While the Stoolip laughed, Viola plucked its cap off, as though it were a hat. The Stoolip didn’t seem to mind being without it. It only snuggled itself closer to its companions and fell back asleep.

“They grow near rivers and streams,” Viola explained.

Then she stuck the top of the mushroom on Abel’s forehead. He let out a yawn far longer than his usual yawns, and his eyes went droopy.

“Its cap suctions to the skin and induces sleep,” she continued. “One Stoolip top is worth a nap for a human, maybe two tops if the person is really big.”

While Abel collapsed on the tiled floor, asleep, Viola led Barclay around the greenhouse, pointing out every mushroom, fern, and fruit. Barclay took detailed notes, and like a proper student, asked plenty of questions and recited everything back to her when she finished, surprised to find that he was actually enjoying himself. Viola’s lessons were detailed, and Barclay marveled at how much she knew from memory. Even Ethel often scribbled down Viola’s words in her journal.

Viola was clearly an excellent Lore Keeper student—a great one, even. She was a better and more patient teacher than Barclay ever had been with Selby. It made him wonder about what had happened between Viola and Cyril, but he didn’t want to upset her, especially when she was sacrificing time teaching him that she could have spent preparing to face Gravaldor.

“This one smells like you, Barclay!” Ethel pointed out a beetlelike Beast clinging to a head of skunk cabbage.

This left Barclay glowering as Viola took them to their next stop, the town grocer. While Ethel and Abel each bought large jugs of spiced pear cider, Viola led Barclay to the butcher’s section.

“Beasts live in stasis when within their Marks,” she explained, “but once in the normal world, they’ll grow hungry and sleepy. You’ll probably need to use Root during the practical, so we’re going to train with him. Which is why you need to learn to feed him.”

“Are we really calling it Root?” Barclay grumbled.

“Well, it’s better than nothing.”

Viola pointed at a number of bloody steaks behind the glass.

“Root is a carnivore,” she said.

“Naturally,” he muttered.

“We’ll buy a few things to figure out what he might like.”

“What if it likes human meat?”

Viola shrugged, as though nothing about the thought was bothersome. “I don’t think human meat is good—very tough and dry.” At the horrified look on Barclay’s face, she laughed. “I’m just joking. But no, I don’t think Root is going to like human meat. No Beasts do, according to A Traveler’s Log. That’s just an Elsie myth.”

“You’re still reading that even though Tadg is Murdock’s son? And Soren, his partner?”

Viola fiddled with her golden pins, which Barclay realized she did whenever she was flustered. “I-it’s very informative! And it’s all still so hard to believe. Conley Murdock was so nice! You can practically hear in his voice on every page how much he loved Beasts.”