“This is where the last of the elder trees fell?” I looked around. “I thought the Imperiumburnedthem.”
“They did,” Lady Chaliko said. She focused her attention on the small dragon in her palm. “It was the work of a year to carve down the corpse of the tree into this.”
“Was the elf guarding a dragon egg?” I considered Naî, thinking of my own mother, holding tight the ice-dragon egg with hope, with the promise that maybe something could change.
“No,” Lady Chaliko shook her head, crouching down low and pressing her hands to the tree stump that had once been an ancient elder tree. “She was keeping safe the seeds from the tree. She hoped that one day the elves would be allowed to regrow them. That one day she could pass them on to someone who could save the history of her people and, with it, save the continent. Perhaps even the whole of the world.”
“Were the dragons just attracted here when you started growing the trees?” I looked out at the rows and rows of saplings.
“There were no dragons left in the forest before we grew the first tree.” Lady Chaliko looked up at me, her smile so broadshe looked as though she might split open with joy. “When the first leaves of a new sprout open, a dragon is released.”
Around her, the dragons began to swirl, spiraling in a colorful web of brilliant yellow and white. They spun so fast that her hair moved as if in a violent breeze. Then, one of them cried out, falling to the ground. It twisted and she caught it quickly in her hands, cradling it against her chest. Its light flickered, like a heartbeat slowing until it went out entirely. Nearby, one of the trees cracked, the wood itself moaning as it crumbled into pieces.
I looked back and forth between the dead dragon and the tree that had seemed to cave in on itself. “You cannot keep the trees alive.”
Lady Chaliko shook her head. “No matter what we do, we cannot get any of the trees to grow.”
“That is where you got the root of the elder trees from,” I said.
Lady Chaliko nodded. “We hoped that if we showed evidence of them, the emperor would send more money, more supplies, and we would be able to save the trees and the dragons with them.”
“What happened to the elf?” I asked. “This was the work of her lifetime, and she is not here.”
Lady Chaliko crossed her arms over her stomach. “She told us that she had been given the task by Spider. And that she could carry it on her shoulders no longer. When we accomplish the task, when we regrow the trees and save as many elven children as we can, Spider will return and make sure that the tree is kept safe.”
“And reward you?” I couldn’t keep the suspicion from my voice.
Lady Chaliko shook her head, taking the dead dragon over to the tree that it had clearly grown from. Gently, she placed the corpse on the soft earth around the base of the tree. “I fear my father will die before the task is done. And when he does, there is no reward I would want.”
It sounded like a lie. I knew it was. She was an imperial and yet her own nation had taken everything from her.
“Spider promised you that when the task is done, the Imperium will fall,” I predicted.
Lady Chaliko put her hand on the dead dragon. She shook her head in denial. “No. We were promised that when we regrow the elder tree, there will be peace.”
“Peace,” I said, doubt coloring my tone.
“Peace.” She stroked her fingers over the branches of the dead sapling and they broke under the gentle touch.
“And what does peace look like?” I asked, feeling something like possibility curl in my chest and echo in my ears.
“I do not know. I have only known death and blood my entire life, but I should like to see it. Wouldn’t you?” She looked at me with such hope and desperation that I was forced into honesty.
“I am not sure that I will survive well with peace, but I want it nonetheless.” I looked around the room. “So, you tend this garden and hope?”
“Yes,” Lady Chaliko began walking down the rows of plants.
“She does more than tend the garden. She practices plant magic.” Naî seemed deeply satisfied. “She practices elven magic. Ask her about it. I can smell it on her and these insects she calls dragons. Perhaps Ishouldeat one. I don’t imagine they have any more meat than a newborn chick.”
I squinted at Lady Chaliko, but whatever Naî sensed, I didn’t. “You practice elven magic?”
Lady Chaliko paled, holding up her hands. “No. Elletrailu—the elf who gave us her burden—she tried to teach me, but I don’t have the skill for it. Neither did any of my brothers.”
“Whodidshe teach? Naî says that someone around here is practicing elven magic to try and grow these elder trees.” I stepped close to one of the living ones, reaching out to see if I could sense the magic the way I could with Naî’s ice or the fire dragon’s lava.
As I brushed my fingers over a leaf, it came to life, color spiraling over it, then down the trunk and settling into the roots. They flared with light for a moment, visible through the soiland pot before dissipating. Frowning, I tried again, inhaling sharply as I saw a spark jump from my fingertip to the leaf before it made the same pattern—down the trunk and into the roots.
Lady Chaliko gasped. “You have the power. You have the same power as the elves.”
