“There will be no ceremony,” Leela called out, and the entire congregation gasped in unison, hundreds of faces turning toward the two girls standing in the doorway. “The first one was a lie, and this one would be no better. See for yourself! Sera Lighthaven has returned to us.”

Sera stepped forward, feeling the weight of all those eyes on her. The High Priestess looked utterly shocked, her acolytes confused except for Klymthe, who glanced to the High Priestess as if for instruction. Whispers of “Sera is alive” and “How can this be?” and “Sera, it’s Sera!” filled the sanctum.

Then Sera heard a strangled wail and a voice called out her name and everything else faded to a blur as her purple mother came running up the aisle toward her, her green and orange mothers right on her heels.

“Sera!” her purple mother cried, and Sera fell into her arms.

“You’re alive, you’re alive . . .” Her green mother said the words over and over as her orange mother sobbed into Sera’s hair.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as Sera inhaled their scents, honeysuckle and peppermint and thyme, never forgotten even after so long on the planet.

“I missed you,” she whispered. And yet she also knew in her heart that she was not the same girl who had fallen.

Her purple mother cupped Sera’s cheeks in her hands, her face fragile yet alight with joy. “Leela told me and I did not believe at first,” she said. “I was so broken after you fell. Can you forgive me, my darling?”

“There is nothing to forgive,” Sera said. “As long as the stars burn in the sky, remember? I kept your love with me throughout all my travels on the planet. You never left me.”

“How is this possible?” Freeda from the orchards broke the moment as she stood with her hands on her hips, her broad shoulders casting a long shadow across the kneeling congregants. “High Priestess, you told us Sera Lighthaven was unworthy, and yet here she stands.”

“You said more purple mothers would become pregnant,” said Koreen, standing as well, much to Sera’s surprise. “And none have, and now Plenna is ill.”

“We have never had to sit devotionals for fertility before,” Novice Cresha added.

“And the birthing season came so fast on the heels of the wedding season,” said Baarha, the old cloudspinner.

“Nothing seems to have gone right in this City since Sera fell,” Daina announced, clinging to Koreen’s hand.

“My children, calm yourselves,” the High Priestess said. The moonstone in her circlet caught Sera’s eye, a sudden pinch of fear in her stomach.

“No,” Leela growled, and then she was running up the aisle, Cerulean stumbling out of her way. She stopped at the foot of the chancel, glaring up at the tall woman who had once been their trusted leader.