In another few days, the troops are ready to leave. The battalion of a hundred that had so proudly ridden into Dara is now reduced to half its size. Leading them are the lucky twenty who never contracted the disease. Then there are their eight comrades who fell ill and emerged umbertouched, though two of them have fever amnesia and remember very little of their life before their illness. They will return to their families, who will have the task of reintroducing them into society. Last are the fifteen rosemarked, whom Arxa has separated into their own group to travel back. There are so many of them that we don’t have enough cloth to make plague veils for all of them. It’s hard to look at these soldiers’ faces, because they have the hollow, hopeless stares of dead men. Central Ampara has strict laws regarding its rosemarked, stricter than ours. These men will live ten more years if they’re lucky, one year if they’re not. Either way, it’s likely they’ll never see their families again. Despite my general distaste for their kind, I can’t help but pity them.

Commander Arxa comes to speak to me as the soldiers line up to march. “You have my gratitude, Zivah. I may not have been in my right mind, but I remember enough to know that you spared no effort to save me.”

I don’t know how to respond. Comforting Arxa when he was my patient felt natural, but now he’s once more the hand of the empire, still weak from his illness, yet strong enough to destroy our village with a word.

Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to expect a reply. “You clearly possess great potential. I have friends in the Imperial Academy of Medicine who could arrange for you to study there. Would that be of interest to you? I suspect they’d have as much to learn from Dara’s healing arts as you would from them.”

Again, I’m speechless, but for a different reason. Sehmar City’s medical academy is legendary. Even in Dara, I’ve heard of the great physicians who’ve studied and taught there, and of their library, which collects medical texts from all corners of the empire. Amparan understanding of herb lore is unremarkable compared to ours, but their surgeons are said to be so skilled they can sever and tie off single blood vessels. I’d never even dreamed of being able to learn from them.

“I…” I manage to stammer. “I would be honored, Commander.”

Arxa gives a brisk nod. “I will send word.”

Kaylah comes to stand by me as the troops ride off. “The Imperial Academy,” she says. “The knowledge you could bring back to our people…”