THE second-last day.

Asmeen could hardly believe it. They only had to get through this one day, and then the final test would be upon them.

She walked into the field with her sisters, practically vibrating. Her hands were actually shaking. It was early morning—the sun had hardly risen, but already trainees had gathered in the field, some of them looking like they were about to be sick.

She sat down at her usual spot a bit away from her sister, waiting for Aven. When he came, she forced a smile at him as he sat down beside her. The very air between them was thick. This was all going to end within two days. She didn't want to lose Aven, or his friendship, but her heart lurched every time she saw him. She wanted to get in. But she also wanted him to get in.

She'd just have to go with what everyone else was telling them. What was meant to happen would happen. It would probably depend on their luck, anyways.

The leaders finally strode happy, smiling. It was like all the excitement that the trainees' had had during the beginning had been drained from them and transferred to the leaders, who seemed more animated than ever.

"Good morning, everyone," Dara said. All their energy had definitely gone to the leaders, then. "This is the last day of training—how are you all feeling?"

The field was dead silent.

The leaders looked like they were holding back laughs. "That's understandable," Osoric said, grinning. "We are aware of how tired you must be—but there are only two more days, so take solace in that fact while we perform today's task."

That sounded somewhat sinister.

It was bad news, as it turned out, because Dara announced that they would be having a nightmare of a task—potions, but with possibly the worst twist yet. They'd be given a total of five potions, would have to identify each one and then write down their observations, its name and its recipe—in runes. It was a partner challenge.

Asmeen could practically see the rest of the trainees holding back groans, or resisting the urge to just walk out.

Just two more days, she chanted to herself, as five flasks were passed around to all the pairs. Just two more days.

While the flasks were being passed out—they were among the last pairs, so they would get them last—Asmeen looked around the field. A few healers were there, as well as more Flower Children and Children of the Night than usual. That meant at least one of the potions was dangerous.

They finally got theirs and set them down in front of where they were sitting. One vial was bright green and transparent, so all the sunlight made it seem like an emerald. One was a thick, almost creamy pale blue. And three were colorless.

Because of course it would be hard.

Parchment and quills were also passed out. Aven took them immediately, giving her a hard look, which Asmeen took to meant she would not be writing much today. Well, that was better for her, honestly.

"Let's start," Aven said, holding up the emerald vial. He pursed his lips, glancing at her. "I'm going to smell it."

Asmeen nodded and watched as he uncorked it and put it to is nose. He took a hesitant sniff and paused. And then another long sniff.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It has no odor," he said, his lips tightening.

Asmeen groaned, putting her hands over her face. This was going to be a long day.

***

By the time their afternoon break rolled around, they'd identified the green one, the blue one and were halfway through one of the colorless ones. There were more green potions than initially expected, as they had to include even the obscure ones just in case, so it took plenty of time.

After eating, they returned to the colorless potion that had stumped them.

Aven looked at her after a lot of debating. "Should I taste it?"

Asmeen blinked. Her initial thought was to tell him no, that that was much too dangerous, but there were healers around, and surely Dara and Osoric wouldn't give them actually poisonous potions. And besides, as Flower Children—or Children of the Night—they'd probably have to taste unidentifiable potions a few times.

She shook her head. "I'll do it."

"No, I will," Aven argued, his eyes widening in an expression Asmeen knew well, one that meant he was prepared to be needlessly stubborn.

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're the one doing most of the writing, right? So I should be the one tasting it. Come on, hand it over." She held out a hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Aven gave it to her.

Asmeen opened it and took a sniff. It smelled like lilac, as previously noted. So she tilted it up, letting some of it come towards her mouth, seeing Aven watching with concern in the corner of her eye. He seemed more concerned than she was. It was denser than initially thought, so it crawled along the sides of the vial before finally reaching her tongue. A few drops fell.

She retched. She pulled the flask away from herself sharply and corked it quickly, bending over.

"What's wrong?" Aven asked, his hand beginning to rub her back firmly.

She shook her head, straightening and waving at him. "It's fine, it just tastes—well, awful." She made a face, looking at the vial with disgust. "I'm going to go get some water."

Aven nodded and looked down at the parchment, scribbling furiously.

Asmeen stood up and began walking through the field, looking around. But not with the intention to copy what others were doing. As she walked, she wished she hadn't been so loud, because other trainees had noticed and were now tasting their potions as well. She sighed and got some water from one of the Children of the Night before returning to Aven.

"I think I know what it is," Aven said, not even looking up. "Well, kind of. It's either the potion to clean hard stains from wood, or the one for cooling off. Was it more on the sour side, or more bitter?"

"Bitter," Asmeen said, wincing at the recollection. "So the one for cleaning stains, then."

He nodded, and they moved on.

The next potion was fine. It took more time, and then Dara and Osoric ordered that they all take a small break to stretch. It was really just an excuse to make them exercise, because running and pushups and whatnot were involved. And that went on until their evening break.

So it was safe to say that neither Asmeen nor most of the other trainees were in the best mood when the time came for them to figure out their final potion. Aven wasn't either. He didn't particularly like running, Asmeen had noticed. Or anything that involved him getting tired. Not to say that he was alone in that opinion.

So they did all their usual checks—looking, checking the consistency, smelling, and even tasting, which they proceeded to do with much less fear now—Asmeen did them all, because Aven was doing basically all of the writing. She'd told him to let her help, but he'd flat-out refused and insulted her handwriting once again, so after that she wasn't much inclined to offer assistance.

The problem was, they couldn't figure it. It was colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Its consistency was nothing special.

All in all, it seemed to be water.

She'd mentioned this to Aven, but he'd only given her a hard expression, so she'd dropped it.

"Let me see," Aven said impatiently, holding out a hand.

She shrugged and passed it to him. She watched him turn it every which way, hold it up to the moonlight, touch it with his finger. Finally he uncorked it and held it up to his nose. He took a long, deep sniff. And paused. His face was making a strange, confused expression.

"What?" Asmeen asked, leaning.

Aven ignored her and took another sip, before tilting it upside down and letting a few drops fall onto his tongue. He swallowed, his face thoughtful, and took another sniff.

"What?" Asmeen asked again, growing impatient herself.

"Is it just me," Aven began. It probably was just him, but Asmeen didn't say so. He continued, "Or does this have a faint flavor of mint."

Asmeen certainly hadn't noticed anything like that. She took it from him and smelled again. Now that he'd said it, she could certainly notice a very, very, very faint hint of something minty. On second thought, it could just be her imagination.

She shrugged and it and set it down, folding her arms. "I still think our best bet is the plant rejuvenating potion." It wasn't the best option, given that the plant rejuvenating potion had a faint smell of dirt, but it was also colorless and tasteless.

Aven shook his head stubbornly. He'd maintained that there was no dirt smell—therefore, it was wrong. Asmeen hadn't argued at first, because technically he was right. "I'm telling you, I can smell mint."

Asmeen pursed her lips. "I can't. And it's getting late. We should just pick a potion and get done with it."

Aven folded his own arms. "I'm telling you, it smells like mint. It's that potion—the one that's used for respiratory diseases."

Asmeen's brows furrowed. While that was also colorless and tasteless— "That one smells like rosemary and basil, not mint."

"It's mint," Aven said firmly. "Trust me, I know."

"No, I'm telling you, Aven, it's rosemary and basil. That can't be the answer."

"Yes, it is."

They kept arguing for about five minutes, Aven scribbling down their observations in the meantime. Asmeen didn't let him write down the name, though. She knew she was right. While neither answers were correct, hers was slightly closer.

"Please, Asmeen," Aven said, his eyes becoming desperate. "I know it's—"

"Time's up!"

So close to the ending now! I'm excited!

See you next chapter!