The Rage Eater

Chapter 11: The Giving Tree

Sadie walked towards the greenhouse for her appointment with Master Padwe, her mind reeling. She had spent most of her life fantasizing about Barrett's Academy, about leaving behind her life in the tavern and the endless taunts of mamzer. But here she was, amongst the Reynards and Biltons and Galerans, humiliated and alone. Even Fran, the other scholarship student, hated her. And, instead of a Warrior mentor, she had Master Padwe, professor of Healing and Alchemy. She only hoped the administration wouldn't give her a healing beastly too.

Sadie knocked twice on the greenhouse door. The glass of the door, and indeed the rest of the building, was transparent like the inside of alchemist's glass, but so fogged over that she could see nothing inside.

"Come in," called a voice. She walked into the hot, thick air of the greenhouse and breathed deeply. It smelled of earth, wood, citrus, and plants she couldn't name. Bright green vines crawled along the walls. Rows of clay pots held plants with glossy pink leaves, spilling onto the floor. In one corner, a luminous blue tree with thin, leafless branches burst from a painted black pot. In another, a grandfatherly man with a great white beard and dark purple robes bent over a desk crowded with exotic plants and bizarre instruments. His sun-browned face was lined and wrinkled, but his deep blue eyes sparkled with life.

"Master Padwe?"

"Sadie, come in," he said warmly. He was focused on a yellow bubbling liquid in a thin glass tube.

"Is that dangerous?"

Master Padwe gingerly placed the test tube in a rack, then began pruning a small tree with dozens of thick dark roots. "To plants? No. To orcs and humans? Very much so."

Sadie slowly stepped back.

"Now tell me: How are you settling in?" Master Padwe snipped one of the tree's roots.

"Well, sir."

"Sadie, you must work harder to hide your disappointment. I can read it on your face like a book."

Sadie squirmed, unsure what to say.

"The Clans are nasty enough to each other," Master Padwe said. "To you, I imagine they're insufferable."

While relieved by his kindness, Sadie was embarrassed that she had ever thought things might be different.

"What others have been freely given, you have earned," Master Padwe continued. "But that can be taken away. And will be if you're not careful. I've seen other students—brave, smart, worthy students—brought before the Grand Council of the Masters and stripped of their scholarships."

"The Grand Council of the Masters?"

"A group of stuffy, joyless professors like me who help decide matters of import at the Academy. So do not give us an excuse. Understood?"

Sadie nodded.

"Now, with that out of the way, allow an old man teach you a thing or two." Master Padwe placed the pruning shears on his desk. "Take the essence of lotus clouds you see there."

Sadie stared at the still-bubbling liquid.

"One drop under the tongue is more powerful than ten tankards of ale. Perfect for patients before surgery. Two drops under the tongue and you'll sleep for days. Three drops and you'll sleep forever. And that little shrub I was trimming is called the giving tree. It is both greedy and selfless."

Sadie eyed the tree. "Greedy?"

"The giving tree drinks seven times more water than your average plant. Its many thick roots are like a giant sponge. But in times of drought, those same roots give water to neighbouring plants in need. Hence the name."

Sadie smiled. She couldn't care less about some thirsty plant, but Master Padwe was her mentor, and one of the few people who had been kind to her. The least she could do was pretend to be interested.

"Forgive me, I'm rambling," Master Padwe said. "Speaking of which, did Leonard go over the Ceremony of the Beastlies with everyone?"

For the first time, Sadie realized that Master Padwe had no beastly, at least not with him. But she knew better than to ask why. She'd read that losing a beastly was like losing a child, the kind of heartbreak from which you never really recovered.

"What ceremony, sir?"

Master Padwe sighed. "Why that beastly expounds on every arcane rule but fails to even mention the Ceremony is beyond me. Sadie, what do you know of it?"

"Nothing."

It was the truth. She knew some about Barrett's Academy from her readings, but nothing about its rituals and ceremonies—all of which were fiercely guarded.

"At the end of the week, everyone will gather in the Hall of Heroes at nightfall. There, Headmaster Gold will present you and each first-year with a beastly. Then a Priestess will bond you, sealing your connection for life." Master Padwe clapped his hands. "Now, what questions do you have for me?"

This is my chance, Sadie thought.

She couldn't outright complain about being placed under Master Padwe's tutelage, not without insulting him or his work. But there was another way.

"Do you know what my beastly is?" Sadie asked.

Master Padwe's face twisted in discomfort as though Sadie asked an impossible-to-answer question. "I have an inkling, yes. We have two beastlies here for our scholarship students—one for you, and one for Fran."

Sadie's heart sunk. "Oh," she said, doing her best to hide her disappointment. "It's already been decided then."

I'm going to be stuck with some healing beastly—for life, she thought.

"Not quite. The beastlies we chose are best guesses, based on what we've gleaned about you from your interview and application. Sometimes, although not often, those guesses are wrong, and we swap the two beastlies. Or, in rare instances, procure another from a Tamer."

Sadie smiled. Barrett's may have misjudged her as a Healer, but perhaps there was still time to correct the mistake, to prove that she was a Warrior.

"How could you tell? If you guessed wrong, I mean."

"Are you insinuating that I, a revered Master, erred in my judgement?"

"N-n-no, Master Padwe," Sadie stammered. "Of course not."

"Sadie, I'm teasing," Master Padwe said, a warm smile spreading across his wrinkled face. "Masters serve the Kingdom alone. And thus, we follow no one Clan creed. Yet, I've always found the Galeran words suited me well."

"Always watching."

"Precisely."