“Ghastly,” Ravel said, looking up from his desk, “is Valkyrie OK?”

“She’s hurt,” Ghastly replied, “but she should pull through. She’s in the Medical Bay now. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Ah,” Ravel said, sitting back. It was three in the morning and he was looking tired. “Nye.”

“How could you agree to this? That thing killed some of our best friends.”

“Sorcerers live a long time, Ghastly – how long are we going to hold grudges for things we did in wartime?”

“Fighting on the battlefield is one thing. Torturing prisoners to death is quite another.”

“Do you know what Nye has been doing for the past hundred years? It’s been working alone, secluded, cut off, doing research on the human soul.”

“It wants to torture that too?”

“No, it wants to find it. Ghastly, can you imagine what that could mean? The soul is our essence – it’s the strongest, most pure part of ourselves. The link between the soul and our true names has been discussed but never proven – but think what we could achieve if we harnessed that power. Think what we could become if we allowed ourselves to be the best we could possibly be.”

“Erskine, all due respect, but what on earth are you talking about? If Nye did find the soul, what would it do then? Poke it? With what? It’s a soul, not a plate of jelly. The soul should be left where it is – it causes enough problems without us adding to them. Angry souls can become ghosts, powerful souls can become Gists and evil souls can become Remnants. It’s a dark and dangerous business, and we should leave it alone.”

“We didn’t recruit Nye so he could find the soul, Ghastly. I’m just telling you what he’s been doing for the past century. He hasn’t been hurting anyone, he hasn’t been torturing anyone. He has repented.”

“I find that very hard to believe.”

“He’s the best there is, damn it, and you know it. Do you think I like having him here? He’s creepy as hell and if you think I don’t remember the things he did to our friends, you’re nuts. But with Kenspeckle gone, with Vile on the loose and with Darquesse coming our way, we need to put our issues aside and surround ourselves with the best people for the job.”

“Even if that includes a known sadist and murderer?”

Ravel closed his eyes, and sat back in his chair. “I didn’t think it would be like this. I really didn’t. I thought every decision I’d have to make would be how many operatives to send on a rescue mission. I don’t know how Meritorious did it.” He opened his eyes. “Is Valkyrie conscious?”

“No. That’s probably a good thing.”

“Do we know what happened to her? Who did this?”