I sat near the edge of the garden grinding knuckle grass and a bit of water down into a paste. Its stringent smell already wafted thickly from the mortar despite the fact that I had another handful to add to the heavy bowl. It wasn’t really a poison, not unless you counted the dizzy effect that happened if you ingested too much of it, but it worked well as a base for other more potent recipes. The stringent smell and flavor covered up any potential ill flavors those recipes might have and knuckle grass could be found in nearly any area grass grew.

A sharp crack sounded from my left and I looked up to see Dera looking pleased. She must have hit the large rock that protected a patch of purple boulder drops on its leeward side. Wren, Loclen, and her were all using it as a target while they practiced with their slings. The sound made me wish they had picked a softer target to practice with, but I couldn’t really put my heart into the wish because if they had some of my plants would probably be destroyed. So, I did my best to ignore the sharp cracks and their presence while Prevna wandered around looking at the different plants while she tried to decide if she wanted to switch out the poisons in one of her hands. Given that she hadn’t ask me for any pointers so far, I doubted her search was going well.

Now that Jin had been absent for nearly a week the draw to go to the training ground had lessened. Instead, the cohort had split into roughly three groups that settled into their own areas every morning. Incidentally, the groups also seemed mainly split by how they reacted to the news of my blessing after the initial shock wore off. Ulo, Nii, and Andhi still met up in the training area every morning as far as I cared to tell, and all of them acted negatively when I was around. Ulo’s disgust was the strongest by far and now she tended to get a look on her face that said I had proved all of her terrible suspicions about me whenever we accidentally made eye contact. It reminded me of the tribe members who would sometimes go out of their way just so they wouldn’t have to come near the healer’s tent. Nii wasn’t as bad, but she had stopped the occasional comment she had thrown my way when we were in the dome together. Now her bed roll was pushed up against the opposite wall and she looked uncomfortable if I got too close. As if whatever life I carried might rub off on her by sheer proximity. I didn’t pay much attention to Andhi, after our first ill introduction I knew she didn’t think well of me even if she tried to hide it and she didn’t possess any qualities that could have encouraged me to take on the unrewarding task of changing her mind.

Juniper and her group seemed ambivalent, but I wasn’t sure if that was because none of the three thought I carried more life than I should or if they were too wrapped up in whatever bound them together to pay anything else any mind. Breck would join them by the cooking area sometimes but otherwise disappeared on her own. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was going back to the arena, now that there were less whisper women the ones that did show up there were probably more likely to accept a seedling’s challenge. She also seemed more interested in me now, but she didn’t come up to chat and when her gaze fell on me it felt more like I was being sized up as a challenge than anything else.

As for those with me in the garden the reactions were more varied. If anything, Prevna was more friendly and teasing than she had been before but, then again, ever since I had met her, she had seemed to take a perverse pleasure in things that broke convention. Given the people she grew up around that was hardly surprising. Once her shock had faded and she had more time to think about the implications, Dera had become more unsettled around me though she did valiantly try to hide it, which was interesting. I wasn’t sure why she tried so hard even if some small part of me appreciated the effort. Loclen was her usual brusque self. She dismissed the issue of my blessing more easily than I expected anyone to and seemed more focused on humiliating me in some contest or another. From what I could tell, she was cranky that I knew more about the whisper women than her—and that I had ruined her chances in Hunter’s Quarry before blowing off her challenge in the arena. Wren was the most difficult for me to read. Sometimes she was like Dera, uncomfortable but making the effort to include me, and other times I would catch her staring at me with an odd look in her eye, like I was some frustrating riddle she couldn’t solve, but that wasn’t the confusing part. The confusing part to that look was the fact that there was always some hint of shame mixed in and no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t see where that fit in unless she was ashamed to associate with me, and she could always leave if that was the case.

Chirp noticed that I was no longer intently mashing grass into a pulp and came flitting over from the amber tree to tilt back his head and open his beak wide. He still thought I owed him treats. When I ignored him, he pecked my leg.

Flinching back, I rubbed my thigh and scowled at him. “I don’t have anything for you.”

He twittered for a few moments before opening his beak again.

I flapped a dismissive hand at him before turning back to my work. “No. I don’t have anything.”

One annoyed hop and then he was gone, back to investigating the tree. Apparently, he thought I should be catching the bugs that I had occasionally found when I was rearranging the garden to help the plants grow. Needless to say, I didn’t waste time with that.

Instead, I added the next handful of knuckle grass to my mortar along with some water and worked on grinding it down. As I worked, my mind turned back to what I had learned about Jin. I had already shared what Clara had told me about what was happening in the southwest region, there wasn’t any point to keeping that quiet even if they didn’t all believe me about the Lady Blue, but despite my resolution to tell the others about Jin I hadn’t been able to decide how I should do it. Should I just tell the others in “my” group? Or gather the whole cohort? Not that they would probably listen, not to me. I looked up from the bowl again to sweep my gaze over the others, assessing.

Prevna was too controversial as well, and Dera was more likely to develop a stammer than get the information out in front of everyone. Loclen might be able to get everyone together and listening, but I wasn’t sure she would do anything I wanted until she won a game against me and I didn’t particularly feel like losing.

Which left Wren. I held in a sigh. The other girl was one big, confusing distraction, but there was little doubt that she was the best bet to get everyone together and make them listen to the truth. Of course, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen once they learned we were here to be broken into something else, which was also why I had been putting off sharing my new knowledge. Pushing back against Jin was hardly going to be taken well by the whisper women, but submissively allowing her to shove us into the mold she wanted, as if we were no better than objects she was pounding into shape, wasn’t going to be taken well either. There were too many strong wills in our group to allow for that.

I scraped the finished paste into a jar before placing it back into my poisoner’s pouch. I could grind down Black Root later to add to it when everyone wasn’t around. Passing up that poison just because of Prevna wasn’t something I could do any longer. If nothing else, Hunter’s Quarry had taught me I needed to be prepared as possible for any circumstance.

Two more sharp impacts cut through the garden and Wren cheered. I watched them practice as I absently cleaned and dried the mortar and pestle. All three were getting better and better at using the sling. Loclen had probably made the most progress, but Wren and Dera didn’t miss that many more shots than her.

Footsteps came from my right before Prevna dropped into a crouch by my side. “Are you sure you can’t die from angst?”

I slanted her a look of annoyance, but she only grinned and settled all the way down to sit next to me.

“So, what’s got you in a fit today?”

My jaw clenched. “I’m not in a fit.”

“Uh huh, and I don’t have gray lips and time to kill.” She understood the question in my glare and answered it. “If you had ever stared at someone that long before I’d have thought their hair was on fire. What’d Wren do to throw you off balance this time?”

“I wasn’t staring. I was thinking.”

Prevna snorted. “I’m pretty sure you can do both at once.” She started to tick off her fingers. “Jin isn’t here to give you grief about being a loner, we don’t have never ending lessons, and as far as I know you haven’t been on the stairs or done anything new to piss someone off. So, from one horror to another, you really shouldn’t have anything to be anxious over, but from that look on your face you’ve managed to find something, and the way you’ve been focused on Wren she has something to do with it.”

I hated how perceptive she could be sometimes. “She doesn’t.” Then a bit grudgingly, “Yet.”

Prevna raised her eyebrows and waited. Knowing that tactic from Rawley I tried to out wait her, but she apparently had abominable patience when it came to teasing information out of me. I found myself telling her about Jin and the scroll that consolidated her history.

She didn’t seem all that surprised as she mused, “Nothing like a trial to keep the goddess happy.” Prevna gave me a considering glance. “You want to tell the others about it?”

“They should know.”

She let the oddity of me wanting to do anything with anyone slip by with only an amused quirk of her lips before asking her next question. “But you don’t think they’ll listen to you?”

I didn’t honor that question with a response. We both knew the obvious answer.

Prevna was silent for a few moments before she stood and stretched. “I’ll talk to Wren for you.”

“But—”

She started to walk away. “Can’t stop me!”

I entertained a brief thought of running after her, but that wouldn’t do anything but put me in awkward situation as well as place the need to talk to Wren back on my shoulders. I let Prevna go.

She made her way confidently through the garden’s paths before catching Wren’s attention without so much as a drop of awkward hesitation. I shoved the stupid tendril of envy coiling up my spine down into the pit of my stomach as Prevna easily got Wren to join her at the base of the amber tree. Chirp fluttered onto Wren’s shoulder and she stroked his head as they began to chat. Her hand dropped down to her side as she began to listen with more intensity as Prevna kept talking. They glanced my way once and I pretended to be enamored with the plant in front of me. By the end of the conversation Wren looked resolute, though she still gave Prevna a smile as they finished talking and parted ways.

Prevna grinned at me, a bit smug, as she began to wander through the garden again. Within the next two hours, Wren had located everyone and convinced them to gather for an emergency meeting at the stage area.