I have been doing more training with Rachmanes and Therai these past days. It is important that we three know one another well, so that we can fight effectively. I admit, I was unsure as to why these two were assigned to work so closely with me, when there were others such as Ophell and Ananiah with whom I have fought in the past. But now I understand and am grateful to my seniors for their wise choices.
Rachmanes is a powerful fighter, specializing in frontal assaults. His open honesty is an excellent complement to George’s thoughtful curiosity, and the two get along brilliantly. Meanwhile Therai is older than both of us and fights with a speed and fluidity that would take me centuries to cultivate. Her dedication to her task is much like that of Kara’s to her work, and she already orbits Kara as a shadow traces a moving light. They work well together, and with me, too. Already I feel that we have been a unit far longer than a few days.
It was not just to learn about one another, though, that we took a step away from our charges this week. From all three of them, but especially from George and Kara, we were beginning to sense a restless unease with all the heavenly activity. And what could be more natural? For all their lives they had no interference from the supernatural, and now suddenly everything is permeated with it.
And so I proposed that we give them a break from it. They would continue to be watched, of course, but for all this week, the angels of their guard would remain unseen, and they could breathe in peace and live their lives as they had come to do.
It was the right decision. George took on a few more projects at his job, and Kara has been able to meet two deadlines this week, and Freya herself went back to work. At her request, I went with her the first day, but her friends and coworkers were not as leery of her as she had feared. Most checked in with her once, offering support and comfort, and then were careful to treat her as normally as possible.
“There’s still an atmosphere, of course,” she told me, “but I think that’ll go away as soon as I’ve been there for a while.”
She also hosted her mother for dinner, and Esther was reassured by what she saw. Between regular meetings with a therapist—who is told only carefully rehearsed truths, but has actually been very helpful to Freya—and George and Kara’s support, she is reconstructing a “normal” life.
“I don’t know, though,” she told me in our reinstated hour of conversation every evening. “I think I’ve gone too far away from normal to ever get all the way back again. I mean, how can I just go back to form letters and acquisitions after all this?”
I was a bit disturbed by that. “I hope that we have not permanently spoiled your path in life.”
“Spoiled, of course not,” she said, smiling up at me. “How could anything with so much love in it be spoiled?”
“But that is exactly what spoils children, is it not? Too much love.”
“No, too much indulgence spoils children,” she said. “And don’t get me sidetracked. What I’m saying is—you’re a part of me now, Ace. And I like myself better now that I have this part.”
I hummed happily and put my wings around her, and she nestled closer to me. We were quiet for a moment.
“What about George and Kara?” I asked, voicing a worry that I had been feeling ever since seeing how glad they have been to step away from angelic matters for a while. “Do you think that we are having a permanent effect on them?”
Freya shook her head. “I can’t be sure. They’re taking it so much better than I would have expected. And I think it will change them, how could it not? But I do think it will be for the better.”
“If so, it is a credit to their own spirits, and nothing else.”
“Oh, sure,” Freya said, sticking a finger into my side, “it would certainly have nothing to do with the generous and benevolent spirit looking after them. Spirits,” she added, before I could remind her of Rachmanes and Therai. “Don’t worry about George and Kara. They’ll be all right.”
I trust her judgment. If she is not worried about her friends, I will not be.
“So what’s the news?” she asked. “You’re carrying a little more shadow today. Just worried? Or is there an update from Orison?”
She is getting so much better at reading me now that she can see me. I sighed. “Don’t tell the others unless they ask, please.”
She sat up straight and looked at me.
“Asoharith knows that I am alive. She is angry.”
A chill rushed through Freya’s heart, dampening her aura for a moment. “How did she find out?”
“Kasfe thinks that a rival Violence sought her out to boast of it. She heard rumors that Asoharith killed the messenger the moment she heard. Now she is out of hiding and back on the move.”
“Great,” Freya groaned, pushing to her feet. “Are you sure we shouldn’t tell George and Kara?”
“Certain,” I confirmed as she began to pace around the bedroom. “There is no more danger than there was before, after all—Asoharith will not be such a fool as to attack us directly, not now that I know the truth of her identity. No, now I think she will try to lure me out to face her.”
Freya stopped to give me a glower. “Which you won’t fall for, right?”
“I know where my strength lies,” I answered tranquilly.
She smiled at that. Then she sighed. “Okay. We knew this would happen eventually. It’s okay.”
I reached out my hand and stopped her in her anxious pacing. “It is okay,” I told her.
She frowned at me. “How are you so sure?”
“Because I have seen what you and George and Kara can accomplish. I am living proof of it,” I said, gesturing to the red scar on my chest. She winced—she still does not like the sight of it. “I am proud to stand in battle with you.”
She took a breath. “We should tell George and Kara tomorrow. They’d want to know. Normal life be damned—we’re all in, Ace. All three of us.”
I met her eyes and smiled. “And I am grateful for it.”