With his hands still inside the basin where he was washing everybody’s clothes, Ayalal straightened his neck and glanced at Myria. She was a 4-years-old girl who rarely stood still, fueled by an energy that no one knew quite where it came from. This time she was panting, as if she had run from one end of town to the other.
“An angel?” One of the orphans, with whom Ay shared the task, raised an eyebrow. “Don’t make things up...”
“It’s true!” The little girl’s eyes sparkled with pure enthusiasm. “She's in the Headmistress' office. I watched them walk by”.
The other boy scratched his head with a wet hand.
“I'll go check it out. If it's a lie... you eat less bread at dinner,” he said, with the satisfied smile of someone who knows he’s right.
“But it's not a lie,” the little girl sniffed, she then looked at Ay. “You should come too!”
He hesitated, his lips parted. Although he was a bit curious about what Myria had said, he still preferred to finish his task first.
“You can go. I'll be there later.”
She did not insist, and without further delay she started to run down the hall. The other orphan followed her, not running but still unable to hide his curiosity in the hurried pace of his footsteps. Ay looked out the window, thoughtfully. He had never really believed that the angels existed, or perhaps he believed they existed, but that they were not as nice as people wanted them to be. He shrugged and wiped the clothes more vigorously in the water that had been heated in the fireplace.
Minutes passed without any of the children returning. At last, one of the older girls who looked after them stopped at the door and asked him to follow her to the Headmistress' office. A strange apprehension sprouted in his chest as he linked the arrival of the supposed angel with the need of his presence. Had he done something wrong? Had an angel come from heaven to punish him? Would it be better to run away? Maybe Master Yudarh could help him, after all, he was kind of a good demon... Ay took a deep breath and shook his head. He wiped his hands on his patched trousers and followed the older girl without a word.
As he approached the office, he found the remaining orphans lined up in front of the door, the nearest of them trying to peek through a gap as they whispered between them. Ayalal leaned against the wall next to a girl a little taller than him and he waited in silence.
At last the door opened, and Headmistress Drane stepped out, casting a severe glance over on everyone before giving way to the person with whom she had been talking.
Ay blinked, almost dazed. She was the most beautiful lady he had ever seen. The wavy hair, which fell to her waist, resembled a river of gold, and her pale face had a strange perfection that he did not understand. However, there was something even more surprising about her, the thing that made Myria run rampant to them – two wings with feathers of a pure white that spread from her back.
The angel glanced at them with eyes that reminded Ay of the sky above the mountains, and she smiled.
