucifer shared. Lucifer himself had long since gotten up, for he had no use for sleep. He was a restless sort, never stopping in a place longer than he needed to. His intelligence and experience lent him efficiency most of the time, and so his time needed for lingering was usually short.

To humans such as Lily, he seemed to have the patience of a stone. He could wait for what seemed an unbearable amount of time for his purposes to come to pass; but with a fractured aspect such as hers, she could stand to wait little more than a month (and that was torture). Lucifer could wait thousands of years. Not even a fraction of a second in the eternal perspective. His servants (or his equals, as he called them to placate them) were rather more impatient than that, but he made do with them for the moment. Often, Lucifer missed the advantages that came with subservience to the King, but never the subservience itself. He remembered the days when a million years seemed like hardly a heartbeat to him, and wished that he could have retained that, but maintained that patience was a suitable trade for freedom. Better a king in Hell than a servant in Heaven. Particularly to such a creature as this human that lay on the mattress before him. He looked at her form. So weak. He considered her beauty. The palest shadow compared to mine. He thought of her mind. So slow... so inferior to my own. And yet, the King had pledged His love- even a throne! Lucifer shook his head in disgust and hatred. He looked at the big silver mirror on the opposite wall. Yes, his beauty had been eaten away upon his rebellion, but he could still see flashes of what he had been. Closing his eyes, he remembered the countenance which had looked back when he had looked in a surface while a servant. He sighed. Pity I couldn't have kept it, but it is a suitable trade for freedom.

He looked back at the mattress, and his heart tightened. Lowly creature! Why has He given the crown of glory to such a weak, forgetful, faithless, talentless, worthless, stupid, fickle, gullible worm? I was truly the highest of beauty, the highest of intellect, the best in music. And yet, it was not I He honored, but He took my honor and wasted it upon a fool. If he had lesser self-control, Lucifer's hands might have clenched. But he was careful to keep all things that he truly thought veiled. Not even a shadow of what he felt or thought passed on his face or in his movements. Everything he projected was carefully calculated to recieve his desired response. Some who were arrogant thought that they could see past his deception; but in their pride they never considered that perhaps their own intelligence regarding him was a deception. In guarding against one deception, they were easily ensnare by another. The one he loved to use the most was the notion that they could defeat him on their own power. Whether by befriending him or defeating him by might. As one had aptly coined it, he caught them coming and going.

Lucifer studied Lily a bit more, and then left. She would be giving birth soon.

Later that day, Lily was awake, and was wandering around the palace grounds. It was still as beautiful as ever. She spent some time sitting beneath the banyan tree. She tried to put her hands behind her head, but the manacles caused her too much pain to allow that, so she just sat with her back to the tree with her hands in her lap.

A whispering ran through the leaves of the tree and across the tips of the grass, and in ripples across the pond. Lily waited for the breeze responsible to touch her, but it never did. Something warm spread through her body, tingling when it came to her toes and fingertips. Her eyes widened in excitement. For a moment, she could see a flash of the land. This land was scarred, and twisted. The banyan tree above her was still a banyan tree, but it was the mere fragment of what it had been.

You are in the desert. Something seemed to whisper to her. Then, a brightness seemed to swallow her and blot out all else. Images flashed before her eyes, while the voice continued its narration. What you have seen is a reminder of what the land used to be. It explained. You see life barely flickering in the body of the land, and that life that you see will serve as a reminder of Me. Remember, when you see beauty in the land, to think of the place you once called home. Heaven and Earth were once one because of my presence on Earth. I gave you the Earth to rule, and it was yours under my supervision. You could do with it what you wished. Then, you gave yourself to someone else. And with yourself, you gave him the land. The lush garden that He had been showing her changed to the burning waste He had first showed her. This is what has happened as a result. Heaven and Earth are now divorced. Earth has been severely torn by the separation, and is under a curse; along with all things that walk on her. It is the home of evil, now. A hopeful note entered this dark revelation. Not all life has departed from Earth, though. Not all hope is dead. I still love what I have created, and will redeem all of it. You will be the first to recieve redemption. Stay faithful to Me. Do not deny Me. When you don't see Me, keep thinking about Me. Especially when you are with Lucifer. He is dangerous. Stay away from him. Don't eat his fruit, and do not drink his water. I will provide for you everything that you need. Trust me, for I love you and I will deliver you. The light and the images passed, and Lily was left reeling on the lawn.

When her vision cleared, Lily saw a bright magenta fruit in front of her. Her mouth watered at the sight of it, and her stomach growled unexpectedly. Her sides burning with hunger, Lily reached forward and snatched up the fruit. She smelled it. The fragrance hit her like a weight. It was so wondeful, she felt paralyzed by the joy of smelling it. Her eyes slitted in her happy intoxication, she took a bite.

This fruit was like the fruit that Lucifer had given her, only far more powerful. Joy more intense than she could remember having felt before surged through her. She eagerly consumed the rest of the fruit. All thoughts gave way to a simple but overwhelming happiness. She didn't feel like flirting with danger or riding tigers anymore. She simply wanted to remain in the embrace of the One whose provision and love were so sweet.

As she was reflecting on this, another soft tendril of the voice drifted to her. I am coming soon. Eat, and remember, My precious little one.