The trio sat in the backyard of the villa in the evening sun. Mattos sat with his feet up on a marble bench in the meagre shade of a tall wilted tree. Ary nestled against the white washed wall of the villa.

Xellie lay on her back, across a wooden table, staring up at the cloudless sky and soaking in the warmth from the air. It would be cold soon, but as sunset approached, the weather felt perfect. The daily calm before the terror of not knowing if it would be a safe night in the city, or one of listening to the city walls being bombarded.

“So why did Ash kick you out anyway?” Mattos asked. He had obviously been pondering this question for a while. “Seems kinda... sudden.”

“Oh, uh... well...” Xellie sat up and scolded herself for not using her time earlier to think of a reply for this. She had to think fast! “I guess it’s kind of embarrassing for him... if he didn’t tell you...”

Ary had been sitting aside, reading some books she had taken from the library, and threw a confused glance over toward Xellie.

“Ash... he... he likes to think he knows everything!” Xellie exclaimed. “So when he found out there was something he hadn’t known before, he got angry. He froze and smashed half his reception room with... Tantrums and magic don’t mix, you know?”

Mattos sighed and rubbed his temples.

“We haven’t known each other very long, sure. But it's easy to see that you’re a lot better at dodging demons than you are at dodging questions.”

“Questions are immaterial...” she muttered under her breath, Raye’s warning about Mattos’ being told the truth at the forefront of her thoughts. “Well, it’s about me. I guess you should know it too.”

“Let me guess.” Mattos yawned, sitting up to lean on his elbow as he looked over toward Xellie sat on the table. “You’re pregnant and Ash is the father.”

“What?! That no good, greasy, cowardly, stuck up, walking bean pole?!” she exclaimed, looking down toward her stomach. “I am getting kinda podgy I guess, but no.”

Mattos shrugged.

“Then?”

“Promise no violence? We’ve gotten this far...” she asked him apprehensively, tensing herself up.

“How bad can it be?” Mattos asked, sounding indifferent.

“Okay...” Maybe this would not be so bad. “I’m only partly human... please don’t hate me.” she blurted out.

“I knew it!” Mattos jumped to his feet, drawing his silver bladed sword. “I knew what I was seeing and that insane behaviour surpassed human abilities.”

“No, no! You misunderstand!” Xellie used the bench of the table to push herself up so she was standing on the table. “Listen, it’s not that. you have to hear me out.”

“I’m not listening to any of your poisonous lies, demon child.” Mattos snarled, a fuzzy magical blue shield forming before him. “This is going to end right now.”

This is going to get ugly fast. He won’t believe anything I say.

Xellie held her blade before her, not bothering to activate the magical flare that would cover it. Her sword’s magic couldn’t hurt humans and would just tire her out.

Mattos blade was three times the length of hers. This was going to be hard to defend herself against.

“I don’t fight humans, just stay away from me!” she yelled down from the table. “I don’t want to fight you! I’M A DEMON HUNTER NOT A HUMAN KILLER!”

“Is this necessary?” Ary asked.

“GET INSIDE ARY!” Mattos and Xellie simultaneously shouted at Ary.

As Ary ran inside the villa to hide, peeking between the shutters, the silent tension was soon broken by the fluttering of a bird nearby.

Birds! Of course!

“I’m a... “

“I don’t care!” Mattos launched himself at her, swiping his sword sideways at her legs.

Xellie jumped backward, gracefully landing on the very edge of the table.

Mattos slowly circled around, then kicked the table hard to push it over.

“Oh, come on! My papa built that.” Xellie protested, once again landing neatly as she jumped off the table, holding her sword out, facing Mattos.

Mattos rolled his eyes and ran at her with another assault. She was running out of space to keep running, so she clumsily parried his larger sword with her smaller one.

As he pulled back for another attempt, she waited until he swung low at her legs. Knowing her smaller sword couldn’t help her much against this, she jumped up and kicked toward his chest, hitting the magical shield instead.

“We’re not going to get anywhere like this.” she told him sharply, backing away from his sword. “You’ll tire before I do. And I’m not going to actually fight you.”

“Drop the act.” Mattos didn’t even finish his words before running at her, swinging from above. She sidestepped and pushed his sword away with hers.

He continued, slashing at her relentlessly. Each time, she would step or jump out of the way, slowly working their way around the villa’s yard.

If only she could find a way through his shield magic, then she could disarm him.

It’s an energy barrier... I have an energy sword!

She twisted the hilt of the sword forcefully, focusing her attention on the growth of the energy blade. It wasn’t the longest she’d ever seen it, but it matched closely the length of Mattos’ sword.

“Now you want to fight?” Mattos asked incredulously. “Didn’t take much to change your mind.”

“Bring it.” She replied, watching his steps carefully. If she had this calculated just right...

As Mattos swung the sword from high on her left side, she raised the energy blade as if she was going to block it. Mattos sword went straight through hers.

Mattos stumbled at the unexpected lack of resistance.

Xellie twisted herself around to slice through his magical barrier, the solid part of her sword clipping the top of his arm as she did so.

Mattos’ magical shield vanished, so she took the opportunity to tackle him to the ground across the chest, grabbing his sword with her other hand and pushing it across the ground.

“Please stop.” She pleaded with him, rolling to the side to release Mattos, and kneeling to catch her breath.

“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” Mattos spluttered, getting to his feet and reaching into a pouch on this belt. “The thing is...”

Xellie jumped to her feet, spotting the glistening of glass in Mattos' hand.

“Don’t waste good holy water on me.”

Mattos shook his head, then threw the glass capsule at her face. Instinctively, she closed her eyes to protect them, feeling the water run on to her clothing.

Mattos wasted no time jumping into action and pinning her to the floor.

“Get off!” She yelped, grabbing the pouch and smashing it on the floor. The water pooled on the granite tiles next to them as she pushed her knee up into his stomach and reversed their position.

Mattos had another pouch of holy water capsules. She grabbed that one and smashed it over her head.

“See, I’m not a demon, idiot.”

“... Sorry.” Mattos replied, sitting up next to her as she released him. “It was a good fight though wasn’t it?

“Decent practice, I guess...” Xellie turned pale and held her hand over her mouth. “Your arm.”

“It’s just a little scratch.” Mattos told her, looking over the small gash from her sword earlier. “Don’t tell me...”

“I don’t do blood.” She muttered, falling over backward, landing on the smashed pouch from earlier. “Ow oww glass.”

“I can’t believe you can’t look at blood!” Mattos chuckled. “I guess I know how to defeat you next time.”

“Yeah, well. Next time, I’ll... oww there’s so much glass here... it’s all on my arm.”

“Let me see that.” Mattos offered, helping her sit up and looking at her forearm where she had landed on the broken capsules from the earlier pouch.

His demeanour changed instantly.

“What?” she asked him, lifting her arm to see a blistered and burned patch where she had made contact with the liquid. “That’s impossible!”

“That isn’t holy water.” Mattos growled. “This is even worse! A demon I can accept! But this? THIS?!”

“This doesn’t change anything... It doesn’t change anything. Everything I told you!” she exclaimed. “Please please. We can still fix it! You and I! We can take down Ashmeviti and save your city and put all this suffering in the past!”

“‘We’?” Mattos questioned. “You lied about this whole thing and expect us to be a team?”

“I didn’t lie, I just...” Xellie trailed off and winced as Mattos turned and walked out of the gate, slamming it behind him. “... didn’t know how to tell you.”

“It’s okay.” Ary said, laying a hand on Xellie’s arm comfortingly. “He’ll be back. Let him think about it.”

“Ugh.” Xellie buried her head in her hands. “I didn’t realize that I would be hated by practically everyone.”

“I don’t think he hates you.” Ary settled on the sofa next to Xellie. “I think he’s lived with his hatred of valkyries so long that he doesn’t know how to process the idea that they would send someone to help him.”

“I hope you’re right.” Xellie thought for a minute. “He doesn’t know Anshara so maybe he’ll come back, anyway.”

“Well, you haven’t personally done anything to him and he seems like a logical guy.”