The Edwin Vihal Did Not Know

"In your letter of explanation, set down properly why you failed, and what measures you yourself think should be taken against that failure."

In God's study, Vihal received the full weight of the scolding, and then a sheet of paper for his letter.

"…Yes… I am truly sorry…"

"Three failures in ten days is certainly not a small number.

But we are short of Cloud Painters, and if every one of you is to have steady rest, then I need you to become a full hand as well."

Perhaps God was the only one who thought so.

In the rest halls and the dining hall where the Cloud Painters gathered, it seemed to Vihal that almost everyone but Edwin looked at him with contempt… and as that thought came to him,

God went on, as if he had seen straight through the inside of the boy's chest.

"In the first place, this is work few wish to take up at all, and there are not many who can keep at it for long, or who can fill a sky that size with cloud inside the time allowed."

Yes—that was precisely why, having only reached the required speed, with no examination at all, he had been put straight into a trial period. He remembered being told as much during the three days of training.

The trade Vihal and Edwin had longed for grew harder or easier depending on the instructions of the day, and because each day's Sky Room was fixed in advance, a run of heavy work was common enough—cloud, and then heavy rain, and then a storm.

"An angel's chief work is the guiding of souls, and to do it swiftly one must be able to sense what is in that soul. Our kind as a whole bends toward that, and most of us are made that way.

This work of ours—the Cloud Painter's work, the making of something where nothing was—is unsuited to an angel who has nothing but a strong gift for sensing.

Whatever others may see, whatever they may say, do not trouble yourself with it. Take pride: you have a gift that ordinary angels do not."

So he was told. But Vihal's own capacity for what ordinary angels had seemed to be the lesser one, and the sensation of *sensing* was something he simply did not understand.

From their side, he must look like nothing but a drop-out… and his heart sank down again.

"I'll do my best to remedy it…"

"By the way. Have you been watching Edwin's work closely?"

"Yes…!"

"Did you know? Even that Edwin of yours failed often in the beginning. There were many times he could not finish within the hours."

"…Is that so…?"

They had met often enough even after Edwin had begun the work, and he had never once heard such a story. Vihal asked again, to be sure.

"It is so. And now he has grown able to cover the failures of others.

You and he are very much alike.

I will give you the permission. As far as time and strength allow you, go and watch him. His work—his heart—will be of use to you."

"Yes…"

And with that, Vihal took his leave of God's room.

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