Is the skill of learning to trust and distrust with great accuracy one that can only be learned in free will zones like the Milky Way Galaxy? Was a poor command of this one of the reasons for the fall of many angelics?

We would say that being in the free will zone is what mandates the importance of learning through discernment who and what to trust and who and what to distrust. Whereas, beyond the free will zone there will be rapid feedback to show the error of your ways—if you make a poor choice in the moment about something there will be a rather quick feedback to correct things so you will move in a better direction quickly. It is when you are in the zone of your galaxy where the consequences of karmic choices are delayed in coming back around to you, where you can be blindsided more readily and unexpected things happen on a regular basis showing you must be quite vigilant and really hone your skill in discerning friend from foe and risk from safety in all you do, as the consequences can be dire before you know what has happened. Because you are on your own as a free agent and your free will determines everything that will happen in your life, for the most part, you must be in the moment watching and perceiving what unfolds to know how you must respond to make the most of every potential eventuality and choose among the options to gain the most and avoid losing—that is a process and one worth cultivating and is its own reward. This is the benefit that is intuitively seeming to be contradictory to a divine blessing, that you are subjected to these challenges, but we can guarantee that this will result in the most powerful learning possible. When you are given feedback almost immediately about any slight undesirable conduct, you will never make sizable mistakes and hence will never learn how to overcome the challenges that it causes as things escalate and become compounded. You are in a tough environment that is a kind of schooling in how to cope with and surmount negativity, and to create a strong inner resolve and spiritual alignment to help you make all of your choices wise ones, to have the best possible benefit to you in growth and learning. If you conduct yourself in a way that will repair what was missing previously, undo the mistakes of the past, and move you forward in attainment of growth and wisdom from the learning opportunity of your life experiences, you will be expanding in the bargain and reaching a state of attainment you could not do any other way. Granted this can bring much pain and suffering at times when so much can be at risk, but there is no other way to have the learning than by the doing, and on balance you will reflect back on these years of service as a cherished blessing that you took part and really earned a place in history that will serve you for all of time from the skills and wisdom you gain. The downward spiral of the fallen angelics was caused by ego. The ability to trust and to know when to distrust demands a degree of sensitivity and that is another way of expressing the emotional content of an encounter that is being picked up by your antenna scanning for trouble, looking for risk, looking for any kind of hazard or danger to the self and wellbeing. The chief obstacle to developing this discernment or to be in tune with discernment in the moment to enable making a good judgment about trustworthiness will be threatened by ego. This is a false perception, that one is above it all, that one is in a higher position of power and accomplishment so as to be above the fray and untouchable. This will lead to false complacency under the assumption one has everything under control and is above reproach so there is nothing to fear from others and, in effect, this can act as a kind of poison to not only delude the self but to undermine interpersonal relationships, because an ego-based person, through the selfishness that results, will come across to others as having undesirable characteristics and makeup, and that will erode the trust of others even as the persons themselves who are caught up in their ego will not perceive the risk for them, as their high regard for self keeps them in a false state of acceptance, in effect, falsely rewarding trust in the self when it is not warranted by their actions and the consequences. So when people are serving their ego, they will not be at their best in levels of discernment to make good assessments about trustworthiness or distrust and its appropriateness. It may in fact lead to someone becoming hypercritical and dismissing others as unworthy in an inappropriate way, and that will be toxic in and of itself, that mistrust through condemnation in service to the ego will make their victim see them as untrustworthy and treating them unfairly, at a minimum, and a potential major threat to them in terms of the situation and the dependence on that critic, as in a workplace setting with a difficult boss or a competing coworker who might be ruthless and a potential enemy. This is why acting through the ego alone can be so damaging because it distorts perceptions and makes people vulnerable to their baser instincts and an inability to maintain a balance between service to the self and service to others. That sweet spot not only maintains personal survival and wellbeing but will gain the respect and trust of others who see that they matter to you and will give you respect and consideration, if not love, if you show them common courtesy, respect, and generous treatment.