Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Chapter 4: Stohess District

Comfrey. Ginger. Fennel. Rosemary. Calendula. Your fingers tingle as they lightly brush the medicinal herbs Dr. Reid has requested his students gather from his personal garden as an assignment of sorts. You eye the wicker basket dubiously, your mouth drawing into a frown. These have been hand-planted and painstakingly cultivated, cared for by some of your professor’s best horticulturalists. If he is training you to identify all kinds of herbs in their natural environment, this won’t do. They’re practically growing in perfect little rows.

But you know it will be next to impossible to obtain wild specimens. Dr. Reid has already been hard-pressed wrestling for this precious square metre of land from the government officials. Land is expensive. Land can grow food. Funding for schools in the districts of Sina has already been cut multiple times, rendering the coordinators short of money. The Royal Lorben would have closed down years ago if your father did not support the university with generous yearly donations. The herb garden is an expensive luxury, and you’re told to be grateful and shut your mouth.

Alas, the only place where medicinal herbs grow freely is outside of the walls. Even then, it’s just a rumour. The Scouting Legion can hardly be bothered about risking their lives to retrieve information on the territory’s vegetation. They don’t take bribery and fraternization as openly as the Military Police.

They say that there are two more walls outside of the wealthier districts within the inner wall. Having never left Sina’s protection, you have never seen them for yourself. Your family’s estate is a good 300 kilometres away from Titan territory, safer than any save for the nation’s royalty and the members of the Police responsible for defending the King. The closest you’ve ever gotten to Titan territory is the town of Stohess, the site of your current studies. Even here, it will still take you at least three days on horseback to reach the edge of Wall Maria.

This revelation you relate to your fellow classmate Liese, who does not approve.

“You’re crazy,” she tells you serenely, her eyes darting to the nearest group of people who are quietly conversing beside the chain-link fence several metres away. They are veterinary students, all of them, planning to pursue a career in the prestigious farming industry or a post in the Scouting Legion. Judging by their stiff clothing choice and the stately way they hold themselves, they are the aristocracy. The military will have no hope of convincing their families to let them join up, even if that is what they desire out of life.

“It’s reasonable,” you protest, tearing your gaze away from the chattering group. Leise’s eyes harden slightly as she sweeps her bangs to the side of her face. You gesture to the pristine garden with its miniature fruit and perfect leaves in frustration. “If we’re going to use our medicinal knowledge for the benefit of mankind, picking Dr. Reid’s flowers isn’t going to cut it.”

Her fingers freeze in the middle of brushing a stray hair out of her face. Her eyes are telling you to stop talking at once. But you aren’t done, and her behaviour is only making you angrier. This is the kind of treatment you receive at home, the kind of attitude your prim and proper siblings have learned from your parents and implement on you. It’s the kind of treatment you hate.

“What if another influx of plague sweeps through the outer walls?” you continue, raising your voice. “What if the Titans break through the walls of Maria and Rose, and penetrate Sina? A square metre of land won’t grow enough herbs to treat half the members of my family, let alone —”

“Yo, [Last Name]. Keep talking like that and you’ll land a job at the military.”

The veterinary students have somehow covered the distance between the fence and Dr. Reid’s garden while you were distracted and are now within hearing range. As they guffaw at the speaker’s words, Liese covers her face with her hands in shame.