The senators of the land of Eluri were in council when on of Senator Goran’s aides hurried in. The aide quickly hurried in the senator’s ear. The look on the young woman’s face was one of desperation and shocked awe. Senator Goran was the only one receiving whispered news from an aide. Juliana, Maylin, Tavris, Solin, and Hosh were also listening to hurried whispers. All the aides seemed uneasy and pleased at the same time. Whatever news they were passing had to be big. As each senator received the news their eyes went wide as they stared at the air in shock. Something big was happening in Lihaelen and now the Council of the Seven Winds knew about it.

President Lilain was also receiving news from their aide. They smiled as the news was received, “She’s here, just as Maylin saw in vision. She is traveling as a male just as Solin saw in vision. She is with an Azurei Eija as I saw in vision. The Seed-Bearer had finally made her way to Lihaelen.”

Goran spoke, “We should prepare a ceremony of some sort; or at least a meeting with her. We need to show her our support.”

Tavris quickly overruled that, “Have you forgotten my vision? There is someone after her; an enemy of Astra. They are looking for her here. If they do not know who she is, we do not need to identify her.”

Goran’s face screwed up in displeasure, but he did nod, “That is fair. That is one vision I am hoping will not become a reality. I would still like to meet her and judge her character for myself.”

Hosh was deep in thought, “That could be arranged. If she is traveling with an Azurei as her apprentice, they might make their way to the Archives at some point. An ‘accidental’ meeting wouldn’t be that hard to set up. Even if they don’t go to the Archives there are other tourist spots. We could bump into her easily. We don’t have to let her know that we know. We can pretend to be interested in her opinion as an outsider. It could be believable.”

Maylin was not so sure, “She might be able to tell when someone lies to her. We don’t know what gifts The Seed or even The Tree has given her. We do not want to make an enemy of her. We do not want to be forgotten when she plants The Seed. We do not want Eluri to be forgotten because she’s upset at us.”

Juliana was shocked, “Surely she wouldn’t! She is to be The Gardener. The Gardener wouldn’t forget someone just because he’s angry.” Juliana was more hopeful than sure, “She’ll be the same.”

Tarvis pointed out, “She’s human. They live the shortest lives of all the Children and feel the strongest. Who knows what type of Gardener she’ll be? No one holds a grudge like a human.”

Solin finally spoke, “It doesn’t matter what type of Gardener she will be in the future. Right now, we should worry about the here and now. The people after her to kill her may be here now or may be on their way. They will be looking for trouble and I do not think that they will care who they involve. We need to do our best to ensure that they do not hurt our people. Arrange discreet meetings with The Seed-Bearer as you will. Tell her you know or not at your discretion. We need to remember that our people come first.”

Lilain stood and all attention turned to her, “One way or another I will seek a meeting with The Seed-Bearer. You may do so as well, but remember, we know nothing about her. We need to be careful. Solin is correct. Our people come first. Be careful.”

^_^

The uloia were gorgeous, but Darin had always had a fondness for fireflies and the uloia were basically the same thing. They were a little larger, but they still blinked as they talked with each other. They tended to land on Darin. She figured it was because they sensed what she was. When it got to be too annoying, they were easy to flick away. Darin wasn’t so sure about the increasing amount of foliage. The canopy of leaves above them was so dense. She had never felt so cramped outside of a person made structure before. She forced herself to take slow even breathes. Ridahne seemed excited and she didn’t want to ruin it.

Any thought of the deepening darkness was driven from her mind as she saw Lihaelen for the first time. She had never seen so many people in one spot before. Well maybe at The Farm, but it was so spread out there that there simply was the same sort of feeling. People seemed to be right on top of each other as they hurried this way and that way. There didn’t seem to be any pattern to the flow of movement. Darin was glad that she was on top of Talbot; that way she wouldn’t accidently bump into anyone. Talbot stayed close to Tsura as they made their way to the stable. Darin had been staring at the number of people and had missed most of Ridhane had said to the guard. She just figured staying close to Ridahne mean she wouldn’t get lost.

Speaking of staying close; Taja hopped from his traveling basket on to Darin’s shoulder. The number of people here was just as overwhelming to him as it was to her. Of course, Darin was surprised that the hawk had stayed after finally regaining his previous strength. He would fly off for hours and the first time it happened Darin figured that the hawk was gone and hadn’t worried. Then Taja had come back. He always came back. At this point Darin worried if the hawk didn’t return at least once every other day. The Seed-Bearer figured that Taja was now just a permanent member of the trip. That was comforting.

Darin finally spoke in a quiet whisper as they got to the stable, “There are so many people so close together. How do they survive? Do they all have jobs?”

Darin couldn’t comprehend how a group of people this large could survive such a limited space. She never felt more out of place than she did right now. While it was true that she hadn’t handle the open road as well as she might have hoped she at least could understand it. This she didn’t understand at all. This just seemed like a mess. She supposed there had to be some sort order. She just didn’t know what it was. She had a feeling they would be here for a while. She needed to understand life in all of its forms; even city life.

She looked at Ridahne with a desperate look on her face, “Has this city always been here? Where did it come from? Does the Eluri rulers live here? How many people live here? Are there places like this elsewhere? In Azurei. In the human lands? Do you know about the Siren lands? Why did people come together to make cities in the first place?” She finally stopped her questions as she realized that the speed of her words were increasing, “Sorry. This is just so new to me.”