Philo’s face darkened. Even in the dim, firelit cabin, her expression was clear. “First of all, your master. What does he look like?”

Despite being on a mission for Ephraim, Gust didn’t consider that man his master. Just a Master. It was a small, but important distinction. As far as his true master was concerned, he thought, “Well, he’s a disembodied sliver of a soul with one hell of a self-righteous attitude.”

Gust cleared his throat. “Uh, he’s a few inches taller than me. Long black hair with a sharp beard that follows his jawline, slightly darker skin than mine, and robes with a moon and stars on them.”

Saith’s description seemed to allay Philo’s tension. “Alright. I’ll take you to the goldenseal patch, but I’ll harvest it myself! You’ll just damage the roots and kill the entire thing. And I have two conditions. One: you can never tell anyone about us. Two,” she paused for a moment, “I want you to bring us a cultivation manual from your school.”

Myles grabbed his sister’s arm and his eyes widened. “She doesn’t mean that!” Then he lowered his voice and whispered to his sister, “You know how closely they guard those secrets!”

But Philo didn’t budge. “You can’t see what I see.” She turned to Gust. “You want my help? Well, I need yours. Our old master was going to use me up and throw me away. Your elders would do the same, and don’t you dare tell me they wouldn’t! Mages are ruthless, power-hungry, self-serving bastards, and if I’m going to be helping one, I’m not doing it without leverage.”

Myles tugged at her arm again, but she pulled it away and shouted, “Stop! Myles, how do we know he won’t just kill us, or tell his master once he gets home? I’m not taking him anywhere until we get that book.”

While Myles shot Gust an apologetic expression, he didn’t speak up.

“I should be able to do that,” Gust admitted, “but it isn’t free. Just show me to this patch, let me take a little, and I’ll be on my way.”

“No way. Book first, patch later,” Philo responded. She crossed her arms and held firm.

Growing frustrated, Gust shook his head. “Look, renting a book costs merits for every day its out, and I barely have any as it is. That’s why I’m here! Either you show me to the goldenseal, or I won’t be back at all!”

The girl stared at Gust for a long minute. Myles put a hand on her shoulder and softly said, “Let’s just do it. If he knows he can trust us, he’ll be less likely to tell anyone.”

Philo shook her head, but she walked over to a corner of the house, where there was some loose shelving hanging on the wall. She pulled out a bundle of herbs and shoved them in Gust’s hands. “Will this be enough?”

The young man shrugged. It was a least a few ounces, but he couldn’t simply weigh it by hand. “I guess it’ll need to be. As long as you show me to the source, and let me take a lot more than this, I’ll be able to keep paying the rental fee for as long as it takes you to transcribe the book. You can’t keep it, mind you. I’ll bring some writing materials and return a few days later to take it back.”

“Fine, fine. Was there anything else?”

Gust nodded. “Now, I just need some directions home. Are we far?” He thought of the rain he heard battering the roof. It was the middle of the night and he was dreading the return trip.

Myles winced and nodded. It seemed he was happy to change the topic. “We’re a couple miles away from the road, and about midway between your school and our old town. So, yeah, it’s pretty far. If you want, I can point you in the right direction, but if you need an escort it’ll have to wait until morning. Do you have a compass?”

Gust shook his head. He hadn’t realized this world even had compasses, but as soon as Myles mentioned it, he planned to buy one as soon as he could afford it.

Gust approached the front door and peeked out, but the rain continued to fall in heavy drops. He scanned the room and noticed two flat mounds of dried grass with thin cloths laid over them and let out a sigh. “Damn it. I don’t suppose you have a comfortable corner I can borrow…?”

Philo turned away in the middle of his sentence, but Myles nodded. “Take mine.”

As soon as he saw light peeking in through cracks in the ceiling, Gust jumped out of bed. Between the uncomfortable situation he found himself in, and the lumpy, scratchy bed, he’d barely slept a wink. The rain had slowed, but not stopped. It wasn’t ideal, but Gust knew he’d be in trouble if he didn’t return in time for the morning bell.

He spared but a moment for goodbyes. Philo ignored him while eating some berries, but Myles gave him a firm handshake. “Thank you,” he said. “Maybe if we become cultivators, we’ll be able to start over somewhere else. Could even apply to a school! One day…” he glanced at his sister and pursed his lips.

When Gust returned to the School of Fallen Leaves, the sun was still climbing but the morning bell had long since rung. He thought back to Theo’s warning about staying away too long, and desperately hoped one night wouldn’t matter. At least the rain ceased as the sun dispersed the clouds, and Gust was beginning to dry.

He crept toward the entrance like a student who was late for class and hoped the teacher wouldn’t notice. Jonas stood guard again, reading a book like the day before, but his new partner was a girl Gust already despised.

Lyth was moving from one form to another, sweeping and stabbing with the spear in her hands. Following every attack, there was a burst of pure mana which shot out and slammed into the nearest tree, or a stream of blue leaves which stabbed into their targets and quickly dissipated. She was breathing heavily, and her long black hair swung back and forth with every attack.

“Look who it is!” she called out as she stopped moving. “I was sure you’d been eaten, or something. A Demon shouldn’t be trusted out there on his own. Not the first time, anyway. I half expected a vengeful spirit to return in your place, looking to get revenge on whoever let you leave school alone.”

Gust still wasn’t sure what these spirits were, but he didn’t want to prolong the conversation by asking. He held out his arms and some rain dripped from his sleeves. “Oh, I’m well intact,” he commented, and tried to walk around her.

But Lyth blocked his way. “Did you find what you were looking for? Why’d you get stuck out all night?”

“It’s like you said, I don’t know this world as much I thought. Got lost, and had to find shelter when the rain started. And yes, actually, I found a bit of goldenseal and twinleaf. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to complete my mission. Of course, I could keep chatting, but I’d have to let Master Ephraim know why you held me up.”

Lyth grinned as she took out a notebook and wrote something down. “That’s not necessary. I’m just glad you made it back safe,” she added with heavy sarcasm.

Gust shot her a smile as he walked by. Jonas had raised his gaze from his book and was inspecting the incoming mage. Gust met his acquaintance’s gaze and gave him a friendly nod, which Jonas returned slowly.

While Gust made his way home and changed into a clean set of robes, there was a feeling of anxiety building in his gut. He kept expecting elder Christos to drop out of the air and ask where he’d been. That man was an asshole, and Gust knew he wanted to steal the Subtle Coin and Blade. If it had been easy, however, one of the Masters would have done it by now.

Gust dressed quickly and raced over to the home where he first met Ephraim. He wanted to get this done quickly so he could return to Locke and apologize for being late.

He found the Master’s home and as he reached to knock on the door, it swung open. As Gust stepped inside, he felt oddly uncomfortable. This room, made of dark wood and decorated with plants and artifacts, was where he’d first been told he couldn’t return home. It held a dark memory for him, even if Gust was beginning to accept his fate.

Master Ephraim nodded and waved his hand, inviting Gust inside. His long, braided beard rested in a fold in his green robes, and Gust noticed the stoll of the headmaster was not around his neck. This meant the Matriarch was still around, though Gust hoped he wouldn’t cross her path.

“We missed you last night,” the man said simply. “If you hadn’t returned today, I might have gone searching.”

A bitter thought passed through Gust’s mind. “Yeah, so you could take the Subtle Coin from my corpse.”

On the surface, he bowed politely and apologized. “Sorry, Master. The rain caught me at a bad time, but it was not for nothing.” He pulled out the bundle of goldenseal from Philo and carried it over to Ephraim with a Mage Hand.

The man plucked the herbs out of the air and dropped most of it in front of himself. He lifted a sample into the air and let his mana sense wash over it. “Very precise extraction, the roots are nearly untouched. Were you a gardener back in your world?”

“My mother was. I guess I picked up a few things,” Gust said. Part of that was true; his mother had always kept a small garden, but he rarely helped out. He regretted that, now, and the mere mention of his mother made a lump appear in his throat.

Master Ephraim nodded and a bronze balance flew out of the pouch at his waste. The goldenseal sat on one side, and a stream of first rank mana gems piled up on the other. When the two sides were equal in weight, Ephraim nodded again. The goldenseal and balance disappeared into his bag of holding, but the mana gems flew toward Gust. He held out his hand as a dozen mana gems alighted on his palm.

“Twelve ounces,” Ephraim announced. “That means 600 merits will be added to your account. You can hold onto those gems as a little tip. In fact, take this.” A vial of blue liquid floated toward Gust’s outstretched hand. “It’s a mana potion. While it is not particularly potent, you should still refrain from taking more than a few sips at a time. As the liquid enters your body, it will become spiritual energy and you must cycle it into your soul space. It isn’t sword mana, but it will still help you progress, or recover after a fight.”

Gust bowed his head and clutched the blue potion to his chest like it was pure gold. “Thank you, Master.”

Ephraim nodded. “Work hard, Augustus. I want you within the top three of your level at the end of the coming exhibitions. If you’re on that list, I’ll be able offer more direct help such as this. For now, I do need as much goldenseal as you can get your hands on. Potions are expensive, but I can spare a mana gem for every ounce, as well as the merits which I am already awarding.” The man bowed his head, “You should return to your responsibilities.”

With a simple ‘thank you,’ Gust bowed deeply and fled.

Master Ephraim watched the young Demon leave through his mana sense. He took the goldenseal out of his pouch and rubbed a sample between two fingers. “Dry,” he muttered to himself. Many herbs needed to be dried before they could be used, so this was not a problem, but it did give rise to a few questions in the Master’s mind.

Rain poured all night, and this young student slept outside. When did he find the time to dry the herbs he had picked?

Ephraim did not know. But, like an incomplete painting, he could fill in the missing details. These herbs were not picked last night, that much he knew. The rest was up to speculation.