The remainder of the week was unchanging with the presentation of the newly arriving Venandi in the morning before their various training sessions in the afternoon. Chey was right, as much as she hated to admit it. It did get better. The next two days had Alisa trudging home, soaking in the bath and then promptly seeking out her bed. On the fourth day, she was able to make it up the stairs without hesitation and by the fifth, she even stayed awake to read after her bath.

She saw Chey in the evenings either at dinner or while lounging in the sitting area with a book and tea. But he had no updates for her about her mother or any other reports of demon attacks, though something told her that Council information would no longer be readily available to her now that she was properly training to be a Venandi.

She hadn't seen her brother since the presentation either.

She had, however, seen Kaer. Daily. As much as she had seen Leyani, who had also taken an interest in training with Jax. They practiced together as much as they could, pairing up and sparring however it was asked of them. And through their time together Alisa was finally beginning to understand what it was her mother had with Rahn.

She was beginning to find a true partner in Kaer.

They still had time. No official decision could be made about a Dedication until they were both initiated and even then she had to consider that Kaer could say no. Though traditionally it was a Venandi's decision to choose an Imerman, Alisa would never force someone to remain with her against their will. It would be a chance she'd have to take, and one that may have to be made sooner than later.

A week after she was presented and they spent their time since training, a change was made to their schedule. They would train in the morning, eat their lunch, and then return to the meeting hall in the Council's Tower where a Master Cleric would begin teaching them the knowledge they'd need for what awaited them beyond the Rift.

"I don't understand why they need to waste time teaching us what we already know," Jax complained while they ate their lunch under a blooming dogwood in the Parish plaza.

"Not everyone is as well versed as others," Leyani said carefully with a glance at Alisa.

Alisa remained silent, unwilling to admit how much she didn't know and that she was actually looking forward to the lessons.

"And some histories are more biased depending on who tells them," Kaer added from where he sat next to Alisa, so close their knees touched. She didn't mind.

"The war ended the same way, regardless of who tells it," Jax said as he leaned back against the trunk of the tree. "The demons opened the Rift and the Council led the Venandi to close it. The spawn never should have stepped through, if they knew what's good for them."

"But does anyone ever talk about why the War started in the first place?" Alisa muttered, avoiding the stares that she knew fell her way.

"I just said— the demons came through the Rift."

"But demons always came through the Rift," Alisa countered, meeting Jax's stare. "Why was this time any different?"

"Because this time the Princes found their way through," Kaer interjected. "This time the force of the demons was greater than what the Venandi had ever encountered before. Especially when—"

Leyani shushed Kaer before he could say any more but Alisa already knew what he was going to say. "Especially when my mother was fighting against them."

"They say she was manipulated. That one of the princes controlled her mind and that's why she turned against the Council," Leyani said softly, as if afraid anyone beyond their small group would hear.

"If that's the case, then why did she end up sealing the Rift?" Alisa was not going to believe that her mother was controlled by a demon, not after what Chey had told her. Her mother was too strong for anyone to manipulate her.

"High Councilman Thayn was able to release her from the prince's control," Jax said, almost too casually. "Then one of the other demon princes killed him for it."

"Sounds convenient," Kaer muttered next to Alisa.

"It sounds like the truth," Jax said, his voice rising. It was loud enough to catch the attention of a pair of Venandi trainees walking past into the Tower. One glanced over and, seeing Alisa, smirked and whispered something to her companion as they continued on their way. Alisa couldn't help but glare at their backs as they passed.

"Okay, enough," Leyani hushed him, ever the peacekeeper.

A bell toll in the distance told them it was time for their next lesson up and they moved to clean up their lunch. Leyani and Jax walked on ahead, but Alisa lingered as she processed what Jax had insinuated about her mother.

"Don't let him get to you." Kaer had remained with her. "In fact, don't allow anyone here to get under your skin."

"He's not," she lied. "I just... I didn't realize that so many people had such strong opinions about my mother."

"Everyone has an opinion, especially about things they know nothing about."

"And what's your opinion?"

"I already told you," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her in close. "Family is everything."

Their lessons were taught in the main meeting hall by some of the Master Clerics. Alisa supposed when you have nothing to do but stay safe in the Council's Tower, the most you can do is learn about the history of the continent and later impart the knowledge on to others. Would Bren someday teach the next generation of Venandi? Would her brother teach her heir?

Alisa wasn't ready to consider it. Not yet.

Leyani had saved them a seat on a bench almost at the front of the hall. She and Kaer quietly took their seats but it was a whispered use of her name from across the aisle that caught her attention once she was settled.

Leaning up to find the source, it was the same woman from earlier who had walked by them as they were having their lunch. The same one who paid particular attention to them after Jax's outburst. The unknown female let out a burst of annoyingly loud laughter while making sure she had Alisa's attention as she did so.

"That's Trenta Pelletier," Kaer whispered into her ear. "Ignore her. She thinks she knows everything about everyone. She's not worth your time."

"How is it you know everything about everything? And then why does it feel like everyone knows something I don't?"

"Maybe they do. Maybe they think they do. Let them believe what they want. It doesn't change who you are."

"And who am I, Kaer?" she asked, looking up to meet his gaze. "Since you seem to know so much about everyone else."

He held her stare. "You are far more than anyone else here could ever wish to be."

The conviction in his assertion had the heat rushing to her cheeks, just as the Master Cleric stopped up to the front of the hall, having emerged from the door to the right.

He was older than Chey, with grey hair and eyes to match behind thin-rimmed glasses. His robes hung off him like oversized blankets with his hands lost in his sleeves.

"Hello potentials. I am Master Hale and for the next week we will be discussing the social structure and politics beyond the Rift to give you the knowledge you will need to know just as much about them as much as they believe they know about us."

A murmur rode over the crowd like a wave crashing through the store, and someone even spoke up, asking, "Do you mean the demons?" which received a few snigger-like reactions.

"Yes." Master Hale seemed annoyed that he even had to confirm. "And the more we know—"

"Is it true the Council was trading Venandi to the demon princes?" Trenta Pelletier wasted no time in asking.

Master Hale looked like he was hit with a shock wave as his jaw dropped by the absolute unabashed brazenness of the question. Chey had mentioned as much, but to have someone bring attention to it in such a public setting, especially in the Council's own Tower.

It started a chain reaction.

"I heard the Council used Venandi as demonic sacrifices," another chimed in.

"Isn't it true Eldora Pacquette chose to serve them?" Yet another.

"I heard Azima Rousseau chose more than to serve." The woman sitting next to Trenta decided to add her opinion, and loudly. Alisa memorized her face and she had enough sense to avoid her gaze.

"I heard Azima Rousseau was a demon prince's whore," Trenta Pelletier all but yelled out over the cacophony.

Alisa saw red.

How dare she say such a thing about her mother. How dare anyone talk about Azima Rousseau like that, after all she had done to save them.

Master Hale was bellowing for the group to calm down but it was drowned out by the rushing of blood in her ears.

She didn't realize she had jumped up from the bench until she felt Kaer's grip on her wrist. Even then, with only violence on her mind, he was the only thing that kept her back from reaching across the aisle and tearing out Trenta Pelletier's eyes.

"Don't," Kaer hissed. "Spilling blood in the Council's Tower is a punishable offense, and Trenta is not worth that."

No. She wasn't worth any of it. But Alisa couldn't just sit there and listen to it, and if she wasn't allowed to do anything within the Tower...

She wrenched her wrist out of Kaer's grip and stepped over him to the aisle.

"Alisa," Leyani called out to her, but she ignored her friend as she briskly walked down to the exit at the back of the hall with resounding laughs floating behind her.

She knew people were bitter about her mother's inaction after the War. They didn't know the truth, though, or of what the Council did or how they treated her. But to blatantly accuse Azima Rousseau of laying with a demon? Of choosing to do so of her own free will...

Alisa didn't stop until she was at the bottom of the marble stairs that led to the plaza and even then her pacing refused to cease. She wasn't fleeing— she was waiting. Like a predator patiently seeking its prey, she stalked the plaza, staring at the entrance of the Tower, waiting.

Until the gloating face of Trenta Pelletier emerged from the Tower entrance and she descended the stairs to the Plaza. And like a starving feral cat, Alisa pounced.

The welcoming grin on Trenta's face as she approached implied she was expecting Alisa's reaction, but she didn't care. Without a blade, she unleashed all of her pent-up frustrations and fury since her arrival in the Parish, aimed directly at Trenta's face. Despite how much she appeared to have been expecting it, it didn't seem she totally understood the rage she brought to the surface.

Alisa's first punch hit Trenta against the left cheekbone, sending the woman staggering into her other awaiting fist. A crowd had joined by the time Trenta began fighting back, and it wasn't long before both of them were rolling over one another along the marble of the Parish plaza.

Only when she heard someone from the crowd yell "Blade!" and simultaneously felt the cold bite of metal cutting into her cheek that she realized Trenta had brought a knife into the foray. Alisa let you a hiss through gritted teeth, immediately feeling the warm blood trickle down her face. It was enough of a distraction for Trenta to flip their positions so that Alisa was pinned beneath the other woman.

"You stupid bitch," she sneered, just loud enough for Alisa to hear her. "Did you really think someone like you could win a fight against me?"

Baring her own teeth, Alisa spat up into Trenta's face. That was enough to change her overconfident sneer into a scowl of pure rage.

"You're going to regret that, you—"

Alisa watched as Trenta raised the hand still holding the knife, and braced herself for impact. But a resounding "ENOUGH!" echoed throughout the plaza, stilling the very air surrounding them. Even the knife seemed to freeze in the air...

Because Chey had gripped Trenta's hand with an immovable grasp; the look on his face was more furious than she'd ever seen on the Imerman before.

Trenta dropped the knife and was immediately blubbering. "She started it, High Councilman. She ambushed me once our lessons were over, I was just trying to return home."

"Liar."

Alisa turned her head to see Kaer on the edge of the crowd. "You were taunting her before the lesson even started."

"How dare you—"

"I said enough," Chey interrupted again, and as he stepped back pulled Trenta up with him. Alisa let out a breath before she jumped to her feet, not allowing herself to lay prone for any longer than necessary.

To Trenta, Chey said, "Go home to your mother, and make sure you tell her about the knife you pulled in a fistfight."

Trenta looked as though she would have preferred to do anything but.

"Or next time, at least bring enough to share," Alisa added with a smirk.

It was enough for Chey to turn to her. "And you— I'll see you at home."

"But I—" she began to protest, but Chey's dark look intensified.

"Now, Alisa."

Trenta's smirking face peeked over Chey's shoulder and Alisa's fingernails bit into her palms.

"That goes for the rest of you," Chey addressed the remaining crowd, who had started to disburse upon his arrival. "Or I'll assume you were a part of this as well and increase your physical training tenfold."

Alisa looked for familiar faces— Leyani and Jax moved on their way with barely a glance back at her. Kaer, to his benefit, lingered last, making sure he had Alisa's attention before choosing to depart.

She didn't dare wait any longer, not with Chey on a rampage. And she knew she would need to deal with it enough once they returned to the estate, so she took advantage of the dismissal and didn't look back as she began to weave her way home along the Parish streets.