When the rest of the student body returned from their break and, presumably the funeral of Lord Glenlen, Orenda took to having her meals delivered to her apartments. The others had grown so disagreeable that she found herself unable to eat in peace. Class itself was a chore, especially classes in which she was forced to interact with others in group projects or partnerships, and in those subjects, she found herself lagging behind to such an extent that Felaern offered to tutor her himself, but she denied him and spent most of her time locked in the tower copying genealogy records to smuggle to Bubbider.

The only thing that hurt to any real extent was Kassie. Orenda had, for some reason, believed that her behavior would not change like the others, but she quickly found that she was mistaken. Kassie never said anything outright to her but she began a plan of avoidance. If she saw Orenda outside of class, she would pretend that she hadn’t, and that she had pressing business in some empty classroom or down a deserted hallway. If they had to interact for some reason during class, she was polite enough, but her friendliness had retreated to a colder, more professional level.

At first, Orenda received a letter from Tolith at least once a week, then once a month, and slowly these dwindled away to nothing. This concerned her, because he gave no indication that his final letter would be his last. He spoke of the same things each time, of how he hated his tutors and wished to return to school, of how he missed her and looked forward to her letters, of how he felt the pressures of growing older, of how he would like her to come to his parties that he was forced to throw annually to celebrate his birth, but his mother would not allow it. The final letter that she received spoke of a potential trip to his father’s land, and, in fact, held an explicit promise to write again once he reached his destination.

But no more letters ever came.

Orenda even felt sorry for him and searched the school’s records for his father’s address. She wrote to him, asking of the journey and how he found life at the outpost, but still, she received no reply.

If not for Bubbider Orenda would have lived in complete isolation. There is a special kind of sorrow that comes from being alone in a crowd, and it pressed upon her more and more each day. She had often had difficulty making friends, had grown up without them at the workhouse, and had always had more luck with adults than people her own age. She also could not allow herself to feel self-pity over loneliness when she thought of Ali, and certainly not during the rare moments when she spoke to him.

He did, occasionally, make her think that he was still gathering intelligence. He would speak on various naval or military officials- but those reports were rare. Mostly he became more and more obsessed with the voice in Lady Glenlen’s room.

“He knows my name,” Ali told her one night, his sunken face flickering through the flames of the scry, “He’s always known my name. I know it’s a djinn, Rendy, I know that’s how she’s stayed in power for so long. These elves are bloodthirsty. She only has one heir. Someone would have killed her by now. That thing is protecting her. He’s being forced to do it. He hates her. I think she can’t hear him. I think she feels something, but I don’t think she can hear the voice.”

“How did you come to that conclusion?” Orenda asked.

“Because he told me that he was once in love with a human slave,” Ali said, “he admitted that he had helped him escape, and that he would never be found. He said that this human was living in the capital, right under Xandra’s nose. He said that he would escape and return to him. He said he would see elves dead for what they had done to his beloved. He named names. And she did nothing. She made no reply, she made no attempt to catch this man who had escaped, despite the djinn saying his name.”

“What is his name?” Orenda asked, intrigued.

“You’ll never believe it,” Ali whispered, “It seems a myth.”

“Still, it would be good information to pass along,” Orenda told him.

“The Djinn is in love with the white rabbit,” Ali explained, “He’s in love with Xaxac. And he told me why the rabbit is white.”

“What does that mean?” Orenda asked.

“Have you ever heard of sterilite?” Ali asked.

“I have heard it mentioned,” Orenda said, “In particularly old books, and by astronomers, but I’m not sure it’s real. I’m not sure how metal would come to be on Xren from the stars.”

“Sometimes the sky falls,” Ali said, “that’s what shooting stars are. And when the sky falls, it can be used to neutralize all magic. Sterilite is heaven sent.”

“I don’t believe it,” Orenda told him.

“I didn’t believe in djinns either,” Ali said, “Yet here we are.”

“That’s true,” she agreed, “did he say anything else?”

“He says a great many things, Orenda. He says that he has phenomenal power, and when he escapes the heavens themselves will open and weep with his rage. He says that the sky fell once before, a long time ago, during the rebellion of Morgani Magnus and caused a great ice age. He says that Magnus was right, and he hopes he can stop ‘that fool boy’, but he has forseen that he can’t. He says that he can see the future, but he has no guarantees that his visions will come to pass.”

“Well that’s just having a thought then,” Orenda said, “That isn’t a prophecy. Any fool can do that.”

“I’m only telling you what he says,” Ali said, looking to and fro as he often did, “I can’t stay much longer.”

“Has he made any predictions?” Orenda asked.

“He predicts that the white rabbit is in danger from something called the Kabaal, but I don’t know what that is. He says that he has to get out, to protect him. I’m not exactly in a place where I can research anything. Perhaps you can try to find out if it has something to do with Xandra?”

“I’ll do my best,” Orenda frowned, “But I’ve become rather familiar with the earth elves and I’ve never heard of that organization.”

“I’m so close, Rendy,” Ali told her. “I have to go. But the revolution is coming. This will all be worth it, one day. Our children will grow up in a free world.”

“Godspeed, Ali,” Orenda said, “Goodnight.”

It took her years while all this was going on to get a record of all the noble families on the colony associated with the school to Bubbider, and she wasn’t sure how useful the information would be in determining order of succession. But it did free up time that she could spend in the library researching. She was fortunate that the other students avoided her, she told herself, because it meant that there was nothing to interfere with her work.

The room in the research area had been boarded up with thick wood when Orenda sat down. She realized that she must not have been in the library for some time, because it hadn’t been like that the last time she had been up there. She stood, walked to the area, and pressed a hand to the wood. She felt the magic flowing from inside and wondered what those students had accidentally summoned.

She studied the wood,and realized that if she burned it away to get through, she would likely destroy the reference books in the blaze once it caught. Sometimes, with fast fires, they were difficult to control. Then again, her control was particularly good, and perhaps she should not second guess herself. She was pondering this conundrum when she heard a voice.

“Orenda?”

Orenda turned to see Kassie, who looked as if she had been crying.

“What in the world are you doing in the library at this time of night?” Orenda asked, and added, “Are you alright?”

“No!” Kassie cried, “No, I’m not alright at all! Shelly kicked us all out of the room! She just received a scry from Lady Glenlen!” She sobbed so that Orenda could barely understand her, “Shelly is so upset that she lashed out! Something has sprouted from the ground and covers the door! No one can get inside!”

“What?” Orenda asked, hearing about every third word through the sobs and unable to piece together any sort of story from it.

“They found the body, Rendy, but it had been beaten so badly and… and…” she sobbed into her handkerchief, “he had been beheaded! Who would do such a thing? Why?”

“What on xren are you talking about?” Orenda asked, growing annoyed.

“He was your friend, too, Rendy!” Kassie accused, “I’m sorry I’ve been so mean, it’s just that everyone said you were dangerous and…”

“Whose body did they find, Kassie?” Orenda asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Toli was supposed to go take over for his dad,” She explained, taking a seat at the desk as if she thought it would calm her nerves, “But his carriage was accosted by bandits or something. They weren’t caught. All four of his guards… and then…”

“Tolith is dead?” Orenda asked, and her vision seemed to narrow as the edges grew dark.

“He had so many guards,” Kassie cried, “I… we can’t… we can’t be mean to each other, Rendy! I’m sorry! We have to be nice! We don’t know how long we’ll be here… the world is a dangerous place.”

“Toli is dead,” Orenda repeated, and staggered a little.

“Orenda,” Quiroris came striding quickly into the room, took in the scene, and said, “Oh. You’ve heard.”

“Toli is dead,” Orenda said.

“How much do you know?” He asked.

“Did you say beheaded?” Orenda asked Kassie, and the girl nodded. “That seems so… extreme. It seems needlessly violent.”

Scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the heads.

“Orenda, I hate to trouble you,” Quiroris said, “But I’m having a bit of difficulty. Shalendra’s quite strong, as you know, and she’s regenerating her barrier as quickly as we can take it down. I thought perhaps a little fire magic may be more difficult to-”

“Yes,” Orenda said, “Yes, of course.”

“Go from the roots up, please,” Quiroris said, “try to keep it contained.”

“It is contained, Felaern,” Orenda said, clutching her staff with one hand and pressing the other against the door, “Though I imagine she’s going to notice any second that her barrier is-”

She was cut off by an anguished howl.

“Yes,” Orenda said, “I suspected as much.”

“They had set a date for the wedding,” Dr Vibila explained, “poor thing.”

“I can’t imagine,” Orenda rolled her eyes, but no one saw her. On the other side of the door, her small flames ate away at the roots of the barrier Shalendra had created, and she wondered if the room wasn’t filling up with smoke.

Shalendra began to shriek, and Orenda felt the barrier trying to regrow, but she kept the flame steady and tried the door. The barrier must have weakened enough, because she threw her whole body into it with her shoulder and barreled into the room.

It was a jungle. All the little potted plants on desks or window planters had sprung to unnatural life. They hadn’t just grown over the door, they had grown over everything, creating an impenetrable forest of vines, stems, and leaves.

“Shalendra!” Quiroris called, “It’s the headmaster. I’m here with Dr Vibila! We know that you’re upset. We’ve come to help you.”

One of the vines slithered up Orenda’s leg, then around her dress, and finally around her waist. It moved almost like a snake, slithering then tightening around her body, which would not have been bad at all, but then, all at once, thorns the size of elven fingers shot from the thing. She gasped instead of screaming as she felt them burrowing their way into her, and looked down to see the blood seeping from her wounds.

“FELAERN!” Orenda shrieked, “FIX THIS NOW OR I WILL SET THIS ENTIRE PLACE ABLAZE!”

“Thesis’s glowing eyes,” he ran to her in alarm, and she watched the rings in his ears turn green as he fought Shalendra’s will to control the magic. “It’s fine,” He promised, “I’ve got you!”

“It’s a great deal of blood for it to be fine!” Orenda snapped. She was beginning to grow lightheaded, and everything below her waist was going numb, “I think it’s…” She swooned on her feet, “Felaern? I can’t… focus. She’s poisoned…”

“The hell she has!” he snapped, reached into his belt, produced a knife, and cut the vine in one smooth motion. It wriggled as if it could feel it, and it was so thick that a green liquid which Orenda thought may be chlorophylle sprayed from it as if it were blood.

“Vibila!” Quorirs shouted, “I need this neutralized! I need her healed!” Orenda could not focus well enough to see the panic in his eyes as he screamed, “Medic!”