Sebastian

it was two years too late to make any difference. What could you have done, Sebastian? I was fifteen; you were seventeen. What could either of us have done? The wizards had condemned her. The other Landscapers had condemned her. All I could do was get through my formal training as fast as I could so that I could be a Bridge for her, since you can be damn certain no one else would do it knowingly. And I had to be careful, always so careful, because I was Glorianna's brother, and they were always watching me to see if my gift had any unacceptable… flourishes."

    "Like being able to impose one landscape over another?"
    "Exactly. Which is something only my family knows about me."
    Sebastian hesitated, absorbing the importance of that statement tossed out in anger. When Lee had told him about this rare ability, he'd understood his cousin was sharing something very private, but he hadn't realized how much trust Lee was offering by telling him at all.
    Only my family knows about me.
    And he hadn't realized how difficult all those years at the school had been for Lee. "Why did you stay?"
    "Because I needed the official training. Oh, I didn't need most of the training itself. I'd done more just playing with Glorianna when we were children than I learned in the first three years at the school. But if I hadn't gone through the formal training to prove my talents weren't a potential danger to Ephemera, I would have been declared rogue, too, and that wouldn't have done Mother or Glorianna any good."
    Sebastian hung his head. "I'm sorry things were hard for all of you, that things went bad for Glorianna…
    because of me."
    "It wasn't you, so stop feeling sorry for yourself."
    That stung his temper and his pride. He raised his head and stared at his cousin.
    Lee looked out over the water. "It wasn't you, and it wasn't the Den. Not really. I overheard some things while I was in training that make me think it was just an excuse. Before she ever got to the school, the wizards suspected that Glorianna's power might eclipse what was considered 'natural' in a Landscaper, and they wanted to seal her in, confine her, isolate her. If it hadn't been the Den, it would have been something else at some other time, when it might have been harder for her to break free."
    "What makes you say that?"
    "Like I said, things I overheard. The wizards come by several times a year, right after students are evaluated for advancement. They always want to know about the strongest student Landscapers, the ones who might become a 'problem' in the future once they're away from watchful eyes." Lee looked at Sebastian. "Glorianna wasn't the first, you know. Whenever I had a free day, I would wander all over the school. There were other sealed gardens, some dating back a hundred years or more. Some going back so far the date had been etched in the stone wall instead of on a brass plaque. I think…" He lowered his voice and leaned forward. "I think the wizards have been culling the strongest Landscapers for generations. I think they find some excuse to get that girl declared a threat to Ephemera, then seal her up in a cage of her own making. In theory, the girl can reach the things she needs to survive—food, clothing, shelter—through the access points in her garden, but she's alone. She can reach things but not people.
    Even if one of her access points is a street in the middle of a city, she's still isolated from any direct contact with other people. That's the real punishment of being walled in by the Justice Makers. The girl lives alone—and she dies alone. And her line is extinguished."
    Sebastian braced his hands on the bench and leaned forward so he wouldn't have to raise his voice above a whisper. Daylight! He felt as if he were exchanging vile secrets that would be worth his life if anyone else heard what Lee was saying.
    And maybe that's true.
    "You can't know that's what happens to the girls, that they're left alone like that," Sebastian said.
     
    "Yes, I can. Because I found one of them two years ago." Lee shook his head. "A calling so strong, I created a bridge to answer it. And I found her. She was very old and quite mad, but it was a lucid madness. She was in a woods, gathering leaves and twigs. I don't know if she thought they were edible or if she was just doing it for something to do. She was wearing rags that barely covered her and looked so frail…
    "Then she saw me. And she told me about being sealed in her garden and what the