Lilette took a deep breath to remind herself she wasn’t drowning and forced herself to look around. They were in a cave, but not a ragged hole in the side of a mountain. This was elegant and circular, with an arched, blackened ceiling held up by thick columns. Torches sputtered in brackets on the walls, sooty triangles behind them. Water exploded behind the boat as another one surfaced.
The sailors rowed the boat neatly into a dock, where wastrels waited to tie it off. Watching them, Lilette thought of Doranna and the others like her. Treating women like servants simply because they couldn’t sing—it wasn’t right.
Three sailors started unloading the boat. Galon offered the women a hand up. Jolin blushed again and let him help her out, then rushed to check on her books. Lilette wasn’t so eager to disembark. She missed the sea. Blowing out her lips, she took Galon’s hand.
He settled her on the dock and stepped closer. “You’re students?”
Slightly perplexed, she nodded.
He made a grumbling sound. “Well, then, goodbye.” He swung a crate onto his shoulder and marched off.
“What was that about?” Lilette wondered aloud.
“Is that a rhetorical question, or would you like an answer?”
Lilette jumped and turned to find Jolin behind her, thumbing through a book in her hands. “What?”
Jolin raised a single eyebrow. “Was it a rhetorical question, or would you like an answer?”
“Um, I’d like an answer. I think?”
“Students on Haven are forbidden contact with men. Had you not been a student, he probably would have asked to court you.”
“Court me?”
As Jolin turned to watch Galon head toward the cave mouth with a crate on his shoulder, a disappointed look crossed her face. “The ritual by which men and women fall in love—or not,” she said wistfully. “He would have taken you to dinner, perhaps. Or to some kind of jovial activity. After a sufficient amount of wooing, he would have asked you to marry him.”
“He asked about us, not just me,” Lilette replied. “And you were the one he was smiling at.”
Jolin grasped her hands behind her back. “I am sure you are mistaken. I know what I am, and I know what I am not. Attractive to men is certainly not one of my many valuable qualities.” She wouldn’t look Lilette in the eyes.
Jolin snapped her fingers at the sailors. “Follow me.” She marched toward the head of the cave, her head held high and her back straight.
Knowing it was all for show, Lilette snatched her small bag and hurried after Jolin. The bag contained only Lilette’s spare dress and her purse of jewels—she’d given the armor and clothes back to Han.
They left the dim cave and emerged, blinking, into the light. What struck Lilette first was how like Grove City everything was. There was the same riot of green—from the pale shoots of new grass to nearly the black of the plants tucked into the shadows. Heavy with water, the air carried the smells of growing things. Plants grew on top of plants, over plants, and crawled up trees. Moss grew on the muddy ground, but a path of gravel had been laid out. It wound through the vegetation, between trees that were short and stout compared to the ones in Grove City. There were no arched bridges between balconies. Still, windows winked from between curves of bark, and peaked doors were set between buttressed roots.
“They’re a different species,” Jolin answered Lilette’s unasked question. “I helped develop them.” Lilette gaped at her friend in amazement. Jolin raised her hands palm up. “What?”
“I thought you were a potioner!”
“I have an intimate knowledge of the composition of nearly every plant ever known. It’s not that hard to go from using a plant for a potion, to changing the properties between plants.”
They’d reached a tree. Jolin produced a key and unlocked the door. Inside was a table and stove. Every other square of space was covered in bottles and pots and clay jars. All filled to overflowing but meticulously labeled. “You live here?” Lilette asked.
Men followed them inside and deposited the crates of books beside a wide shelf before shuffling back out. Jolin was already depositing the little sacks of seeds from her satchel into clay jars with cork lids. “Obviously.”
Doranna appeared at the door. She waited for the last of the men to leave before shutting the door after them.
“Where’s my mother?” Jolin asked her.
Doranna took the jars, dipped a brush in ink, and began labeling them. “Last I saw her, she was headed to the southwest side of the island.” Her gaze shifted to Lilette. “You should avoid going anywhere near the cliffs. Rock fall can happen anytime here.”