The Enchanted Greenhouse

The next morning, Yarrow and Terlu discover that Lotti and the other sentient plants have all reconciled. Yarrow tells the plants that Terlu will try to repair the greenhouse’s failing magic, and Dendy the rhododendron, who used to be close with Laiken, volunteers to help the librarian with her research at the tower. Dendy gently teases Terlu about her interest in Yarrow and explains that the gardener doesn’t express his emotions freely because he “had to learn to guard his heart” due to Laiken’s decline (157). Dendy reveals that Laiken originally created the enchanted greenhouse for his daughter, Ria, who was ill and loved flowers. When Ria sailed away from Belde to pursue her dream of traveling the world, Laiken blamed everyone around him, including Lotti and the gardeners, for not stopping her. After word reached him that Ria had died, the sorcerer became brokenhearted and increasingly paranoid: “He becaaame afraid that others would destroy the greenhouses. He didn’t see that others loooved them too” (160).

Suddenly, Yarrow bursts into the tower, seeking a reprieve from the sentient plants’ loquaciousness. Terlu is inwardly pleased that he chose her company over time alone. Hours later, Lotti and the other sentient plants rush to the tower and inform the humans that another greenhouse is dying.