Yuj dreamed.
He stood in the Valley of Blossoms; the flowers were red and green in impossible light."Yun?"She stepped out of sunlight.
"I'm here."
They spoke — about failure, fire, and the thing that still beat inside him.When she touched his chest, green light threaded the air.
"Root," she said."And the memory of a god who thought he knew how to burn."
A second voice laughed — Rehn's echo.
"You talk too much, little spark."
"Don't follow him," Yun warned.
"Not yet."She smiled. "I will find you."
He woke.
From the next room came voices:
"You'll refrain from unsupervised contact with the boys," a councilor said."Will the council refrain from unsupervised contact with my patience?" Alaric replied.
When the noise faded, the mentor stepped through the curtain.
"You were supposed to be asleep.""I was. She came.""Yun?""She said root."
Alaric nodded slowly.
"That fits."
Yuj swallowed. "Can I see Kaen?"
Alaric hesitated, then opened the frost-glass door.
Kaen slept within the ice, peaceful.Yuj pressed his palm to the crystal. Green light shimmered faintly inside.
"I'm going to be mad if you don't wake up," Yuj said."Careful," Alaric warned. "You might wake something else.""Too late," Yuj murmured.
"When you can walk," Alaric said, "we leave."
"Leave Ember?""The academy is a house. You need a road.""Where?""The Verdant Institute. The Academy of Life."
"And Kaen?""I'll guard him myself."
"Then teach me to grow a mark instead of burning one."Alaric smiled faintly.
"You have the tone of someone who argues with trees.""Only the rude ones.""Good. You'll fit right in."
He paused at the curtain.
"Do not speak to the headmaster alone. He'll make you believe you owe him something before you hear the debt."
When he was gone, Yuj touched the ice again.
"Wait for me. I'll come back."The lotus glowed once — agreement.
At dawn, birds returned to Ember's roofs as if nothing had burned.On the balcony above, Varrin watched the sun crown the lotus.In the window's reflection, a white mask smiled back.
"Everything in its time," he said. "Roots first, then fruit."
A faint crack traced one petal of the lotus below.It didn't grow.It didn't heal.It simply waited — like a door learning how to open.