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  • 80: On 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 Avram son of Terah (Abraham) freely consented to enter into hypostatic union with Ayat, becoming a kind of living avatar for her. Ayat and Avram, in fact, formed a new composite being by the new name of Uriel. And Uriel was capable of manipulating light that came directly from the heart of Sol. He became a teacher who supplemented his sermons by creating static “slides” that could be viewed from any angle. These images were best viewed in the dark, and the most memorable of Uriel’s sermons is recorded in the Song of Remembrance as the Eventide Discourse. As he spoke, the images he summoned, of such thing as beasts, and burning buildings, and clusters of priests with hearts of flint, began to decay and grow indistinct, like an afterimage burned upon one’s eye. The most memorable image he saved for the conclusion of the sermon, the stars of Earth’s night sky, a sight unimaginable to the people of Kemen who lived in a hollow world where the land in any one place was the sky of another place.
  • 81: Kar Lailah, daughter of Melchizedek and Ma’or, became queen of Shalem in exile when her father was slain during the siege, and she fled with Uriel and her son Yishak. The first of the Begotten, Lailah was born to a lan of the kindred of the Made, long thought barren, after Avyah amended the broken works of Azul. When Davar came into existence, the first halo became possible. At will Lailah could wrap herself in a bubble of space and time wherein gravity diminished by an inverse-cube law rather than an inverse-square law, and her black feathered wings (for the len had heretofore borne them merely as tokens of their being) became fit for true flight. And there was war in Kemen: Lailah fought against the red dragon, and Demonstroke prevailed not. The great mechanized dragon-avatar of Azul was cast down, and with Shahar ha-Ruach Kar Lailah smote the fire drake, and he was not. Tall beyond most men, and clad as a warrior in red leather and much brass, Queen Lailah is an unforgettably striking figure.
  • 82: Ser Uriel had fondly called his wife Lailah Sarah from the days when she was yet a Sar, a princess of Shalem. Their firstborn was Yishak, who carried a copy of Sarah’s X chromosome and a copy of Uriel’s Y chromosome. Thus Yishak became a “revert,” one of the Sarim, descendants of Sarah who nonetheless bore the genetic inheritance of baseline humans. Ayat did not choose to delegate the power and authority of performing Mercies, works held to be miraculous, to the line of Yishak, but instead made of them a priestly people set apart unto her. The people of Canaan called Yishak and all his clan ha-Ivri, meaning “the immigrants” or “the ones who crossed over,” referring to the river Yarden; yet in a deeper sense Yishak had crossed over from another world as well. The surname ha-Ivri eventually came down unto us as the term Hebrew, designating the descendants of Uriel, Avram, and Sarah who dwelt continuously in the hill country east of the coastal plain of the Levant and west of the Salt Sea Rift.
  • 83: Mikaela inherited a V chromosome from her mother Lailah and an X chromosome from Uriel, and was thus a jan, the second such to exist and the first Begotten among the jen. Unto Mikaela was apportioned the Mercy of effortless travel. She could summon an Einstein-Rosen bridge linking herself to any point in Kemen, or from Kemen to any place within a few light-seconds of Earth. Long ago, Ayat learned that she, in union with her son Davar, could join not only distant places, but epochs as well. Ayat’s enemies possess no understanding of this thing, for their own systems know no progression of history, but only lifeless bodies circling in the dark. An account of Azul’s realm told from the end unto the beginning would differ in no way from the same account told in proper order, save only that it were viewed from beneath the plane of worlds rather than above. Ayat and Davar alone among the Elohim share the human sense of time, and by this understanding they may rightly position the ends of the space-time bridge.
  • 84: Gabriela Haivri, younger daughter of Uriel and Lailah, was the second of the Begotten and the first among the Gabrielim. Unto her was given the Mercy of directed motion, whereby she might turn aside the paths of iron in flight, so that arrows and bullets swerved from their courses, or else strike true those things she desired should not miss. In later ages she was accounted as one who held office in the public affairs of House Haivri, and her influence was known even in dealings with the Roman Curia and the Israeli Knesset. Yet she was also set to a quieter labor, for she gave counsel in matters of marriage and household peace, and was sought by women who found no child within them, among whom were Sarah and Elizabeth, and Maryam of Nazareth, who had known no man. It is said also that she spoke with Yosef of Nazareth concerning these matters, wherein lay the designs of Ayat, and set his mind at ease regarding Maryam, daughter of Yoachim and Anna, lest he cast away his intent in haste.
  • 85: Vretiel is the daughter of Gabriela and Yishma’el, who was in truth Avram’s son-in-law rather than his eldest son. As the Scribe of God, Vretiel maintains a set of scrolls bearing the written Shir ha-Zikaron, the Song of Remembrance. The surface of these scrolls is but three molecules thick, consisting of two transparent layers with a third between them of unnatural whiteness. No ink, nor dust, nor blood may mark this layer, but only X-rays issuing from a pen possessed by Vretiel alone. The latest unfinished scroll lies open upon the Table of the Lord in Temple Derekh Me’hudeshet, the Way Restored, in Havilah. Modern Assyriologists would give anything to examine the Paleo-Hebrew abjad in this songbook, dating unto the Omride dynasty of the ninth century BCE. To a culture given wholly unto logos, rather than logos in union with mythos as embraced by House Havilah, the existence of the scrolls and the pen alike would be taken as evidence of extraterrestrial visitation, and they would approach being correct.
  • 86: Zophiel, the Spy of God, is a double agent operating under the name William Sloane within a branch of FBI Special Projects called Domestic Enemies Classification, Observation, and Neutralization. DECON is tasked with monitoring anomalous activity in Havilah. Zophiel skillfully steers the investigation away from productive paths. When the FBI first became aware of the phenotype expressed by the V chromosome, Special Agent in Charge Claude Colson suspected it to be the result of some new Nazi wartime weapon. During the Remiel homicide investigation, Special Agent Bill Sloane asked, “How do you think people, collectively, would react to the emergence of a second human species living side-by-side with us? Do you think we could exist peacefully together?” Sheriff Roy Sternbach considered this, then said, “Not really. I think they’d reject them the way antibodies reject infection within the body.” Colson replied, “Antibodies. That’s good, Sheriff. Maybe I should start calling myself Special Antibody in Charge.”
  • 87: Dr. Miriam Wahkan (Lakota: Plenty Practice) is the angel named Raphael. As Mary Magdalene in the first century CE she unobtrusively performed the healings attributed in the gospels to Ravi Yeshua ben Yosef. Today she is the sole doctor in the town of Havilah, which is large enough to require at least two or three physicians. As part of her V chromosome inheritance, her body produces molecular machines that facilitate rapid self-repair, but Dr. Wahkan produces them in superabundance, permitting her to share them with the afflicted by a mere touch. Her use of the term “veterinary primer” is typical of her dry sense of humor, though indeed she occasionally works alongside her sister Ariel tending animals as well as humans. Raphael may heal, but she cannot confer immortality, though she herself is deathless. Miriam is frequently seen at the Migdalel College clinic wearing a white lab coat over her cloak of blood-red feathers. When complimented on this appearance, she often replies, “Thanks! It has pockets!”
  • 88: As with her sister Raphael, the body of Ariel Haivri-Lange, daughter of Mikaela and Naamah, produces an overabundance of designer molecules. In the case of Ariel these are airborne pheromones that strongly affect animals. In her presence beasts eagerly comply with her vocalizations and gestures, and Ariel returns their affection in equal measure. Some among the Stiffnecks say that Ariel’s husband, Apostle Joshua Lange, likewise fell under this influence. In the fourteenth century Ariel became known among the Lakota as Ptaysanwee, or Buffalo Calf Woman, after she restored the bison herds following a severe die-off. In celebration Ariel introduced the seven ceremonies of the sacred pipe, which persist unto this day among the Kuwapi. Her wings bear brown feathers, and when folded they are concealed beneath a fringed and bleached buckskin jacket. Ariel was deeply involved in the Haivri “Prank” which brought the Stiffnecks and Kuwapi together at the Dole impact crater, future site of Havilah, in 1865.
  • 89: Nahimana is Lakota for Secret, and this is the sacred name of the angel Raziel, daughter of Vretiel and Jashen Shy Bear. Her nickname, “Tea Spiller,” arose after she revealed the name intended to be known only by herself and the shaman. Raziel insists on Dory for everyday use. Dory is a telepath and clairvoyant. She serves as the central clearing house for all mind-to-mind communication between the angels, a talent that extends across time and space. She frequently abuses this Mercy with what she calls ancillary information, though others describe it as gossip. When this ability first emerged in late adolescence, she found it intrusive. She soon laid down the law: it was for emergencies only, and if the voices disobeyed her, she would punish them by keeping them awake at night with voices of her own. The Mercy also gives her access to imagery. Dory played acoustic bass at the Migdalel College Conservatoire and with the Havilah Harmonics, later picking up a Fender P-bass when Miss Goodmile formed in 1962.
  • 8A: Dory’s brother Wiiya Wiiya (Coyote Cub) Shybear possesses the XY allosome of baseline human males. Nevertheless, as one of the Sarim, descendants of Sar Lailah, he has been granted the power to effect a Mercy. His talent resembles the “Bag of Holding” of Dungeons & Dragons, though in Cubby’s case a black velvet bag conceals his hand where it vanishes into a space-time pocket that always accompanies him. Even Yeshua found this sight disturbing. With his right hand Cubby may place objects into this pocket or retrieve them. With his left hand, retrieval leaves a duplicate behind. This Mercy is made possible by the growing-block nature of time. Loops generate new parallel branches of history. A warm loaf of bread placed within Cubby’s pocket may be set beside a prior instance of itself, resulting in two loaves. One time he produced five thousand loaves in this manner. Hagar named him El Roi (God sees me). Cubby accepted this, and now goes by the nickname Elroy. When out on a Prank he is known as The Magician.
  • 8B: Remiel, daughter of Ariel, sees her future as a vivid daydream continually collapsing like a house of cards with each personal action that renders the former vision counterfactual. The sequence of events in the new future then reassembles itself within her mind. It is almost impossible to harm Remiel, for she may simply absent herself from the place of danger. She calls this technique the Dance of Life. Yet in truth it is a terrible power. Remiel knew when her husband Elroy would betray her with Bat Kol. She knows when people she dearly loves will die, yet at times she can say nothing, because the warning itself leads to outcomes far worse. This Mercy makes Remiel the most formidable among the angels. Davar once told her that she alone in all the universe shares the Old One’s divine power of free will. Yet the burden of this thing was judged so terrible that Davar required Remiel to submit willingly unto murder before he would permit her to retain the power. Her death proved a temporary inconvenience.
  • 8C: Samael “Sammy” Zinter played on the Academy football team and performed percussion both at the Academy and with the Havilah Harmonics. Sammy pounds the skins with all the power of the offensive guard he is, yet runs effortlessly in and around Dory’s rock-steady bass lines, punctuating her almost machine-like low-end notes with improvised drum fills as varied as snowfall. Sammy is telekinetic, though he must touch an object to move it. He can toss heavy timber about like balsa wood. His code name on Pranks is “Sabotage.” DECON suspected Remiel’s wings, examined in detail during her incarceration, to be a genetic mutation and sought to lay hands upon her brother Samael to confirm. Bill “Raguel” Sloane was tasked with capturing Sammy, a duty at which he consistently failed, though always with tantalizing explanations for the near misses. You do not really wish to put your hands upon Sammy, lest you discover your bones break far more easily than the equipment Sabotage is accustomed to destroying on Pranks.
  • 8D: Ehawee Wicasa (Lakota: Laughing Maid) possesses the VX allosome of the jen and bears wings of green feathers. Within House Haivri she is known as Bat Kol, Daughter of the Voice, a title theologians long framed as a divine yet abstract principle rather than an anthropomorphic being. Ehawee was granted the Mercy of a powerful voice, and serves as the chief annunciator (ha-Nevi’im) among the angels. Ehawee was the star vocalist at Temple Derekh Me’hudeshet and with the Havilah Harmonics in the 1950s, though true fame arrived after the band recorded and toured as Miss Goodmile in the succeeding decade. During concerts Ehawee required neither microphone nor amplification to make herself heard, even over Elroy’s electric guitar, a thing audiences found uncanny. She moved freely about the stage without the encumbrance of a cable, except when attending the mixing board. Although Remiel, noodling on piano and organ, created the melodies played by Miss Goodmile, the band’s lyrics originated entirely with Ehawee.
  • 8E: At Academy recitals and with the Havilah Harmonics, Nahimana “Dory” Shybear played a double bass balanced upon an elongated end-pin of her own devising. In rehearsals she would sometimes set aside her bow and pluck the strings pizzicato, wandering through meandering bass lines while daydreaming she was a black cat slinking through the night. In 1962 Dory set aside her acoustic bass, which had always been difficult to mic, and picked up a pink Fender Precision electric bass, or P-Bass. The notes passed through a spring reverb box so she could duet with her own slapback echoes. Yet the electric bass required adjustment. It lay horizontally across her chest upon a shoulder strap, though it also freed her to dance about the stage. Not that this improved her visibility very much. The bass player, despite being indispensable to the band’s sound, was traditionally ignored, even by the most ardent fans. Dory possessed enough confidence to sing backup vocals, though never solo.
  • 8F: Wiiya Wiiya “Coyote Cub” Shybear, also called Elroy, is a Kuwapi youth like his sister Nahi. In Lakota, Kuwapi means “The Left Behind Ones.” They were a small band of Oglala religious dissenters who endured in Havilah after the peoples of the grasslands, including the Oglala proper, were driven onto reservations by the holocaust of barbed wire that destroyed the bison which had been their lifeblood. Ariel could not save the herds a second time, yet she labored tirelessly to preserve the Kuwapi people. In the Migdalel College music program (and with the Havilah Harmonics) Elroy played saxophone. When the Harmonics became Miss Goodmile and recorded 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦 in 1962, Elroy took up a yellow Fender electric guitar lacking a nameplate because of a trademark dispute. Some have since called it a Nocaster, and it is highly collectible today. Yet the more memorable downtempo tracks of Miss Goodmile often featured mournful and atmospheric saxophone solos by Elroy returning to his former instrument.
  • 8G: After Remiel was brutally murdered, her body was restored from an earlier segment of the “growing block,” (or growing forest of branches, more accurately) before DECON amputated her wings and before locals left her crucifixion-style upon the tri-state marker. Her memories up to the moment of death were restored from a Pleroma backup. Thereafter she resumed her interracial marriage with Elroy under the name Robyn Shybear. Everyone called her Round Robyn, partly in recognition of her round-trip to the afterlife and partly as an affectionate reference to her generous proportions. Robyn herself preferred the term Rubenesque. Elroy proudly boasted that he had a lot of Robyn to love. Her contribution to the Havilah Harmonics and later Miss Goodmile lay in keyboards: acoustic and electric piano, organ, and eventually synthesizer. Migdalel College possessed the first Big Moog west of the Mississippi, and in the sunset years of Miss Goodmile, Robyn could perform live duets with Elroy while playing her Minimoog.
  • 8H: With DECON agents still searching for him, Samael Zinter began using the name Hunky Haivri. Dory was his longtime girlfriend, and together they formed the beating heart of Miss Goodmile. Their signature “Hunky Dory Shuffle” inverted pop music expectations somewhat. It was Dory’s bass, rather than Hunky’s drums, that kept strict time, while Hunky humanized the pulse with endlessly inventive runs and fills. The Big Moog synthesizer at the Academy conservatoire included a control-voltage step sequencer associated with the Berliner Schule style of electronic music, a genre that became popular only after Miss Goodmile retired. Yet Dory could achieve the same hypnotic “Bolero effect” without the aid of an elaborate pin board. Ehawee often remarked, “We have a robot girl on bass.” That was Miss Goodmile: a machine-precise low-end groove serving as the framework for intensely human expression in vocals, keys, drums, guitar, and saxophone.
  • 8I: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 1, September 10, 1950: Yeshua of Nazareth and his fraternal twin brother Yudah have taken to the road following a bitter dispute with certain members of their family. They encounter Yochanan the Dipper at the confluence of the Yarmouk and Yarden rivers south of Lake Kinneret. Yochanan speaks to the gathered crowds of the long succession of empires that have ruled the Yudim, from Babylon through Persia, Greece, and Rome, and of how both foreign domination and corrupt priesthood have reduced the people to poverty and despair. He rejects the idea that revolt alone can secure lasting freedom, declaring instead that God himself will soon become the true temple and bring direct rule among his people. Turning from ritual sacrifice without transformation, he compares sin to a broken chariot wheel that corrupts every road it touches, insisting that the wheel itself must be repaired. Moved by his words, Yeshua and Yudah step forward to receive the cleansing baptism of the Dipper.
  • 8J: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 2, September 17, 1950: Elroy and Remiel are on a working honeymoon in Kemen, at times undertaking Pranks in both worlds. At Harran, Remiel tells Elroy a sign has been prearranged. When Elroy asks a woman at a well for water, she is revealed as Yishak’s wife to be. And behold, Rebekah comes forth, born to Bethuel son of Milcah, wife of Nahor, with a pitcher upon her shoulder. Elroy greets her on behalf of his master Yishak and draws from his bag gold multiplied in abundance. Her household asks if she will depart with these strangers, and she answers, “I will go.” Rebekah assents not on the basis of Yishak’s character, whom she does not yet know, but on the conduct of his servants at the well: courteous, humble, and devout. The gold is customary, but she judges Yishak must be good, given the conduct of those who serve him. Elroy and Remiel bring her into Sar Lailah’s tent, and Yishak takes Rebekah as his wife; he is comforted after his parents are forever parted from him.
  • 8K: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 3, September 24, 1950: Apostle Joshua Lange preaches a Sunday sermon at Temple Derekh Me’hushedet. In the Temple basement dining room, his wife Ariel greets him with their young two children, Samael and Remiel. As Remiel is two years older, Ariel suggests they separate their visits this time, to bring their ages a little closer together. They do this periodically in order that the children may become the same chronological age by 1930, as House Haivri has carefully planned. Ariel assures Joshua it will not affect her greatly, as angels live for three centuries, though she will greatly miss him and Remiel over the next six days. Joshua passes through a storeroom into tunnels beneath the Temple, which rise twenty-five feet without rising, and advances six days up the timeline. At the rectory, Ariel, who is now six days older, greets him with a kiss. Joshua takes Remiel and Samael to bed. He then begins preparing his next sermon, as it will be Sunday again on the following day.
  • 8L: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 4, October 1, 1950: Yochanan appointed four disciples as screeners to hear confessions and judge their readiness for baptism in the Yarden. Yudah was received by Philippos. He confessed that a rotten scaffolding pole in Sepphoris collapsed and killed his father Yosef, despite warnings from his sons that the materials were unsafe. Philippos found no fault in him, but perceived God’s will to heal the boy’s grief through the baptism. Yeshua in turn confessed to Andreia that he worked in his father’s trade and Yosef died in a work accident he had long feared would come. Yeshua and his brother left home in anger after refusing to continue the dangerous labor, and he confessed to carrying guilt for refusing the wishes of his mother. Andreia accepted his contrition and brought him to Yochanan. At the river, Yochanan led Yeshua into the water, and though the river was shallow, Yochanan suddenly could not locate him, He searched in confusion but Yeshua has vanished from sight.
  • 8M: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 5, October 8, 1950: Yishak and Rebekah bore twin sons, Esau and Ya’akov. By mischance, Esau found he could not always depend upon his own strength and skill to sustain himself. Returning from the field famished, he begged his brother for food. Ya’akov gave him bread and lentil soup, but he required in exchange a solemn oath transferring the Birthright. Esau agreed, being near to death with hunger. Afterward Esau recovered and prospered, and came to regard the Birthright as of little consequence. Ha-Satan accused Ya’akov before God of failing to provide for his own. But God answered not as judge of the act, but of the world in which it occurred: Esau was formed by what is present and graspable, while Ya’akov sought endurance by rising beyond the world. For among the world-dwellers advantage does not always align with strength, and survival may pass to those who secure what others hold not. The Birthright passed to Ya’akov, yet the imbalance remained part of the natural order.
  • 8N: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 6, October 15, 1950: Dr. Miriam Wahkan, known among the angels as Raphael, struggles to conceal her impossible healing abilities from a visiting U.S. Army surgeon. To preserve the secret of her “veterinary primer,” Miriam performs a grotesque imitation of frontier medicine before the physician, applying leeches, prescribing mercury compounds, and wrapping wounds in foul-smelling poultices while her molecular machines quietly restore the patients beneath the bandages. Meanwhile, Mikaela and Ariel host a delegation of the Loyal Opposition at one of Havilah’s scalding geothermal springs for diplomatic talks. The negotiations proceed with elaborate courtesy and increasing passive aggression while all parties remain submerged in sulfurous water far too hot for ordinary bathers. At last the demons surrender the point under dispute and abruptly conclude the talks, unable to endure the heat any longer.
  • 8O: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 7, October 22, 1950: Rimmon arrived at the restored house of Uriel in Anshar, expecting to meet a newly-created seraph, but instead he found a young man calling himself Yeshua. Rimmon rebuked him for failing to address him as Lord. The young man declared himself the living avatar of Davar, and Rimmon said, “Then welcome to the world of meat.” Yeshua explained that Ayat brought him there forty days earlier, though he had gone ten days without food. When Rimmon suggested Ayat should send servants with provisions, Yeshua quoted the Litany of Creation back to him: “Kemenites shall not put the gods to the test.” Rimmon pressed him further, asking why Ayat would abandon the human incarnation of her own son in hunger and solitude. Yeshua answered that Ayat assumed Rimmon would wish to meet a new seraph before he departed for Earth. Asked concerning his purpose there, Yeshua replied only that Ayat had tasked him with ensuring human history unfolded more to Ayat’s liking.
  • 8P: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 8, October 29, 1950: A geothermal fungal rot long afflicting the crops of Dole Crater mutated and spread throughout the town of Havilah. Dr. Miriam Wahkan discovered with alarm that her “veterinary primer” was suppressed by the crater fungus, forcing her to rely instead upon primitive human medicine: quarantine, boiled instruments, herbal remedies, and exhausting bedside care. For the first time in her long life Raphael was unable to ease suffering with a touch. Meanwhile Raguel, the Spy of God, investigated the vector of the blight. He traced the outbreak to a local Stiffneck farmer who uncovered a sulfur-rich bolide fragment and began selling chips of it in Havilah as a miracle cure. The contaminated stones spread the blight through the town. Elroy resolved the matter by operating as The Magician, deftly exchanging the sulfur fragments for painted pieces of limestone by sleight-of-hand before the oblivious Stiffnecks, thus bringing the famous Brimstone Rush to a rapid end.
  • 8Q: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 9, November 5, 1950: In the beautiful stone and glass house of the Seraph Uriel, Emperor Rimmon led Yeshua to a balcony upstairs and showed him a painted and varnished relief of Kemen carved into the wall by a skilled artisan. Rimmon traced the borders of Elendal and Magodon, presenting that part of the hollow world as his exclusive dominion. Yeshua replied that Rimmon did not understand such ownership, noting he was a man inhabited by a sentient star which had formerly taken a dragon-form avatar. Rimmon answered that nonetheless, were Yeshua to give him the same deference he offered his mother, nothing more, then Adan would be granted to him to rule with impunity. Yeshua declined, asking why he should be satisfied to rule over a fraction of an artificial world that itself was smaller than the Earth by one part in forty. He added that Kemen was merely the first interstellar colony of humankind, and that even on Earth he was not being made ready to rule but merely to teach.
  • 8R: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 10, November 12, 1950: Ya’akov came to his mother Rebekah, and she prepared food and bread for him. She clothed him in Esau’s garments and covered his hands and the back of his neck with the skins of young goats. Ya’akov brought the meal to his blind and ailing father Yishak, who became suspicious because his voice did not match Esau’s, though the food was certainly as tasty as anything Esau prepared for him. Ya’akov insisted he was Esau, saying God himself had brought the game to him. Yishak drew him near to test him by touch, and then by smell, and finally kissed him recognizing the scent of Esau’s garments. He then spoke the Blessing of dew, fertility, abundance, and dominion over nations upon Ya’akov. When Esau arrived shortly afterward with his own venison, the deception was revealed, but the Blessing had already been spoken and could not be withdrawn. Esau breathed dire curses and deadly threats, and Rebekah, overhearing her son, warned Ya’akov to flee for his life.
  • 8S: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 11, November 19, 1950: Dumah temporarily filled in for the priest of Saint Mary Magdalene Parish in Havilah, at least for Saturday confessions. The townspeople soon realized that confessing to the Angel of Silence created a curious loophole, for Dumah could neither speak aloud nor assign a verbal penance. Confession lines consequently grew quite long. When at last it became Dumah’s own turn to confess, he communicated through an intricate sequence of nods and gestures which the astonished priest somehow understood perfectly. Dumah revealed that he had once been appointed to escort young Yishak safely into Canaan, and that his unbroken silence was not merely the mark of his divine office but a penance freely undertaken after he tore out the hearts of Sar Lailah and Uriel. The priest granted absolution and assured Dumah he bore no personal guilt for obeying God’s command, yet Dumah chose to continue his silence all the same.
  • 8T: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 12, February 4, 1951: Yeshua told Rimmon humanity must first learn to live peacefully with one another, and later perhaps fill space with their chatter, drawing the attention of Elohim beyond Rimmon’s hidden court. Yeshua said that should Ayat be granted unrestricted access to the City of Stars, they would reveal El’s discovery of the Students without mentioning the centuries during which Ayat had been silenced. Rimmon refused, declaring Yeshua a disappointment from the moment of his creation, and insisting that revelation of the Students would bring down intolerable scrutiny. He then resolved to press his one remaining advantage. Drawing a long infernal blade from within his tunic, Rimmon lunged at Yeshua upon the upper balcony. Yeshua bent backward over the railing as a great sphere of water appeared in midair beneath him. He fell into it as Rimmon watched helplessly, and the sphere vanished in an instant, leaving only ankle-deep water upon the floor of Uriel’s house.
  • 8U: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 13, February 11, 1951: After crossing the Yarden, Ya’akov sent messengers before him to his brother Esau, speaking of his many flocks, servants, oxen, and asses, gifts that might soften the memory of the stolen Blessing. The messengers returned saying Esau approached with four hundred men. Ya’akov divided his caravan in two lest one half be destroyed and prayed humbly for deliverance. By sunrise Ya’akov rejoined his wives and children, though after a night-long ordeal he walked with a limp. When Esau drew near, Ya’akov placed his dependents before him and bowed before his brother. Esau embraced him and kissed him, and the two wept together. Ya’akov urged Esau to accept the gifts, saying God had dealt graciously with him, and that he possessed more than enough. Though the Blessing entitled Ya’akov to dominion, his love of his brother outweighed such claims. Then Esau revealed why he had come: their father Yishak was dead, and he desired that they bury him together in Hebron.
  • 8V: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 14, February 18, 1951: The Stiffnecks controlling the Havilah town council voted to “utterly put out the remembrance” of Dr. Dole and his unbiblical geological theories by burning his notebooks and correspondence. Vretiel, reciting a Havilah ordinance, insisted the documents first be read aloud before the fire, and as the councilmen recited the condemned pages she carefully entered the proceedings into the town ledger, thus preserving Dole’s ideas forever in the official record of Havilah. Meanwhile, a structural collapse within one of Dole’s abandoned test shafts threatened to swallow the town library. Samael held the failing supports aloft with his divine strength while the books were hurried to safety, yet his power extended only to the things he touched and not to his own flesh. As his exhausted arms began to fail, two ordinary Stiffnecks stepped forward to hold up Samael’s arms until the evacuation of the books was complete.
  • 8W: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 15, April 15, 1951: Yeshua remained beneath the waters of the Yarden longer than any man could hold his breath, greatly alarming Yochanan, his disciples, and Yudah, who searched the river fearing he had drowned. Yet Yeshua rose again unharmed. Yochanan peered closely to ensure he was truly the same man. He gave thanks that God had spared him, but grew unsettled that Yeshua showed no hunger for air and said nothing beyond saying, “Peace be with you, teacher. I am well.” Yochanan began to suspect Yeshua had contrived the incident to frighten away the crowds, and he quietly set Yudah of Kerioth to observe the brothers for further mischief. Soon afterward a finely dressed woman approached Yeshua, bowed low before him, and greeted him on behalf of the Bene ha-Nevi’im. By agreement they spoke together in Vulgar Latin so others might not understand them. Yudah, who had never heard his brother speak any tongue but Aramaic, mistook the exchange for commands addressed to a devil.
  • 8X: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 16, April 22, 1951: It was well that Esau and Ya’akov reached a rapprochement, for after they buried their father Yishak they never saw one another again. The widowed Rebekah remained with Esau, who continued to graze his herds in the ways of his father. Ya’akov took his wives, children, and servants east into the hills between the coastal plain and the deep valley of the Salt Sea, and there laid down the life of a nomad forever. Upon a high hill he founded Beit-El amid the olive trees of the summit, and the people dwelt in houses of mud brick. In time Beit-El became a walled city of stone, and the people observed the Way of Righteousness embraced by Yishak. In 1890s Havilah, the slopes of Migdalel Butte above the perpetual fog were terraced and watered in the likeness of Beit-El. Cattle and horses grazed beneath apple and pear trees. The Kuwapi dwelt in sod lodges that over time were replaced by wooden homes, and the people observed the Way of Righteousness Restored.
  • 8Y: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 17, April 29, 1951: Metatron arrived in Havilah to perform his periodic re-certification of Migdalel College, but he displayed a deep-seated contempt for mortals, worsened by undergrads who repeatedly interrupted him at inconvenient moments. He threatened to revoke the Academy’s accreditation. Mikaela, seeking leverage, attempted to uncover information that might compel Metatron to relent. Vretiel, now the Scribe of God after Metatron’s elevation, revealed to the Dean that Metatron was not one of the Primordials created directly by the Old One as he permitted himself to be depicted, but had once merely been the human named Enoch in Genesis. Armed with this knowledge, Mikaela found Metatron in Havilah eating a sabich pita from an Assyrian Christian street vendor, his first such meal since his promotion. Mikaela threatened to reveal the truth of his origins to Tea Spiller. Metatron renewed Migdalel College’s accreditation and withdrew from Havilah, at least for the time being.
  • 8Z: 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 season 2 episode 18, April 1951: Standing near the crowd was a man said to have an unclean spirit, crying out continually in an unknown tongue. Yeshua was moved with compassion and drew closer. The man asked, “Have you come to destroy us?” Yeshua was struck by the depth of his distress, though the man still retained enough self-control to seek Yochanan’s baptism. Miriam, the woman accompanying Yeshua, laid her hands upon the man’s neck, and Yeshua said, “Hold your peace, and come out of him.” The effect was immediate, astonishing even Yeshua himself. The man was now quiet and composed, and onlookers declared that unclean spirits obeyed Yeshua. He fell to Yeshua’s feet, but was bid to rise and was led to Yudah of Kerioth. Yeshua instructed the man to confess his sins and then be baptized. When Yeshua’s brother questioned how what he had seen was possible, Yeshua replied that only God has such power, and that it is given to whomever God chooses. He exchanged a brief knowing glance with Miriam.