The Poppy War

Winter settles on Sinegard and Jiang still never shows up for class, although “[s]tudents occasionally [spot] him around campus doing inexcusably rude things” (105). Rin alone continues to go to the garden to practice ancient combat. One day, Jiang enters the garden while she is practicing a balancing posture on a tree branch. He recognizes her combat book and asks her to demonstrate a form. He seems amused by Rin’s thievery and by how much she annoys Jun. He offers to help her.

When she tells a group of older students about her lessons, Rin is flooded with colorful stories about Jiang, most notably that he used to belong to the Cike: a dishonorable militia division that carries out Daji’s assassinations. Raban says that nobody pledges as Jiang’s apprentice because “Lore is a bloody joke” (112). Only Altan tried to pledge Lore, but Raban says Jiang refused him.

Rin meets Jiang the next day. He takes Rin to Widow Maung, who brings her a piglet. To build up muscle, Jiang says, Rin must carry the pig up and down a nearby mountain every day. For the next four months, Rin carries the growing pig up the mountain in the morning, attends class, then meets Jiang in the garden.