Radiance - Behind the Scenes (Chessed edition)

Another section down (that's 7 out of 10 for those keeping count), so time for another Behind the Scenes look at the process that went into Radiance.

For those who may be a little behind in the chapters, you are warned that extremely major SPOILERS abound from here on out. You should definitely read Chessed before looking at this behind the scenes edition, so I'll put the content after the break.

Radiance 26 - He will in no way cleanse the guilty

   Pain exploded through Asher’s body as he felt at least two ribs fracture under Samael’s fists.
    The creature of stone and flame had emerged from hiding once the Leviathan had begun to rise and seemed to be taking great pleasure in hammering Asher’s prone form - and he found he had no fight left to defend himself.
    “Ha!” Samael laughed, deep and growling. “Is this the one who has been causing us so much trouble?” A powerful kick lifted Asher crashing into the stone wall. “This mewling whelp is nothing. I will rip out his heart as I did his father’s.”

Radiance 24 - Slow to anger

    The phone rang, and rang.
    Eventually, Asher hung up, slid the phone back into his pocket, and sat down on the bonnet of the rented car (that Rahko had somehow hired for free after sharing some jokes with the owner).
    “She’s not answering,” he told Rahko.
    “Maybe she’s out?”
    “Maybe,” Asher acknowledged. Your mother’s on a long journey, Dad had said, and that Asher would see her again before the end. Odd indeed, as his mother wasn’t exactly into travelling, especially long distances. She had yet to visit him in New York, though she often spoke about it as a plan for ‘next year’ or ‘next springtime’.
    Rahko put a hand on his shoulder, gave him the briefest of hugs. “I’m sure she’s okay,” he said, “Emma can look after herself.”
    Asher smiled, “Yeah, I know. It just seems weird to be here without seeing her.”
    “Well, once we rescue our companions and smash the sitra achra, we’ll come back and take her out for tea,” Rahko said smiling.
    “Sounds great,” said Asher, wanting to believe it would all be so simple. Since the fight with the dybbuk everything seemed to be slipping through his fingers, drifting away like clay dust in the breeze. “So this is where you last saw them?” Asher asked.
    Rahko nodded. They were standing between the falafel place and the scribe’s shop on the streets of Netanya, with only the faintest hint of a sea breeze to alleviate the overwhelming waves of heat and humidity.
    “I guess we follow them,” Asher said, feeling bursts of unease exploding in his stomach.
    “Be ready for anything,” said Rahko, as a ball of spinning ice materialised in his right palm.

Radiance 23 - Descended in the cloud

4] So he hewed two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up mount Sinai, as Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5] The Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6] And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed: 'The Lord, the Lord, God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in compassion and truth; 7] showing compassion to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin…
    -Exodus 34

    Asher moved the cubes of chicken around with his plastic fork, watched them swim in the fatty gravy and over-cooked peas. In such a gelatinous mush, everything just blended into a single mass.
    He persisted nonetheless, scooping plastic forkfuls into his mouth and swallowing with as little thought as possible. Even the slice of chocolate cake didn’t look exactly appetising, and Asher didn’t think he could handle the ‘salad’ at all - but it was better than not eating, so Asher tried not to complain.
    Of course, Asher hadn’t really wanted kosher meals at all - it was Rahko that had insisted as he charmed the woman at the airline’s help desk. Not that it was a kind of charm Asher had ever seen before - Rahko had approached the woman, who looked to be hitting her mid-fifties, and smiled, asked her how she was. Within minutes the woman was sobbing out her problems, her son who was into drugs, her fear of divorce, and so on. Twenty minutes later, Asher and Rahko held two tickets to Tel-Aviv (with kosher meals). In fact, since they had begun this journey together last night, Asher hadn’t seen Rahko pay for anything. The taxi driver had fallen over himself to give them a free ride to the airport, the barista in JFK had hugged Rahko, kissed him on both cheeks, and immediately sorted out two cups of coffee and a fruit smoothie. No wonder Rahko had only smiled when Asher had asked him where they would get the money to fly to Israel.