The last night in Room Fourteen began with three children refusing to sleep. This was not unusual. The reasons were. Tomorrow was Choosing Tide. After that, the room would still exist for two more nights until departure. But it would no longer be theirs in the same way. Placement would be known. Next year's residence would have names. The question hanging over every conversation would finally have an answer. Harper lay on the Bag Bed because her own was already stripped.

"I don't like that this is empty."

Jasper looked around. The walls had pale squares where their drawings had been. Shelves were bare. Trunks closed. Ava had left one pencil on her desk because, she said, "packing every writing instrument before the final morning is absurd." Harper had packed none until Ava threatened to do it for her. Jasper sat on the floor under the western window. The Sea sounded normal outside.

"We could just stay here next year," Harper said.

Ava looked at her.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because this is first-year residence."

"Rules can change."

"Not because you don't want to move a trunk."

"That is a valid policy reason."

Jasper smiled. The room had started as four beds and strangers. Then three beds and one empty one. Then the empty one became storage. Then history. Tonight Harper lay across it like she could physically prevent the room becoming somebody else's.

"What if one of us gets a different Order?" she asked.

Nobody pretended not to understand. Ava answered first.

"Then one of us gets a different Order."

"You have become annoyingly healthy about this."

"I had three weeks to panic first."

"Fair."

Jasper rested his head against the stone wall.

"Remember the first night?"

Harper said, "I saved someone from falling out the window." Ava corrected, "You pulled him back by the collar because he leaned too far."

"Saved."

"He was not falling."

"Preventative saving."

Jasper laughed. They remembered. Ava's labelled socks. Harper choosing the window bed before knowing anything. Jasper folding clothes exactly the way his mother taught him. The first supper. The sound of waves at night.

"I thought you were weird," Harper told Ava.

Ava stared.

"You introduced yourself like you were at a business meeting."

"I was nervous."

"We know that now."

Ava looked at Jasper.

"I thought you were quiet."

"I was quiet."

"You still are sometimes."

Harper pointed at him.

"I thought he looked like he was waiting for the building to speak."

Jasper froze.

"You did not."

"Something like that."

"You absolutely did not."

"Fine. I thought you looked scared."

That felt more believable.

"I was."

Harper rolled onto her back.

"I wasn't."

Ava said, "You told us you were maybe a little afraid of falling within ten minutes of arrival." Harper went quiet.

"Oh."

Jasper remembered. Of heights? No. Of falling? Maybe a little. Months later she had fallen. Water had moved. She had returned to the ledge. Now she could say she was scared without believing fear cancelled courage.

"That's annoying," Harper said.

"What?"

"Past me foreshadowed myself."

Jasper laughed so hard Ava told them both to be quiet. They failed. At some point the conversation became serious again. Ava sat cross-legged on the floor.

"We need one thing to agree now."

Harper groaned.

"Not another contingency."

"One."

"Fine."

Ava looked at both of them.

"If we are split tomorrow, nobody pretends they are fine because they think the other two are disappointed."

Jasper blinked. That was extremely specific. Which meant Ava had imagined doing exactly that. Harper understood too.

"Deal."

Jasper nodded.

"Deal."

Harper added, "And nobody says their Order is stupid because they wanted another one." Ava looked at her.

"That was your plan?"

"Possibly."

"Deal," Jasper said.

Ava nodded.

"Deal."

Jasper thought.

"And Saturday after breakfast. West Courtyard."

Their earlier promise. Harper held out her hand.

"Regardless."

Ava put hers on top. Jasper added his. Three hands. No magic. No oath spell. Nothing forcing them to keep it. That made it more meaningful. Harper looked down.

"This is very emotional."

Ava said, "You started it."

"I regret everything."

They released. Later, when the lantern dimmed automatically, Harper finally returned to her own mattress on the floor. The Bag Bed stood empty. Jasper climbed into bed. The western window was cracked open. Waves reached the room in steady sound. Water did not press against his awareness. Jasper was glad. Tomorrow the basin would be full of seawater. If Water chose to notice, Jasper would notice back. He would not ask. He would not test. He would let the academy ritual do what it had done for generations. And whatever platform waited, he would step onto it. Across the dark, Harper whispered.

"You awake?"

Ava answered, "Yes." Jasper said, "Yeah."

"Terrible."

"Go to sleep," Ava said.

"Can't."

"Try."

"How?"

"Close your eyes."

"Brilliant."

Jasper smiled into the dark. Eventually Harper stopped talking. Ava's breathing slowed. The Sea rolled against the cliff. Room Fourteen held them for one last ordinary night.