“
Planted every flower. It was obsessive, Sammerin had told me, once. An understanding clicked into place. I closed my eyes as my fingers found the necklace around my throat, my thumb pressing against the third Stratagram at the back. The one that would take me back there. “It was a very nice garden.” “The best damn garden in Ara.” Gods, I hadn’t known how much I would miss it. There was a long silence. And then Max’s voice was more solemn, most hesitant, as he said, “You gave me that same feeling, Tisaanah.” My breath stilled. “Not right away,” he went on. “Though, I will admit, ‘It says snp snp’ was fairly charming from the beginning. But a couple of weeks later, when you told me why you had come to Ara and what you planned to do… I’d just forgotten that people could be that way. That there were people who just wanted to do something good for the world.
”
”