Oriel had returned home immediately after her encounter with Maze without a word to Lucifer. At this point, she had no idea if the bartender had listened to her suggestion or not and she was not about to go back and check any time soon. Since she hadn't heard from Lucifer, Oriel was quite sure that he did not know she had been at Lux again; whether he was still being followed by a demon, or cared, was another matter.

It was a pleasant day with sunlight streaming down and Oriel had been sitting in her favorite spot near Glastonbury Abbey for some time. As she watched the humans wandering the grounds and wondered if she had done the right thing by leaving L.A. so soon, she was hoping to see the stray cat that frequented the grounds. The possibility of the feline happening by brightened her otherwise troubled thoughts.

"If you're here to toss more veiled threats my way, save us both the trouble and just leave," Oriel said as she heard a rustling noise coming from behind her. "I'm not in the mood."

"I wasn't planning on threatening you at all. It's really not my thing," said a familiar but unexpected voice.

Oriel twisted around to see a tall, muscular, imposing-looking man with café au lait skin and golden wings standing there. He was dressed in off-white pants and shirt that looked to be linen; it perfectly set off his dark hair that fell to his shoulders and a perfectly groomed dark beard.

"I must really be in trouble if you're coming to see me," she said cheerfully as she took the hand he offered to help her stand up. "It's not every day that the V.I.A. comes to visit."

"V.I.A.?" he asked with an amused smile on his face, dark eyes twinkling. The smile transformed his solemn expression into one filled with good humor.

"Very Important Angel," she replied and pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"My brother will not be happy to hear you referring to me that way," he said frankly the smile growing wider.

"Which one?" she challenged with a sideways glance.

"You can decide that yourself. In any case, you're not in trouble, Oriel; did you ever consider that maybe I just wanted to say hello?" he told her as they slowly strolled the grounds unseen by human eyes.

"Michael, you have never said hello to me, not even the very first time you decided we needed to talk," Oriel replied matter-of-factly. "And since you're not one for idle chit-chat there must be a reason that you are here."

"I've always enjoyed our talks even if I had underlying reasons for starting them," he said earnestly and stopped walking. "I wanted to hear about the recent events from you instead of listening to rumors."

"You could ask Lucifer," she answered boldly. "Assuming that's who the rumors are about."

"Yes and yes. But then I have to listen to the same arguments I've been listening to for an eternity," Michael said with a slight shake of his head and resumed a slow walk. "You know how that goes."

"Fair enough," Oriel agreed having listened to many of Lucifer's rants and complaints through the years. "Although, I will say that he does make some valid points. What has the rumor mill been churning out lately?"

"You need to ask?" he inquired with narrowed eyes.

"I've taken myself out of the loop," she told him seriously. "I have decided that I don't want to know more than I already do."

"Well, it's mostly been the usual talk: Lucifer refusing to return to hell; Lucifer running a nightclub and now helping the police in the City of Angels; everyone's generally happy with the new pope," Michael recounted.

Oriel looked at him with amusement and said bluntly, "You're not here to talk to me about the usual stuff."

"Word has it that Lucifer's changing," he stated and stopped again, hoping to glimpse some sort of reaction to his words on her face.

"You also didn't have to talk to me to confirm that," she replied impassively. "You see Amenadiel all the time."

"I'd rather hear it from you; honesty and forthrightness from others where Lucifer is concerned can be a bit lacking," he told her truthfully.

"Hmmm; I would've never thought that the devil would end up being Heaven's poster boy for honesty," she told him with a smirk. "In any event, the answer to your question is yes and no. Lucifer is still the face of self-centered, indulgent, narcissistic, hedonistic living; only now he bleeds when he asks to get shot."

"So he has changed," the angel said slowly.

"That is what he tells me. I wasn't there to see it and I wasn't about to find a gun and test it out. After all, I don't want to kill him," she answered, a troubled look in her eyes.

"It bothers you?" he observed after watching her closely. While he knew that Oriel was in no way sworn to protect his brother, Michael also knew that she would never betray him or any of the confidences that Lucifer had shared with her through the years.

"More than it does him – but Lucifer never thinks things all the way through. If he can bleed, he can probably die. If he can die, he can be sent back to hell, probably permanently – the very place he wanted to escape," Oriel said as she twisted a few strands of her hair. "Lucifer's own impulsive behavior being responsible for his eventual imprisonment...there's almost poetic perfection about it. Kismet, some would say."

"God is in the details," he pronounced slowly as his dark eyes met her light ones. "For one who can't foresee the future, you don't miss much."

"Is it really necessary?" Oriel asked understanding what was not being said. "Eventually he's going to get bored here. He always gets bored."

"That could take a while, Oriel and it's Hell – we can't take the chance," Michael answered.

"So I've heard," she retorted moodily. This time she was the one who started walking again.

"Amenadiel?" he asked as she nodded in assent. "That's who the threats came from?"

"Not directly. He's being very careful while he thinks I can help him," she said then paused and thought for a few seconds before saying "He's ready to start a war with Lucifer."

"I can't stop him," the archangel told her.

"Can't or won't, Michael?" Oriel pressed wanting an answer. Just one time she wanted Michael to admit what he would never say to her – that he was content to sit by and watch no matter what was happening around him unless directly ordered to get involved.

"Oriel, we don't need to have that discussion right now, do we?" Michael countered avoiding her question.

"Since it will probably be a variation on the same conversation we have had many times, I guess not," she replied somberly and dropped it. Her encounters with Michael usually resembled a chess match; one that generally resulted in a stalemate with neither side providing much to the other in terms of information.

"Amenadiel has been charged with watching over Hell in Lucifer's absence," Michael told her offering her something since he didn't answer her question again. "It's not permanent but he spends a day or two every so often making sure things aren't getting too out of hand."

"Amenadiel forgot to mention that; it does explain why he wants Lucifer to return so badly," Oriel told him with a small smile.

"I thought you would enjoy that," he replied knowing the tenuous relationship between Amenadiel and Oriel.

"After putting up with centuries of animosity from him, yes, I think it's well deserved," she said a little irritably her eyes turning stony.

"Oriel, Hell is not Amenadiel's place," Michael countered.

"Lucifer didn't exactly request it either," she shot back.

"He had everything and he wasn't content," the angel told her. "Lucifer made his stand and was shown he wasn't quite as powerful as he thought."

"All because he wanted options; a bit of free will and choice; a little more than can't and won't?" Oriel pondered aloud.

"You weren't there," he admonished her sternly. "He wanted more power than he was already given, so he was given his own realm where he could have ultimate power and control."

"Two wrongs don't make a right," she answered looking him directly in the eyes.

"You dare question my Father's plan?" Michael growled at her.

"Are all of you so blind to it or is it willful ignorance on the hope that it will eventually work itself out?" Oriel inquired not backing down. "It didn't work and it won't work as it stands now."

"What are you talking about?" he asked her angrily.

"Subjecting Lucifer to watching and being responsible for the end result of human's free will – the very thing he coveted – did not change his mind on the subject," she stated calling on all her inner strength to remain calm. "The lesson in free will and how the choices you make can damn you doesn't matter to him; he already knew that. To him, it's been a cruel punishment."

"Lucifer has been allowed to wander before; as you are well aware, this is not his first visit to earth," Michael said to her with raised eyebrows. "Was what he was given a punishment – possibly; is it overly cruel – I'm not sure."

"Would you like to be abandoned in Hell? Endless tortured screams, eternally stretched on a rack, impalements," she retorted.

"He instituted much of it," he said coolly.

"Do those in Hell deserve to be there? Did their punishments fit their crimes? Was the sentence handed down fair and appropriate?" Oriel asked hoping to get Michael to think. "Seems he did what he was supposed to do."

"You think Lucifer somehow deserves to be here? That he has earned it?" he said peering at her closely. It was half a statement and half a question.

"I didn't say that. Trying to talk to any of you and actually be heard is an exercise in futility," she said and started walking quickly in the opposite direction. She thought of disappearing and taking herself behind the veil of the aos sí, a place where Michael couldn't follow. However, she was smart enough to realize that this was not the time to anger every one of Lucifer's brothers.

"Oriel, wait!" he said and suddenly appeared in front of her. "You don't understand."

"I understand that there is a balance that must be maintained. However, it seems I also know your brother better than you. Of course, I also know what it's like to be abandoned," Oriel replied. When she looked at the angel her eyes were bright with anger. "No matter how well he has excelled at the job he was tasked with for eons, underneath it all he's very angry and very hurt."

"I know that, too," he told her earnestly. "I do listen to him when he speaks to me."

"Then you realize that when you add the hurt and anger to his general demeanor and his love of a good fight, it means he's not going back to Hell without a really good reason," she responded emphatically. "Telling the devil that he should suddenly care about humankind is folly. I know because I already tried it."

"What more can be done?" Michael asked her in the hope that she, who shared so much with Lucifer, could provide an answer.

"I don't know. Why does everyone expect me to be able to do something? I don't know any big secret," Oriel said slightly shaking her head in astonishment. "This situation, one of divine origin I might add, is a long time in coming. One aos sí is not going to fix it, even if she does consort with the devil from time to time."

"You underestimate your influence," he told her seriously.

"Michael, other things have come into play making this much more complicated," she said plainly.

"What other things?" he asked solemnly.

"Why don't you get rid of the wings for a while and we'll go down to the pub?" Oriel said knowing she was more likely to stay calm if surrounded by people.