note

I do not know how my internet access will be over the next couple weeks, but I anticipate that at least 50% of the time I will be able to get up new chapters. I'm rather looking forward to this next section, the heroine is much less morally ambiguous than Kiera or Daniel, and much more religous.

On the note of religion I should point out that the Nielda are not normally a very religous race. In general characters like Gar or Tressa, at least in this last chapter, would be considered religous fanatics just for having any beliefs at all. During the time of the Junlaerd the priesthood of the light was purged(one of the downsides of being ruled by those in league with demons) and his reign was long enough that he managed to keep religion fairly well squashed until most people forgot about it. A minor revival took place during the Ga-Vok war as people started reading, and wondering about what would happen after they died.
The closest parallel to human christianity within the Nielda prior to their actual discovery of christianity was the belief that in the afterlife there would be some being who might have mercy on those who had been good. Wherein good was not decided by the deeds themselves, but by the motivation behind them. It should also be noted that the Great Ga-Vok war happened in and about 9-6 hundred BC, christianity did not actually exsist in any form at this point in time.

Also of note is Gar's weapon. He did not take it back from his daughter after she had slain the shade. Instead he taught her to use it and adopted the path of the scholarly mage for himself. The two of them did not remain on Anatolia, as we will see in the next installment.