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I stared at Lindrell with my mouth open, feeling stunned and utterly shocked. It would have been weird enough to find out that she and my dad actually knew each other, but she’d also just referred to him as her husband.

“Lynn,” Dad said, covering up his own look of stunned disbelief and giving her a much more controlled look that didn’t quite cover the mixed relief and suspicion. “What are you doing here…and dressed like that?”

I continued staring at Lindrell, feeling as though my heart had jumped up into my throat. Lynn was my mom’s name…not that I really remembered her. She’d left when I was only about two years old, and we didn’t even have any pictures of her in the house. I was bursting with questions, but I was too overwhelmed to speak at the moment.

“Where you aware that Lindrell had a husband here?” Shannon whispered to Julie, though with my enhanced senses, I could hear it perfectly clear.

“No,” Julie whispered back, her eyes darting back and forth between Lindrell and my dad. “And it’s even stranger than that… That’s Michelle’s dad…” Now Shannon was staring at us with a look of surprise.

“That…explains a few things,” Shannon quietly mused.

“You know her?” the male cop who’d brought us here asked Dad with a look of surprise.

“She’s my wife,” Dad answered with a scowl, now glaring at Lindrell. “Ex-wife.”

Mr. Decker gasped at that, then exclaimed, “You never told us your ex was the teacher who disappeared from school after that attack…”

“What?” Dad demanded, looking at Mr. Decker and then Lindrell. His expression was starting to turn hostile. “My son disappeared during that attack…”

“Michael is alive and well,” Lindrell assured him, her voice being carefully controlled though I could hear the quaver in her voice and saw how tense she was. She didn’t even look at me though. “But his situation is…complicated.”

“Hi, Mister Sorensen,” Julie said, giving my dad a nervous wave and suddenly drawing his attention to her.

Dad stared at Julie for a moment without before his eyes suddenly flashed with recognition. “Julie?”

Julie nodded, then gave him a self-conscious grin. “As you can see, we survived that daemon attack…”

“You’ve…changed,” Dad pointed out suspiciously.

“I did not know if you would still be alive when I came,” Lindrell told Dad in a tired sounding voice, “though I had hoped. I certainly hadn’t expected to encounter you so soon…”

“Where is Mike?” Dad demanded in a cold flat tone that usually got people to do whatever he wanted immediately.

Lindrell seemed unaffected by Dad’s glare, which was no surprise because as good as Dad was, he couldn’t compare to Freya. “You have many questions,” she told him with a sigh, “and you deserve explanations. I will answer as many of your questions as I am able…in private.”

“Where is Mike?” Dad repeated.

Lindrell met his gaze without flinching or looking the least bit bothered by it. “Michael is alive and well, but has gone through things you could not imagine…and changed in ways you would not believe. I will answer no further questions about him, save to tell you that he will face you only when he is ready.”

Lindrell didn’t look at me, but there was a pause so that I could announce my presence if I wanted. However, I was too embarrassed for that, not sure that I wanted Dad to see what I’ve become. And I certainly didn’t want to announce to everyone in the gym that I used to be a guy. These were the same fears that kept me silent in spite of Lindrell’s revelations.

“Lynn,” Dad started, looking haggard, weary, and…worried.

“We will speak again in a little while,” Lindrell assured him with a faint smile. “And I will explain what I may. But for now, there are things I must discuss with my people.”

With that, Lindrell turned and walked out of the gym, gesturing for Julie and I to follow after her. As soon as we were out of the gym, I grabbed her arm and demanded, “What’s going on?”

Lindrell finally looked at me, but her expression was strangely sad. There were tears in her eyes, which I’d never really imagined possible for the tough Val Kyr. “I cannot answer that.”

“Are you really my mom?” I pleaded with her, desperate to know the truth.

For a moment, Lindrell just stared at me, then she quietly responded, “I cannot answer that.”

“What?” I gasped, letting go of her arm and stepping back. I stared at her, feeling betrayed that she’d been lying to me all this time and now she wouldn’t even give me a straight answer.

“Come,” Lindrell instructed us. “I need you to trust me.” At the moment, I wasn’t really sure I did trust her anymore, but I followed her anyway. We went down one of the halls and to a classroom where she gestured for me to go inside. “Wait for me here while I consider our next move.”

I went inside the empty classroom, and Lindrell closed the door behind me. I looked around, realizing that this was the class where I used to have history…Lindrell’s old classroom. However, all the desks had been moved off to the side and much of the space was being used to store supplies.

“DAMN,” I exclaimed in frustration, slamming my fist down on the top of a desk…which cracked under the impact.

Just then, I heard Lindrell speaking from outside the classroom, raising her voice just a little, “Julie, there is something I must speak with you about.”

“Shouldn’t you be talking with Michelle?” Julie responded in an accusing tone. I froze and stretched my senses out, trying to hear what they were saying.

“This is something that I cannot speak to Michelle about,” Lindrell explained, her voice sounding sad. Her voice was moving as she spoke, and a moment later, I heard her voice coming from the next classroom over. “There… Now we can speak in private…”

“Lindell,” Julie exclaimed, “What the hell is going on? Are you really Michelle’s mom? She’s totally freaking out…”

“And I regret that deeply,” Lindrell told her. “But at the moment, the best thing you can do for Michelle is to just listen to what I have to say.”

“Okay,” Julie answered slowly, sounding a bit skeptical.

I clenched my fists in frustration, wanting to hit something. I was the one who had all the questions…who appeared to be Lindrell’s son…daughter…and she wouldn’t even talk to me about this. But rather than answering my questions, she put me in time out and was talking to Julie instead.

“Twenty years ago,” Lindrell started, “I was in South America, chasing a daemon that had somehow slipped across. It was killing villagers, though most assumed the deaths were guerilla atrocities. While there, I saw a soldier…a man who stood out as something special and who caught my attention. His government had sent him and his team on a mission, much like I had been sent with my triad. He never saw us or knew what we were about, courtesy of our kaern, and when our mission was complete, I departed, never expecting to see this man again.”

“I’m assuming it didn’t go that way,” Julie commented.

“Indeed not,” was Lindrell’s reply. “After this mission, I went on a sabbatical so I could refresh my education and renew my understanding of civilian life. While I was doing this, I encountered the soldier again. I decided that this must be fate, so I pursued a relationship with him.” The tone of Lindrell’s voice changed and this sounded more like fond reminiscence. “We enflamed each other’s passions, and in time, we married…and had a son.”

Julie interrupted again, exclaiming, “So you really are Michelle’s mom…”

Lindrell didn’t answer, though she did continue with her story. “I enjoyed this new life and loved having my own family. Perhaps I was naive, but I allowed myself to forget of the daemon threat, or at least to put it out of my mind. Some Val Kyr have been able to spend decades away from the fight, but I was not so fortunate. One day, the daemonites found me. Without warning, we were attacked by a daemon. Though I was able to protect my son, my husband was not so fortunate. The daemon took his leg…”

“I thought it was a car accident,” Julie blurted out while I just gasped in surprise.

“The daemon struck so quickly that David never saw what hit him,” Lindrell explained quietly. “He had no memory of the attack and believed it to have been a car accident, so I allowed him to continue thinking so. At the time, I believed this to be kinder than letting him know what monsters truly existed in this world.”

“Damn,” Julie and I both said at the same time.

“The daemonites had found me,” Lindrell continued sadly, “and I knew they would send more daemons. It was I the daemonites were after, so I chose to protect my family the only way I could…by leaving and returning to Val Halla…”

“But why didn’t you say anything?” Julie asked, while I silently demanded the answer as well.

“Patience,” Lindrell told her in a gentle tone. “These things must be explained in order.” Then she paused for several long seconds before going back to her story. “Over these years, I thought often of the family I was forced to abandon. And when I heard that a potential Val Kyr recruit had been identified in this area, I pleaded with Freya to send me. Though I could not afford to get close to my husband and son, I’d hoped that at least I would be able to see them again.” She paused again before adding, “I had never expected that you would not only know my son, but that I would end up teaching him…” There was another pause before she quietly added, “Nor did I expect the pain that came from having my own child not recognize me.”

“Then why were you such a bitch to Mike?” Julie asked. “I mean, the way you kept picking on him in class…”

“Michael was…unmotivated and gave minimal effort,” Lindrell answered, sounding almost amused. “As both a teacher and mother, it was my responsibility to provide motivation to do better…”

“You’ve got to love Val Kyr motivation techniques,” I muttered bitterly, thankful that at least in class, she hadn’t used those painful pop quizzes that she liked to give during our combat training. Of course, back then, I hadn’t been able to heal as quickly either, or she just might have.

“When Michael saved your life,” Lindrell told Julie, “I could not have been prouder…or more desperate. I could not allow him to die in my arms…especially after demonstrating the virtues we Val Kyr prize.”

“So you converted him,” Julie finished. “But why…”

“I knowingly violated our rules in order to save my child,” Lindrell stated. “I recruited a Val Kyr without permission…I made a convert against long standing rules…and I disobeyed the orders that Freya had given me to not interfere in his life. For these violations…Freya punished me in one of the cruelest ways possible. She gave me a geis…”

I gasped at that while Julie asked, “What’s a geis?”

“Something that only Freya can do,” Lindrell answered. “Or at least, only the atra. She forbade me from telling Michelle of our relationship, of letting her know what I am to her.” She paused at that, her voice was cracking a little and was somehow certain that she was actually crying. “After fifteen years, I finally have my child back, but I am forbidden from actually being her mother…”

“Oh shit,” I whispered, feeling stunned by this revelation. This explained why Lindrell never told me…and why she wouldn’t even answer my questions a short time ago. It wasn’t that she was refusing to tell me…it was that she couldn’t.

“Then Freya gave me a surprising gift,” Lindrell continued. “She assigned Michelle to me for training and for my triad. She allowed me to spend time with Michelle, even if not as her mother, giving me the opportunity to know the child I’d thought lost. If I was able to speak of such things to Michelle, I would tell her how much this means to me…and how proud I am of the woman she is becoming.”

“My God,” Julie exclaimed. “I can’t believe Freya would do something like that… I mean, forbidding you from telling Michelle…”

“Yes, Freya’s punishment seemed cruel to me,” Lindrell said with a sigh. “But I have come to understand her reasoning, and believe that this geis has less to do with punishing me and more to do with protecting Michelle…”

“Protecting her?” Julie asked, sounding about as confused as I felt.

“From me, ironically enough,” Lindrell admitted. “I believe Freya did not want Michelle to be coddled, or for there to be any appearance of her receiving special treatment. I believe that Freya intended to give Michelle the opportunity to stand on her own, to prove herself as Val Kyr without the interference of being known as my daughter. And though this was painful for me, I have come to realize that this may indeed have been what was best for Michelle.”

There was another long pause before Julie cautiously asked, “Why tell all this to me? I mean… Wait… You can’t tell Michelle…but I can…”

“True,” Lindrell agreed, sounding almost amused again. “But I suspect you won’t need to.”

I blinked at that, suddenly realizing exactly why Lindrell had told all this to Julie instead of me. Lindrell might be forbidden from talking to me about these things, but she could arrange for me to ‘overhear’ her telling someone else.

The conversation was over but I remained where I was, feeling shaken as I tried to absorb everything I’d learned. Lindrell was my mom. The very idea seemed ridiculous and impossible. My mom had been a normal woman who couldn’t handle the stress of her husband becoming handicapped, or at least that was what I’d always believed. Tears were flowing down my cheeks, and once I noticed them, I wiped them away, feeling embarrassed for crying like that. I was Val Kyr, not some little girl.

Once I was ready, I hesitantly stepped out of the classroom, finding Lindrell and Julie waiting for me in the hallway. Lindrell had an expression that seemed to radiate a mixture of hope of and shame, and she wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. This was a far cry from the Val Kyr I knew, who was always confident and in control. Without saying a word, I grabbed her in a hug. After a moment, she hugged me back, firmly enough that if I hadn’t been Val Kyr, it would have squeezed the air out of me.

“Just don’t expect me to call you Mom,” I told her quietly. “At least not right away. It’s just too weird…”

“Weirder than turning into a girl?” Julie asked me with a smirk.

“Almost,” I responded, looking at Lindrell and trying to think of her as my mother. It was just too weird.

“I can accept that,” Lindrell responded with a gentle smile. She looked like she was about to say something more, but then stopped, with a look of frustration passing over her face.

I hesitated a moment before asking, “Can I…?”

With that, I reached up and touched her forehead with one finger, sensing the fusion of essence and kaern energies which made up the geis that Freya bound her with. When Ionne had been teaching me about how to create a geis, she’d told me that they always faded away over time. I could tell that this one was weak and starting to break apart.

“I think your geis will be gone on its own in only a week or two at most,” I said, while Lindrell gave me a look of surprise. “I can hurry that up…”

Though I wasn’t confident in my ability to create my own geis, I was quite capable of dealing with this one. I released my own essence and kaern energies, carefully blending them and then stretching them out until they touched the geis. At that moment, it was like popping a balloon as the geis burst and vanished.

“There,” I announced.

Lindrell gave me a look of surprise, then cautiously said, “I am…your mother.” Her eyes widened in delight as she got the words out. I gulped at hearing those words actually being said directly to me. “Thank you…” This time, she was the one who grabbed me in a hug. “But I fear that Freya may not be pleased with you for removing the geis…”

“It’s not like it matters anymore,” Julie pointed out. “I mean, the cat is already out of the bag and all.”

“Indeed,” Lindrell agreed, smiling and looking quite pleased.

“So…what now?” I asked awkwardly.

“Now,” Lindrell said carefully, giving me an odd look. “I must go have another conversation, one which I believe is long overdue.”

“With Dad,” I whispered, cringing a bit at the thought of how he’d react to my changes. I was actually afraid of having him see me like this, or at least of having him see me while knowing who I was. Facing down a daemon hellhound would be easier than that.

Lindrell put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile. “I won’t tell him until you are ready to do so yourself.”

“Thank you,” I told her self-consciously.

Lindrell gave me another quick hug and whispered, “I am proud to call you daughter,” before she hurried off to go see my dad.

Once Lindrell was gone, Julie said, “Wow, who would have thought it…?”

“Yeah,” I responded with a shake of my head. “I’m having a hard time believing it…”

“It’s a regular, Luke, I am your father moment,” she joked weakly. Then in a bad Darth Vader voice, she announced, “Michelle, I am your mother…”

“Don’t make me hit you,” I told her, only to get a grin in response.

Just then, a voice yelled, “Julie,” from down the hallway.

I snapped around and saw a middle-aged woman running towards us, immediately recognizing her since I’d spent countless hours at her home. Of course, Julie recognized her just as quickly, if not even more so, and loudly exclaimed, “Mom…”

When Julie’s Mom, Mrs. Rosewald was closer, she came to a sudden stop and just stared at Julie with her eyes wide open. “Julie?” she asked with a mixture of delight and confusion. “Is that really you?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Julie assured her, giving her mom a hug, which seemed to confirm her identity. “I’m so glad you were all right… I was so worried the daemons got you…” Then she stood back, looking self-conscious and relieved.

Mrs. Rosewald continued to gape at Julie, blurting out, “You’ve changed… And what are you wearing?”

“Yeah,” Julie joked weakly. “I don’t need glasses anymore…”

“We thought you were dead,” Mrs. Rosewald snapped at her, looking as though she couldn’t quite decide whether to slap Julie or hug her again.

Julie cringed at that, then said, “I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone…and I didn’t think you’d believe it if I did tell you.” Then she abruptly asked, “Is Dad…?”

“He’s all right,” her mom assured her, though she sounded a bit worried. “He’s out with a group looking for supplies…”

Julie and her mom wandered down the hallway, looking for a place where they could catch up in private. I watched them walk away, feeling a stirring of jealousy, though I wasn’t sure why. After all, I’d just had my own family reunion…of a sort. I’d seen my dad, but I hadn’t talked to him, and he didn’t even have any idea of who I was. And of course, I’d just discovered that my long lost Mom had actually been right under my nose for the last couple months.

“At least her family is alive and well,” I said, focusing on Julie’s good fortune and feeling happy for her. Ever since we’d gone to Val Halla, she’d felt guilty for the way she’d run off without being able to tell them, and of course, she’d been extremely worried once learning of the incursion. It was good that she was able to resolve both of those issues.

Unfortunately, I was still confused about my own family situation and had no idea how I really felt about it all, much less what I was going to do. With a sigh, I shook my head and decided to go see if I could do anything to help with security. Regardless of what happened with my parents, I was still Val Kyr and had a job to do.