Darin scoffed, “I saw him for maybe two hours total. He came to Lively first. Then he came to see my village. We did our best to put on a feast that was worthy of his status. He has dined with all manner of royalty, human kings, Siren rulers, I’m even willing to bet that he visited your Sols?” She paused to fire off an aside, “That’s what your leaders are called right?” She continued, “We knew there was no way we could rival them, but we still treated him the best we could. I did not speak to him at all. When the feast was over, he asked the prettiest girl and the best hunter to talk to him in private. Some waited for the two to be dismissed. I was among the few that did not. I had chores to do. Then when I was done, I looked up and there he was. I have no idea how long The Gardener had been watching me work. He gave me The Seed. He gave me instructions. Then he died. I’m not even being metaphorical. I’m not exaggerating. He died literally right after given me this job; right in front of me. I screamed. People came running. I explained what happened and the village prepared me as best they could before they sent me off. And you know where that got me.” Then Darin actually answered the question, “He appeared to be human, but he didn’t look human. I can’t really explain it. He didn’t have the pointed ears and slender frame of an Elf. He lacked the gills and webbed hands of a Siren. He was stocky like a human. He looked human. I would never call him human. I would call you human before I called him human and he looked more human than you do.” She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, “He did not look like a Child of the Stone.”

Darin hoped she didn’t offend Ridahne by saying she would call her human. The human wasn’t trying to offend the Elf. She was just trying to explain something she couldn’t explain even to herself. She wanted to know what others saw when they looked at The Gardener. The other humans of her village had agreed with her. He look human, but did not look like a Child of the Stone. That was jarring. The be human was to be a Child of the Stone. Darin wanted to know what a Siren had seen when they looked at the Gardener. Would they have seen a Siren without seeing a Child of the Sea? Would an Elf see an Elf without seeing a Child of the Sky? So, few people called specific induvials by the title of Child. It was mostly used as a species identifier. Humans were the Children of the Stone. Elves were the Children of the Sky. Sirens were the Children of the Sea. If all people looked at The Gardener and saw the race without seeing the Child that meant only one thing; at least only one thing that Darin could think of. It meant that the Gardener was not from Astra. If the Gardener was not from Astra, what did that mean for her? What did it mean for The Seed? Darin didn’t want to think about it.