Valerie whispered her full name as she returned home, and her body relaxed, relieved to be in its natural form. As she got closer, she saw someone practicing basic blocks and punches in the shadowy twilight.

As she approached to see who it was, Thai's hand touched her shoulder.

"Emin's been out there all day practicing the moves I showed him. He's determined to get it perfect. Reminds me of you."

Valerie couldn't think of a better compliment, and she almost leaned back so that her head rested on Thai's chest. But she couldn't let herself keep slipping into Thai's arms. It was too selfish.

"I missed you today," he whispered in her ear, and she couldn't stop herself from blushing. "Where were you? With Chisisi and Skye?"

Valerie tensed, knowing that telling Thai the truth would turn into a fight.

Thai surprised her by chuckling in her ear. "Don't tell me. I can feel how rigid you are, and I'm guessing you were doing something more dangerous than you should have been. Tell me you weren't confronting Reaper."

If it was possible, Valerie went even stiffer, and Thai turned her to face him. All of his laughter was gone now.

"Why? If you don't care for your own life, do you at least care what it would do to me, Henry, Emin, and Cyrus if you got yourself killed?"

"Thai, I'm fine. I took a risk, I'll admit, by not bringing support, but I knew I'd attract less attention if I went by myself. I couldn't live with myself if someone got hurt because of my decision when I was capable of executing this mission by myself."

"You may not be committing suicide, like Henry, but there is a part of you that thinks you don't deserve to live, to be happy. Every time I think you've changed, that you see how precious you are, you prove me wrong."

"I wouldn't—"

"How can I forgive you for putting the life of the person I love the most in the universe in unnecessary danger over and over again?"

"I'm sorry," Valerie said, but Thai was already striding away from her.

He didn't understand. Her life had less value every time she used her vivicus power. Some mornings after she saved someone, she struggled to tie her shoes. She wouldn't be whole for long. Maybe it was better if she died in the war, rather than torturing everyone by slowly dissolving afterward.

Valerie was empty, and she sagged where she stood, tempted to curl up right at the base of the tree she was resting against.

Her gaze turned back to Emin, who was still practicing, even though only the stars provided any light for him now. His focus and intensity took her out of her own mind, and she walked toward him.

"I think you're ready for your next lesson," she said.

Emin ran up to her, and she could see how sweaty he was in the starlight. "I was waiting till we were back in Silva, at the Guild of the Knights of Light, to start, but then I decided that with you here to train me, I could start now. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's okay," she replied, pushing his hair off his forehead. "But what's your rush? Is it because you're worried that you'll have to fight the Fractus?"

The thought of Emin being afraid made her wish that she could wrap him up in her arms, but he surprised her by shaking his head.

"No, I'm not afraid. But seeing you leading the Fist makes me sure that I want to be a Knight. I'm going to be strong and help everyone, like you."

His gaze was adoring, and Valerie couldn't help smiling at his hero worship. If he only knew.

"I have something for you," she said, tugging the Laurel Circle off of her thumb. "This ring is special. My mentor gave it to me to help me be a good Knight."

Emin examined it, and his voice was filled with awe when he answered. "It's really for me? Don't you need it anymore?"

"This ring tells you when fear is holding you back, and I think that's one lesson I've learned. I'm still afraid lots of times, but I'm able to push through it when I have to."

Emin pulled a chain that he wore around his neck out from under his shirt and unfastened it so he could slip the ring on. It hung next to a delicately crafted silver leaf.

"From Mom," he said when he saw her looking at it.

"It's beautiful. I know you're going to be an excellent Knight, Sir Emin."

"Can Knights still get hugs?" he asked.

Valerie swept him up in her arms, hugging him and tickling him until he giggled. Then she put him back on his feet and held his hand as they made their way back to the house.

"You might want to be like me, Emin, but I'm trying to be as strong as you. So keep training and trying and fighting, and so will I."

Valerie awoke the next morning to the sun streaming in. A leaf blew into her room through her cracked window, and settled on her pillow. She picked it up, and Grandmother North's voice filled the room.

"We found a way to prepare the object you requested sooner than expected. Come to Arbor Aurum immediately."

There was a little pause.

"And bring my grandson."

Emin was awake now, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Are we going on an adventure?"

It had been a long time since Valerie had considered her life an adventure, and she smiled at Emin.

They chased each other through the forest and ascended the leaf to the cities in the trees. On their walk to Arbor Aurum, they played I Spy, and Valerie embraced being eight again.

But as soon as they entered the bustling city, they both became solemn.

"Grandmother North might change her mind about wanting to see me if I'm too loud," Emin said, his tone very serious.

"Then we'll tickle her until she screams," Valerie said, making Emin giggle.

Valerie saw North's stately gait as they made their way across the winding branches.

Her eyes were bright when she saw Emin, and she placed her hand on his head. He threw his arms around her waist, and after a charged moment, North's face relaxed and she hugged him back.

Three boys around Emin's age approached, bouncing a little on the balls of their feet with excitement.

"You're back! Where've you been?" a boy with long hair threaded with gold asked.

"Is it true that you're training to be a Knight?" the second asked.

Valerie smiled. "Go ahead and play with your friends. I'll find you when it's time to go."

Valerie waited until he scampered off before she spoke to North. "Not that I'm complaining, but how did you get the object to bind Earth's rules so quickly?"

"Come with me," North said, and began walking.

Valerie followed, and North led her up steps in the side of a tree. She remembered the path from her last visit to the Sky Garden. It was alive with colors that contrasted the blue, cloudless sky.

Three other People of the Woods were waiting, and Valerie's steps slowed. "What's going on?"

North turned to her. "We conceived of a new way to create an everlasting object that will contain the spell that binds magic on Earth."

"Not we, you, North," one of the People, a woman with slightly pointed ears, said.

North inclined her head in acknowledgment. "The object must come from you, vivicus. You have the ability to renew life, and if we can create it from the essence of your magic, it can always heal itself from any harm that might befall it."

Valerie wondered how much it would hurt, but didn't say so. "What do I have to do?"

Another of the People came forward and put a crown of flowers on her head.

"Rest," he said.

Valerie breathed in the scent of the flowers around her head, and she became weak-kneed. She barely had time to consider that it might be a trap before she collapsed. The People of the Woods laid her on the table.

"This will hurt," North said. There was no emotion on her face as she spoke. "But it must be done if we are to have a chance of driving back the Fractus. I couldn't risk that you would fail us again, like you did when you let the Byway be destroyed."

Valerie would have undergone any pain to achieve the same goal. But being forced into this made her strain against the paralysis the flowers had given her. She couldn't so much as wiggle her fingers, and her helplessness made her frantic. The edges of her vision went black as memories of being locked up in foster care flashed through her mind.

Her breath came in little gasps, but North's face held no pity. She turned to the other People standing around Valerie. "I was right not to ask for her permission. Look how she quakes, and we have not yet begun."

The other three People frowned, obviously uncomfortable with Valerie's distress, but they only watched her uneasily.

North began chanting, low words in a language that Valerie had never heard before. The others joined her, and Valerie squeezed her eyes shut, going to the little hole inside herself where she could crawl when things got really bad.

Some part of her mind registered that her hand unclenched itself from the tight fist she had made, and magic poured from her spirit through her body like fire, shooting out of the palm of her hand.

The pain was intense, but no more than she had faced so many times before. Being unable to move, or even moan, was a kind of horrifying claustrophobia that made her want to crawl out of her own skin.

The pain ratcheted up in intensity, making her arch her back involuntarily. She managed to turn her head, and she saw light pouring from her hand, reminding her of Cyrus when he used his power. The thought steadied her. Anything that reminded her of Cyrus couldn't be bad, even if it came from her.

The light was coalescing into a stem with its roots in the center of her palm. Each inch it grew made the pain blaze up in intensity, but she watched, fascinated, at the perfect bud that formed.

The pain went higher, higher, and then stopped, flooding her body with sudden sweetness at its absence. The flow of her magic ceased after the bud on her hand bloomed. It was a poppy.

Valerie didn't remember blacking out. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, it was night.

North stood next to her in silent vigil, but the other People who had assisted her were gone. Valerie registered Emin's soft, warm body. His head was resting on her belly. Had North cared to see her grandson at all, or did she only know that his presence would prevent Valerie from unleashing her rage to its full extent? Had every moment she'd shown tenderness to Emin been an act?

Valerie's eyes connected with North's. "Coward. I was defenseless."

"I saw the fear in your eyes, vivicus. You don't have the right to call anyone a coward."

"You don't know anything. Valerie's the bravest person in the world," Emin said.

North took a sharp breath and turned on her heel.

"Wait." Valerie's voice was flat. "Give me the flower. It's mine, born of my magic. You have no right to it."

"I called it forth. You may have it on my terms," North said.

Valerie rose, ignoring the pain beating behind her eyes. "Emin, go downstairs and wait."

Emin obeyed immediately. North turned to face her.

Valerie's magic hummed strangely in her veins. "You'll give me what's mine. Or I'll take it."

"Will you beat it out of me?" North said, her back never straighter. "Kill me? Do what you will."

As she stood before North, facing her challenge, Valerie noticed for the first time that she was taller than the old woman. The power that emanated from North was simply an illusion. With that, Valerie realized that the woman was just another Conjuror wielding her power as a weapon against those with less, like Reaper did. Valerie had been on the losing side of a power imbalance more times in her life than she could count, but this wasn't one of them. This time, North was on the losing side.

The thought dialed her anger down until it only simmered. She would not abuse her power like so many had with her, even if North deserved it.

"I will only put you under arrest. But if you use your magic on someone again without their consent, I will subject you to one of Reaper's black weapons until you are stripped of your magic."

North took a small step back, as if her confidence had slipped. "My people will never allow me to be arrested. We have our own justice here."

"They have no say in this."

Valerie leaned forward and pinched a nerve in North's neck. She caught the Conjuror before she fell to the ground, and hauled her unconscious body easily over her shoulder. She sensed the hum of magic coming from North's robe, and retrieved a cylinder that must hold the poppy she'd made with her magic.

Valerie was surprised to find a crowd waiting for her on the platform when she descended from the Sky Garden. Her eyes scanned the crowd, but she didn't see signs of an impending fight.

Valerie recognized Elden's wife when she stepped forward. "Emin saw what happened to you and told us, vivicus. Do what you wish to North and the People who helped her. We formally expel them from the cities of the trees to wander among the Conjurors below for the rest of their days."

After a long pause, Valerie nodded. She would accept no more pain others wrought upon her as if she deserved it.

Valerie couldn't cast North on the steps of the entrance to the Justice Guild, as she would have before the Fractus had taken the city. But the Justice Guild existed in a different form outside of Arden.

She dropped Emin off at home with Thai and Henry and took North to the outskirts of Dunsinane, where the largest of the Fist's jails on the Globe was now located. She wasn't surprised to see Skye dropping off another dozen prisoners in magic-infused shackles, but the sight of a slight form with blonde curls made her break into a jog.

"Calibro," Valerie breathed when she was close enough to confirm the identity of the Grand Master of the Justice Guild.

She unceremoniously dropped a still-unconscious North on the ground and shook hands with Calibro. A hug would be beneath the Grand Master's dignity.

"You're back," Valerie said, surprised by the depth of her relief.

"Is this my welcome back gift?" she asked, nodding to North's form.

"No, this is an abuser of magic who should have been locked away long ago. Let's not waste words on her."

Calibro nodded to a guard, who came over and took North into the underground structure that housed the courts and jail.

Skye had a strange expression on his face, and it took Valerie a while to realize that she hadn't seen him smile in so long that she didn't recognize it. She grinned, too. Calibro released a grunt of disapproval that belied the smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"How did you recover?" Valerie asked.

"Dasan and a promising young Healer, Thai, worked together to heal my mind. Thai amplified the Grand Master's gift and nursed me back to health, and here I stand."

Calibro was blushing now, and Valerie calculated that the youngest Grand Master in Arden was now the age she herself had been when magic had first entered her life. And when she'd first met Thai. He'd made her blush, too.

"Now that you're well, we can get back to winning this war," Skye said, and Valerie couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Starting with this," Valerie said, and unscrewed the cylinder holding the poppy. "With the help of Juniper, it will bind magic on Earth again."

Skye cracked his knuckles; his eyes were eager. "It's time to fight."

Valerie wished the same energy infused her at the thought, but instead, all she could summon was the familiar thread of duty that she was bound to follow. "If this is going to work, we need many more soldiers for the Fist."

Skye flicked his tail. "That is ever the problem."

Valerie turned to Calibro, remembering a conversation she'd had with Chisisi. "Some of these Fractus must only be following Reaper out of fear. Maybe they would join us, if we knew who among them was telling the truth about their willingness to leave Reaper's cause."

Calibro bowed her head. "My power is that I can detect the truth in words spoken. But it is a complex magic that is not as useful as it seems, for often intentions and reality are not the same, and words can be twisted."

"What if you had help?" Valerie asked. "We could bring Oracles to look into the future and Empaths to help navigate the complexities of the mind."

Calibro stared at her, her intelligent eyes alight. "We have worked with Empaths in the past, but the doors of Ephesus were closed."

"I think Sibyl will help us if we ask," Valerie said.

"It will not show us the truth within every mind, but with these tools, I think I can promise you more soldiers for the Fist."

Skye clapped Calibro on her little back, and her smile flashed, brief but bright. "It will be a good fight."

Good fight or not, it would come soon.