The academy held no Ocean Studies for a week. Not because the sea was dangerous. Because two first-year falls in one winter was enough for every coastal lesson procedure to be reviewed from the beginning. Professor Crowe led the review personally. Students saw measuring teams on terraces. New floor markings appeared. Loose equipment rules changed. Clip points were added to certain older observation areas. Harper approved.

"Finally."

Ava looked at her.

"You complained about every safety rule in first term."

"Old me was stupid."

"You are four months older."

"Exactly. Wisdom."

The North residence boy returned on Monday. He had a bruised shoulder and a bandage on one hand. Everyone tried not to stare. That was worse than staring. At lunch, Harper walked over to him. Jasper and Ava watched from their table. Harper said something. The boy looked surprised. Then smiled. Harper came back.

"What did you say?" Jasper asked.

"Nothing."

Ava raised an eyebrow. Harper sighed.

"I said people are going to be weird for a few days and then Theo will break something."

Theo, two seats away, looked up.

"Why me?"

"History."

The boy's return helped. He was alive. He attended class. He complained about missing handball. The second fall became an accident rather than a ghost story. The Sea question remained. Thorne called Jasper, Harper and Ava to his study again. Jasper was beginning to dislike the furniture there.

"You have all had time to think," Thorne said.

Harper replied, "Too much."

"What do you believe happened?"

Ava answered first.

"We know Harper's fall involved abnormal water movement. We know the second fall did not. We don't know why."

Thorne nodded. Harper said, "I hate the word saved." Thorne looked at her.

"Why?"

"Because people say the sea saved me like it owns the whole story. Elowen saved me. The lower platform mattered. Jasper saw me. I got lucky with where I hit. The wave changed it. It wasn't everything."

"Fair."

Harper continued.

"And if it saved me, then it didn't save him. That sounds like it wanted him hurt."

Jasper looked at her. He had thought the same thing without saying it. Thorne folded his hands.

"Choosing not to intervene is not always the same as wanting harm."

Ava leaned forward.

"But if it could have intervened?"

"We don't know that it could."

"If it could."

Thorne considered.

"Then we still would not know why it did not."

Harper groaned.

"More unknown."

"Yes."

Jasper said, "I felt nothing."

"That matters," Thorne replied.

"Maybe it wasn't there."

"Possible."

"Then the difference isn't who it chose. It's whether it was present."

"Possible."

Ava's eyes sharpened.

"Selection requires opportunity."

Harper looked at her.

"English."

"You cannot say it rejected him if it wasn't there."

Harper breathed out. That helped. Jasper asked, "But what if it was there and I couldn't feel it?" Thorne's expression remained frustratingly calm.

"Then we have another unknown."

Jasper slumped. Thorne almost smiled.

"You are trying to build morality out of two incidents. Be careful."

"Morality?"

"Good sea. Bad sea. Protective sea. Cruel sea. Those are human categories. You do not yet know what kind of mind, if any, you are encountering."

Harper said, "It chose something."

"I agree."

The room went quiet. That was the first time Thorne had said it directly. I agree. Not possibly. Not records.

"You think it chose to move for me," Harper said.

"Yes."

She looked down.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Harper nodded. This time the answer did not make her angry. After the meeting, the trio walked to Making and Mending. Professor Ward had them repair torn practice bags. Simple work. Jasper liked it. Harper threaded a cord through a ripped seam by hand before reinforcing it magically. Ava tested each repair by pulling harder than necessary. Nothing about the class involved oceans. At the end, Ward held up one patched bag.

"A repair does not make something new. It lets the existing thing continue."

Jasper thought about Harper. The wave had not made her invincible. It had changed one moment enough for everything else to continue. That was different from the word save. He liked changed better.