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People? Who— Before Terlu could ask out loud, Yarrow charged through the greenhouse. She glanced at the plants. Lotti held up her leaves, toddler-like, and Terlu scooped her up as she hurried after Yarrow.

“Where?” she asked as she huffed. Being a librarian had involved a lot less running than being a gardener/pretend-sorcerer did.

Lotti clung to the fabric of her skirt. “Dock.”

“A boat?”

“Yes. You’re bouncing a lot.”

Glancing back, Terlu saw that the other plants were trailing after them in a ribbon of green on the white snow.

She wondered if it was wise to bring the talking plants to meet the new arrivals.

Granted, they’d been created years ago by a legitimate sorcerer, and there was no need for anyone to know she’d woken them recently, but that was no guarantee that the newcomers wouldn’t leap to conclusions and cause complications that they didn’t want or have time for.

“Who are the arrivals?” Terlu asked. “What do they want?”

“I don’t know,” Lotti said. “We came to get you as soon as Dendy spotted all the passengers ready to come off the boat as soon as it docks.”

Slowing, Terlu waited for Dendy to catch up. “Want to climb on?”

The philodendron climbed up her leg and wrapped himself around her waist.

“Me too!” Risa demanded.

Terlu stayed stationary while several more plants climbed onto her.

A few of the smaller plants stuffed their root balls into her coat pockets.

Once they’d all wrapped themselves around her or found other ways to hold on (the orchid clung to her boot laces, the thistle burrowed its prickles into the fabric of her coat sleeve, and the daisy climbed onto Terlu’s curls like a living fascinator), Terlu hurried after Yarrow again.

She’d lost sight of him through the pine trees, but it didn’t matter because she knew where he was headed.

As she trotted down the snow-covered road toward the sea, she heard voices from the dock—multiple voices, male and female, young and old.

She tried to squash the temptation to pivot and flee into the forest, taking the plants to safety.

How many people had just arrived? And what would they think of the plants, of her, of Yarrow and the greenhouse, of the island of Belde?

She felt a tendril of fear wrap around her throat and squeeze.

Why are they here?

Ahead, as the pine trees parted, she saw Yarrow silhouetted against the sea and sky, looking down at the dock, the boat with silver sails, and the cluster of people climbing off it.

Puffing, she joined him. The sun glinted off the ocean, and Terlu had to squint to see faces.

With the exception of the sailor Marin, she recognized no one, though she supposed that shouldn’t have been a surprise, given that there were lots of strangers in the world.

Really, the odds that she’d know any of these arrivals were astronomically low.

“Who are they?” she asked. And where was Ree, the wax myrtle bush who loved the sea and had left with the sailor?

He glanced at her, then his eyes widened. “Um…”

She glanced down at herself, wreathed in greenery.

Dendy waved a leaf at Yarrow. “Heyyy. Hooow’s it going?”

Maybe this wasn’t the best way to greet the new arrivals, especially before she knew what had happened to Ree, whether these people knew about Belde’s sentient plants, and if any of them were going to instantly turn her over to the nearest imperial investigator to be re-statue-ified.

“How about you all go to Laiken’s tower until we determine if they’re friendly?

” Terlu suggested. She set the plants down, and they scurried over the snow toward the tower.

She watched as Dendy rose up on his root ball to open the door with his leaves before asking Yarrow, “Do you think they’re friendly? ”

“Oh yes,” Yarrow said grimly. “They’re friendly.”

That sounded like the opposite.

She heard the memory of the courtroom drums, as fast as her heartbeat.

On the dock, the boat with silver sails was disgorging person after person.

Marin straddled the dock and boat, helping each person climb out.

A second sailor, a man with startlingly purple hair and two crystalline horns that curled in spirals from the top of his head, was hoisting out boxes, bags, and suitcases.

At least a half-dozen arrivals stood on the dock already, with crates and suitcases piled around them.

“They’re my family,” Yarrow said. “My entire family.”

“Oh! That’s… great? Isn’t that great? They’re okay!”

He didn’t move. “They’re here . That’s not okay.”

From below deck, a shrub popped up. He scurried over the deck and climbed nimbly up one of the lines to the mast. He’s fine too! Terlu grinned. “It looks like Ree delivered the letter.”

Granted, she hadn’t expected so many to come in response.

One maybe, if they were lucky. A spare cousin or an unemployed aunt.

Really, she’d expected a letter back with advice—or excuses for why they couldn’t just pick up their lives, travel across the sea, and abandon their homes, jobs, and dreams just to save some flora that they’d already given up on, especially in the midst of political upheaval.

She watched as Marin unloaded a mirror, a chair, and a hatstand, passing each item to the new arrivals.

What did it mean that all of them had come?

What exactly had happened in the capital?

“It, um, doesn’t look like they’re here for a visit. ”

“It looks like an invasion,” Yarrow growled.

Clustered on the dock, the group ranged in age from a knee-high toddler to an elderly man with a cane.

One woman was helping the man with the cane down the dock.

She had gold-and-black hair that was braided and coiled on her head, the same strikingly colored hair as Yarrow.

Terlu glanced at him—he was scowling, bearlike, but she could see the family resemblance.

She wondered if they had the same sea-deep green eyes.

“My sister,” Yarrow said, “and my father.”

That should be a good thing, shouldn’t it?

Why didn’t he sound as if it was a good thing?

She’d thought he missed them, from his reaction to the cottages and, well, every time he mentioned them, or maybe she’d just been projecting her own feelings onto him?

He wasn’t particularly easy to read. “I thought you were worried about them.”

“I was, but they could have sent a note. That would have been enough.”

But wasn’t this better? Didn’t he want to see them? Talk to them? Tell them how he felt now that he knew they were safe… On the other hand, this was Yarrow. “Ahh. Okay. Are you going to…”

His face was stiff, and his hands were clenched into fists.

Now he was easy to read.

“Why don’t you want to greet them?” Terlu asked quietly. “What don’t I know?”

Yarrow shook his head. “You know everything. They left.”

“I thought you said the sorcerer Laiken made them leave.” Was there more to the story? Had his family not left Yarrow on good terms? Had they not said goodbye? She knew they hadn’t reached out after they’d left. Maybe that’s it? “He took away their jobs, didn’t he? They didn’t have a choice.”

“Everyone has a choice.” He pivoted, his back to his family, and he scowled hard at the snow-covered pine forest, at the greenhouse cupolas that rose above the tips of the trees, and at the sky.

He hasn’t walked away, but he certainly isn’t happy.

She remembered her initial impression of him: a bear, now angry at being woken from his hibernation.

She studied him for a moment more, then looked again at the dock.

Wasn’t he at least curious why so many had come in response to their letter?

Or was he relieved and just didn’t know how to handle all that he was feeling?

That… seemed likely. Gently, she asked, “What if they were just waiting to be invited?”

Yarrow snorted.

She watched them unload several more pieces of furniture: a narrow desk, a folded-up table, a blanket chest…

She had not expected this kind of response.

Temporary help, she’d written. Until the crises are averted.

They looked very much as if they expected to stay.

“I’m going to greet them. Do you want to come? ”

“If I must.”

“I’m not your parent. Do whatever you want to do.

” She was certainly not going to force him.

He knew best how he felt and what he could handle, though she wished she understood why he was reacting this way.

If it were her family and she’d been concerned about their safety…

Well, it would be awkward, but she’d still be overjoyed to see them.

And she’d certainly want to know why they’d all come.

He sighed heavily. “As far as they know, I invited them all.”

“I said we needed a gardener, singular, if anyone could be spared. This… is a surprise. Aren’t you at least a little curious why they all came?”

“Guess you’re a persuasive writer.”

She wasn’t so certain of that. This was something more.

“They didn’t return for the greenhouses,” Yarrow said. “Or for me. If they’d cared about me, they would have replied to the letter first, invaded second.”

“You don’t know that,” she said. “You won’t know anything until you talk to them .”

Starting down the steps, Terlu pasted a smile on her face and waved.

Out in the ocean, the waves were dancing beneath the cloud-streaked sky.

She looked for the sea dragon, but she didn’t see any hint of its scaly back as she walked toward the dock.

Behind her, she heard Yarrow following her, and she was relieved.

She wasn’t sure how she’d explain it if he’d just fled.

Smiling for real now, she called, “Hello! Welcome to Belde!”

Popping up from below deck, the shrub squeaked, “Terlu! Yarrow! Land ho!”