*****

By the end of March, the long winter of the high plains was coming to an end. Flowers of all colors came to dot the landscape, and Adrien no longer needed to sleep underneath a heavy blanket. His studies had been progressing at a steady pace; he spent his days brewing healing potions in the alchemy laboratory, and, in the evenings when the weather would allow it, he would follow Val to the top of the tower for his astronomy lessons.