They met for the first time in the garden, but not atop the outer wall, on the day of the first rain. In the early days of Eden, when Adam and Eve were still new, there was a guardian and a serpent. And you would not be remiss to call them friends, though that was only because names for closer relationships had not quite been conceived of, yet.
Neither of them meant for it to happen. The serpent crawled up to the surface with instructions to stir up trouble, and he thought what better way was there to do that than by interfering in an angel's assignment. And if the serpent did so love to converse with the guardian, then that was merely one of the few perks his job afforded him.
The guardian, for his part, had been about to perform his duty and banish the demon from the garden when fiery copper curls and golden eyes caused him to stay his hand. It couldn't be shirking his duty to let this one stay, he reasoned. For how could a creature as resplendent as him not belong among such beauty?
They had nothing in common, save for their mutual fascination with the two humans and their fondness for one another, but it was enough, and they spent their days sharing in the many joys the garden had to offer. They could have spent the rest of eternity in such a way, had it not been for plans that were not of there making and a tree that had started to bear fruit.
It was shortly after the first apple began to ripen that the guardian returned to the garden after the Almighty had summoned him for a status report, a slight frown twisting his countenance.
"Do you think they know what they're missing?" he asked the serpent, whose name he did not know, as they watched Adam and Eve picking berries in the light of the early morning.
"How do you mean?" The serpent, who wore his scaled form, silently delighted in the fact that he had roped the angel into another conversation without even trying. His superiors downstairs were surely pleased with his success.
"Well, we have the ability to think for ourselves, to recognize we have a place in God's world. To know the part we must play. Do you suppose they understand that there is something they are... missing?"
The serpent gave a hum of comprehension. "I reckon they can't," he said with a ripple along his long body that might have been a shrug. "Else they wouldn't actually be missing it, would they?"
The guardian's frown deepened. "Ah, yes. Of course."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, though." The serpent's tone was comforting. "Ignorance is blisss."
The guardian nodded and gave him a small smile, though his eyes still appeared troubled. "I'm sure you have the right of it. Though, it is a little sad, don't you agree?"
The demon did, though he didn't have a chance to voice it as the angel steered the conversation towards lighter subjects. Still, the serpent couldn't shake the look in his friend's eyes. It stayed there, haunting the angel's once carefree expressions. He just wanted it to go away.
And the tree was right there.
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