“If only I could bring the whole City down to the Sky Gardens,” Leela said.

Elorin bit her lower lip. “But you could not get them all down there at once, and it would not surprise me if the High Priestess had some plan in place, some way to discredit or deceive. She erased Kandra’s memory, did she not? And you would not be able to tell everyone at the same time, unless you called the City to the temple, and only the High Priestess can command to have the bells rung.”

Elorin was right. There had to be another way. Leela’s eyes were drawn back to the High Priestess. “I think there may be answers in her circlet, Elorin,” she said.

“Answers that the other moonstone cannot give you?”

Leela nodded.

“But if moonstone is connective, then what do you think the circlet connects to?”

“I don’t know,” Leela said, her frustration returning. “It is just . . . a feeling.”

“Well,” Elorin said. “I am not one to doubt your instincts, Leela. They have not led you astray thus far.”

“I am grateful to have you,” Leela said, squeezing Elorin’s arm. “You are a good friend.”

Elorin beamed. “Come, let us try for one evening to forget our troubles. I think we may be able to sneak some sweetnectar from Novice Loonir if we are very cunning.”

She wiggled her eyebrows, and Leela laughed and allowed herself to be led through the crowd to where Novice Loonir was filling glasses beneath the boughs of a poplar tree.

She had spoken to Sera tonight, after all. Surely that was worthy of celebration. The circlet could wait.

The next afternoon, Leela took a break from cleaning the doors. After the announcement of Plenna’s pregnancy, no one was watching her closely, so she meandered around the Moon Gardens, seeing the statues in a new light after her conversation with Elorin. Perhaps, in days past, Cerulean would gather around them to see visions of their friends or family on the planet. Maybe it was a way for them to know they were safe, so far from home. She touched the statue of Aila, taking comfort in the moonstone’s smoothness. For a moment, she had a glimpse of a room bedecked in pink and gold, and a table laid with all kinds of sweet foods. Then it was gone. Leela felt a surge of triumph.

I am with you, Sera, she thought as she returned to the temple. Perhaps she could try to speak with her again tonight. Would she have to eat the fruit again? She wasn’t sure.

She was searching for a new jar of polish in the closet where the prayer cushions were kept when Elorin burst in.

“You scared me,” Leela said. Then she took in Elorin’s face. Her skin was pale and her eyes so wide Leela could see the whites all around clear blue irises. “What has happened?”