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The third courtyard was a special place, one reserved for honoring the fallen Val Kyr. The walls surrounding the large courtyard were etched with the names of every Val Kyr who’d ever fallen, many of which were written in runes and other languages I couldn’t read. The entire courtyard was a memorial and radiated an air of respect and honor.

Many Val Kyr I’d never seen before had arrived in Val Halla last night and this morning, returning in order to attend the farewell ceremony and honor those who’d recently died. Most of the Val Kyr who were currently present were dressed in armor, just as Julie and I were. Lindrell had told us that this was traditional for farewell ceremonies, an indication of respect for a warrior.

I saw Lei a short distance away, though I didn’t go over and say hi to her. I wasn’t as angry with Lei as I had been, but there was still a little resentment that had yet to fade away entirely. Now, I understood intellectually that there was nothing Lei could have done for Debbie, but my emotions hadn’t fully accepted that yet…nor had they completely released the guilt I still felt over Nadia.

At the moment, the courtyard was filled with Val Kyr, all except for an area in the middle where the bodies of the fallen Val Kyr had been placed. According to Lindrell, it was traditional to cremate those who died, but for the moment, the fire had yet to be lit.

Since Julie and I were the newest Val Kyr and had known the dead the least, we stood back out of the way and just watched. Many of the other Val Kyr went towards the bodies, stopping only a short distance away and bowing as they said their goodbyes. Tears kept coming to my eyes, though I quickly wiped them away before anyone noticed.

Fleur was a short distance away, busy talking with two other women in French. A couple other Val Kyr were having a conversation in German, and I’d heard other languages being used as well.

According to Lindrell, English was the official language in Val Halla and had been for ‘only’ a few hundred years, ever since the British Empire had been at the height of its power. Before then, there had been a long period where there had been no official language, so every Val Kyr had learned how to speak several different ones just so they all could communicate.

I smiled faintly as I listened in on some of these conversations, not having a clue what was being said. I supposed that if you wanted a private conversation in Val Halla, it made sense to have it in a language that not everyone understood. I made a mental note to see about getting some lessons once everything settled down.

“There you are,” Nicole announced when she saw us.

Nicole was one of the few who wasn’t currently wearing armor, but that was because her armor had been badly damaged and had yet to be repaired. She looked much better than she had yesterday, with her injuries having healed almost entirely. She was no longer wearing her eye patch since her eye had grown back, but it was still milky white and she couldn’t see out of it yet.

“Hey,” I greeted Nicole, knowing that she had to feel even worse than we did. After all, Constance, her friend and the leader of her triad was one of those who’d died. I could see her puffy good eye and knew that she’d been crying as well. “How are you holding up?”

“All right,” Nicole responded with a forced smile. “I’m really going to miss Constance… She was a bit of a bitch at times, but she could really be nice when she wanted.”

I nodded at that, knowing exactly what she meant. That same description could have been given to Lindrell, who could be quite nice and friendly, but a complete bitch when she was doing her training. I shuddered slightly as I thought about her fondness for ‘pop quizzes’.

“Oh,” Nicole abruptly said, “I wanted you to meet someone…” With that, Nicole brought us over to another Val Kyr, one of the new arrivals who I hadn’t met before. “This is Helen… Would you believe, she’s my great grandpa’s little sister?”

I looked at Helen in surprise, not really seeing any family resemblance to Nicole. “It’s nice to meet you,” I greeted the woman.

“And I you,” she responded, giving me a curious look. Her eyes went down to my white sash and she frowned slightly.

“Michelle is an atra,” Nicole quickly told her. “Just like Freya.”

“I see,” Helen responded, giving me another curious look. “I’ve heard of atra, but I’ve never actually seen one…”

“Except Freya,” Nicole reminded her.

Helen nodded at that. “True. But if you’ll forgive me, I must pay my respects.” With that, she made her way towards the center of the courtyard…and the bodies.

“Wow,” Julie told Nicole. “It must be weird seeing Helen like that…”

“It was at first,” Nicole admitted. “But I tend to think of her as more of an aunt than anything else. Still, she has some really funny stories about my great grandpa from when he was a kid.”

“I wonder if I’m related to anyone else,” Julie mused as she looked over the crowed with a thoughtful look.

“Probably,” Nicole responded with a shrug. “But it might be a few generations back… I know one triad has three generations of the same family serving in it.”

“Wow,” I said, trying to imagine what that would be like. As it was, I wasn’t even sure how I’d inherited my Val, not even whether it was inherited through my Mom or Dad’s side.

Nicole nodded at that and continued, “I know some Val Kyr grew up knowing about their family legacy, and that they’d probably be recruited when they were old enough. But others, like all of us I guess, were so separated from it all that we had no idea until we were recruited.”

“You should probably go ask Shannon,” I told Julie. “I heard someone say that she’d actually been watching your family for a few generations, so she’d probably know if you have any relatives here…”

“Good point,” Julie agreed with an eager grin.

“And speaking of the devil,” Nicole added, gesturing to the side where I saw Shannon and Lindrell walking towards us.

When Shannon and Lindrell were closer, Julie blurted out, “Nicole said I might have some distant relatives here…”

“Did she?” Lindrell asked, giving Nicole a flat look.

Shannon smiled faintly before answering, “One of your ancestors was a close friend…and a member of my triad.”

“Really?” Julie exclaimed in excitement. Then her expression dulled and she said, “You said she was…”

“Daemons?” I asked quietly.

Shannon shook her head, looking a little sad. “Estrid. She was one of Estrid’s victims.”

Julie gulped at that. “Oh… Do you know if I have any other relatives here…still alive?”

Shannon hesitated a moment before answering, “You do have some very distant cousins…but most of us do. Jass is my distant niece…and Sharra is Lindrell’s great aunt.”

“Really?” I asked, growing more curious. “What about me?”

“I don’t know,” Shannon admitted. “I don’t know of your bloodline, but that isn’t surprising. The greater the distance between you and your most recent Val Kyr ancestor, the less likely anyone would be to know of your bloodline.”

“There are many lost bloodlines,” Lindrell added, giving me an odd look.

Before I could ask any more questions, the farewell ceremony began. Freya stood up front, dressed in her formal armor and began to give a speech. She started off by naming each of the Val Kyr who’d been killed in the recent battle, as well as saying how long they’d served. Everyone was silent as she spoke.

“They have served with honor and distinction,” Freya announced, her voice strong and clear, though I could hear the sadness in it. “These brave women have made the ultimate sacrifice, and they shall not be forgotten…”

Once Freya was finished with her speech, she stood aside and several other Val Kyr spoke, talking about the dead women. I barely knew any of them, but I still mourned their deaths, especially Nadia’s. Some of the Val Kyr remained stoic, but many cried, surprising me as powerful warriors hugged each other.

“I have served beside Nadia for thirty years,” Lei announced sadly. “She was not just a fellow warrior, but a great friend. She loved expensive vodka, cheap men, and had a guilty fondness for disco. She will be greatly missed…”

Tears ran down the large woman’s cheeks and I suddenly felt guilty for not even thinking about what she must be feeling. I’d been so busy blaming her for not helping Debbie, that I hadn’t even considered the fact that she’d just lost a friend. I suddenly felt really low.

When Lei was finished speaking, Gretchen began to talk. Lei started towards us to quietly talk with Lindrell, but after a few minutes, I told her, “I’m really sorry about Nadia.” I felt another wave of guilt as I thought about my own small part in her death.

“Thank you,” Lei told me with a faint smile, putting a hand on my shoulder. “This is the danger we all face…the price we must all eventually pay in order to protect the world from daemons.”

There was no accusation or blame from Lei, which made me feel even more guilty. However, she just gave me a gentle smile and a squeeze to my shoulder, then looked back towards Gretchen as she spoke about Nadia and the other fallen Val Kyr.

Once all the speeches were done, the fire was started and encouraged with some essence. All the bodies were engulfed in the large bonfire, and for several minutes, everyone just stood there, staring into the flames and saying goodbye.

While everyone else was starting to depart, Shannon shook her head and told Lindrell, “I don’t like this. The last time we took this many casualties in a single battle was a century ago…”

“The daemonites have a leader,” Lindrell said grimly. “And a ripper. These are dangerous days indeed.”

“They’re going to pay,” Lei said, stating this as a simple fact. She held her hammer up, scowling deeply and I could see in her eyes that she might be acting calm, but she took this very personally. I would have felt sorry for whoever she went after, if they hadn’t deserved it so badly.

Just then, someone called out, “Michelle.”

I looked over and saw Freya coming towards me with a grim expression on her face. She was definitely in Freya mode at the moment, and quite intimidating.

“Freya,” Lindrell greeted her cautiously.

“I need to borrow Michelle,” Freya told her. Then she turned to me and said, “Come, I think that now is the perfect time for a lesson.”

I was a little confused by that statement since this definitely didn’t seem like a very good time for lessons. After all, we’d just barely finished with the farewell ceremony, and the bodies were still in the process of burning. However, I merely nodded and followed behind her.

Freya led me into the same building as the armory, then into an area of the building where I hadn’t been before. “Every pillar possesses abilities the others do not,” she told me as we walked. “The atra are no different. Though we lack the strength in any pillar to duplicate those abilities, we have enough of each that we can combine them in ways that no single pillar can.”

I was startled by that, but Freya didn’t add anything more. Instead, she led me into a hall where there were several heavy metal doors, being guarded by two armed Val Kyr. Without a word, one of them opened a door and let us in.

The room on the other side of the door was obviously a prison cell, with a prisoner included. I stared at the man who was stretched out on the bed, his stomach wrapped up in bandages. He was tall, thin…and familiar looking. This was the daemonite summoner I’d shot a couple days ago.

When we’d searched the town to kill off the remaining daemons, we’d found that the summoner was still alive. Freya had told us that she wanted a prisoner to question, so we’d brought him back to Val Halla…even though he wasn’t in any condition to talk.

“We’ve treated his wound,” Ionne told me, “but it isn’t enough. I fear he may die before we can get any answers from him.”

I didn’t bother asking why no one had given him any jatta, having learned the answer to that one already. However, I wasn’t sure why we were here at the moment, or what it had to do with Ionne’s lesson.

Ionne began unwrapping the bandage around the daemonite’s stomach, revealing the hole I’d shot through him. He grunted and moved faintly, but not much. One of the guards came into the room and stood back, as though the daemonite was still a threat.

“Pay attention,” Ionne told me.

I focused all my senses, wondering what she wanted me to pay attention to. Then I felt her summoning essence and jatta…at the same time. This wasn’t nearly the amount of jatta energy that a jatta would be able to call forth, and definitely not enough heal a Val Kyr.

“Essence has no effect on anything with a life force,” Ionne told me calmly. “And jatta energy can give strength and vitality to Val Kyr…but does nothing to any who are not.”

Then Ionne did something, somehow merging the essence and jatta energy together into her hands, which she then placed on the summoner’s torso, next to the wound. I could feel her pushing the combined energies into him, and she stood there with a look of fierce determination on her face as she did so. Then as I watched, the wound began to seal up and heal.

Ionne pulled back, gasping for breath and looking exhausted, though I barely noticed her. Instead, I was staring at the summoner…who she’d healed. He wasn’t Val Kyr, but she’d been able to heal him anyway.

“If combined,” Ionne explained, “the essence and jatta can be used to do something that neither alone can…”

“You healed him,” I blurted out unnecessarily.

“Not completely,” Ionne said with a sigh. “But enough…” She was silent for a moment, then explained, “If you combine the energies, you can control the flesh to a small degree…enough to heal a small area.”

I gasped at the sudden realization that if I’d known how to do this myself, then I might have been able to save Debbie. I might have been able to heal her even when a jatta wouldn’t have been. My stomach knotted at the thought.

Almost as though she was reading my mind, Ionne continued, “This takes a great deal of effort, and you must possess enough of both jatta and essence.”

Ionne paused at that and gave me a gentle look, and though she didn’t say anything, I knew what she meant. During the battle, I’d used all my essence to charge my sword, so by the time Debbie had been injured, I wouldn’t have had enough essence to do this…even if I’d known how. However, that didn’t make me feel much better.

“I regret having to waste such an ability on a deamonite,” Ionne said, staring down at the prisoner with a grim expression. “However, I require him to survive long enough to answer my questions.”

“Is that safe?” I asked carefully. “What if he tries to summon some daemons…?”

“If he tries to summon a daemon,” Ionne said, looking to the guard, “stop him…by any means necessary.”

“Understood, Freya,” the guard responded with a faint smile. I could see from her expression that she was actually hoping he did try something.

In spite of the healing, the daemonite wasn’t able to answer questions quite yet. The other guard brought him water and let him rest while Ionne explained what she’d done and how I might be able to do the same thing.

“This is not an easy ability to use,” Ionne told me. “And unlike with a jatta infusion, you control the flesh itself…much as a notru does stone or water. Any mistake can make the injury worse.”

Once the daemonite had recovered enough strength, enough to sit up, though it was obvious that this took some effort, she began questioning him. However, he ignored her questions, doing nothing but glaring at her.

“Go ahead and torture me,” the daemonite finally announced defiantly. “I’ll tell you nothing…”

“Gladly,” the guard responded, though only looked to Ionne and made no move.

“That will be unnecessary,” Ionne stated in a calm tone. She stared at the daemonite for a moment, her expression going grim. “Michelle… Pay attention.”

With that, Ionne began to draw forth essence, the same way she had before healing the daemonite. But instead of pushing out jatta energy, she began to push out kaern energy instead. I watched intently, stretching my senses to the limit to see exactly what she was doing. Essence and kaern energies merged and fused, and when Ionne touched the daemonite’s forehead, she pushed the energies inside.

“I lay a geis upon you,” Ionne announced, talking to the daemonite though I knew this was for my benefit rather than his. “You will answer any question I ask of you. Of this, you have no choice.”

The daemonite glared at her but didn’t say anything. Still, I could see a spark of fear in his eyes along with the hatred. I wished I could feel bad for him, but I couldn’t. Not after what he’d done at that town.

“You have mind control powers?” I asked Ionne, a little stunned by that revelation.

“A geis allows us to impart a single command,” Ionne answered, not taking her eyes off the daemonite. She looked tired, the same way she had a short time ago when she’d healed him, which suggested that this geis thing was just as difficult. “I cannot truly control his actions or mind, merely force or proscribe a specific and limited behavior.” She finally turned to look at me, giving me a tired smile. “A person can hold but one geis, and it will fade with time.”

“I’m not telling you anything, you Val Kyr whore,” the daemonite spat at Ionne. The guard looked like she wanted to hit our prisoner, but Ionne waved her away.

“What is your name?” Ionne calmly asked the daemonite.

“Jerome Stillwell,” he responded immediately. Then his eyes widened with a look of surprise, making me realize that he hadn’t intended to answer.

“How many daemonites are working together?” Ionne asked him.

Jerome looked like he was trying not to answer, though he immediately said, “Three in my group.”

“You said in your group,” Ionne mused. “How many daemonites are working together?”

“I don’t know,” Jerome answered, looking like he’d sucked on a lemon. He was clearly not happy about having to answer these questions.

Ionne frowned at that, then urged him, “Why don’t you know?”

Jerome glared at Ionne as he said, “Security. Only the boss knows everyone…”

There was a pause as Ionne stood there with a grim expression on her face. On the surface, she seemed calm, but I’d grown to know her enough to recognize that she was apprehensive. “And who is your boss? Who is in charge of your organization?”

Jerome visibly struggled to avoid answering the question, but it did no good. After several long seconds, he finally blurted out the answer, one that sent chills down my spine. “Her name is Estrid.”