Kandra and Estelle were staring as if they had never seen anything like her.

“Mother Sun has chosen you,” Kandra said. “Leela—”

“Elorin has read them too,” Leela said quickly. “And you yourself just admitted to reading Sera’s name on the obelisk. The symbols are not a declaration of a new High Priestess. They are for everyone.”

Kandra reached out and clasped her hands. “That may be true, but look at all you have done. You have freed Estelle. You have given me back my Sera.”

“I don’t have Sera yet,” Leela said. “But I will find a way to bring her home. That I promise.” Her stomach twisted with guilt. “As much for myself as for you and her other mothers. I miss her desperately.”

Kandra laughed and tears sparkled in her eyes. “There is no shame in wanting something for yourself,” she said. “And this is the second time you have brought me back from the brink of despair. If anything, I am indebted to you.”

Leela was about to protest when Estelle gave a great shudder.

“It is starting,” she choked. “I have stayed too long away. I can feel it . . . I have to go back.”

“No,” Kandra said. “No, you mustn’t go back there.”

Estelle touched her on the cheek. “I will die if I don’t.”

Her knees buckled and Kandra caught her before she hit the floor. “Help me, Leela.”

Leela supported her on the opposite side and they hurried out of the dwelling, Estelle stumbling between them.

“You are not meant to leave the birthing houses,” Leela whispered as they approached the sacred circle.

Kandra snorted. “I am not bearing another daughter until Sera has returned to this City. If Mother Sun truly did bless me, she would understand. As my orange wife once said, she is a mother, first and foremost.” She glanced at Estelle, whose breathing was becoming more and more ragged. “And you could not have gotten her back alone.”

They reached the Moon Gardens faster than Leela thought possible, and had to walk in an awkward fashion to get Estelle down the curving stairs. Kandra’s reaction to the Sky Gardens was much the same as Elorin’s had been.

“I thought I believed you,” Kandra said. “I saw this in your memory, but still . . . what is this place?”

“I don’t know, but the High Priestess is killing it,” Leela said. “Those gardens did not used to be so withered.”

They found Estelle’s stalactite—Leela helped her out of the robe, not wanting to leave any evidence behind. They gently slid Estelle back into the viscous liquid that contained her magic. As she slipped beneath the surface, Leela whispered, “We will come back for you. Tell the others if you can. We will free them all.”

Then she sealed up the opening. As she stood, she found Kandra staring at her, and a blue light was burning in the depths of her eyes.