The Enchanted Greenhouse

Lotti is devastated when Terlu and Yarrow explain that Laiken has been dead for years. She knew him when he was an open-minded young man, but he was over 100 years old and obstinate by the time Yarrow was born. The gardener leads Lotti and Terlu to a room in the greenhouse with some formerly sentient plants, and Lotti is distressed when none of them respond to her. Terlu feels certain that her presence in a place with sentient plants is no mere coincidence, and she asks Yarrow who sent her. He produces a letter from Rijes Velk. The head librarian’s message makes no mention of Terlu’s crime and doesn’t say that she was pardoned. It simply provides a spell to free her and expresses the hope that this could be the “solution to multiple problems” (80). Terlu realizes that she’s meant to awaken Lotti’s dormant friends.

Reluctantly, Terlu explains why she was turned into a statue. She’s terrified of casting magic again and risking another punishment, but Yarrow assures her that there’s no one else on Belde to discover their plan. Lotti begs, “Please, these plants are all the family I have left” (85).