The midday prayer was more populated than normal, though it wasn't surprising with the only yesterdays payer ending with the naming of the chosen. 

I silently note the others who as well have been chosen for Ascention as they file silently into prayer, and continue to look still harder for Lael. I was thankful now, more than ever, for Falak's presence. 

Falak wasn't one to attend every prayer, such as Lael and myself, instead spontaneously rotating the daily prayer she decided to attend, yet still preforming her movement and singing her hymns without difficulty. Even better than the most devout. 

I do not deny that I was always astonished at her natural talent.

 Falak  joined me in attending the public meal at the circle after we left The Church, an open area eatery that housed various stalls made up of white tents, ivory slabs, and chalky colored wood, allowing for the angels in attendance to choose from different meals available to them, a glorious feast after a morning spent fasting. 

We did as all in Heaven would during the time of meal, and would walk about the streets while slowly nibbling away at the meal in our hands- mine a pale bready like wrap, thick in texture with a milky paste in the middle- a personal favorite and quite filling. Falak drank some sort of thick substance from an orb that, when empty, shriveled before dissipating moments later into the air. 

Falak had stayed with me as we rounded the eatery heading to the various white streets lined with mirroring unpigmented apartments, chatting away about one thing or another as I nodded and tried not to show that I was growing more concerned Lael was not anywhere to be seen. 

"Ah!" Falak looked to the sky as the high ringing bells chimed through the open clean air," and just in time we have finished! Come. We are near the the Chariots. Let us go."

 I nodded to her, giving one final sweep of the streets behind before pressing ahead to the large oval opaque glass and marble white building. 

The house of The Chariots. 

We funneled in line, the glass and marble dome structure a maze of circles all leading to a middle that housed 4 large round Chariots, at the entrance of this room and of every Chariot entrance was a power.  

Here the air was cooler, an odd experience since Heaven was always of comfortable temperature, weather never deviating from an agreeable and moist air, always smelling fresh and wet. In the Chariots house, it was not frigid, but the chill was uncomfortable, the air crisper. 

Falak and I proceeded forward when motioned by a Power, along with a handful of other Virtues, a couple more Principalities and, the purple standing out starkly among the yellow and orange swaths, a hand full of Dominos, their faces as stone and unmoving as their decisions always were, all of us herded forward when the Green swathed Powers gave allowance. 

I force my gaze to the floor, away from the Dominos and continue in line to the Chariot ahead- the white oval would house up to nine and I mentally was ticking how many Angels were between myself and the nearest Domino. 

Falak and I, along with several other Virtue women and one other female Principality, all stood on the white pad.

A sigh of relief caught in my throat as I realized we numbered 9.

I kept my gaze downcast as the hiss of air sounded bellowing our robes, and the usual cold gust brushed encircled me as the glass dome sealed around us.

I contained a shiver. 

The flesh of my arms and the back of my neck prickled, and had I not undergone many years conditioning my body as every angel, I would have allowed my teeth to chatter. Instead my jaw tightened, and I gave a long steady breath in through my nose, then out through barely parted lips.

For only a moment the rest of the Angels filing into the two other Chariots were in my vision- the Dominios moved with a purpose, jagged and apart from the rest of the Angels. I watched as the small group split into two Chariots either side of me before the image swept away as all became black in an instant, though I took comfort that they did not separate by male and female.

In the Firmament, there was strict segregation. When living in the Firmament, your time was to only devout yourself to God, prayer, lecture, eating and sleeping- all of it in a fervent worship. 

The darkness broke in a rush to the grey dome of the receiving Chariot in the Firmament. The dome lifted to allow us to exit the Chariot, greeted by a Power who stood stoic at her station, the constant acrid smell of thin smoke lay in the air.

I had became used to this travel after several years of being a Virtue, but could recall the lightheaded sickness that had once overtook when I first had began. The glass lifted, allowing warm air to waft through and we stepped forward to grey tile. 

In the Firmament, all was grey. 

Exiting the building, we observed the mile long stretch that made up the Sisters side of the sphere. 

Columns of grey squat apartments stood in uniformed rows, nothing here was adorned with color, no shape beyond that of the same square buildings could be seen aside from the sphere of the house of the Chariot- only one Chariot on each male and female side- and us with our blinding white robes and swaths of color from our sashes. 

We silently ventured forward as our group of 9 headed for the singular structure that stood more than a single floor- The Abbey.

There were no doors nor windows to The Abbey nor the surrounding homes. Everything in the Firmament was unadorned, tightly spaced and only holding items of the most basic function. 

Here I avoid looking up, for even the sky is but a gray shroud, enveloping the small city in a stifling embrace. 

Every time I visit the grey city I am reminded of the extreme claustrophobia I had experienced. The sleepless nights eased only by early oral doses of Holy Water, loosing many days between the constant mind numbing routine of simply prayer, and basic life functions. 

I glance over to Falak. She notices my gaze, and gives a nod. 

We enter the Abbey, Falak dropping back to join the other Principality behind us 7 Virtues. 

Today I lead the group of 9, the honor allowed to me seeing as how I was now a chosen.  I watch as I pass rows of grey bundled Sisters, all in a simple grey shift and head cover, bowed low to the ground, hands clasped as they all faced forward leaving only a narrow isle for us to advance up to the Abbess who stands still and silent in the middle of the walk way awaiting our arrival. 

I stop several feet in front of her, I know her as Mother Superior, and nothing else. She, as do the other mothers, wears black covering all but her face, which hers is made up of all lines and sharp angels, her nose crooked and her eyes dark. I bow my head respectfully and she gives a brief nod, before turning. I follow and behind me the others of my group. 

Not a single sister stirs from her silent prayer.

I know the sisters that surround me may have been in that same bent position for hours. I am also aware some of them had been in the Firmament since before my first arrival here, and remained here still even years after I had left. 

We walk out the back door of The Abbey, the silence ringing in my ears but the vice of being in those walls releases me some. 

"So it is you, Angel Ayira, who is among the chosen," Mother Superior often does not expect an answer when she speaks, so despite being out of the Abbey walls, I hold my tongue. 

It is a thankful thing, that with our arrival, the Sisters soon will be released from their prayer to receive guidance, lessons and comfort.

The memories of Angels arriving when I had been a sister, yearning to Ascend, I had relished in their visits breaking apart the length of prayer, and silence. At the color of their sashes, despite how much the white had felt blinding. 

The silence, I recalled, was an absolute in The Abbott. Not one word by any was to be uttered in its walls. Within the town, voices were to be low, and words few. The life of a sister was to have the life of minimalist values and the only want to praise God, and even more silently, the prayer to Ascension.

When my mother and grandparents and aunt and uncle had all spent such grueling hours ensuring my servitude and education to Ascension, and my enervating guidance so silently and secretly done about what I was to expect in Heaven, and what I was to do if I succeeded in becoming a Chosen, I had truly believed those to be the most difficult years of my life. 

Until I had become a Sister. 

Even with my seemingly burdensome childhood set to prepare me for this path, nothing could have readied my mind or spirit for the grey stifling quiet, the feeling of heaviness crushing you as you felt entrapped. 

Arriving here, you realize you are -unless  you are graced with Ascension. 

Which could mold some of the most devout of followers. 

"Sister Murray doesn't have long," Mother Superior was turning and speaking again, her voice anywhere else may have been difficult to follow but here it was as if the smallest sounds carried beyond what was possible. Having attended many visits to the Firmament over the years, I had become accustomed to the business like fashion," And within 3 days time, we are to receive the Sheep who have been granted Ascension." 

She glanced over her shoulder, giving me a once over before continuing on," You shall be given the ultimate grace God could gift before the Sisters are named who have been awarded Ascension."

I nod uncertain if she catches the movement but a bit too fearful to speak up. Even now, my too many years in the Filament have not left me. 

This is a smart move, a well chosen one I know. The newly Ascended Sheep would be jarred at they grey silence, I remember I had been. My eyes had been constantly tormented by the lack of sky, lack of ground, lack of everything. My stomach had ached, my family having had been poor on Earth I thought I had become accustomed to hunger, yet it became an all the more intimate as a Sister. Thirst was quenched by Holy Water but not sated. The new sisters, in congregation with the ones who had resided in the Firmament prior to their arrival, would see the hope of Ascension a very real thing days after their arrival, a hopeful light in the grey that surrounded them.

The life of a Sister was a challenge, and the largest testament to devotion.  

Mother Superior waved her arm over to the lecture hall, and I took that as a sign of dismissal. 

Bowing my head, I watch the grey cobblestone under my feet, watching my white boots as they appear again and again on the grey path. 

There are no steps leading into the hall, simply open archways and in it long bare stone grey tables that sit low to the ground, which we shall soon be folding our legs under us to quietly rest at while speaking to the sisters that are chosen to be gathered at this calling. 

I settle myself to the ground demure, awaiting my pupils that I and my fellow Angels shall educate for the next hour, before moving onto mulling about the whole released convent to guide Sisters that have stricken us as needing guidance, given praise, or just educate them as a mass. These first few girls introduced to us are most likely among to Ascend once I leave, and the others will be eager to listen to what we have to say hopes high they will one day be pulled away early from their prayers so as to listen to the Angels that have graced them with their presence. 

The soft sound of feet on concrete come and I raise my eyes to see the girls arrive, in their gray shifts and grey caps, grey boots and grey gloves, faces neutral but eyes unable to stop conveying the hope, yearning, and absolute awe. I know as they do it cannot be all of them- in the room stand 15 Sisters that have followed a single dark dressed Reverend Mother. 

Not even half will Ascend in the next choosing. 

I take a cleansing breath, silently wishing I could partake in the Holy Water that was to be distributed after the lecture, and wave the sisters in so they could sit at the end of the table opposite us. 

I am thankful Falak picks up the greetings along with her other Principality, Judy I believe her name, so I can bask in their voices and how normal they sound with their introductions and greetings before the Virtues began the lectures. 

My first day of 7 was nearing a close, and all I could hope was that I would be blessed for one last visit to the sands of Earth. 

In my mind, the yellow of the A'Antwanii blink to me gently, and I feel a wince in my chest with a pain I would think stemmed from longing.