I woke up early, before all of the now sleeping revelers who crowded Esie’s platform, and found the woman in question already awake despite being at the center of the gathering the night before. She was perched up the railing, enjoying the warmth from a patch of sunlight that managed to slip through the pine needles.

Esie turned to look as soon as I sat up right and smiled warmly at me. I couldn’t help but be a little grouchy in return—I still didn’t know what she and her mistress wanted from me nor was it fair that she looked completely unaffected from the night’s celebrations other than a bit of mussed hair. My back and neck felt stiff after sleeping on the hard platform all night with a lumpy pack for a headrest.

Esie rose smoothly to her feet and walked along the top of the railing without sparing a glance for the long drop to her left. Once she passed Prevna she dropped lightly down to the platform, and tilted her head at me in question.

I could tell that she wanted me to follow her somewhere and while I didn’t particularly like not knowing what I was getting myself into, I also still knew that it would be a bad idea to offend her. I stepped over Prevna who kept unnaturally still while she “slept”. I think she woke up as soon as I had gotten up, but she also knew better than to butt into whatever discussion was about to happen.

We wound through the quiet living quarters without speaking. A few other whisper women who were already up and about gave us odd looks while the fire starters we passed tended to keep their eyes to themselves. After a short walk Esie led me through a curtain of pine needles and out onto a small platform with a few amber benches lining its edge. The railing was shorter here, closer to knee level for a woman of average height. It wasn’t difficult to see why. This was a viewing platform.

Someone, somehow, for some unknown reason, had carved the large ice vine that rose past the platform and the ice had kept the shape despite the other ice vines I had chipped for water not keeping the imperfection I made for more than a day. The ice sculpture wasn’t one of the goddess’s common symbols like I would have expected had I known to expect the art. Instead, two large, graceful hands were suspended in the air, barely touching by their pointer fingers. Like the very last moments of a handhold that had been broken.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Esie sat down on the middle bench facing the artwork.

Shawsh’s miniature creations and the sculptures I had seen at Flickermark’s entrance and in its depths. The statue of the Beloved in the Seed Landing. This ice sculpture didn’t…strike me in quite the same way those had, but it was still beautiful in its own right.

I didn’t sit on one of the benches, but I did step up next to the one she had chosen and nodded. It kept us nearly eye level.

When she didn’t speak after another long minute I filled the silence instead. “What did you wish to speak about?”

Esie seemed amused at my impatience but she didn’t sound patronizing when she spoke, “My mistress wishes to offer you a word of warning and some advice.”

“Why doesn’t she speak to me herself then?” The bitter sounding challenge slipped out before I had fully processed what I was about to say.

Esie lifted her eyebrows at me. “Oh? So I’m not good enough for you?”

I clamped my mouth shut and looked to the side. There was no good way to answer that question.

Esie chuckled before her tone turned more serious. “The Lady of Calm Waters owes no seedling an appearance, not even one she’s given patronage to. Rather it would cause quite the stir if she did. Don’t forget that you are the one who owes the favor, not her.”

I dipped my head in understanding before rising my gaze and risking one more question. “Who is she?”

“I’m sure you’ll put it together in time,” Esie dismissed the question and winked. “I won’t bite if you sit down next to me.”

Feeling like she wouldn’t reveal what she had to say until we were both sitting, I sank down onto the bench next to hers. Sitting directly next to her would have been too close for comfort. She liked being mysterious a little too much and, more importantly, she seemed like the type who frequently forgot the importance of allowing others their personal space, like Wren and, to an extent, Prevna who took comfort from physical contact.

Esie noted my choice and moved on without comment, though I saw more amusement crinkle her eyes. “Let’s start with the warning: the condition that you are allowed back into the Palace without the benefit of a mentor does not just apply to Jin. No whisper woman is to take you as a personal student. It was argued that because of your insubordination and attack you should not directly benefit from the experience of those you show no respect for.”

My teeth ground together. No mentors at all? I had been happy with the knowledge that I would no longer have to attend what passed as Jin’s lessons, but how was I supposed to learn how to use the boons or other things all whisper women were expected to know without anyone to teach me? Even if I could figure it out on my own I didn’t doubt that it would take me a idiotically long time to learn what I needed in comparison to the others.

“I—”

Esie held up a hand to stop my protest. “There are those of us who don’t approve of the restriction. You can hardly be an asset to the goddess if you aren’t allowed to fully develop the boons we rely on.” A sardonic smile crossed her lips. “Most don’t find them intuitive.” She leaned towards me. “We are working to dismiss the decision and in return we expect to see respectful, model behavior from you towards all your superiors.”

I swallowed and held my pricked pride carefully in check. “Of course.”

After another few moments of tense silence Esie shifted back into her easygoing posture and waved a hand. “There are loopholes of course. You can learn from your cohort or others who haven’t fully completed their training. Spy on their training with the mentors. There’s also the arena which will help you learn through contest and observation. Nor can they take the rights of patronage away from my mistress.”

I frowned, incredulous. “You just told me to be a model of behavior.”

She stood and stretched. “There’s being a model of good behavior and stupidity. Keep your wits about you, be respectful towards any whisper woman you interact with, and continue your training anyway you can and we’ll be able to advocate for you.”

“But you can’t be sure of your success?” I concluded.

Her smile turned tight. “Jin and Yule have their own backing, but it is nothing my mistress shouldn’t be able to deal with.”

I rose as well. “Why do you care?”

Esie turned from observing the ice sculpture to me. “You’ve already had a noteworthy start to your time as a seedling. You draw attention even if you don’t want it and cause disruption even if you don’t mean to…if nothing else you’ve already proven yourself different from the usual fare of seedlings. We like to help such cases.”

I could tell she wasn’t telling the full truth, but, like as not, I doubted I would understand the full picture even if she laid her reasons out for me, or could do much about them if I did. That was the trouble with becoming indebted to someone when you had little to no resources of your own to draw on. They wanted to use me, and possibly my infamy, that much was clear. I could understand that, but I didn’t like the feeling that I was falling deeper into their clutches with every bit of help and advice Esie tossed my way.

I let out a deep breath. “Fine. How will I know that I fulfilled the favor I owe?”

She smiled, but it wasn’t entirely kind. “That depends on how many favors you accumulate, but when the tally is even you’ll know.”

“Does the removal of the mentor ban count as another favor owed?”

She tilted in her head in a silent question of what do you think?

Of course it would.

Esie nodded and turned back to the wall of needles that had hidden this platform from view. “That should cover everything for now. If you ever need help with something pressing send a fire starter with a message and I will help how I can.”

And that way I would become even more entangled with her group and their favors. I resolved then and there to only give in and send such a message as a last resort. My thoughts whirled around what I had learned and the complexities that Esie’s words hinted at as I followed her back to her home.

There were factions and clashes of thought and plans that I could only vaguely guess at for now. I did understand that the Lady of Calm Waters had swooped in and gathered me into her influence before any of the other influential players truly had a chance. The question was what she thought she had to gain out of it or if it was a early gamble based on my blessing or acquisition of a trial mark, or some plan that in reality had little to do with me. She could have taken me into her influence just make it more difficult for another person to gain use of me, though her current helpfulness, however mysterious, belayed that idea.

Why anyone would care so much about a seedling seemed odd to me, especially when I had yet to gain any boons, but perhaps I had made a bigger splash than I thought.

Most of the revelers were gone by the time we returned, though Esie’s sister Yeelan was still stubbornly sleeping with an arm flung over her face and Kaylan stepped out of the dome yawning. Of course, she would have found her way to the comfier accommodations. Prevna waited with my pack as she munched on nuts she had gotten somewhere.

Esie kissed Kaylan’s temple in a blatant and unrepentant display of affection, though after how open they had been with each other the night before I wasn’t really surprised. I shouldered on my pack as Esie ambled over to her sister and knelt to whisper something in her ear. Yeelan, unlike the giggling disaster she had been the night before, groaned and growled something back. Esie prodded her further and Yeelan flung her arm off her face and sat up right as she snapped something back. Kaylan presented the grumpy woman with a water pouch and Yeelan took a long drink before she noticed Prevna and me. One of her hands reached up to gently pat her still styled hair and she graced Prevna with a small smile. Prevna grinned back at her.

Prevna and I left not long after, following the lead of another fire starter. Before we were taken all the way back to the Seed Landing we had to put on blindfolds which I thought was stupid and dangerous, since the railings could only do so much to keep someone from going over the edge, but we weren’t given much of a choice. I tried to keep track of the twists and turns, but it didn’t do me much good. There were too many of them and I wasn’t familiar enough with the layout of the Seedling Palace to place the paths I thought we had taken in context. Nor did it help that I suspected that the fire starter had taken us in one or more circles while we walked.

When we took off the blindfolds we were on our housing platform and the only thing I could say for certain was that we hadn’t had to climb down from the overlapping branch that formed the bridge a little ways ahead. Wren and Dera were also on the platform. My stomach lurched at the sight of them as the fire starter left.

The pretty girl I had hardly given a thought to while I had been away but whose looks could still make my heart beat faster and the girl who had witlessly broken the protective cold distance I had encased myself in after learning about the Black Handed Healers which had then helped fuel the current predicament I found myself in.

We stared at each other for several long moments and then, inexplicably, Dera began to cry.