She remembered the cheering as they reached their friends. Lots of blurry faces that swam into view above her. Kisses from her parents, Lug laughing and whooping . . . the celebration as they all marched into Arborven together.

After that, she had fallen into a long, deep sleep.

*

It was several days later when Liska awoke and found herself in an unfamiliar bed. She was in a room built from wooden planks and beams. Light poured in from a tall window filled with panes of coloured glass. It painted patches of colour all over her white sheets.

She sat up, wincing as every muscle in her body blared with pain at the same time. She felt like one enormous living bruise.

Looking around, she noticed an entire wall of her room was covered in bark decorated with patterns of coloured moss. She was in the tree! In the infirmary of the mages no less. Her arms were bandaged where the blade branches of Bitterblight had sliced them, and she was wearing a simple green nightshirt.

My cloak! She panicked, looking around for her second skin and quickly spotting it draped over a chair by the window. She was just about to totter out of bed and put it on when the room door opened and three familiar faces walked in.

‘Lug! Elowen! Fishbone!’ She croaked their names as they ran to her and the four of them bundled each other into a tight hug.

‘Stop! You’re hurting me!’ Liska had to cry out when the squeezing got too much. Then they perched on the end of her bed, broad smiles all round.

‘You’re finally awake!’ Lug said. ‘It’s been days! Did you see me summon Nematus?’

‘I certainly did,’ said Liska. She noticed how Lug’s chin was held a little higher, his shoulders more square. He finally had a bit of confidence in himself.

‘He is not stopping yowling on about it ever since,’ said Fishbone, rolling his yellow eyes.

‘Well, it was very impressive,’ said Elowen. She wore a new dress. Cleaner, but just as lacy and frilly as her old one. ‘Almost as impressive as Liska destroying Bitterblight.’

‘Yes, well . . .’ Liska blushed. So it really happened then, she thought. It wasn’t just a dream.

‘You’re the hero of Arborven,’ said Lug. ‘Well, we all are, kind of. But you most of all.’

‘Have I really been asleep for days?’ Liska asked. ‘Have I missed anything?’

‘Lots!’ Lug waved his arms in the air, robe sleeves flapping. ‘My family have been invited to move out of the Scrubbings! We’re being given a mage house in the first circle. The first circle! We’re as important as the arbomancers now!’

‘That’s amazing,’ said Liska, chuckling.