Darin looked up at Ridahne through the fringe of her bangs that desperately needed a trim. The warrior was right. She did know things, or rather, The Seed told her things. Well, The Seed told her important things like with Mark and Ravi. It would alert her to present dangers and things that could be trusted. It was entirely possible that The Seed would know when The Tree had reached It’s truly final days. Even if The Seed didn’t know The Tree and Ravi would both know, and Darin felt almost positive that they would find some way of letting her know. She wouldn’t be left in the dark. Darin supposed that meant all she could continue to do was the best that she could which right now was to continue to protect The Seed and to make as many friends as possible.

Darin smiled weakly, “I suppose that all make sense.” She straightened out slowly, “Yeah. Let’s go to the Archives tomorrow. Who knows what they’ll have recorded there?”

It was probably the best plan that had for the moment. She certainly couldn’t think of a better one. Darin wasn’t sure what information that she would find, but she didn’t think there was be much about the past Gardeners. The Gardener was the only Gardener that Astra had every known. He would be the only Gardener that Astra would ever know. That was a depressing thought. Hopefully, it was the only hope that The Seed-Bearer really had, he would not be the only Gardener that the Children of Astra would know. Hopefully they would know Darin as she became the Gardener. She didn’t know. She could only live life and hope that she found out.

Darin pointed out, “I would like to get an early start tomorrow. If I’m understanding what you had said about the Archives, they are huge. I imagine that it will take more than a couple of days to even begin to understand a percentage of what is recorded there, and we can’t spend forever here in Lihaelen. And we can’t spend all of our time here in the Archives.” She held up her boot as an example, “I need to find a way to afford to repair these. We keep walking and riding the way we are my soles will pop clean off and I haven’t got the coin to repair them.”

Thought she supposed she could play her fiddle to get some coin. There was a performer that came to Lively with the rest of the traders that didn’t actually sell anything. He would just play his lute with the case open at his feet. People from Lively would occasionally throw some coins into the case, but no one from her little village ever did. There just wasn’t money enough to waste on music that they could make just as well on their own. It was a well know secret of the people of Darin’s tiny home that no one really thought he was very good anyways. In fact, the halfhearted whisper of, “Even Todd is better,” was a common description. That was saying something. Todd had no sense of tone or pitch whatsoever. Darin knew she much better than him, so she might get a few coins. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to play her fiddle to get it.