The Empress came to find them after midnight.
Almond and Lily were on the roof of the half-ruined tower again. It had become their place. From up there they could see the whole city, and the glowing ring of white stones, and the little shoot in the square below.
They heard her on the stairs before they saw her. She climbed slowly, the way a person climbs when they have been deciding the whole way up whether to turn back.
She stepped out onto the roof and stood there in her plain gray travel clothes.
"I heard you were up here," she said. "I hope I'm not intruding."
"You're not," Lily said.
The Empress came and sat down on the broken edge of the wall across from them. For a long moment she said nothing at all. Then she reached into her pocket and took out what was in it.
It was a seed.
