When the Spirit of the Forest spoke, the remaining kids were caught up in the joy of mastering their first herbal mixture.
"Friends, I need to clear my head to remember the other recipes; go over the first one a few more times!"
With slow steps, Mel walked under the waterfall; the storm brewing inside him showed clearly on his face.
"I'm listening, Spirit of the Forest."
His voice wasn't harsh or soft, but it carried a sharp edge that warned he might strike at any second.
"How much longer is this act of yours going to last?"
The Spirit of the Forest spoke with heavy authority; the answer it got came back grounded but unyielding.
"Everyone here is trying to become a Botanical Master. If you don't get in our way, we'll be gone by morning!"
Mel felt the echo of a laugh; acting in a way you would never expect from a being like that, the Spirit of the Forest spoke.
"These humans could never memorize thirty mixtures before dawn."
Caught between anger and sadness—the kind you only feel when hearing a harsh truth you already know—Mel fired back.
"So what if they can't? They found the guts to come all this way! They are working without hurting the forest. You need to learn a little respect!"
A heavy silence fell after this fierce outburst; the whispers of the ten kids debating the first mixture bounced off the water and echoed through the forest.
A little while later, the Spirit of the Forest came back with a really weird offer.
"Human, tell your kind to pick a single leaf from the trees around them and put it on their heads!"
This time, the Spirit of the Forest spoke with a surprisingly soft and fatherly tone; Mel followed the order without a second thought.
"Friends, everyone pick a leaf from any tree you want and put it on your head. We're going to try a ritual!"
For the kids who had sneaked into the outer forest in the dead of night just on his word, doing this was no big deal.
Without a single question, they did as they were told, and Mel started explaining the second recipe. When he finished, he asked if they understood it like he did with the first, but what he saw was completely different from what he expected.
Mel, who had to repeat himself over and over for the first recipe, now watched the ten kids flawlessly prepare the second mixture.
"Are you surprised, Human? Did you think you were the only one with tricks up your sleeve?"
The young boy's lips didn't move, but inside his head, he thought, 'What in the world is happening here?'
"It is called the Blessing of the Forest! For a whole day, these youths will remember whatever is spoken, learn whatever is taught, and never forget whatever they do!"
Mel whispered a soft 'Thank you!' The Spirit of the Forest had waited, finally dropping its help at the exact right moment.
That night, eleven kids worked until the first signs of dawn. Sometimes they laughed, sometimes they sweat through the struggle, but with exactly one hour left until the trial, they finished mastering all thirty mixtures.
"We need to get moving, or we'll be late!"
They went back the same way they came, without running into a single problem; stepping out of the forest, Mel spoke to them one last time.
"Don't ever try what we did tonight again! The outer forest showed us mercy tonight, but we can't know what will happen tomorrow!"
When they reached the gates built into the natural walls wrapping around the settlement, the guard yelled at them to stop.
"Sir, we're candidates of the Botanical Division, and these are our tokens."
When the kids held up the wooden badges that let them in and out of the settlement, the guard started yelling.
"Hey, get over here! The kids who went into the forest yesterday are back!"
A dozen guards rushed over; their eyes were full of anger.
"We heard about it from your friends. How could you do something so stupid?"
The man who stepped to the front raised his voice; it was obvious they were planning to send out a search party as soon as the sun came up.
"Brother Guard, you're right to be angry, but we didn't go into the forest!"
Taking the lead, Mel jumped in, while the others played along.
"Then what did you do for all these hours?"
The man didn't look like he wanted to drop the subject, but at the same time, the clock was ticking down fast.
"We worked up the guts to try, but when we reached the edge of the forest, we got scared and turned back. We couldn't go back inside because we were afraid our friends would make fun of us. So we huddled together near the walls and waited for morning!"
The man looked at Mel first, then at the others; this story made way more sense than them surviving a whole night inside the forest.
"Get inside, fast! Don't ever let me catch you pulling a stupid stunt like this again!"
Getting the green light they were waiting for, the kids broke into a dead sprint. At the same time, the tension at the pavilion where the Botanical Division trial was going to happen was stretched to the breaking point.
"Five minutes left! Lock the doors the exact second time is up!"
When Young Master Louise barked his order to the guards waiting at the doors, Cantankerous Hanry shot up from his seat.
"There's always a ten-minute window for special cases! Those damn doors won't close before fifteen minutes are up!"
Just as the two Masters got right in each other's faces, a voice echoed from outside the doors.
"We're here!"
With Mel leading the charge and the other ten kids running right behind him, they crashed into the pavilion, soaking in sweat. Their hair was a mess, their eyes were puffy from zero sleep, but huge smiles stretched across their faces.
"Where were you, brat? Are you trying to give me a damn heart attack?"
As Mel walked to his spot, he looked over the thirty-plus kids who had refused to go with them. They had missed out on a massive miracle. But there was nothing to be done about it. Sometimes, life acts like it's dragging you into a dead end, only to shove you right through the real exit. You just can't fight the current; you have to let it pull you.
Today, the seating setup had completely changed too. The desks were wiped out, replaced by small, walled-off booths.
"Everyone, to your stations!"
Louise Gloove roared at the kids who were still standing!
"Inside your booths sits every plant listed on the paper! We require you to process them and prepare an herbal mixture!"
Mel understood why the other kids looked so miserable. The plants had to be processed by hand, and for the ones who had only read the recipes from a book, pulling that off was an insanely hard job.
"Every three mixtures will earn you one point, and those who finish all thirty mixtures will receive a full ten points. You have two hours; you may start!"
Before he started working on the mixtures on Young Master Louise Gloove's order, Mel took a quick look around the room. By some crazy coincidence, another pair of eyes was doing the exact same thing.