Epilogue

Bellusdeo remained with Helen, Mrs. Erickson, and Kaylin until Kaylin regained consciousness. Which, according to their concerned reports, took three days.

Squawk.

"He says four days, dear; he is disparaging our ability to count, but I'm certain he doesn't mean it." Helen's smile was gentle.

Kaylin, groggy, was certain he did. "How did I get home?"

"Bellusdeo broke the law."

"I did not break the law," the gold Dragon said. Kaylin sat up in bed at the sound of Bellusdeo's voice, blinking sleep out of her eyes. "The law clearly states that in an emergency, we are permitted to assume our draconic forms—and it was late enough I'm certain no one in the streets panicked at the sight of a Dragon."

"This isn't the first time this has happened," Kaylin told Bellusdeo. "But I couldn't exactly walk home on my own. Thanks."

"Don't thank me. Teela wanted to carry you. Tain offered the same. Severn looked like he might cut off an arm or two if either of them touched you." Bellusdeo frowned. "That boy is seriously attached to you, in case you haven't noticed."

I wouldn't have cut off anyone's arm , Severn pointed out, his interior tone at odds with Bellusdeo's description.

The Dragon's voice was the same as it had always been, but she'd never called Severn a boy in that tone before.

"What happened to Mrs. Erickson?"

"Mrs. Erickson is fine," Helen replied. "She was exhausted when she arrived—she joined you and Bellusdeo—but she slept normally, woke normally, and has been baking up a storm in the kitchen. She feels a bit guilty about neglecting the Hawks for the past week, and she's determined to make up for it."

"Tell her not to worry. They won't be mad at her—they'll blame me."

"Which is not entirely fair."

"Life, I've often been told, isn't." Kaylin rearranged her pillows so she could lean back into them; Helen offered her two more. "Did someone make excuses for me at the Halls of Law?"

"Teela did."

Kaylin exhaled. Teela had had to face the angry Leontine, not her. "Is Mrs. Erickson going to stay with us?"

"Yes, dear."

"I wouldn't blame her if she wanted to go back to her house. It should be safe for her there."

"Safe isn't the same as happy; it only looks that way when things are dangerous. Imelda says she's been happy here, and she expects she'll continue to find things that make her happy. She also likes the kitchen. I may have made a few adjustments to it to give her more space to work."

"Have we heard from Evanton?"

"Evanton briefly let me know that things have returned to normal in the garden, or a variant of normal. He expects you to visit when you are mobile again."

That sounded less promising. "He wants me to visit the garden?"

Bellusdeo coughed. "The Keeper and the green appear to have had a bit of an argument after you passed out. Mrs. Erickson was trying to be peacekeeper."

"Did she even understand what they were saying?"

"She understood what Evanton was saying—he got quite salty. But I think she understood how the green felt. Possibly because she was still wearing the crown, or at least that's what Teela thinks."

"And the end result is I have to visit Evanton?"

"It's the compromise."

Kaylin thought about just going back to sleep, but she was no longer tired; she was slightly anxious, which never made for good sleep. But it seemed unfair that the green and the Keeper had an argument, and the brokered peace was on Kaylin's shoulders.

"I thought you'd prefer that, over having Imelda put into more danger."

Kaylin exhaled and nodded; it was true. Mrs. Erickson was a civilian, an elderly woman with a very kind disposition—one Kaylin, and most of her friends, lacked. Yes, it was better if Kaylin had to cope with an angry Keeper and a disgruntled green. But Kaylin suspected that both the Keeper and the green wouldn't take out irritation on Mrs. Erickson. Kaylin felt she was fair game. Ugh.

"Did Terrano reappear?"

"In a manner of speaking," Bellusdeo replied. "Mandoran's waiting to talk to you about Terrano."

"He's safe," Helen told Kaylin, both gently and quickly. "And unharmed."

"Then why isn't Terrano waiting to speak with me?"

"He can't. He suggested—again—that Sedarias allow the cohort to include you as one of its members."

"Sedarias would hate that."

"Indeed. She wasn't the only person to argue against it, but even if she had been, the cohort operates on consensus in matters of grave import. Teela was also against it, but for different reasons; Sedarias fears for the safety of her chosen family. Teela fears for your safety."

"Kaylin is part of Teela's chosen family," Bellusdeo pointed out. "If I were offered the same opportunity, I would reject it utterly. The very idea of having to hear Terrano in the back of my thoughts whenever he feels like holding forth gives me hives."

"Do Dragons even get hives?" Kaylin asked, as she swung her legs off the bed and started to look for clothing.

"We did when we were children." Bellusdeo's eyes were gold. She rose from the chair she'd been occupying—clearly one that Helen had created for Bellusdeo, as it wasn't a normal part of Kaylin's room—as Kaylin got out of bed. Kaylin met her gaze and held it.

She hadn't talked very much with the eight sisters, but she knew they were somehow with Bellusdeo because Bellusdeo seemed different. Not bad different, just...not the same.

The gold Dragon reached for Kaylin's hands; Kaylin put dressing in day clothing on hold. "I think you, and the green, did what you could to help me. To help us . I cannot put into words how much gratitude I feel to both of you. And to Mrs. Erickson. If she hadn't been here, if you hadn't taken her in, I would never have known. My sisters would have been trapped, in isolation, for eternity.

"Mrs. Erickson helped them—and that helped me. But I was a little bit...overfocused. It's probably a good thing my Tower is a sentient building—I'm not sure he'd've survived that focus, otherwise."

"What do you mean?"

"I may have lost my temper. He considered the dead to be dead; they were irrelevant to the living. I disagreed." Her eyes flickered orange, but the orange didn't remain. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "And I was right. I intend to enjoy that immensely when I return to the Tower."

"You're—you're whole now? You're what you should have been?" Kaylin wondered if, when she'd first helped Bellusdeo to find her True Name, she could have done things properly if she'd understood how Bellusdeo's name should have been built. She'd done what she could at the time, but in her ignorance, she'd done half the job. Bellusdeo clearly didn't hold it against her. Neither did the sisters.

But maybe Bellusdeo would have been in better shape if Kaylin had been able to intervene properly. If Kaylin had known then what she knew now.

"If you are going to blame yourself for our prior state, don't. If you hadn't done what you did at the time, I, too, would have been lost." Bellusdeo's smile deepened. "That's not the real reason, though. Guilt bores me, I've lived with it for so long. As for us?

"What Kavallac described isn't quite what we have. Maybe because we were apart for so long. Or maybe it's because of the Outcaste's interference. I can hear my sisters as distinct voices—we're like a council of Bellusdeo. The seams are strong—but they're definitely there. Maybe they'll fade with time."

"It must be really noisy on the inside of your head about now."

"It's been incredibly noisy."

"But can the sisters talk through you?"

Bellusdeo nodded. "One of my sisters in particular was incredibly good at dealing with people. In uncertain situations, I'll gratefully let her do the talking."

"Was she the elegant one?"

Bellusdeo smiled. "She was naturally socially graceful. Even when we were children. I think she was the only one of us who didn't annoy Lannagaros in the Aerie. She was studious, she was quiet, and she didn't generally approve of our pranks."

"She didn't join in on them?"

"I didn't say that." Bellusdeo grinned. "But it took all eight of us to coax her into it."

"What does it feel like when one of your sisters does the talking? Do they take over?"

"It's not quite like that. I'm still there. We're all still there." Bellusdeo shook her head. "It's Maggaron I feel sorry for. He's my Ascendant. Part of his role was to keep me anchored. I've hugely increased his workload. But I'll deal with that. I'll deal with Karriamis." Bellusdeo exhaled. "I'll deal with Emmerian."

"When you first met Mrs. Erickson, you hadn't come here to talk to her. You came to talk to me about something else. Was it Emmerian?"

"I was frustrated, I think. It feels like it happened years ago. And it also feels like it happened yesterday. Of the nine of us, I was the most martial; it's why, in the end, I ruled. We were in a constant state of war.

"But... I can't be in a constant state of war, can I? Not at home, if I even have one; not with Emmerian. He would have been the perfect second in command. I would have felt eternally grateful to have him. But his role would have been different. Neither of us would have been forced into this uncomfortable position. Yes, when I stormed into your home, I was angry with him—I can't remember why." She frowned. "My sisters can't remember it clearly, either; they, too, were trapped in their own states of mind." She cleared her throat.

"I want to do something for Mrs. Erickson—but I don't know her well enough to know what she'd like, and most of my previous social interaction didn't involve gentle old women. I feel that I owe her my life, my sanity, my sisters. They feel the same—but much more strongly." Bellusdeo let go of Kaylin's hands, indicating that Kaylin should get dressed.

Kaylin did. "Did the dress disappear?" she asked Helen.

"Not exactly," Helen replied, a flicker of concern touching her expression.

"What does not exactly mean? Did it transform back into the regular clothing I need and can't afford to easily replace?"

"No, as you must suspect."

"I don't see it."

"No." Helen didn't need to breathe, so exhalation was affectation. She exhaled anyway. "Evanton is in possession of the dress."

Bellusdeo snickered. "I'd pay money to see him wear it."

"Dear." Helen's tone contained a hint of disapproval, but affection was wrapped around it.

"The Barrani will lose all their perfect hair," Kaylin said.

"I think Teela would have found it amusing in other circumstances."

"Other circumstances?"

"The ones in which she wasn't very worried about your continued existence."

"I wasn't in danger."

"She is wise enough not to trust the green."

"Serralyn told us to trust the green."

"In that very narrow context, yes. I'm certain Teela doesn't consider the green malicious, but the interests of the green are the interests of an ancient, unknowable power, a wildness in which intent cannot be properly perceived."

"I think the green wanted the children it had damaged to be safe," Kaylin replied. "The green didn't intend to harm them or transform them, and the green may have felt...guilt for that." She pulled a shirt over her head.

"That's inside out."

Mandoran was waiting for them in the dining room. To Kaylin's surprise, so was Teela. Tain had gone home, but Teela had remained.

"Is Serralyn back at the Academia?"

"Not yet. I expect she and Bakkon will continue to excavate Azoria's research notes. Larrantin was forced to return to the Academia; he had lectures. I pity his students—he was not happy. You look a bit tired," the Barrani Hawk added.

"I'm fine. Just stressed. Evanton expects me to visit him."

"When?"

"Knowing Evanton, yesterday. Are you going to lecture me?" she added, as Teela's eyes were the martial color.

"Not in your own home. Probably not at all. Bellusdeo?"

"I'm good. I'm better than that. If you have to return to work, I'll escort Kaylin to the Keeper's."

Helen cleared her throat. "I believe Imelda wishes to accompany you there."

Kaylin didn't want to drag Mrs. Erickson to Evanton's. She turned to Bellusdeo for support, but Bellusdeo nodded. "I can escort them both." She then turned to Mandoran. "You wanted to speak with Kaylin, didn't you?"

He nodded. "First, though, Terrano is safe."

Breakfast appeared in front of Kaylin; clearly she was the only one eating. "Where is he?"

"He's with Alsanis and Eddorian."

"Alsanis? Terrano's in the West March?"

"He's in the West March. But he didn't arrive at Alsanis. He arrived in the green."

"And he's okay? He's normal?"

"For Terrano, yes. Mildly incensed; he wanted to travel home the faster way, and Sedarias put her foot down—aided by the green and Alsanis."

"The green was speaking with Terrano?"

"That's the trickier part. Yes, the green communicated with Terrano—but Terrano believes the heart of the green doesn't reside in our plane. And no, before you ask, the communication was not verbal—not even in the True Words created by the Ancients. Terrano, according to the green, was the one most changed by the regalia . Alsanis—who did communicate with words—believes that Terrano would have been entirely lost had it not been for the name bond that existed between Terrano and the rest of us."

"What in the hells was he trying to do? Why did he approach the Ancient at all?"

"It's Terrano," Mandoran replied, shrugging. "He was curious."

"I'm being serious."

"I'm being half serious. Terrano thought he could detect dangerous instability, and his first thought was to somehow ground what was there so the instability didn't cause the Ancient to fracture. And when I say instability, I don't mean the actual corpse. Or non-corpse. It was something more subtle.

"He could tell that the Keeper was trying to do the same thing, in an entirely different way; he says the Ancient exists in almost all places at the same time, and he approached from a different plane, a different state of existence. Evanton is wed to this one in many ways, but the Keeper's power is, by necessity, more all-encompassing. Terrano says he now understands how you feel," Mandoran added.

"About what?"

"About being blamed for everything that happens around you."

"I don't suppose I can ask Eddorian to smack Terrano upside the head?"

Mandoran laughed. "Eddorian hasn't lived with us—but he's been with us every step of the way. He says of course you can. It's a much lighter punishment than Sedarias asked him to inflict."

"So is he coming back?"

"Yes, but he has to do it the long way, so he's either walking from there to here, or he's waiting on a delegation so he can, as he put it, cadge a ride back."

Sedarias wasn't going to like that, either.

"The green, on the other hand, has offered him—and by extension the rest of us—a place to stay. If the world becomes too fractious, if our conflicts become too difficult, she will give us a home in the green."

Sedarias was definitely not going to accept that, given that so many of the current conflicts were the consequences of her own rise to power.

"You see the problem."

Kaylin nodded.

"Helen is Immortal, but she won't take us as tenants—and you've got an expiration date the rest of us don't have. I mean, you'll probably outlive Terrano at this rate, but you know what I mean."

She did. She didn't even find it offensive today.

Teela's intercession with Marcus meant Kaylin actually had an unplanned—and probably unpaid—day off. That she had to spend it visiting Evanton tarnished the freedom, but didn't entirely destroy it. They didn't leave for Evanton's until Mrs. Erickson woke up, ate, and dressed to meet him. She no longer wore the crown of flowers, but a single blossom remained twined around her finger. It had not faded or wilted.

Kaylin decided not to ask about the rest of the regalia , given Mrs. Erickson's demeanor: she was cheerful. She had always had a ready smile and a sympathetic ear, but this was different. She seemed more healthy, less fragile, and her ready delight was aimed at everything: the open, cloudless sky, the people scattered in the streets, the density of the crowd as they headed into the market, even snippets of conversation and one child who was trying to walk a dog but ended up being dragged by the leash instead.

She'd spent her entire life seeing ghosts—and who knows, maybe she could see them today—but seemed, at her age, to be infused with a desire for life, and a delight in it, that Kaylin felt she'd personally never had.

You did , Severn said, voice soft and imbued with grief. You did, when you were much younger.

She couldn't remember it now.

I can. I'll remember it for you. No , he added, internal voice much quieter. I'll remember it for myself.

Kaylin wasn't surprised to see Severn waiting at Evanton's storefront; he hadn't entered the shop yet. He offered Mrs. Erickson a perfect bow—Barrani in grace, but not as stiffly elegant.

Mrs. Erickson smiled. "Your work brings you here today?"

"It does. Kaylin is my partner, and our sergeant knew she was to visit Evanton today. I have permission to be here."

"Or orders?"

"Or orders," he agreed. "Shall we?"

Do you have any idea what he wants?

No.

I know that tone. You have suspicions.

The harmoniste's dress is with the Keeper. Yes, I have suspicions—but they change nothing.

Is that why you came?

No. I told Marcus you'd been summoned to Evanton's at your earliest possible convenience. He suggested I join you. With fangs.

Kaylin laughed out loud. Hope was slumped across both shoulders; he obviously didn't expect trouble. Or at least not trouble Kaylin hadn't imported by bringing Bellusdeo and Mandoran with her. Bellusdeo had offered Mrs. Erickson an arm, and Mrs. Erickson had smiled brightly at the gold Dragon—but had insisted that she was feeling much better these days, and didn't require aid.

She seemed perfectly comfortable around Bellusdeo. Bellusdeo, no fool, had always been comfortable with Mrs. Erickson, but she'd clung to the old woman because of her desperation for her sisters; those sisters were no longer bound to the Dragon—or at least not in the way they had been.

"You look very elegant today, Imelda. Perhaps you can convince Bellusdeo to pick up some of your understated fashion sense." Bellusdeo was speaking, but clearly, one of the sisters had been given permission to take over.

"Don't be silly, dear," Mrs. Erickson replied. "Bellusdeo's armor marks her as a warrior; I'm not sure there's such a thing as fashionable armor—only expensive armor."

"And there is, indeed, a difference."

"You seem much happier—I don't think I've ever heard you speak so much."

"We are all much happier. All of us, including Bellusdeo. Thank you for coming to our aid. Thank you for seeing what had remained unseen until the moment we met you. Shall we enter?"

Mrs. Erickson beamed and nodded.

Clearly Mrs. Erickson's time spent listening to the ghosts—and speaking with them—had given her familiarity with each individual personality, as was evident when each of them came out, in turn, to greet her and to offer her their gratitude, if gratitude wasn't too weak a word.

Evanton, seated at the long bar he used as a counter as sister number three took over, waited with as much patience as he could muster. "Corporal."

Kaylin stepped past Mrs. Erickson and Bellusdeo to head to the bar; Severn followed. Mandoran seemed content to remain with the gold Dragon and his newest housemate—but he'd always liked Bellusdeo.

Evanton had been working with gems; he took the jeweler's glass out of his left eye when she reached him. "I hear you asked me to visit."

"I did. I didn't expect you to lie abed for almost four days. I'm old—what is your excuse?"

Kaylin shrugged. "The fate of the world is too much for me to carry for any length of time? I don't know how you do it."

"If I didn't, the world would falter," he replied.

She frowned; he looked genuinely exhausted. "How long have you been doing this?"

"For far longer than I assumed I would when I accepted the responsibility," he replied. There was no irritation in the words at all. He just seemed tired.

She knew he was training Grethan, but suspected Grethan would not meet the requirements to succeed him for quite some time—if ever. She suspected he had taken an apprentice because he was lonely; Grethan was like Mrs. Erickson's children to Mrs. Erickson.

"How much longer?" Her frown deepened. When she'd first met Evanton, he'd looked ancient to her eyes—and nothing had changed. Eight years hadn't altered him at all. She glanced over at Mrs. Erickson and Mandoran.

"Have you not been told it's rude to make inquiries of that nature?"

She shrugged. "Hawks sometimes ask questions regular people would consider rude—but it's part of our job."

"And interrogating an exhausted old man is your job now?"

"Not unless he's a criminal suspect. But being at his beck and call isn't part of my job, either."

"Very well. I do not know how much longer I will serve as Keeper. I expected to be free of this position long before my great-grandchildren became adults."

Kaylin blinked. "You have great-grandchildren?"

"No. Not anymore. I had a great-great-grandchild, and from her, the next generation. Before you ask, no. They are no longer alive. One died in childhood, that I recall, but the rest were relatively healthy, and they lived a normal lifespan. Before you ask, I do not know what happened to their children. I made it my business not to know. They had no attachment to me.

"My grandchildren did, but they aged in the normal fashion, and I aged far more slowly. I could hide what I was, what I did, until they were adults. Only one of my grandchildren accepted it, perhaps because she came to see the garden as a child. It was a whim," he added, almost defensively. "When she understood what my job was, she was proud." He shook his head. "Proud. Happy. The elements seemed to like her, perhaps because I did."

"You never asked her if she wanted to become the Keeper?"

"No. The garden did." His expression was curiously distant as he spoke. "Not in so many words; the garden is much like the green in that aspect. But the garden accepted her with ease and even delight. She was a delightful child.

"She visited me often as she was growing up, but the intervals between her visits grew longer. This is natural; I had not offended her. But her life had grown wider, broader, and I had remained the same. She was like a little fledgling; when she flew in the wider sky, she had joy of the discovery.

"She fell in love—of course she did. She had her heart broken. She fell in love—slowly, more mindfully, more cautiously—again.

"But she could not be the Keeper and be wife and mother. When I became Keeper, my own wife had been gone for a decade, and my children were no longer small and in need of adult care. The garden wished for my grandchild to become Keeper after me; only then could I lay down my burden.

"But it would fall on her shoulders. She understood what the garden wanted; she felt both respected and needed. She was proud of that; she was young enough to feel that pride."

"You said no."

"I could not simply say no for her; she was an adult by that time. An adult, in love with a man she intended to marry. She had plans for a family of her own. I merely told her that the choice offered was a subtle choice between the man she loved and the future family she intended to build with him, and the garden.

"In the end, she chose the man, the future children. They did have children. If she could see me now, she would understand why I did not want her to carry this burden. I wanted happiness for her. I wanted her to have and build connections with people. I did not want her to suffer a life of isolation and duty, shorn of those things."

"And the garden was angry."

Evanton nodded. "Perhaps that is why I have yet to find a successor. Do not anger things ancient and wild if you have any choice. But come. I have spoken far too much, and Mrs. Erickson is waiting."

Mrs. Erickson was comfortable in the confines of Evanton's small shop. The hallway that led to the garden's door—a door that seemed like it had seen better decades, it looked so normal and run-down—was narrower, by a couple of inches, than the halls in her home.

Evanton offered Mrs. Erickson his arm; she accepted immediately. Bellusdeo and Mandoran trailed behind them, in single file; Kaylin and Severn picked up the rear.

Did you know? she asked Severn.

About his personal life? No. About his apparent immortality? Yes. He has aged, but extremely slowly.

Is this something you picked up with the Wolves?

We have different Records than the Hawks, yes.

She fell silent, thinking about Evanton. Thinking about a future Kaylin. Would she fall in love the way normal people seemed to? Would she want children? And if she had them, would she want them to bear the marks of the Chosen in her stead?

Absolutely not.

She'd had no choice. Mrs. Erickson had had no choice. The hands they'd been dealt seemed to be composed of twos and wild cards. But Mrs. Erickson had probably saved the world with the hand she'd been given, and that had turned a very ambivalent gift into a source of pleasure, of pride.

Evanton opened the door for Mrs. Erickson and held it open as she stepped through its frame, vanishing instantly from Kaylin's sight. Evanton followed.

Bellusdeo and Mandoran weren't too far behind.

"Are you ready?" Severn asked, which surprised her.

She nodded and followed Severn through the door.

The garden was not exactly as she remembered, although the modest house remained unchanged. Gone was the small, but deep pond, and its surrounding soft moss which was so soothing to the touch. She would have frozen in the doorway, but she could hear Mrs. Erickson's exclamations of wonder and delight.

What she hadn't expected—and probably should have—was the damn dress.

The moment she had both feet in the garden, her clothing transformed. She cursed. In Leontine. Which Mrs. Erickson, thankfully, didn't understand. Mrs. Erickson did understand the tone, and turned back immediately.

"Kaylin? Oh! You're wearing the dress again!"

She was indeed. The lovely, practical, and ultimately attention-grabbing dress that the green gave to indicate its choice of harmoniste.

"Is your dress like Evanton's robes?" Mrs. Erickson asked.

Evanton was attired in the blue robes of the Keeper. "It is very much like them," he replied. He turned to Kaylin, smiling; the smile contained just a hint of an edge.

"What does that mean?"

"While you are in my garden—and while you are in the green, should you feel the need to return to the West March—you will wear this dress. When you leave my garden, you will be wearing the clothing you arrived in. It is raiment of honor," he added, clearly understanding just how honored it made Kaylin feel.

"So I get to keep my clothing? I don't have to scrounge up money to replace it again?"

"You get to keep your original clothing."

Which was a huge relief. Having to replace the first set of pants and shirt was going to be difficult, but possible; having to replace a second set? "What did you do to the garden?" Kaylin asked, changing the subject.

The garden was now surrounded by forest—a forest of strangely familiar-looking trees that reminded Kaylin of her trek to the West March. The elemental garden—and the small house it contained—resided in the center of a natural clearing, but there was another structure opposite that house that was grander and taller by far.

Pillars rose to the sky; Kaylin couldn't easily see the tops of them without almost falling over backward. Those pillars were of worked stone, at least at first sight; she realized that they were the emblem of earth here. Of fire, there was no sign, but the fire had often been contained in either outdoor campfire or indoor hearth; she could feel the breeze move her hair and the skirts of her dress. Air.

"Ah. I did not specifically do anything to my garden. Our newest occupant did."

Newest occupant. "The Ancient is here?"

"Yes, the Ancient is here. Can you not see where Imelda has been drawn?"

Kaylin reddened. She'd been worried about affording clothing, and the changed shape of the garden. "Where's the water?"

"Just beyond us, to the north; there is now a lake. It is much larger than the small pond; I found the pond more convenient."

"Why is he here?"

"The Ancient chose. The green offered the Ancient a home, a place to rest."

"And you offered the Ancient a home."

"Yes, although that was the will of the garden." And he'd paid the price for thwarting the will of the garden before. "The green and the garden disagreed. It was Mrs. Erickson who brokered a compromise between them. Where did you find her?"

"In the Halls of Law."

"I hope you appreciate what you have."

"I do—I don't think she'd make a good Keeper."

"No. That was not my intent." He watched as Bellusdeo and Mandoran followed Mrs. Erickson. "But the garden would be delighted to have her visit, possibly even live, within its borders."

"And you?"

"I admit that she reminds me of my old life; I would have adored her then. I am too old, too set in my ways, and too tired to adore her now, but I feel sparks of something that might be flickering embers of joy in the joy she takes, in her earnestness. She is nothing like you," he added, as if that needed to be said. "But in decades, in time, you might resemble her; you both tend to reach out when you see people you can help. You don't think before you act.

"Were she careful, she would not have reached out to Bellusdeo and her many sisters. Were she even a smidgen more selfish, she would not have lived a life that would have led her to you. Had she not, I fear the outcome would have been dire.

"Neither the green nor the garden are certain of the Ancient's future. We are uncertain what he will become, being reborn as he is. But we are both certain that he finds comfort in Imelda's presence—and she is both gifted and mortal. Here, in my garden, she might live, her time arrested; in the green, she might do the same.

"But she lives in the mortal world, and she will not live forever. I therefore ask that you allow her to visit as often as she wishes while she does live."

"And the dress?"

"Ah, yes. The green will have some small presence in the garden for the time; as the Ancient is so new to both garden and green, there is an overlap of shared concern. This was arranged by Mrs. Erickson; her gentle expectation of reasonable and fair behavior seemed to have a strong effect.

"While you are here, you will be representative of the green. Your care and concern for Mrs. Erickson's welfare has been noted."

"Mrs. Erickson wouldn't be a better representative?"

Evanton raised a brow. "I said the green holds her in high regard—what makes you think Mrs. Erickson could speak for the green? I doubt she would have survived being the channel for the power necessary to do what had to be done. Let her have her moment. She's earned it."

Kaylin heard laughter—Bellusdeo's and Mandoran's—and turned to look at Mrs. Erickson; she appeared to be speaking to a man the size of Maggaron. Mandoran and Bellusdeo were clearly not laughing at Mrs. Erickson, but with her, for her voice, slighter in every way, could still be heard reverberating in the breeze.

"I will. I'll even join it." Kaylin took a step forward, stopped, and held out a hand. "You should join it as well. If there's even a sliver of joy in life to be found, surely it's in moments like this one—and we both probably need it."

Well done , Severn said, voice soft. He let Kaylin lead Evanton, who seemed both reluctant and accepting, and followed from behind.