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Thalia grimaced, tucking her hands under the table."I ran out of salve halfway through.Used the last of it on that second-year with the cracked lips."

Before Luna could respond, a prickling sensation at the back of Thalia's neck made her turn.Across the room, Brynn Firstborn sat straight-backed among her usual circle of Northern students, her dark eyes fixed on Thalia with undisguised contempt.The Southern noble's posture was perfect, her uniform immaculate despite the supply shortages that had left most students with increasingly threadbare clothes.Somehow, Brynn always managed to appear untouched by the hardships affecting the rest of them.

Thalia met her gaze for a brief moment before deliberately turning away.She had neither the energy nor the inclination to engage with Brynn's hostility today.

From the front of the room, Instructor Varik cleared his throat.

"First years.Your formations are sloppy," he announced without preamble."Half of you are still treating ice as an obstacle rather than an extension of your will.Today we focus on precision."His gaze swept meaningfully across the room, lingering on several students who had struggled in previous lessons."Current circumstances do not excuse mediocrity.If anything, they demand excellence."

A low murmur ran through the class at the veiled reference to their situation.Varik silenced it with a sharp gesture.

"Begin with the third formation.Focus on maintaining temperature variance within a single structure.Ice that is uniformly cold is uniformly brittle."

The students all leaned over their desks, foreheads creasing in concentration as they attempted to create the complex thermal gradients that would allow their ice to flex rather than shatter under pressure.Thalia positioned her hands to form a crude shard of ice, drawing slow, steady breaths as she reached for the faint pulse of magic that always seemed just beyond her grasp in this class.

"The only reason she knows so much about herbs is because her kind can't afford proper medicine."

Brynn's voice carried clearly across the intervening space, deliberately pitched to reach Thalia's ears while maintaining the illusion of privacy."It's sad, isn't it, the way the lowborn folk live?Digging in dirt for remedies because they can't access real healing.Like watching a child play with mud pies, pretending it's a feast."

Heat rushed to Thalia's cheeks, her concentration fracturing.The shard before her clouded, frost patterns losing their definition as her emotions disrupted the delicate magical balance.

"Focus, Greenspire," Varik snapped from across the room, his keen ears missing nothing.

This only intensified Thalia's mortification.She could feel Brynn's satisfied smirk without having to look, could picture the gleam of triumph in the other girl's eyes.Anger bubbled up inside her — anger at Brynn, at her own inability to maintain composure, at the unfairness of a world where accident of birth determined so much of one's fate.

"Breathe," Luna whispered beside her, the word barely audible."She's baiting you.Don't let her win."

Thalia closed her eyes briefly, forcing air into her lungs in a measured rhythm.When she opened her eyes again, Thalia deliberately redirected her thoughts to the ice shard before her.Not fighting against the ice, as Varik had warned, but working with it — sensing the currents of cold that flowed through its structure, the way she sensed the magical properties of herbs.It was more difficult with ice than with metal.

Gradually, the shard responded; its clouded surface cleared as frost patterns realigned.She visualized a core of flexibility surrounded by a harder exterior shell, the precise balance that created strength without brittleness.Her raw fingers ached with cold, but she maintained her position, letting the pain sharpen her focus rather than disrupt it.

When Brynn spoke again, her voice carried a harder edge, frustration bleeding through the veneer of casual cruelty."I suppose we should be grateful she's finding some use for her peasant skills.At least the fever victims have something to distract them while waiting for real treatment."

But this time, Thalia noted with surprise, the student beside Brynn — a quiet Northern girl who usually laughed at her jabs — shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting away from Brynn's expectant look.Down the row, another student frowned slightly.

"That tincture she made broke my cousin's fever when nothing else worked," the student muttered, just loud enough to be heard."Healer Erith said he'd never seen anything like it."

Brynn's perfectly composed features flickered with momentary confusion before hardening into a mask of disdain."Healer Erith is being kind to spare her feelings."

But the damage was done.The ripple of discomfort spreading through her usual supporters made it clear that Brynn's words had struck a discordant note.Several students who had benefited directly or indirectly from Thalia's remedies were no longer willing to pretend otherwise, even to maintain social standing.

Luna caught Thalia's eye, the barest hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.Thalia returned her attention to her crystal, but a new warmth had kindled inside her chest that had nothing to do with the flush of embarrassment from earlier.

"Sufficient for today," Varik announced as the class period neared its end."Practice the fourth formation before next session.Those who cannot maintain a stable thermal gradient will spend extra hours in the practice hall."His severe gaze swept the room."Dismissed."

Students began gathering their materials, the usual end-of-class chatter notably subdued.Thalia flexed her stiff fingers, wincing as blood rushed back into the cold-numbed joints.Luna waited patiently beside her, allowing her the time she needed to recover her dexterity before they ventured back into Frostforge's frigid corridors.

"She's just upset that you're more useful than she is," Luna said once they were clear of the classroom, her voice pitched low to avoid being overheard."And let's be honest, it's not like anyone else is stepping up to help the sick."

Thalia sighed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear."Maybe," she replied, her voice equally quiet."But it's not like I'm doing it for attention.I just...I can't stand doing nothing."

"Which is why you're better than her," Luna said with a shrug that belied the sharp intelligence in her eyes."Brynn's entire existence revolves around being seen as superior.You actually care about making things better, regardless of who notices."She gave Thalia a sidelong glance."It's driving her mad that people are starting to see it.Now, come on – we’ve got to get to Beast Bonding.”

As they descended toward the beast pens, the familiar trepidation that accompanied this particular class settled over Thalia.But beneath it ran a current of determination stronger than before.She might not have Brynn's social standing or natural affinity for ice magic, but she had something that was proving increasingly valuable in Frostforge's current climate: the ability to heal, to mend what was broken — whether it was bodies ravaged by fever or, perhaps, the fracturing trust between Northern and Southern students.

***

Thalia sipped glacier water from her battered metal cup, staring morosely at the thin strip of dried haddock on her plate.This was what passed for lunch now — a finger-length of salt-preserved fish, tough enough to require serious effort from even the strongest teeth.Her stomach growled audibly, prompting Luna to glance up from her equally meager portion with a grimace of sympathy.The dining hall, once filled with the aromas of hearty stews and freshly baked bread, now carried only the faint, stale scent of preserved foods and hungry desperation.