The Poppy War

No one in Tikany is pleased that a shopgirl earned the top score on the Keju. The only person sorry to see Rin go is her foster brother Kesegi. On her three-week journey north with Feyrik, Rin realizes how little of the world she knows. In Sinegard, Rin is overwhelmed. Rin finds that the Academy, while insulated from the chaos of the city, is ruthless in its treatment of southerners: a handsome classmate, Yin Nezha, mocks Rin’s awe at a fancy building that turns out to be the outhouse.

Rin bids Feyrik a tearful farewell. He tells Rin that people at the Academy will try to break her and ostracize her, but she deserves her place. He warns her: “[D]on’t ever come back to the south. You’re better than that” (40). Returning to the registration line, Rin overhears Nezha making fun of Feyrik. Rin punches Nezha in the face. He rushes at her, but an Academy apprentice stops the fight.

The first-years are greeted by the grand master of the Academy, who introduces them to the six masters. During their first year, they will study Combat, Strategy, History, Weaponry, Linguistics, Medicine, and Lore. At the end of the year, they will undergo a Trial, and the masters will offer apprenticeships based on their evaluations: one-fifth of the class will not be selected.

A kind apprentice named Raban leads Rin and the two other female first-years to the dorm. One is Niang, a kindly girl with a mild northern accent. The other is Sring Venka, a cruel Sinegardian girl who immediately makes fun of Rin’s accent and dark skin.

Rin’s first class is with the Combat instructor Master Jun Loran. As Jun teaches them about ki, the bodily energy they must channel to fight, Rin realizes that the other students outmatch her in knowledge and abilities. In History, Master Yim dismisses Rin’s answer about how Nikan won the Second Poppy War as “propaganda they put in countryside textbooks” (52). A wiry-haired boy named Chen Kitay says that Nikan didn’t win the war: A western country named Hesperia intervened when the Federation of Mugen massacred a Nikara tributary named Speer, which produced Nikan’s most deadly fighting force. Rin thinks Nikan allowed the genocide of the Speerly people—dark-skinned, with a separate culture, religion, language, and script—to happen on purpose.

At lunch that day, Rin meets Kitay, who entered school a year early and has a photographic memory. Kitay says that while he, Nezha, and Venka grew up together, they have never been kind to him; he compliments Rin for giving Nezha a black eye, and the two form a tentative friendship. After lunch, an apprentice leads them to a garden for Lore, but the Lore Master never arrives. Nezha realizes that the garden is filled with poppy plants, which are used to make opium. Everyone panics and leaves, except for Rin and Kitay.

One morning before Combat in late autumn, the first-years see their absent Lore Master, Jiang Ziya, high in a tree. Jiang and Jun bicker until Jun knocks him from the tree and calls him a “lackwit.” Jiang leaves dramatically, “swinging his hips like a whorehouse dancer” (62). In the evenings, Jun’s apprentices host combat practice. There, Rin and Kitay watch as Nezha shows off an elaborate but useless combat sequence. Rin teases Nezha about his “dance” and Nezha challenges her to a duel. Rin agrees and deals him a humiliating blow to the groin. After this, lines are drawn among the first-years. Only Kitay sides with Rin. The others, terrified into submission by Nezha, mock Rin for her skin and accent.

The next week, Raban takes the first-years to the basement fighting pits where a famous fifth-year student, Altan Trengsin, is having a match. When Rin and Kitay see Altan, they realize he is a Speerly: His skin is darker than Rin’s and his eyes are scarlet. Raban says that Altan is the last of his race. Altan tidily defeats three challengers in a row. The next day, the first years are giddy over Altan. Only Nezha mocks him, echoing racist pseudoscience about Speerlies. Rin, who has experienced colorism at the Academy, empathizes with Altan.

In History, Kitay asks Master Yim if they can discuss Speer. Yim reviews the Nikara occupation of Speer. Rin asks if it’s true that Speerlies were fire shamans. Nezha and Yim mock her belief in Tikany’s “backward” myths. Kitay stands up for Rin, citing documentation of Speer’s affinity for fire and questioning why else the Federation would target Speer. Nezha and Yim double down, degrading Speerlies as “primitive drug-loving freaks” and “war-obsessed” (80). In Combat, Rin is paired with Nezha in sparring practice. They abandon the exercise to fistfight, and Jun pulls them apart. He suspends Nezha for a week but berates Rin at length for being “peasant trash” (84). He bans her from Combat class henceforth.

Rin is distressed by her expulsion from Combat, which she believes is tantamount to expulsion from the school. Kitay tries to comfort her, but Rin acutely feels the effects of the Academy’s classism.

That night, Rin wakes up covered in blood and rushes to the infirmary. A female assistant explains menstruation to Rin, who is horrified by the idea of having to undergo the process monthly. A female Medicine apprentice says the infirmary will give her a concoction that permanently kills the womb. When Rin inquires with the physician, he is pleased but warns her it will be incredibly painful. Rin takes the concoction without hesitation.

When Rin returns to class, she realizes that she must work harder than any other student. A month later, she scores at the top of her classes, second only to Kitay. Her favorite class is Strategy, where Master Irjah only gives praise when earned and doesn’t pander to Sinegardian elite. When Irjah gives the class wartime hypotheticals, Rin demonstrates a willingness to enact brutal, even inhumane tactics. Irjah pulls her aside to discuss her answers, and Rin admits that she confused tactics and strategies: A winning tactic could be a losing strategy if it sours the country against their rulers. Irjah tells Rin she would be a good Strategy apprentice.

Determined to get around Jun’s ban, Rin steals a book on ancient combat from the library and begins practicing the forms. She also studies fighting techniques at basement matches regularly—especially Altan’s.