"Get off of me!" Archie pushed Aubergine away, drawing the attention of all the students having breakfast in the great hall.

"Archie, you need to calm down." Aubergine used his hands to try to settle Archie as if he were some anxious horse. "Tarragon told me I needed to make sure you don't do anything rash."

"Tarragon? Tarragon?" Archie's voice echoed through the now-silent great hall. He looked beyond the staring students for his mentor. "Where is he?"

"He already left."

"He left? Without me?" Archie scoffed at the betrayal. "Why would he leave me? I can fight. I can help!"

"You'd slow them down."

"Bullshit." Archie tried to leave, but Aubergine held him back.

"You need to calm down. You're not thinking."

"Get off of me!" Archie cast Aubergine away again. Someone from his table called his name—Blanche, Cress, Mindy, he didn't care who. He needed to leave. He needed to get to Sain.

"You don't know how to ride a horse on movemash. Taking a carriage would slow them down."

"Who's they? Who went with him?"

"A mobile unit of the Acorn Guard. An elite unit. The best of the best. On those horses, on that grade of movemash, they'll be there in an hour or two."

"Okay. Okay. They went, great. Now move. I need to get a carriage."

Aubergine moved to block Archie again. "The stables have already been informed. The road is closed. No one will drive you."

"I'll rent a horse. I'll buy a horse!"

"Those horses are probably already in use to mobilize supplies."

"I'll run!" Archie tried to get past again and failed again.

"It's a full day and night on horseback. You'll run?"

"I'll use sugar rush." Archie considered using sugar rush to get around Aubergine. He had never seen the Headmaster fight, but the old man couldn't be quicker than Archie.

"You'll be halfway there by nightfall if you don't collapse from exhaustion by then. And if you make it past the checkpoints."

"I'll run around."

"Into the forest? The forest where a massive horde of licertes has come from? Archie. You need to calm down. You need to think."

Aubergine couldn't be more wrong. Now was the time for action. "If I go now, I could reach the far stables before news gets to them. They'll take me there."

"The news went out an hour ago. It's too late."

"An hour?" Archie didn't try to go around Aubergine this time. Instead, he went through him, pushing him back several feet. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Aubergine snapped. He slapped Archie's arms away and put his palm hard into Archie's chest. His voice boomed through the great hall, none of the students having heard even half of such a serious tone from their jovial Headmaster. "Because there are people more capable than you! Would you have rather I delayed Tarragon, who could fight off the beasts?"

Aubergine motioned to Anise, who had just come from the kitchen and trotted through the great hall. "Would you have rather I delayed Anise, who has been gathering medicine that could save someone's life?"

Archie separated himself from Aubergine. "Head Chef Anise! Are you going to Sain? Can you take me with you?"

"No room," she said as she quickened her pace. Archie ran up to her, forcing her to weave around him.

Aubergine let out an angry, raspy sigh. "Anise, can you do something to calm him down?"

Anise reached into her bag, never stopping, never looking at Archie.

Archie persisted, attaching himself to her so that he could make it past Aubergine. "Take me with you! I'll ride on top of the carriage if I have to!"

Anise pulled out a corked glass vial of some purple liquid. "You're slowing me down, Archie."

"I'll carry you faster than you can walk!"

"I'm sorry, Archie." The liquid in the vial started boiling.

"What is that?"

Anise uncorked the vial, unleashing a purple vapor that she blew into Archie's face.

He reacted too slowly. Vapor stung as it seeped into his eyes. Anise's red jacket turned gray. Everything turned gray. His eyes grew heavy. The edges of the world began to melt as Archie decoupled from reality.

Aubergine caught Archie's head before it could hit the ground.

In his last moments of consciousness, Archie watched as Anise turned for one last word.

"I'll write as soon as I can."

Archie snapped upright. Someone got up and put their hands down on Archie's shoulders.

"It's okay," Nori said. "You're okay."

"I—wh—my parents—" Archie didn't know where he was, but he knew he wasn't where he needed to be. He tried to get up, but Nori didn't let him.

"They're okay. There was a kestrel from Tarragon. They both survived."

Archie let himself be pushed back down on the unfamiliar bed. As he realized he was in the Academy's infirmary, he pictured his parents…surviving.

"Survived?" Archie questioned the word choice. Judging by how quickly Nori's face sank, his suspicions were warranted.

"Your mom was hurt. The letter said serious injuries but that she'll live."

"I…" Archie groaned as his headache pulsed. Serious injuries? What did that mean? "I have to go see her." He sat up and looked out the window—still dark. "I have to go—"

"You can't." Nori's voice left no room for negotiation.

"I have to."

"They quarantined the town."

Archie fought growing tears. "What…what happened?"

"The part about your mom said she suffe—had serious injuries. Uh…claw marks."

Archie looked at the scar on his leg. Spots blocked his vision, and he realized he had stopped breathing. He drew air in uneven breaths, unsure of how to breathe normally.

"As for what happened to the town," Nori continued, "they were swarmed by licertes. But apparently they wouldn't get close to the Tamani tree. They were mostly gone by the time Tarragon got there. He drove the rest off. His letter didn't mention a number for casualties, but…"

"Tell me."

"He said probably half of the town is dead."

Archie covered his face with his hands. He could barely keep up, his mind still busy expelling some kind of fog from within. He didn't have the capacity to think of the whole town. "My mom. If the Tamani tree was safe, then—"

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"She ran out to help others."

"But she's okay?"

"I didn't see the letter. It was for Aubergine, there was just a section at the bottom to be relayed to you. Aubergine said she'll live. It didn't go into detail."

"I can…" Archie looked around the room as if the answer to his problems could be found in a medicine cabinet. "I can…I'll…" He looked at Nori. "What can I do?"

Nori's mouth opened and closed, unable to find a suitable answer. "You can rest. Go back to sleep. There will be more news tomorrow."

"Back to—I've been asleep for…how long have I been asleep? If there was—if there was a kestrel, that means it's been overnight."

Nori nodded. "You were out for a full day. Aubergine was going to make something to wake you up later this afternoon. Here, drink this. It'll clear your head."

Nori helped Archie's head up and put a mug of something pale and orange to his mouth. He winced at the taste but drank greedily to soothe his parched throat. He pushed himself to sit up.

"Quarantined, huh?"

"There aren't that many cases of licertes attacks, and even fewer with survivors. They're just being cautious." Nori frowned and watched Archie think. "And the road is still closed. Before you get any ideas."

Archie shook his head. "So the only thing I can do is wait?"

Nori nodded.

"My dad's okay?"

"I don't think it went into detail, but it didn't sound like he got hurt like your mom. I think he's fine. I'm sure he'll write when he can."

Archie rubbed his eyes. He wasn't sure if there was anything for him to do but cry. But then Nori slipped her hand over his, and a jolt of energy went through him, breaking the fog in his mind better than any medicine could. He shuffled his hand around hers so that he could squeeze it. They looked at each other, their eyes communicating that this wasn't the time and place, but yes, this was real. This was happening. Their smiles contained happiness and sadness all at once.

Archie cleared his throat. "How long have you been here?"

"Since breakfast."

"How do I rate as a patient?"

"Well, I hate to say it, but you're not as interesting. But you also haven't put me into a coma, so…"

"Not yet."

"Not yet."

They might have laughed if the situation would have allowed it. "Well, I appreciate you waiting on me."

"It's no big deal. I've just been getting back to my reading."

Archie maneuvered to look at the book behind her, but she grabbed it and put it face-down.

"I don't know that you'd find it interesting," she said.

"I could use the distraction."

"Sure. It's about—"

Archie faked a snore and was punished a second later with a thwack of the book. "Hey, take it easy on me!"

"You're not in here because you're hurt. You're in here because you have a hangover. I'll beat you up all I want."

"Fair enough."

"It's about the Unification War. It's, uh, a collection of letters from, uh, some of the more affected areas." Nori scratched under her eye with a single finger. Her distant look didn't belong to her.

"Are you doing okay?"

A little wince slipped through before Nori smiled. "Yeah. Just…making sense of things."

"It wasn't your fault. It wasn't his."

"Yeah, but he feels responsible. Felt responsible, I guess. Now it's my guilt."

They both stared at the ground. "Is everything going good with him? I bet he's missing you."

"Yeah. Yeah. He's better than ever, really. He's busy. I think getting rid of those memories cleared his mind up. Like his torment was contributing to his illness."

"Do you resent him for it?"

Nori sucked in her bottom lip as she considered the question. "I think…I understand him. I've been him. So it's hard to be mad because I truly know why he did what he did."

"You're going to keep hanging around him?"

"Yeah. Not as much this week. He's busy and so am I. So are we. We have finals."

Archie frowned. He rubbed his eyes, and while it helped to get rid of his sleepiness, it did nothing to relieve the burden of being a student. "I don't think I can force myself to care about a test."

Nori reflected his expression for a moment before taking on a mischievous smile. "Aww, are you afraid your score will be lower than mine?"

Archie sat up. "Okay, that's not true."

"It's not? Well it's good that you're not afraid. It's good to be accepting that I'll beat you."

"It's not true that you'll beat me."

"Archie." Nori scrunched her nose, her freckles dancing beneath her beautiful eyes. "You really think you'll score as high in cooking as me?"

"I'm so much better at conjuration than you."

"You're right. You could stop learning now and still ace the Blue Jacket test. No doubt about it. Maybe even the Purple Jacket. But…this is the Green Jacket test. And you don't get extra points."

Archie groaned.

"You'll score perfect on conjuration…but so will I," Nori gloated. "And then when the two cooking portions roll around, you better believe I'm getting forty-five, forty-six points minimum. You think you'll hit forty?"

"I'll beat you in cultivation."

"Will you? My lemon tree is looking fresh."

"I have a wider variety of crops. I'll be rewarded for that. And I'll do better on the day-of portion."

"Maybe. Maybe by a point. Maybe by two. But not by enough to make up for cooking."

Archie clenched his teeth and puffed out his cheeks. He let the air out in a scratchy groan and looked at her.

She read his mind. "You want to go to the kitchen and practice, don't you?"

He begrudgingly nodded.

"We can work on your lemon candy. You ever do a sugar extraction with the zest?"

Archie shook his head.

"Well, come on, then." Nori pulled Archie up and didn't let go of his hand until they were all the way in the kitchen.

She managed to distract him for nearly an hour before his mind started wandering. She showed him a few cooking techniques and tried to rile up his competitive spirit at every turn. Archie could see all of the effort she was putting to keeping his mind off of things, but that only served to remind him of what needed avoiding.

Survived. The word removed the worst possibility but raised more questions. Survived in what condition? Would his mother be okay?

He got his answer the next morning. After a fitful, restless sleep of only a few hours, Aubergine delivered a letter from Arty.

Non-responsive.

Archie spotted the word in the middle of the letter. He had to read the rest quickly before he could no longer see through his growing tears.

His father was fine. Not a scratch. But his mother…

The Veratores—there are so many here now—say it's a defense mechanism to fight the poison. They say she's breathing fine, and they managed to feed her some slurry. But she doesn't make any noise and won't open her eyes. I think she can hear me, though.

The Caravanserai turned Archie away. A smaller stable had no horses available for anyone without a royal decree. Archie considered asking Nori to get one from Flambé, but then she'd know that he had gone around all day looking for a way to go home.

She knew anyway. He could tell when he returned to the Academy after sundown and she crossed her arms at him. But she didn't press. She just tried to bring him back to the present. To engage his competitiveness. Her attempts didn't take. Nothing took. Archie's day had minutes of action but years of thought stuffed into it. He went to sleep early so that the next letter would come sooner.

No change, but the Veratores said that can be a good thing.

Nori asked for help with cooking pasta, not that she needed it. Blanche helped him tidy up his garden. Julienne had him taste test a flight of drinks in case the exam called for beverages.

Another day passed. There was no letter, but Waldorf had returned to the keep. Word around town was that he had broken quarantine, but the rest of the town would be monitored for a couple more days. No one would take Archie to Sain. Not even the stables in the far west of the Roots.

Another day. No letter again. Oliver filled his lunch with jokes. Nori filled his afternoon with failed attempts to goad him. Benedict rehearsed a monologue that failed to move Archie—not that it was the fault of the actor.

Another day. No letter. Not even in response to the one Archie had written.

With Tarragon and Anise both still in Sain, Aubergine filled in to run their portion of the final exams. Archie already had a perfect score in innovation from the Tamani tree. Conjuration didn't worry him. At another time, he might have had fun with the exam. They still had their targets, which Archie painted red with no fanfare. But for the other portion, they had to endure a blast of essence from Aubergine himself. Something about the priority of the Academy being that the students could survive an attack.

Archie took the blow without problem, of course. He didn't watch the others. Instead, he delivered another letter to the rookery and stopped in an alley to cry for a while. He had managed to hold himself together around the Academy. He didn't want Nori to see him that way. They paused most of their affections. Just lingering touches and holding hands. He didn't want to remember the beginning of whatever was happening between them as the time he spent waiting to see whatever state his mother was in.

Another day. Still no letter. The cultivation exam was just a harder repeat of the previous year. Archie scored a surprising twenty-one, which managed to make him happy for just a second. But the heaviness in his heart had only grown more oppressive with each day of waiting, so that happiness was cast out as soon as he could acknowledge it.

His variety of candies went over well with Colby and Pomona. Twenty-two points. The assigned task of preparing a fish-centric meal within fifteen minutes proved more difficult. By the time Archie finished making his cuts, he had already burned through too much time to make a worthwhile anchovy and caper sauce. Seventeen points.

Ninety three points across his four best categories. A smashing success. A Green Jacket. A cause for celebration.

Archie skipped dinner and sat by the lake until it got dark. Barley sat with him for a while, the two watching the tranquil water in perfect silence save for Barley's occasional echo of pain.

Another day. A letter finally came. Not from Arty, and not to Archie, but delivered from a jogging Aubergine as Archie ate breakfast in silence with Nori.

"They lifted the quarantine."

There was not another word. No packing their things. Just running. Archie would have sugar rushed his way to the nearest caravanserai if Nori hadn't already been sprinting at her fastest to keep up with him. They had never discussed her coming with him, and he might have preferred to go alone, but he didn't want to waste his breath on an argument he knew he'd lose.

They emptied their pockets to pay for the best possible movemash, and as they loaded up in the carriage, Archie smiled for what felt like the first time in a week.

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