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The evening breeze lifted the long black hair of both young women as they stood side by side, gazing at the star-scattered sky.
The stars would hold their promises safe , scattered to the wind, waiting there until their dreams came true.
A few minutes later, Herschel put the helicopter away and headed downstairs with Luo Wei.
Rose Castle was sprawling, divided into three separate areas, each with its own tower. The towers were connected by corridors that hung suspended in the air between them.
Herschel lived in the central area. Luo Wei lived in the lower. They said their goodbyes on the connecting walkway and went back to their own rooms.
March slipped away in a haze of gray drizzle.
April came. The barren slopes outside the city flushed green, stretching on for miles. In the Mulberry Garden, the straw coverings were pulled off the young mulberry saplings, leaving them to drink in the mild sunlight and soft April rains with their fresh new leaves.
The compost heap in the Star Luo Residence backyard had finished fermenting. Luo Wei had the hired workers rake it open; the cow dung had broken down into fine, brown, powdery earth, rich and crumbling.
Next: dig trenches, turn the soil, plant wheat.
Early April was the right window for spring wheat.
Bella had already sorted through the seed varieties per Luo Wei's instructions , tall-stalked, short-stalked, long-awned, thick-skinned. Every batch had been hand-selected and cold-treated to weed out shriveled or diseased seeds.
Spring wheat only needed three months from sowing to harvest. A short cycle. Technically, it should have gone in half a month earlier to let the seeds vernalize underground, but this was still workable. Luo Wei directed the workers to spread the manure evenly across the field and plow it under.
"Minimum twenty centimeters deep. Once that's done, cover it with a fresh layer of soil. The row spacing between each ridge should be..."
She dug through her memory, pulling up everything she'd picked up about farming in her previous life, translating it into language the workers could actually use.
After the field, she swung by the porcelain factory to check on things.
The merchant who had first come sniffing around the porcelain business at Escore Dessert Shop the previous year had shown up twice more since then. Troy had looked into him: Tim Swift, from a minor duchy in the south, the son of a baron from a family that had seen better days. The title would go to his older brother, which left Tim to make his own way.
He did that by working the great royal capitals, hunting down rare and precious goods to sell to high-ranking nobles at premium prices. His reputation was solid.
Luo Wei let Theresa know they could move forward with him. The shop's porcelain would go through Tim's network.
One gold coin per white porcelain plate. Packaging and transport were his problem. Tim agreed without hesitation.
He came in hungry. His first order was a thousand sets , bowl, plate, and spoon, combined. The factory workers had been pulling extra hours ever since.
Troy was slammed too, running griffin trips to the West Coast to haul back porcelain stone and kaolin clay.
The kilns ran brutally hot. Luo Wei lasted only a short while before the heat drove her out, and she headed back to the academy.
The academy was buzzing. Everyone had the same thing on their lips: next month's Magic Competition.
"Did you hear? This year, St. Teno Divine College is coming to Heria. Not just the ten great academies , St. Teno too."
"St. Teno? I thought the Church said they don't compete in secular events."
"They never said that. The people from the Divine College just think they're too good to bother. Up until now."
"So what changed?"
"Prince Alfred. He said the Church exists to ease the suffering of the world, so the Church's people shouldn't sit above it all , they should get out and see it. So he's sending the Divine College students to compete."
"Prince Alfred is wonderful."
"He's the most down-to-earth of all nine princes. I want him to be the next Pope."
"He has the most support by far. He'll get it for sure."
Luo Wei was shamelessly eavesdropping when Winnie came charging toward her, cheeks flushed pink from running.
"Miss Luo Wei!"
"Winnie?" Luo Wei took two steps forward. "What's the rush?"
Winnie dug around in her skirt pocket and produced a scrap of ragged cloth. "I got a letter back from home," she said, a little breathless. "They said yes , they're coming to Heria to see me!"
"That's wonderful. Congratulations." Luo Wei smiled. "Once they're here, they can't very well keep pressuring you to get married. When are they arriving? I'll have the servants set up two guest rooms."
"No, no, you've done too much already." Winnie shook her head quickly. "I already booked an inn. They can stay there."
"What do you mean, too much? The Magic Competition is right around the corner. People are going to be pouring into Heria. An inn won't be safe. They should stay with me."
"But—"
"No buts. We're friends. Are you really going to refuse me over something this small?"
Winnie's eyes went glassy with tears. "Miss Luo Wei. Thank you."
"If you want to thank me, study hard and become a magic swordsman." Luo Wei pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at Winnie's face, half-laughing. "Who knows , maybe one day I'll be the one asking for your protection."
Winnie straightened immediately. "When I become a magic swordsman, I'll come be your guard. I'll protect you. I promise."
"I told you to stop with the honorifics," Luo Wei said, putting on a stern face. "Are you saying we're not friends?"
"We are, we are!" Winnie corrected herself in a rush. "You're my best friend!"
Luo Wei's eyes softened with amusement. "Alright. Tell me , when exactly are your parents coming?"
Winnie unfolded the ragged cloth in her hand and studied the loops and crosses scratched across it. "They have to plant the — um — the peas first. Peas and wheat. And then wait for... this one is..." She squinted at the drawing. "The pigs. They have to wait for the pigs to finish farrowing. So they probably won't be able to leave until late this month."
"Seven or eight days from our village to Heria. They should arrive around the end of the month."
She had sent the first letter at the end of February. The answer that came back was no. She sent two more in March before her family finally relented.
It wasn't ideal timing , March and April were both peak planting season, which was why they couldn't leave sooner.
"That long?" Luo Wei asked. "Where's your village? Three hundred kilometers isn't that far , why seven or eight days?"
Even a poor horse could manage eighty kilometers a day.
She looked at Winnie, waiting. Winnie dropped her gaze and said quietly, "They don't know how to ride. They're walking."
Luo Wei went still.
Walking. It felt like a word from another world.
She almost asked if she should send someone to meet them halfway. She thought better of it. Instead she asked only one thing: "Is it safe?"
Winnie nodded quickly. "Yes. They'll bring the dog."
That was that. The two of them wandered on, talking about nothing in particular.
Every student they passed was on about the same thing , St. Teno Divine College, the Magic Competition, Prince Alfred. After hearing it enough times, Luo Wei found herself genuinely curious. "Is St. Teno really that impressive?"
"Very," Winnie said. "Every apprentice at the Divine College has a light-element affinity. After they graduate, they go straight into senior Church positions. The best of them compete to become Holy Knights."
"They're all dual-element mages , magic incantations as their primary discipline, swordsmanship as their secondary."
"And I heard that Prince Alfred's godson is enrolled there now. The second prince of the Duchy of Carlo , Fěiruì Bù'ěrwei'ěr. He just joined last year. His magical talent is extraordinary. Light and thunder affinity both, and his raw magical power is something else. He'll probably be competing in Heria this year too."
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