Liliana Blossom's Arc

Chapter 7 of 7

Liliana walked back toward the shadow's edge at first light. The king's one word still sat in her chest. Come. She did not know what it meant past the sound of it. She only knew she had to go and find out. She left the path early and cut through the ferns to keep her scent thin. She came out near the crystal spring and stopped. Voices carried through the trees. Three villagers stood on the near side of the water, pointing at the dark line of the king's forest. A boy held a stick. A woman held a basket. They were not close yet, but they were closing. Word had spread that a pink ape spoke to the king at dusk, and now people wanted to see it for themselves. Liliana crouched behind a stone bench draped in vines and wildflowers. If the crowd reached the shadow's edge, the king would not speak. He had chosen quiet for a reason. She would not lead a parade to his door. She needed to turn them back without turning them against her. She thought of the girl at the purple treehouse and the way she sent seekers off with tasks. She could do the same. She stepped out onto the path with her hands open. The villagers froze. She greeted them plainly and asked what they had come to see. The woman said, the king. The boy said, you. Liliana said the king only received those who brought something made by their own hands, and only one at a time, and only after the treehouse girl had approved the offering. She pointed them back down the path toward the lotus-shingled treehouse. She said the girl there kept a carved trunk of materials and would help each of them begin. It was true enough. The rest they would learn on their own. The woman studied her. The boy lowered his stick. Liliana held still and let them look. She had spent her whole life being looked at. She used it now. She said, please. If you go up there tonight, no one hears him. Not me. Not you. The woman nodded once and took the boy's shoulder. They turned back. The third villager followed. Liliana waited until their voices thinned. A pink and teal owl dropped from a branch and swept low across the path, then vanished into the dark forest ahead of her. She took it as permission. She walked to the shadow's edge alone and spoke the king's word back to him. Come. She said she had sent the others away. She said she was here. From inside the dark, the low voice answered again. Two words this time. Closer. Now. Liliana stepped past the line where the light ended. The forest closed behind her, and for the first time no one was watching.