The next morning, Aurelia found Aldric waiting outside the training hall. The old sage leaned on his staff. "My word alone will not turn them," he said. "Judges trust their eyes more than any voice. You must revive a plant before them, as you did for me. But dead seedlings mean little. They will say I coached you, or that the trick is small." He frowned. "You need something they believe cannot come back." Aurelia's sparks jumped. She had no such plant ready. Every seedling she had woken was common. The judges would wave it off as easy work. Lumina stepped from the doorway. She had heard. The elder fairy's blue wings hummed low. "I have one," she said. She led them inside and set a small case on the table. Within lay a flower sealed in ice. Its white petals curled under frost. Snowflakes clung to the frozen stem. Aurelia stared. The bloom looked long past saving. "A moonflower," Lumina said. "Frozen since winter. No dew, no sun, no fairy has ever thawed one back to life." She did not soften it. "If you fail, you fail before the whole court." Aurelia touched the cold case. "Why give me this?" "Because it is impossible," Lumina said. "They will not doubt what they cannot explain." Aldric tapped his staff. "Then we go now. The judges gather." They walked to the court chamber. Fairies filled the stone benches. Whispers ran through them when Aurelia entered. She heard the word cursed again. Her wings snapped and sparked. She breathed and let her shoulders drop, as Lumina had taught. Aldric raised his staff. "I am Aldric Thornwhisper. I served this court thirty years. I saw this fairy wake a dead seedling in seconds. Judge her by fact, not fear." One judge leaned forward. "A seedling proves nothing. Give her something that cannot return." Lumina placed the frozen flower on the floor. Gasps rose. A judge shook his head. "That bloom is gone. No one thaws a winter moonflower." Aurelia knelt. The ice bit her fingers. The whole court watched, waiting for her to fail. Her sparks flared wild. She closed her eyes. She let the fear pass through her instead of holding it. The current warmed. Gold light spread even along her wings. She pressed one finger to the ice. A thread of lightning ran down. The frost hissed and melted. Water pooled on the stone. The stem lifted. The white petals opened, soft and glowing. The moonflower stood alive in her hand. The chamber went silent. Then a low murmur spread, no longer the word cursed. The judge who had scorned her stood and studied the bloom without speaking. At last one judge spoke. "We have seen it. But seeing is not selection. You have proven your gift. Now prove your wings." He fixed her with a hard stare. "Fly the open sky test at dawn. That alone decides your seat." Aurelia held the living flower. She had beaten the doubt. Only the wind remained.