Page 35

Thalia didn't mention how many freezing hours she'd spent searching for the plants before dawn, fingers numbed despite her gloves, breath forming ice crystals on her scarf.Or how she'd nearly slipped from the bridge's icy edge, catching herself just in time to avoid a forty-foot fall into the frozen river below.Such details seemed trivial compared to the moans coming from the occupied pallets.

She sorted her findings with methodical precision, separating the silverleaf by potency, the frost lichen by color gradation.Each variation required different preparation, a detail her mother had drilled into her since childhood."The wrong preparation is worse than no medicine at all," she'd said, guiding Thalia's small hands through the motions of grinding, steeping, straining."It gives false hope, and that's the cruelest thing we can offer."

A fit of coughing drew her attention to the far corner, where a third-year lay curled on his side, body trembling with each ragged breath.Thalia recognized him immediately — Darrin, though everyone called him Dar.He'd been the first to offer help when she'd stumbled during a frost-walking exercise, ignoring the jeers from his fellow upper-years about assisting "fresh meat."

She approached his pallet, herbs and mortar in hand."How's the chest feeling today?"

Dar attempted a smile that transformed into a grimace midway."Like a frost golem's using it for a drum."His voice emerged as a rasp, each word clearly costing him."But better than yesterday.Whatever you gave me then...it helped."

"Just a simple tincture," Thalia said, kneeling beside him.She began crushing the silverleaf, adding a few drops of water from her flask to form a paste.The sharp, clean scent rose between them, cutting through the infirmary's heavier odors."My mother taught me.It draws out the heat without weakening the body's natural defenses."

"Your mother..."Dar wheezed, "must be one hell of a healer."

Thalia's hands faltered for just a moment, memories of her mother's worn face and gentle touch washing over her."She does what she can with what she has," she said softly."Just like we all do here."

She mixed the silverleaf paste with a touch of frost lichen, watching as the combination turned a pale blue, exactly the shade she'd been taught to look for."This will be cold at first," she warned, reaching toward his forehead."But it should ease the burning."

Dar nodded weakly, closing his eyes as she applied the mixture to his temples, throat, and the pulse points at his wrists.Within moments, his rigid posture began to relax, the painful furrow between his brows smoothing.

"That's..."he sighed, the sound clearer than before."That's good.Real good."

"Rest now," Thalia instructed, covering him with his thin blanket."The tincture works best when the body is still."

She was rising to her feet when the infirmary door creaked open, admitting a blast of frigid air and a familiar figure.Luna slipped inside; her dark eyes swept the room with the quick, assessing gaze that belied her carefully cultivated appearance of distraction.

"There you are," Luna said, unwinding her scarf as she approached."I checked our room, the dining hall, even the library."She glanced at the rows of occupied pallets."Though I should have guessed you'd be here."

"I had to check on some of yesterday's patients," Thalia explained, returning to the preparation table."And I found more herbs on the eastern ridge."

Luna's eyebrows rose."The eastern ridge?That's practically outside the academy boundaries."She didn't mention the dangers explicitly — the steep drop-offs, the treacherous ice formations — but her tone conveyed everything her words didn't.

"It was worth it," Thalia said simply, gesturing to the plants laid out before her."These will help at least four more students."

Luna studied her for a long moment, then sighed, removing her gloves with precise movements."Alright then, show me what to do.If you're determined to exhaust yourself helping everyone else, the least I can do is make sure you don't collapse in the process."

Thalia blinked in surprise."You want to help?"

"Is that so shocking?"Luna asked, a hint of defensiveness creeping into her voice.Then, more quietly, "I know what it's like to feel helpless when people are suffering.I grew up watching my father fight battles he couldn't win.I won't make the same mistake, ignoring the battles I actually can fight."

The admission, so plainly stated, caught Thalia off guard.Luna rarely spoke of her father, the disgraced councilor whose political stances had cost his family everything.

"Thank you," Thalia said, meaning it."Here — you can start by grinding these frost lichen samples.Fine powder, not chunks."

They worked side by side, the silence between them comfortable rather than strained.Luna proved a quick study, her nimble fingers adapting easily to the delicate work.Together, they moved through the infirmary, administering tinctures, changing damp cloths, helping students sip water when their strength failed them.

"It's strange," Luna murmured as they finished with a second-year whose fever had broken overnight."Half these patients wouldn't even look at us in the dining hall a few weeks ago.Now they're thanking us like we're sent from the Five Spirits themselves."

Thalia had noticed the same shift.Students who had previously sneered at her Southern accent now greeted her with relieved smiles.Even a few Northerners had nodded respectfully when she passed them in the corridors.

"Suffering has a way of recalibrating priorities," she replied, recalling her mother's words."When you're burning with fever, you care less about where the hand offering water comes from."

"True enough," Luna agreed."Though I wonder if the lessons will stick once they're well again.”

***

The cryomancy classroom buzzed with subdued conversation as Thalia and Luna slipped through the door, the scent of medicinal herbs still clinging to their clothes.White-blue frost patterns crystallized across the practice tables, and the temperature hovered just above freezing — a "comfortable warmth" according to Instructor Varik.Thalia flexed her fingers, wincing as her knuckles cracked from the cold.Four hours in the infirmary had left her hands raw, despite her gloves, the skin reddened from constant washing between patients.

"Your hands look like you've been brawling with rimwolves," Luna muttered as they took their seats.