small horse cart drove past me, the horse's hooves clip-clopping pleasantly on the cobblestone. Behind them, a young woman in a short black skirt and long pink scarf, perched on a bright yellow motorbike, whipped around the horse cart with a wave at the driver.
This place was definitely going to take some getting used to.
"Well, hel-lo there, beautiful."
I turned to face the speaker. A man wearing a skimpy tank top and black and turquoise biker pants leaned against a light pole, giving me a salacious once-over. "You must be new. I haven't seen you around the Court. The name's Gabriel."
"Gabriel? I'm surprised to see you without your trumpet." I didn't protest when the man took my hand and gave it a rather sloppy kiss, although I badly wanted to wipe my hand afterward.
"Alas, I am not that Gabriel," the man said with a smile that bordered on a leer as he not-so-subtly eyed my breasts. I crossed my arms over my chest. "I am a cherub, not a vessel."
"A vessel?"
"Gabriel. He's a vessel. So, are you here alone?"
"You are not a cherub," I said, willing to be polite, but not made a fool of. I casually stepped to the side, to put a little space between us.
His leer got a bit brighter as he leaned closer. "Winged babies, right? In diapers, flitting around from cloud to cloud? Cupid and all that?"
"That is the standard image of cherubs," I agreed. "I'm sure I don't need to point out that you're far from that."
"It's a common misconception amongst the mortals." He suddenly touched my neck, mumbling something about a bit of lint on my collar when I backed out of his reach. "The truth about us is much more pleasant, I think you'll agree. You are new here, aren't you? You must have a tour."
"I'm actually waiting here for someone," I said as Gabriel the not-so-very-cherubic took my hand and tucked it into his arm.
"This won't take long. It's best to think of this incarnation of the Court as a giant wheel, with the main square here as the hub. There are three areas on the outer edges of the town, all reachable from this square," he said, ignoring my protest. He waved a hand toward the people at the well. "That's the equivalent of the office water cooler. Those are shops along the edges."
I had a bit of trouble coming to grips with the idea of a celestial shopping mall, but managed to get my mind to overlook the trouble spots and move on. "Shops. All right. Does the...er...does the sovereign change the appearance of the Court often?"
Gabriel shrugged, and escorted me down one of the four cobbled streets that led away from the square. "Whenever it gets the urge to, I guess. Over here is the petitioner's park, and through that archway is the library."
I caught a glimpse of a green open space as Gabriel whisked me by an arched doorway into another area. "You'll forgive my ignorance, but what exactly does a cherub do?"
"Communication, for the most part. I'm in charge of the Internet. See that building? That's the athonite. Don't go in there if you don't want to be bored to death. It's full of hermits who prose on about nothing for hours on end."
"You are in charge of the Internet? In charge how?" I asked, little warning signals going off in my mind. I stoked up my "go with the flow" intentions, and told myself I'd sort it all out later.
"Oh, this and that. It's mostly automated now, so it doesn't take too much effort to keep running. Leaves me time to spare for more pleasurable activities, like showing a lovely lady around the Court."
"You've clearly devoted much time to flattery. It's second to none," I said with a smile I didn't really feel, gently extracting my hand from his arm as we walked through a tunnel.
"Why, thank you, sweet lady." He kissed my hand, then gestured widely as we emerged through an arched doorway into the third area. "Behold, the sanctuary."
"Is the sanctuary a, for lack of a better word, holy place?" I had tried to keep an eye on where we were going, memorizing as best I could the twists and turns through the town so I could find my way back to the main square. I gave up doing that as soon as I realized there were frequent signposts like the one Theo had consulted.
Gabriel laughed, and gave my fingers a squeeze, replacing them