The nights were full of whispers. Mindy often came in late, and if her footsteps didn't stir Nori, the strange smells she brought in from Cafe Julienne would. After a year of such disturbances, Nori usually had no trouble falling back asleep. But Blache had recently started whispering to Mindy most nights. Nori could tell they meant to stay quiet enough to let her sleep, but she still caught sentences that were whittled down to fragments in the foggy memory of morning.

"Cress said…trauma bond…snails…horseshoes…I don't know…a big pancake…something new…"

Nori filed most of it away as nonsense and impossible to put together. But some parts of it made sense. Blanche talked to Nori about everything except for one topic. But she knew something was wrong. Archie and Blanche had ceased their nightly dinner dates and were no longer tied at the hip in class. It did surprise Nori, however, that she sooner felt happy about it than sad. She told herself that she just missed her best friend. And the less time Archie spent with Blanche, the more time he spent with Nori.

"Mint is weird," he said one afternoon in the kitchen as he scratched his jaw. "It's such a strong flavor. It overwhelms the dish. But somehow if you consider it in like, a sauce, a peppermint, and chewing gum, it doesn't seem like that all is from the same kind of plant."

"I…guess…" Nori pinched off a little bit of a mint leaf and chewed on it. While there was nothing wrong with it, Nori could tell that it hadn't been grown to its full potential. Which meant that it hadn't come from Blanche.

"And their stems are always square. I asked Sutton why, but honestly, just about everything he said went over my head. And it seems like everyone has a different use for mint. In Uroko and Khala, it's been used as medicine. I guess you knew that. In Labrusca, they take baths in it and use it as a perfume. They smoke it in Kuutsu Nuna. And then in Ambrosia City, its main use is for breath mints."

Nori hopped to sit on the counter and looked at Archie's projects. He had prepared tzatziki and was working on meatballs that were so herby that they were unappetizingly dark brown-green. "So you're researching mint. You're growing mint, I assume. And you're cooking with mint. What's your goal?"

Archie beamed. He had a special smile that he reserved for when he got to talk about something he was passionate about. "The two most dangerous fighting styles are with acid and fire, right?"

Nori chuckled. She could have guessed it was about fighting. "And mint is the natural counter to both?"

"Exactly. And I've gotten really good with sugar, right? Well, candymaking and mint kinda go hand-in-hand, so I should be able to pick up some practical applications pretty quickly. But you know, you've gotta go from the ground up. So I'm learning about mint as an ingredient so that I'll be able to utilize it better in combat."

"Just like with your blueberries."

Archie scratched hard across his collarbone. "Well, the blueberries were sort of a happy accident. I didn't mean to learn how to fight with them, but I just naturally did all the proper steps to get to that point. You started to figure out some techniques with blueberries yourself."

"None as good as yours."

"Well, I'm supremely talented, so…" Archie leaned out of the way as Nori swiped at his neck.

"Why now?" Nori asked. "Shouldn't you be focusing on what you're good at instead of adding new tricks? Learn how to swing from a noodle without crashing?"

"Well, here's the thing. I'm fighting Fern next. His strategy seems to just be to defend himself with an onion until the smell is so bad that his opponent goes blind. So if I surround myself with a little minty smell, I should be fine. And then after that, well…I'm guessing Yarrow will win his fight, so then it'll be me and him in the finals. By that point, hopefully I can saturate the air enough to cut into his acid, and, uh…"

Archie's voice trailed off. Nori frowned and stared into space. Barley's suffering weighed heavily on the minds of everyone in their class—except for perhaps Yarrow's.

"How is he doing?" Nori asked.

"Pretty bad," Archie stated. He stared at the chopped up mint on the cutting board. "He wakes up most nights. It's not getting better. Well, the pain isn't. He's getting more used to it. Not the pain, but…getting on with his day. He says it only hurts for about two or three seconds. But his body can't understand that it's over. It cripples him for…I mean, you've seen."

"Yeah…"

They were quiet for a bit. Archie stopped cooking for the duration of the silence. Finally, he broke it, half-mumbling. "Quietest guy I've ever known, and now he can't go more than an afternoon without yelling."

"What about you? Any echoes?"

Archie scratched his collarbone again. "This one gets me. It's more of an itch than a pain, though. I'm lucky for that. I get it a bit on my face sometimes. I talked to Sorrel yesterday. He said he still gets winded out of nowhere every couple of days. Apparently I hurt his lung with one of my shots. But we're lucky. Seeing how Barley is…"

Archie sighed. Nori hated seeing that despairing look on his face. She wouldn't let it last.

"Hey! I can help you with your mint."

"Really?"

"Yeah. A little history lesson. Knowing about an ingredient increases your affinity, so it might give you a better connection."

"Lecture away, Head Chef Nori."

"You mentioned how breath mints are popular in Ambrosia City. You know the story behind that?"

Archie shook his head.

"Okay, so there are actually a lot of moving parts. This was around the 700s. Or 800s? I always get my years confused. I care more about the sequence of events rather than the specific dates, you know?"

Archie held his hands up and shrugged, his sheepish smile reflecting Nori's excitement.

"So, you know, two hundred, three hundred years ago. Ish. Labrusca and Kuutsu Nuna weren't getting along. I don't remember exactly why. Probably the typical, you know, Labruscan settlers getting overzealous in Kuutsa Nunan territory. Whatever it was, it froze trade between them. This was problematic not just for the lack of exchanging goods. Both nations had an entire industry built on dredging the shallow rivers in the Bayuk to allow trade deeper into Kuutsu Nuna. So now they're all out of a job."

Archie started laughing.

"What?" Nori asked.

"Nothing, I just like seeing you so enthusiastic about something. But I'm just checking. This is about why breath mints are popular in Ambrosia City?"

"Oh, just wait. I haven't even gotten Uroko involved yet."

"Of course. Proceed."

"So Uroko had control of Palm Coast at this time, and they expanded deeper inland than ever before, giving them the ability to grow more coffee beans. So they didn't need to import as much. This was a big blow to Lampuki, who was basically the world's coffee supplier."

Archie chuckled softly. "Mhm."

"So we have unemployed river-dredgers, a surplus of coffee beans in Lampuki, and a version of The Platter that holds no tropical land. Put it all together, and…" Nori rolled her hand around in circles.

"Oh, it's my turn?" Archie asked. "Um…oh! This is when they expanded the river."

"Correct! Ambrosia City's greatest design flaw was that when it was founded, safe, defensible land was a priority, and trade-by-river was something that hadn't even been dreamed of yet. The river back then could still sustain a population, but it was too small for significant trade. So other major cities like Toral and Boseki that had better water access kept growing, while Ambrosia City stagnated."

Archie nodded. "And so they hired the out-of-work dredgers so that bigger trade ships could get further inland, and they imported cheap coffee from Lampuki."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"That's exactly it. And the increased trade actually led to a population explosion."

"This was supposed to be about breath mints."

"Well, Mesans are a very fad-driven people. And this time, the fad was coffee. Everyone started drinking it. Which in turn led to a prolonged era of stinky breath. Someone invented the breath mint, and an industry was born overnight."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I was reading a book about population changes in Ambrosia City. The mint part of it was practically a footnote, but Flambé and I were talking about it a couple weeks ago, so he filled in some gaps." Nori gave him a proud grin.

"Flambé and I," Archie chuckled. "I still don't get how you ended up becoming the nurse to the most powerful man in the world."

"He does better when I'm around. Less confused. Hollyhock says he gets irritable the more confused he gets, and he coughs the more irritable he gets, so I'm like medicine to him."

Archie shot her a skeptical look. "But why?"

"His memory is never all the way there. Hollyhock thinks I remind him of a house servant from his childhood. Sometimes I can tell when he's looking at me that he thinks I'm someone else."

"So he doesn't have much longer, does—"

"Shh!" Nori punched Archie's arm. "I wasn't supposed to tell you. You haven't been talking about it, have you?"

"No. And when anyone asks where you go at night, I say you like to go on walks."

"Who's asking where I go at night?"

"No one. Just, it's come up once or twice in passing. Quit being paranoid. So is he?"

Nori sighed. "Yeah. Five years at the most is what they're saying now."

Archie stuck his tongue into his bottom lip and looked away. Nori knew that look. It meant trouble. She braced herself for whatever he was about to say.

She didn't brace hard enough.

"Someone should kill Waldorf."

"Archie!" Nori whipped her head around to make sure no one had heard. It seemed that the sounds of the kitchen had drowned out his words. "You can't just say that."

"Well, I know I can't be the only one thinking it. If he takes over, things are going to get bad."

Nori hopped off the counter and leaned in to whisper. "What happened to saving the innocent soul? You saved that man's life in Khala."

Statues could not serve a more stoic look than Archie's as he turned to her with a rigid jaw. Nori saw something new. Something she didn't know existed in him. "This one's too far gone."

Nori flinched.

"What?" Archie pressed. "You think I don't have a good enough reason? After what he did to me?"

Nori looked around again. They shouldn't have been talking about this at all, much less in a public setting. "You're not thinking about doing something, are you?"

Archie's steely demeanor broke into amused disappointment. "No, but I wouldn't stop someone from trying. He's too well-guarded these days. But…"

"But?"

Archie sucked in air through his teeth. "The way I see it, there's only one person in this world with enough power and goodwill to get away with it."

"You don't mean…"

"And now you two are close. You should ask him to do it."

The echoes of shattering dishes filled the hallway leading to Flambé's dining room. Nori slowed down. Most of the time, she enjoyed Flambé's company, but today didn't sound like it would be one of those days. A cold wind whipped in through the exterior windows of the hall. It would snow soon.

Hollyhock came barreling out of the dining room, her hands thrown up in frustration. "That kind of behavior will get you nowhere!" she cried. But her stress melted into relief when she spotted Nori. "Oh, thank Ambrosia you're here. I can't get him to eat."

"I got it," Nori said as she jogged toward the door. "Why don't you go rest for a bit?"

Hollyhock's condition had deteriorated alongside Flambé's. She had dropped noticeable weight and developed raccoon eyes, her patience wearing thinner each day. "Oh, bless you. If you need anything, just send for me."

Nori stared at the open door. An inkling of dread worked its way through her. "What set him off?"

"He wanted to cook. He had an accident."

"Did he cut himself?"

"No, nothing like that. He just doesn't have the same grasp on his essence as he used to. It behaves erratically. Like him, I suppose."

"Close that door!" Flambé yelled from in the room. "You're letting the cold in!"

Hollyhock raised her eyebrows at Nori and then poked her head around the door. "Flambé, Nori is here."

Nori stepped into view. A million ceramic pieces were scattered with the remains of something green and mushy. Soup seeped its darkness into the far wall. A scowl stained Flambé's face. Even as he greeted her, it remained.

"Nori. It's good to see you. It's been too long."

He had seen her the day before. Nori put as much warmth into her smile as she could manage. Usually she could overpower Flambé's sourness with a few words. "Hi, Flambé. Cold outside, isn't it?"

"Hmph. Since when did Palm Coast get so cold?"

Nori looked down so that she could wince without him seeing. Today's confusion would be a lot to overcome, but Nori had learned some tricks. She couldn't tell him that they were in Ambrosia City. That would just frustrate him. First, she had to provide tangential connections. She held up the little bag she had brought.

"Archie's learning how to make peppermints. We saw him fight, remember? Archie Kent? And then me and you talked about breath mints."

"Did my breath smell?"

"No," Nori chirped. Flambé was relieved to hear that. For a moment, he stopped scowling. Time for Nori to strike. "I was reading that book about drivers of population growth in Ambrosia City. How this city got to be so big."

Flambé's anger turned to confusion and then slow understanding. "That's right. I remember that."

Success. Now that they were established to be in Ambrosia City, she could approach the next topic. She still had to choose carefully. Something simple. Easy to track. Archie's request echoed in her mind, and she shook it out. Asking Flambé to kill his son was certainly not simple.

"Head Chef Quince says hi," Nori said. Flambé's expression didn't show recognition, so she found a way to clarify. "We were out by the lake. He was teaching us students some cold harvest techniques. He says he's still learning because he's from Kuutsu Nuna. You were the one that discovered him."

"That's right, I did." Flambé smiled and held his hand out. Nori gave him a peppermint that he popped in his mouth. "I was on a trip. I don't remember why. But we stopped at this restaurant, and I saw this item on the menu. Bacon jalapeno popper. I had no clue what it was. When I ordered it, one of my advisors told me to get sunagrass milk with it. I said no, I'm from Palm Coast, I can handle my spice."

The peppermint cracked in his mouth, and he let out a long, minty breath as he shook his head. "I couldn't handle that spice, though. I ate two peppers and then ended up running over and stealing a glass of milk from the table next to us. Can you imagine? You're having dinner with your family and the grand king runs over and swipes your drink?"

Flambé laughed until he coughed, and then he coughed some more. Nori laughed with him until his coughing worsened. Had it gone on for another couple of seconds, she would have ran out to grab Hollyhock. Fortunately, it stopped, and Flambé continued his story.

"I put a gold coin down on the table and told him that no one would believe what had happened." Flambé let out a restrained chuckle. "I demanded to know who had grown the peppers. It was Quince. So I brought him back to Ambrosia City to have him serve Tarragon as a little prank. Tarragon had one pepper before he tapped out. Scooped a big dollop of mayonnaise into his mouth."

Flambé smiled with the warmth of a fond memory. "He had a wife at the time, Tarragon did. She cried she laughed so hard. Oh, what was her name?" His smile faded. His voice dropped. "What was her name?"

Nori had to act quickly. Once Flambé realized he couldn't remember, he'd fall back into a fit. She asked the first thing that came to her mind. "How did Tarragon become a Head Chef? You were going to tell me about that."

Flambé's face dropped. Nori remembered the expression from the last time Tarragon's employment had been brought up. She recognized her mistake.

"Well…" Flambé looked down, revealing his bald spot. Nori tried to think of another topic, but he pressed on before she could. "It was after the war. He wanted to go back to fighting in the arena. But I told him that…it wasn't like it was before. Violence. There are times when it doesn't seem so bad. More palatable. You know, during long stretches of peace."

Flambé walked over to a painting of the grand king before him. "But after the war…after half a million people died. A lot of them by Tarragon's hand. And mine, of course. If people saw him fight, that would be all they would think about. They'd see him do something to another fighter, and then they'd imagine him doing that to so many Urokans. Acid is…a terrible thing, my child. The worst kind of pain. But he was angry. He had another wife back then. And…I made him become a Head Chef because he had seen the worst of it. What anger could make someone do. And I told him to steer the next generation away from that path."

Nori remembered the tariaksuq screeching from her acid. The smell of burning hair. Even those monstrous creatures had evoked her pity. She couldn't imagine a person suffering like that. Seeing Barley's echoes was bad enough.

Flambé looked up at Nori and chuckled. "Look at you. I've mortified you."

Nori shook her head quickly and wiped a bit of moisture from one eye. "No, I'm fine. Thank you for telling me that story. I know it must be hard to talk about those times."

"Hm. You don't know the half of it. Hardly anyone does, really. There are so many memories that are going to die with me. Important ones. World-shaping ones. I wish I could just give them to you." Flambé clicked his tongue and squinted at the soup stain on the wall. "How'd you get here, anyway? Wally didn't see you, did he?"

Nori still hadn't gotten used to such a dangerous man being referred to with such an infantilizing nickname. Maybe this was her chance to broach the subject. Not to ask Flambé to kill him outright, but to start working her way toward the topic. Just like how she got his memory back on track.

"He didn't see me, no. I was wondering—"

"Good. He can't ever see you. He knows about you. But about is all he knows. So how'd you get here?"

Nori scrunched her eyebrows up. Flambé's confusion confused her. "I walked from the Academy. The guards know me, so they just let me through."

"The Academy?" Flambé looked up and found his answer in the corner. He returned his gaze to Nori with an excusing smile. "Of course. It's a short walk from the Academy. Isn't it, Nori?"

"That's right." Nori smiled and nodded. It was all she could do in moments like these. Flambé grasp was tenuous at best. She'd bring up Waldorf another time. "Are you hungry? I was thinking I could make us dinner."

"Oh, that'd be delightful!"

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