“The High Priestess has not been seen since the last evening of your fast,” she said. “I tried to keep a watch on her as much as I could and I saw her enter the Moon Gardens, but she has not yet returned.”

Leela’s heart sank. She did not dare go beneath the City if the High Priestess was there—and if she had not been seen, Leela was certain she was down with her stalactites.

“There’s something in the Moon Gardens, isn’t there,” Elorin whispered.

“Yes,” Leela whispered back. “And I’ll show you. But we must be careful.”

Elorin glanced toward the gaggle of novices leaving the temple. “They do not think you belong here,” she said. “They are angry about the penance.”

“I know,” Leela said with a sigh.

“I think it is a good thing,” Elorin said. “I think this City might be waking up.”

Leela thought so too, but Elorin scampered off before she had a chance to say so.

The next day, Acolyte Imima gave her a bristly brush and set her to scrubbing the walls of the temple. That lasted for another four days—Leela had to get a ladder to reach the higher parts and the work was less forgiving than mopping had been. She watched every day for a sign of the High Priestess but she never appeared.

The morning after she finished the walls, Acolyte Endaria gave her a cloth and a jar of polish and instructed her to clean the pulpit and the temple doors. Leela decided to start with the doors—she was quite sick of the inside of the temple. She took the ladder with her so she could start at the top and work her way down. The symbols seemed to shift under her fingers as she ran the cloth over them, though they did not spell Heal them or anything else today.

“Good morning, Leela.” Koreen was standing at the top of the temple steps.

“Good morning,” Leela replied politely, wondering what Koreen wanted with her.

“I am in a triad now,” she said. “With Daina and Atana.”

“What joyful news,” Leela forced herself to say.

Koreen shrugged. “It is a shame we missed the wedding season. I would so love to be married.”

Leela kept her mouth shut. She had no pity to spare for Koreen.

“I was hoping to speak to the High Priestess,” Koreen continued. “But Acolyte Klymthe says she is sequestered.”

“She is,” Leela said. “And has been for many days.”

Koreen sighed. “It is such a trying time for her. First, Sera is deemed unworthy by Mother Sun, then you go and break one of the most sacred rules of the City. Her spirits must be very low.”

It took all of Leela’s strength not to make a sharp retort. “Indeed. Well, unless there is something you need, I’m afraid I must get back to my polishing.”