At the thought of the old man, Kiva’s eyes traveled over to her workbench and the small flask of milky liquid waiting there. The ex-apothecary had delivered it that afternoon, having spent the week coming and going from Kiva’s medicinal garden, mumbling to himself. Today, he’d finally handed the potion over and said, Drink this tomorrow mornin’. Don’t ask what’s in it—trust me, yeh don’t want to know. Just plug yer nose first, or yeh won’t get it down.

I’m going to need more information than that, Kiva had replied, eyeing the flask dubiously.

Most people drown from panic or exhaustion, so I’m guessin’ that’s how the Ordeal will test yeh, Mot had told her. Assumin’ yeh’ll be thrown in the aquifer and made to swim awhile—yeh can swim, right?—this brew’ll help yeh, physically. It’ll take yeh longer to tire, it’ll ease any cramps and keep yer muscles from seizin’ up. I tried addin’ somethin’ to help keep yeh calm, but it, uh, reacted badly. So yeh’ll ’ave to manage yer emotions yehself.

With that, he’d wished her luck and told her he’d start thinking of ways to help with the Trial by Earth. Kiva was grateful for his confidence that she’d make it that far, choking up a little as he’d waved and left the infirmary.

It wouldn’t be easy to leave Mot behind, if Kiva survived all four Ordeals. But as with Jaren, she could do nothing for him. Tipp and Tilda, however, were relying on her, even if they didn’t know it.

“Of course I care about her,” Kiva replied to the young boy, ignoring everything else going through her mind. “And I’m glad that you do, too.”

Tipp nodded. “I really d-do. You can c-count on me whenever you’re not here—I look after her a-almost as well as you do.”

“Better, I’ll bet,” Kiva said, reaching out to brush his floppy red fringe to the side. “I’m sure you’re her favorite. By far.”

Tipp grinned. “Well, I d-didn’t want to say anything . . .”

Kiva laughed and moved back to her samples. She hadn’t returned to the tunnels that afternoon, instead lingering in the infirmary after Tilda fell asleep, waiting to see if she would wake up lucid again. But as anticipated, the ill woman had slipped back into her delirium. Kiva had spent the waiting period testing the rats, as she normally would have done the following day, but since the Ordeal was tomorrow, she didn’t want to risk wasting any time.