The driver would only use enough movemash to cut their time in half. There wasn't a single well-rested horse after the past week of humanitarian efforts rushing back and forth from Ambrosia City to Sain, so Archie and Nori had to settle for a five-hour trip. Nori sat next to Archie, sleeping with her head on his shoulder as he stared out the window.

The rocky terrain and lush forests changed to familiar grasslands and rolling hills. A faint line of gold light grew in the distance, stretching up until its color faded into the sky. Archie closed his eyes and tried to sleep so that he might finally have a moment not filled with worry. He succeeded for just a few minutes, but he dreamt of his comatose mother. Even in his dream, his father was missing. Why had he stopped writing?

Archie looked out the window again and startled enough to wake Nori up. The faint line of gold had taken shape. The Tamani tree had grown as tall as The Serving Bowl, towering over Sain's buildings and ramshackle incomplete sections of wooden walls that looked like toothpicks in comparison. The sight filled Archie with awe and wonder.

And then they got closer and saw the field of graves and all of the people that mourned at them. A hundred people visited a thousand graves. Some chiseled at stone tombstones. Others settled for planks of wood with loving epitaphs carved in. Others just mourned.

Sain seemed so pitifully small. It had once been Archie's whole world. To go from Farro's market to Simeon's pigsty was to embark on an epic adventure worthy of the history books. Enough to take up a whole day. Things moved so slowly then. Now everything was fast and condensed and packed together. Returning home didn't comfort Archie. It only reminded him of how hard it was to breathe in his new life.

He knew every twist and turn of Sain—what a foreign concept to know everything about a place so well. He knew nearly every person. And now, those things wouldn't exist anymore except for in his memory.

Buildings had been abandoned. The town had thinned. Several wooden buildings had collapsed, leaving behind piles of splintered wood. The stone buildings fared better, but many of their wooden doors had been ripped to shreds or torn from their hinges. The intact doors bore large gouges from massive claws.

As many soldiers walked the streets as civilians. One of them hailed the driver.

"Are you here for the evacuees?"

"No," the driver said. "Bringing someone in from Ambrosia City." Archie stuck his head out of the window.

"What are you doing coming here?" the soldier asked.

"I'm from here. I have to get to Petrichor."

"Uh-uh," the soldier said as he shook his head. "It's full up. Using it as a field hospital."

"I'm from Petrichor. It's my home. And I need to see someone in there."

The guard tilted his head back and offered a sympathetic sigh. "Alright. Get out here, I'll take you the rest of the way."

Archie's legs nearly gave out when he jumped out of the carriage. He helped Nori down.

"Who's she?"

"She's with me."

The soldier breathed in through his nose. "Supposed to limit visitors."

"The quarantine is over, isn't it?"

"It's a matter of resources."

Archie pinched the collar of his Chef's jacket. "We'll make our own."

The soldier addressed the driver. "Stick around for a couple of days. We'll be evacuating a lot of people soon."

"Look, I'm on a schedule," the driver said. "Stablemaster expects me back tonight."

"King's orders."

"You got the authority to invoke his name?"

"You want me to find someone with the authority to say that?" The soldier sighed in an attempt to dispel his impatience. His militaristic demeanor couldn't hide the bags under his eyes or the chapped lips of an overworked chewer. "You'll be well-compensated. I can at least say that much."

"Alright, as long as I get paid."

"We've got soldiers stationed at the north stable. Head up there, they'll take care of your horses." The soldier turned to Archie. "You're with me. So you're a Chef?"

Archie could close his eyes and find Petrichor easier than the soldier could. Still, he followed the man, eager to get some answers for the endless questions that had plagued him the past week.

"Yeah. So what's the situation here?"

"Gnarly. Group of Acorn Guards ran off any of those damn lizards that were straggling around. Lots of dead. Lots of wounded. Some somewhere in-between."

Archie looked at the ground. Nori tried to take his hand, but he pulled away.

The soldier's tone shifted to sympathy. "Sorry. It was…well, I'm sure you've heard. Um, I don't think there's an official count of the deceased. We have about a thousand survivors. Maybe eight hundred? There were more soldiers than villagers at first. But Prince Waldorf took most of the soldiers with him back to the city. A few civilians, too. Maybe fifty. The rest will leave later."

"They're evacuating?" Archie stopped, and his heart stopped too. His dream of a thriving Sain had just been coming to fruition, and now…

"That's the plan, anyways. We can't be sure there won't be another attack. Most people don't want to leave, though. Hey, maybe you could help? Convince them to flee to the city? It'll be safer there for them."

Archie swallowed words of dissent, not wanting to get into an argument while this soldier could still be useful to him. "I'll talk to them. When is the evacuation happening? You said a couple of days?"

"Ehh…we're not sure. It's not an official decree at this point. But there are people that want to leave. Don't feel safe. And we got two-hundred soldiers that don't want to hang around on patrol. The ale ain't much around here."

A little ball of rage formed in Archie's gut—not only had the man insulted Sain, but his complaints also came across as insensitive considering the torn-down tavern they had passed just moments ago.

The soldier remained oblivious. "Fact of the matter is, we don't know if or when they'll attack again. I mean, that tree is the only thing that kept them from killing everyone. No telling if it'll stay that way."

Archie looked up at the Tamani tree. The closer they got to it, the more he could feel Blanche's presence. "What about the owners of Petrichor? I haven't heard from my father in a few days."

"Haven't met them."

"But you've heard about them?"

"I've heard about a lot of things. You might be underestimating the chaos of the situation."

The chaos was becoming more apparent by the minute. The interior of the town was full of dutiful patrolling and carrying of water and washing of bandages and barking orders and limping villagers. They hadn't had time yet to overturn the bloodstained dirt or to clear out the splintered remains of broken food stalls. Bugs buzzed around and congregated around any vestige of flesh that hadn't been removed.

"What about Tarragon? You know Tarragon?"

"Of course I know Tarragon."

"Where is he?"

"Tracking down the lizards. Took the best fighters, leaving all of us here to fend for ourselves." The soldier looked over his shoulder and Archie spotted his unsettled anxiety.

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Keyed to it, Archie started to see that stress in all the soldiers they walked past. Veratores ran around the streets with looks of worried compassion as they worked to fix the humanitarian crisis that they had trained for, but the antsy soldiers had no such resolve. They had been without conflict for too long and their orders weren't clear and it was so hot outside and everyone was crying or screaming or dying. The whole village was like a pile of tinder ready to go up.

Archie nodded for Nori to keep up as he quickened his pace and walked past the soldier. "We know the way. Thanks."

The soldier shrugged. "Sure. Don't cause any trouble."

"Yeah."

Archie walked faster, Nori having to break into spurts of jogging to keep up. Archie could see the worry on her face and was thankful that she knew better than to ask if he was okay. After walking through so many deserted streets, they came upon Petrichor and the Tamani tree and a hundred people that scurried around. Makeshift wooden canopies had been erected along the street to protect open warehouses of supplies. The nearest homes had their doors wide open, showing busy living rooms full of patients.

Archie had walked through Petrichor's door thousands of times before, but he had never seen it like this. The benches had been cleared out. The long table had been pushed against the wall and held bandages, splints, sponges, and buckets of bloody water. Rows of makeshift cots filled the room, each occupied by a wounded villager. Despite the visual echoes of carnage, an odd calmness filled the air as the wounded slept or suffered in silence. Archie didn't want to speak for fear of breaking what might have been rare tranquility. A few Veratores rushed from patient to patient. He didn't want to bother them, either. But he needed answers. He needed to see his mother.

He spotted an old Purple Jacket Veratore taking a breather and pounced on the opportunity. She looked up as he approached. "Can I help you?"

Archie got closer, walking past uncomfortably familiar faces that slept off their wounds. Up close, he saw that the woman wasn't old at all—she might have been just ten years older than him. But fatigue and overworking made her eyes droop. A crackling wrinkle around her eyes had deepened and grown long. A good night's sleep might make her look twenty years younger.

Archie kept his voice low, his head sinking down toward his shoulders as he spoke. "I need to see Arty and Adeline Kent."

"Adeline's upstairs. I'm not sure where Arty is. How do you know—wait. Are you Archie?"

Archie nodded.

The woman cracked a smile for a split second before realizing this was no place for happiness. Her lips settled, but they maintained just a bit of their curve. "You don't recognize me?"

Archie looked around the room for his father. A painting caught his eye. Him and Blanche holding hands in front of Petrichor. Looking at it wiped Archie's mind clean.

"It's me," the Veratore said. "I guess we haven't seen each other in some ten years, so I won't hold it against you."

Archie studied her face. There was something vaguely familiar about it. She looked a bit like his mother. "Wait. Persimmon?"

She smiled again and realized her error again, covering her mouth. "It's been a long time."

Archie's mouth hung open as he processed the surprise. "Nori, this is my cousin on my mom's side. Persimmon. Persimmon, this is Nori."

"Call me Persi." She bowed her head to Nori, who bowed back.

"So my parents?"

"Right. Come on." Persi led them through the kitchen, which thankfully had been left intact and unoccupied, and up the stairs. "So, I don't want you to be shocked when you see her."

"I heard she was injured. Comatose."

Persi breathed heavily through her nose. "That's right. We can still induce eating no problem, and her breathing is regular, but she's non-responsive."

They reached the living room at the top of the stairs. More patients on more cots. Archie caught a glimpse of two more patients sleeping in his room. But only one person occupied his parent's room. His mother.

A blanket covered her up to her belly, leaving her bandaged arms exposed. A splash of scratches littered her face—little scars from exploding wood and falling to the ground. Small things. Not like the others. Archie counted three major wounds on her upper body. He thought about how just one had almost made him lose his leg.

Archie's hand shook as he kneeled by his mother and held her arm. He looked at her face. Peaceful. Resting. Tears filled his eyes. If she still showed some echo of pain, he'd know that she was truly there. But her face was expressionless, and she didn't react to his touch. He wondered how much of her was left.

"Your father insisted we put her up here in her own bed," Persi said from the doorway.

Nori put her hand on Archie's shoulder. He didn't turn around. He just sniffled and held his mother's hand. "Will she be okay?"

An uncomfortable silence. Then, "She'll live. As far as whether or not she'll improve…I…I believe she will."

Archie sniffled again and nodded. "I learned a technique for this in Khala. Meditation. And uh, a sort of exorcism. Do you know it?"

Nori's eyes widened. The exorcism was supposed to be a secret, but Archie couldn't care less.

"I don't. But I'll welcome any help. The soldiers are talking about evacuation. She can't be moved like that. A day in the carriage, bobbing around…She needs to stay here. A lot of people do."

Archie nodded. "I'll stay here and help. Are others staying?"

"I'll keep taking care of her. She's my aunt, after all. Me and some of the other Veratores have been talking about staying for the summer. Um…as long as there are soldiers, too. We don't want…you know."

"Yeah." Archie looked around. Their home had a hundred people in it but it was still missing something. "Where'd you say my dad was?"

"I think he went to the city. I haven't seen him in…oh, the days just bleed together. Two days? Three?"

Archie jumped to his feet. "He went to the city? Ambrosia City? What do you mean? What did he say?"

"Didn't say anything to me. I think he left with Prince Waldorf's group."

"What?"

"At least I haven't seen him since Prince Waldorf's group left."

"What?" Archie repeated. Something wasn't right. "Wh—he wouldn't…He left her here? What did he say?"

"Like I said, he didn't say anything to me. Last time I saw him, I was up here. I started going downstairs, but saw him arguing with Prince Waldorf about something. I…the prince scares me. I went back upstairs."

"Arguing? About what?"

"I don't know. I heard something about Prince Waldorf being thirsty. And something about medicine? I don't know, it sounded like Arty was making a deal."

"And then he was gone?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll take care of your mom until he gets back."

Archie brushed his hair back with one hand, his face nearly cramping from his confused grimace. "So he's in Ambrosia City?"

"As far as I know."

Archie looked at his mother. He wanted to stay, but there was nothing for him to do for her. But his father…his father might be the one in real danger.

"I'll be back, mom." He turned to Persi. "Thank you. Please don't let them take her when they evacuate."

"Archie?" Nori asked. "What is happening?"

"We need to get back. Come on." Archie and Nori ran downstairs, out the doors of Petrichor, and to the stables. They found the driver feeding his horse an apple.

"Take me back," Archie commanded.

"What? You just got here."

"Take me back."

"They said to stay. Said I'd get paid for it."

Archie grabbed a fistful of his own hair. "I'll pay you when we get there."

"You don't even have payment now?"

"We'll cook for you," Nori proposed.

"What are you? Yellow Jackets?" The driver turned his nose up.

"Green," Archie said. "We just passed and haven't had the ceremony yet."

The driver scoffed. "Green Jackets aren't nothing special."

Archie considered swapping his fistful of hair for a fistful of the driver's collar. Or maybe a straight punch would get the message across better.

Nori stepped in just before Archie exploded. "We'll get you a dinner at Cafe Julienne," she said. "That's worth more than whatever they'll pay you."

"Cafe Julienne, eh?" The driver raised his eyebrows. "Make it dinner for two. It'll be easy to get a date if that's where I'm taking them."

"Yes, yes, the ladies love fine dining." Nori stuck out her hand. "We have a deal?"

The driver nodded and shook her hand. "Deal. We'll have to stop at a caravanserai on the way. Can't ride in the darkness with these damn lizards around."

"What about movemash?"

"Horses're spent. It's gonna take as long as it's gonna take."

"Okay. Let's go now."

The ride was torture, and the night was restless. Archie and Nori shared a bed, which might have been an exciting thing at another time, but it only served to keep each other up as they tossed and turned and wrestled with the strange disappearance of Arty.

"I'm sure everything is okay," Nori assured him countless times, her voice never convincing Archie that she believed it.

But she had to say it. And Archie had to believe it. As he bobbed around in the carriage, Archie had nothing to do but wonder what had happened to his father. Arty wouldn't have just left his comatose wife behind for no reason. Had he struck a deal with Waldorf? Cooking for medicine? Waldorf had been interested in Arty for the past year. Maybe that was it.

Archie chose to believe that. The alternative—that Arty didn't have a choice in the matter—was too much.

After several torturous hours, they reached Ambrosia City just ahead of sundown. But the city did not sparkle like it usually did in that golden hour. Black flags had been put up and soaked up the sun. Even the hamlets on the outskirts of the city flew flags outside of their doors. The driver slowed down, flagging down one of the villagers.

"What's with the flags?"

Archie poked his head out of the window. The villager put her hands near her chest and looked down.

"Oh, it's terribly tragic. We've put them up in mourning."

"Mourning who?"

"The Grand King, rest his soul, passed last night."

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