Liam led him into a large botanical garden at the back of the castle. There weren't many people around, but Noah was glad to see the only other familiar face. Mi Na was talking to a blonde woman in German as they watered plants when he approached her.

"Oh, you found your dorm," Mi Na said nonchalantly.

"And Ms. Rae," Noah held up the note to her.

"Oh, fucking-a," Mi Na cringed at the note. "What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Noah whispered, "Not really...I don't think."

Mi Na looked unconvinced and moved to set her watering can down. "She put you on floor waxing duty."

"Floor waxing?" Noah repeated.

"Yeah," Mi Na nodded. "It's pretty tough work. They don't even have a machine, just a mop and bucket."

"Do you just know all the punishments around here?" Noah asked.

"Basically," Mi Na replied as she handed him back the note. "You'll need to be near the theater, that's the part she cares the most about."

Noah glanced at Liam at the other side of the room.

"Is there any way you could show me where that is?" Noah looked back to Mi Na. His voice was quiet, not wanting Liam to overhear him. 

"Get your roommate to do it," Mi Na huffed as she went back to the plant in front of her.

"He's blind!" Noah whispered.

Mi Na looked from him to Liam, following Noah's eyes.

"Oh, yeah, that seems like that would be a problem in showing you around." Mi Na said.

"We have to take this cart outside," the blonde woman said in a heavy German accent. She had black-rimmed glasses that faded to clear near her rosy cheeks, narrow blue eyes, and a soft, sweet smile. "We can show you to the theater. Right, Mi Na?"

"I guess," Mi Na sighed, "It's on our way."

"Isn't outside right there?" Noah pointed to the windows of the botanical garden's walls.

"Oh, yes, but we go to the other side of the castle." The German woman said.

"Something else Ms. Rae loves," Mi Na said, "Making us run pointless errands."

Noah chuckled softly before he wound up pacing around the room until Mi Na and her friend, a girl named Hanna, were free and offered to walk with him and the bags of mulch to the side of the castle. Because Liam had mostly led him to the back-center of the castle, Noah knew they couldn't be far, yet he soon felt inferior as Mi Na refused to let him lift another bag of mulch onto their loading cart, stating he was "too weak" and forced him aside.

Hanna was a nice woman, Noah had noticed. She had ribbons in her hair and spoke softly in English that wasn't nearly as good as Liam's, yet he could still understand her.

Mi Na pushed the cart and Hanna talked softly about her life in Germany and how her parents were rich landowners and how she had lived with her six siblings for so long she couldn't take it any longer and left the family home—Leuthold was the only place they trusted with their only-daughter.

Mi Na's family was from South Korea Hanna had explained, but moved to the United States when she was four.

("I barely remember the boat," Mi Na had interjected into their conversation. "Barely remember the plane too.")

Mi Na's family were bankers and business owners, rich and powerful, but Mi Na didn't seem interested in her family business as Hanna was, knowing little details and brushing off any questions Noah tried to ask in an attempt to be friendly. He could almost feel his mother pushing him towards her, stating how nice of a friend both of them would be to have in his pocket.

Eventually, they stopped at the bottom of a set of wooden steps that went upward and Mi Na pointed up them.

"The theater is up there. Trust me, you can't miss it." She explained.

"Aren't most theaters on the first floor?" Noah asked.

"Well, yeah, the actual stage is on the first floor too." Mi Na said as she began to push the cart again. "That's the door to the balconies. The only place Ms. Rae actually cares about."

Noah cocked his head as he heard the faint noise of music coming from the hallway beyond the steps. It was solemn and slow, Noah took too many years of music, but it was enchanting.

"It's a music hall as well?" Noah asked.

"It's the best stage in the entire castle," Mi Na explained. "It's also the most renovated part--straight outta the Baroque period." 

Noah stared in the direction of the music a moment longer, thinking how distant it was and how far away the theater itself must be. He frowned at the idea of having to somehow figure out the way around the campus without his translator on his phone and without a roommate that could see the signs.