The Order Feast was not the final feast. Tidefall, Jasper discovered, had too many feasts. Harper approved.

"Finally, an institution with values."

The evening after Choosing, each Order hosted its newly placed students separately. Families had gone home. Most teachers stayed out. Older students ran the night. Brannor's feast filled a long common hall opening onto a summer courtyard. Food came in shared dishes. Roast chicken, vegetables, bread, salads and desserts appeared in quantities Harper considered adequate only after checking twice. Priya welcomed the new students without a speech about bravery.

"You will hear people describe Brannor as the courage Order," she said. "That is convenient and incomplete. Courage without judgment is often just a problem moving quickly."

Harper looked at Jasper. He tried not to smile. Brannor traditions included service rotations, team training, peer support and a rule that older students were expected to know when younger ones needed help without treating them as incapable. Jasper liked that sentence. Each new student received a small stone token marked with the Brannor crest. Harper immediately decided hers belonged in the history box. Ava said the box was already full.

"Then it becomes more full."

When they returned to Room Fourteen, Jasper placed his Brannor mentor booklet on the empty fourth bed. The evening after Choosing, every Order hosted its newly placed students separately. Families were gone. Teachers mostly stayed out. Older students ran the night. Brannor's feast took place in its long common hall with doors open to a courtyard full of summer air. Food came in shared dishes. Roast vegetables. Chicken. Bread. Cold salads. Fruit. A huge pavlova that caused a disagreement about whether it was large enough for forty people. It was not. Priya stood on a bench.

Keene gave up. Harper looked delighted. The feast had traditions. None involved humiliation. That rule was explicit. Older Brannor students told stories of their own first weeks in the Order. Not heroic ones. A sixth-year had got lost inside the Brannor wing on day two. A fifth-year had volunteered for every community task until she collapsed from exhaustion and had to learn that helpfulness required limits. Priya had broken a rescue-line pulley because she assumed strength meant pulling harder.

Harper whispered, "I feel represented." Each new student was paired with a mentor group rather than one older student. Three older Brannor members would share responsibility for six younger ones. Jasper liked that. No single perfect mentor. Another system with redundancy. Ava liked it for the same reason. Their group included Jasper, Harper, Ava, Mia, Benji Cole and a quiet boy named Lachlan Ross. The mentors were Priya, a fourth-year called Daniel Ng and a third-year called Talia Brooks. Talia looked at Harper.

Mentor groups received no secret Order knowledge. Mostly practical advice. Where laundry went. Which Brannor stair got loud in storms. When common-room quiet hours started. How to request a room change if something genuinely was not working. Who to speak to if an older student behaved badly. Jasper appreciated how much of belonging was logistics. Then came the Brannor question. Every new student answered: What do you protect? Harper whispered, "This got intense." Priya said, "It can be a sandwich."

He thought of the Sea. People kept assuming his connection meant he was responsible for it. Water did not belong on his list of things to protect like a younger sibling. It was ancient and enormous and had saved Harper without Jasper's permission. He thought of his mother demanding the school not use him as infrastructure. He thought of the historical communicator building a life beyond the gift.

Keene walked away shaking his head. Later, after dessert, the hall turned loud. Music. Games. A ridiculous contest involving carrying cushions across the room without hands. Jasper's team lost because Harper tried to carry four.

Room Fourteen welcomed them back one more time. Three Brannor scarves. One history box. Jasper placed his new mentor booklet on the Bag Bed. The room was almost done holding first-years. But not quite. The room was nearly finished holding first-years, but not quite yet.