It wasn’t clear, she realized. Not really. She called Helga’s flower to mind. The way the petals interlocked at the base, how they were attached to the plant, each row growing so as to leave room for the next. The way the color faded toward the tips of the petals as it was drawn out of the branch and into the flower. All the delicate manipulation of chemicals that went into the scent.

When Alice had bound her first creature, the Swarm, she’d found it difficult to control more than one of the little swarmers at once. Eventually she’d figured out that the trick was to trust them—she could control them, but trying to keep track of a hundred legs at once was a recipe for disaster. But the swarmers already knew how to run, and with practice she’d learned to leave them to it and only provide general instructions.

The tree knew how to make a flower. Helga had taught it, with years of breeding and care. All I have to do is point it in the right direction, not tell it what to do. To ask for help, rather than command obedience.

Please, she thought at the tree. Grow. Like this.

Another bud began to form. Alice felt it burgeon and swell, layer after layer of delicate petals growing inside it. Colors welled up, a subtle pattern that formed of its own accord, like frost sketching ferns on a windowpane. A surge of energy, and the bud was opening, spreading its petals wide, the branch thickening beneath it to bear its weight. A sweet, crisp scent filled the air.

Alice let her eyes open again. The flower was almost the size of her head. It was nothing like she’d pictured—in a thousand ways, the tree had crafted it on its own. And it was beautiful, an elegant pattern of subtly refracted color, like a rainbow captured in ice. Alice let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, then looked up at Helga, keeping her face carefully neutral.

“I think,” she said, “that this is probably the best I can do.”

Helga blinked, her eyes shining. She swallowed hard.

“Leave us,” she said. Her voice was husky. “All of you.” When no one moved, the note of command returned. “Leave us!”

The other giants backed away. Helga held up a hand.

“Erdrodr.”

“Yes, Mother?” the giant girl said in a tiny voice.

“Bring our guests’ things.” Helga swallowed. “And whatever you’re going to need for your . . . journey.”

Erdrodr let out an excited squeak and hurried away. Alice found herself alone with Helga and Flicker in a suddenly empty courtyard.

“Do you know where these trees come from?” Helga said.

Alice shook her head.