Students in Green Blazers

"I'm going to the plant kingdom."

Jakal now also stood beside Midas and the others as they surrounded Jevaila's fainted body, her face bleak—every one of her facial muscles relaxed—as she lay in front of them on the bed. Javelin's words surprised Midas only dimly; he and Avalon already knew about her condition. Making such a drastic decision on the go was something Midas expected him to do.

"And then...? Do you even know where to get that herb from, or how much it sells for...?"

"Doesn't matter to me, I will get the money—even if I have to stay there to work. I can't just sit here and watch any longer—her time is running out while we sit around her."

Javelin didn't care much about Avalon's opinion, his worries not reaching him as he sternly glanced down at his unconscious sister. Midas watched in silence as the others stared through the small room, eventually halting at Javelin's hand, which held onto his sister's fingers. 

"Do you think we would come far enough with using the Water Kingdom language...?"

Midas's brows sharpened slightly, his intrigue awoken by the foreign state to the north of them, a place he had heard nothing about yet. Stepping forward to stand in front of the bed, the youth glanced at Avalon—if he was lucky enough, speaking to the volk there might help with learning the language as a whole much faster.

"Well, the region is more like a vassal state than its own kingdom. If you are capable of only speaking Water Kingdom tongue, then I'm sure you would come far enough in the most southern provinces... Wait, you're not planning on going as well, are you...?"

Avalon's tone grew cautious, dreading Midas as he quickly became torn between aiding Javelin and continuing his studies at the university—either of them bringing benefits, as studying here would allow him to use a wider amount of texts to research if he chose to depart from strictly learning the language. Midas turned away from looking at Jevailas's resting face—the fact her brother had troubles keeping up with learning became somewhat dreadful.

"I think it would make more sense if I went with him. His success in that matter will decide whether she will be cured from a potentially deadly disease or not. Why wouldn't I help him with that if it means saving one of my classmates..."

Midas explained calmly, looking at Avalon with a serious expression—met with a similar face as Javelin raised his head at him, mustering from the side as the youth exchanged glances with Avalon. Seeing him put his hand over his lips as he sighed in a defeated manner made the youth relax—only to tense up again at the thought of financing their trip, as well as finding the ideal route to wherever the supposed herb would grow.

"Are there any books that might cover the plant kingdom's cities and towns...? Perhaps any scripts that give information about where to find rare goods...?"

"Not that I know, there might be some depictions of the region's geography, but despite historical descriptions and legends about some of its castles and people, there isn't much to go off of when it comes to its markets... or where to buy certain things."

"Why don't you ask Graf...? He knows about this kind of stuff; I'm sure he will tell you if he knows something about what they sell where..."

The idea that Haya voiced made Midas's eyes widen slightly. Even though there may not be any descriptions of the regions he could look for, there were certainly people around him that might know more about the region. The group of students seated in the front row wearing green uniforms came instantly to his mind, even though they kept mostly to themselves—Midas might be able to converse with them, as his skills regarding the water kingdom language have improved over the last days.

Their discussion had ended eventually, having set a loosely formed plan on who they were able to ask for information—Midas and the others left the medical room, Avalon stayed behind to tend to Jevaila as her brother reluctantly agreed to head to the dining hall with them. As they found their usual table, under the upper floor and in between the set of stairs to their left and right, Midas stared at a plate of roasted meat, garnished with fried vegetables—mostly roots and herbs.

"Why help me in all of this...?"

Javelin turned to Midas as he sat right beside him; the two of them were watched by Jakal and Haya while Patriq dug into his food, making Inaya worry slightly at the sight as she declined to eat with them, keeping her metal mask on. 

"I somewhat owe your sister, since I was unable to prevent Skye's departure. Jevaila clearly seemed to have found a friend in her... and now she got taken away by a general's son."

"Might just be better if it stayed this way; wouldn't surprise me if she got in trouble if she found herself in the same situation as you. And that good-for-nothing club leader didn't make any difference either..."

After his remark, he chewed on some of the roasted meat—his actions mirrored silently by the others for a while—until Inaya reached her unused napkin to Patriq, cleaning off his smeared face while he watched the tiny openings of her metal mask with an expressionless glance. Javelin looked up from his plate, glancing at Haya, who seemingly had no problem with Inaya's action—leaving half of his dish unfinished.

"We should be going then, Midas. If possible, I want to head out tomorrow... Knowing in which state she is burdens me. I can't even eat without thinking about her... We're wasting our time with this, and we don't have much of it to spare."

"Don't worry, Javelin, I'm sure we are able to find this herb you were looking for—but I'd rather go out there with the necessary information about where we can find to buy it instead of possibly wasting even more time wandering around that place..."

"I will let Graf know about your arrival, Midas..."

Both of them stopped as Midas waved a quick goodbye to his classmates, already setting off to find the group of possibly plant kingdom students that currently dined in the same hall as them—most likely seated on the upper floor they sat under. Scanning the top floor as they climbed the steps of the stairs that led there, the two of them were instantly met with scanning gazes and lingering glares from the surrounding tables—some halting their movements completely once they locked eyes on them.

"Looks like a place in which you would find brats like them..."

Javelin's remark flew past Midas's head, somewhat agreeing with him, as nearly none of these students seemed to originate from the desert—not even the older ones, most of them seemingly from the surrounding regions, as their skin was slightly lighter; some even sported blondish hair. Slowly walking through the sets of tables, the two of them scanned through the crowd of students, trying to find the trio that wore green, something that became harder to recognize them for as many of them wore the same color.

"Look, there's another floor."

Midas pointed at a distant set of stairs, making Javelin look up from the mix of green and blue uniforms of the students to set eyes on a higher-lying balcony on which only a few students dined. The distance of the balcony to the other students around them made the seemingly tiny area feel much more isolated—perhaps exclusive in a way, as in not many have the status to be here. Getting up to the floor, they climbed a winding set of stairs, looking at a larger, mostly unattended table at which three of his classmates dined.

Their chatter was a numbed version of the water kingdom language Midas had burnt into his head, an altered version that used the same format in which sentences were constructed—yet, some of the words spoken were pronounced differently or sounded entirely foreign to him. Unable to tell if they had their own accent or if Midas just hadn't practiced enough, he eventually stepped forward, trying to garner their attention with a stern view.

Ending their light chatter, the one Midas stood beside eventually turned to him—his brows raising even higher for a brief moment before turning his head to glance at his classmates again, swallowing as quietly as possible at the sudden appearance. 

"They stink..."

"May I ask why you're here?"

Midas formed a tired expression, relaxing his brows at the remark of one of the students that sat across from the boy he looked down on. They spoke more clearly now, luckily able to shift from using their dialect, in which they spoke to themselves before, allowing him to finally also use the language he learned so often.

"We both plan on visiting the plant kingdom; one of our classmates had fallen ill... Since it was his sister, we wanted to find a cure for that disease—a herb that aids with uncontrollable mana surges, rumored to grow in that region... I wanted to ask if you know anything about it."

The student turned his head away from Midas as he spoke, nodding slowly as he sunk his head while putting a thoughtful expression onto his face—something that seemed like an act, even though the youth couldn't tell for sure.

"Yes, our nation has a lot of herbs that are able to aid many different people... The capital has a great market for all kinds of plants; usually goods like medicine get bought there..."

Feeling the piercing glare of Javelin in his back, as the two of them realized none of them had any idea of where to find the specific herb they were looking for, they turned away with a sigh, thanking them on the fly as they headed for the set of stairs again.

"Hold on."

Midas froze in his step, his expression hardening again at the more firm voice of the boy he spoke to, making him turn to them again as he watched the student stand up from his chair to walk towards him.

"I was told you have beaten a student from the academies of the Plant Kingdom; Uvalir was his name—a taller boy with longer, blonde hair. Is that true?"

"I did. What happened to him...?"

Raising his brows slightly at Midas short reply, the student mustered him briefly, intrigued by the worry he portrayed in his words for an enemy he never got the chance of truly getting to know. Meeting his gaze directly, he formed a formal grin on his lips.

"He was sent back home; we never heard of him ever again... A shame, his brother managed to get a seat in the grand academy of the water kingdom—but I suppose siblings aren't always alike... Since you managed to impress me with your courage to show up here, I will tell you this: there's a carriage service in a town outside of the Luvious Forest to the west; it's called Brutpierda... mostly known for their intricate stonework. A ride to the plant kingdom capital is quite cheap there..."

Midas softened his brows at the genuine tip he was given by the elite, seeing the faces of the other two students that remained seated at the table complex. Nodding briefly at him, Midas followed Javelin down the stairs in a more hasty manner, trying to catch up to him.