Never question the gardeners. They've got the patience of saints and could stare down the Ghost Captain herself without flinching. Who else would be willing to plant a garden, only for it to be destroyed by some fight between Ascendents so they have to plant it all over? Mad, the whole lot of them. -Jessica Trivet of the Bordeaux Horse Knights

"You should be fine to walk," I said after examining Lin's ankle in the morning. A full night of rest and a morning of qi meditation and cycling did wonders for the Silver artist's condition. Though he was still a little pale, I believed him well enough to continue. "Once we get back, I'd say to take it easy for a few weeks to fully cleanse the void from your system, but I think we can continue."

"That's good, because I wasn't going to let you continue further on your own." Lin finished tying his hair back in his usual tight ponytail. He was the only one who didn't get the benefit of Chiho's finicky attentions, but he didn't seem to mind. Even without the pin fussing over him, his hair was respectably tidy with a short cream ribbon and a simple wooden pin.

Lin's words were both a relief and a disappointment. No doubt he was worried about my chains tightening again as we progressed further into the palace. I might not have agreed with the level of urgency that dictated, given that the chains had never strangled me, even back when I was first wrapped in them, but I couldn't deny that it came from a place of concern. My Sworn Brother was a good person. I felt lucky to have his attentions in that way, even if I thought they were entirely unnecessary.

The three of us began walking down the rightmost path. After taking a moment to pay our respects to the fresh graves, we continued further down the path, with Xinya lighting our way with her lantern.

"So, this is your sister's residence?" Lin asked, standing before the large circular gate in vine-covered walls.

"It isn't what it used to be," I admitted, a melancholic twinge twisting in my heart. "You would have liked her garden in its prime. She had a bed for every flower imaginable, even some that you'd find nowhere else in the world."

Having built everything in the palace, including Chouko's own residence, I knew exactly where she kept her gardening supplies. For Ishida Sumiko's plans to fuse the Voidlight into the moon moths and use it to increase the yield of our rice harvests, we needed a small sample of a high-grade fertilizer that was aligned with the celestial cycle. During her life, my sister experimented with hundreds of fertilizers. If there was anywhere we could find such a tool, it would be here. Anywhere else, and we would spend months or years just finding a merchant who sold something suitable, and the odds were good that we'd never be able to afford the cost of such an item, certainly not in time to take advantage of the Shattered Moon Sect's leader being out of the picture.

I kept an eye on the plants that grew wild across the untamed gardens. Thus, when a vine shot out of the darkness, trying to drill into my head, it was hardly surprising, even without Flash Forward's warning. I raised a hand, coated it in pure void qi, and snatched the vine clean out of the air before it could reach me.

"It seems the plant at the servant's entrance was not the only one affected by the void," I mused.

"The plants are restless," agreed Lin with a nod of his head.

The vine in my hand writhed and snapped, resisting the void qi that sizzled against every point of contact. Any other creature would have been disintegrated instantly, but plant specializing in wood qi? It had soaked up the void for long enough to be stubbornly resilient against its effects.

"I don't suppose they're saying anything that would explain the extra void density in the area?" At my mental command, Eclipse leapt from its sheath and severed the vine. A shrill cry echoed back to us from the dark depths of the garden. It was echoed by several other similar sounds from other plant masses that hungered for qi.

Lin shook his head. "Nothing sensible. I suspect they put so much qi and energy into adapting to the void that they have little to spare for their own growth."

That was sensible, and frankly quite lucky. If this garden had been left unattended for thirty thousand years without a limiter, the entire palace would have been in very real danger of being consumed by a single, all-consuming spirit flower. Worse, it could have been well on its way to becoming a powerful yokai with the amount of resentful qi and blood I left in my wake after my defeat. The very idea of a whole palace of yatong flowers or worse sent a chill up my spine.

However, after the first show of strength, the plants in the garden seemed to reconsider their options. We passed from the outer gardens through the halls where Chouko once roamed. I didn't dare go to her personal chambers. Those would remain sealed until a day when I could actually confront my sister's death once more.

Instead, I led Lin and Xinya through the twisted halls to the space that I'd originally created as a kitchen. The place was covered in dust and dirt, with broken pots and bits of porcelain scattered around.

"Don't touch the dirt," I warned. "It was here before the building was abandoned."

"Do I even want to know what it is?"

"Chouko never ate alone. Most of the time, she ate with me or with Shi Reili, so she repurposed her kitchens to make plant fertilizers," I explained. "Don't touch the dirt."

What I didn't tell them was about the time I had touched it. Chouko was working on a new fertilizer, and I wanted to bother her, as brothers do. When I leaned back on the dirt, it left my skin with a horrible rash that turned green, then purple, then blue, and every other color of the rainbow, with each color producing a different kind of itching sensation. Red felt like my skin was burning, while green was like the world's worst insect bite. Yellow made me hallucinate that my skin was peeling off.

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It took weeks to wear off, and I was an Ascendent at the time. At Silver, and with Xinya at Bronze, I really wasn't even keen on breathing near the stuff, despite Chouko's repeated assurances that the dirt was perfectly harmless.

"She was lucky I loved her so much," I finished grumpily, hastening my companions through the "kitchens" and into the "pantry" where our ultimate goal would be. "Lin, can I get some assistance with which might be best?"

The wood artist nodded and stepped forward. Together, we sifted through dozens of jars and vials stacked the way normal people would stack jams and preserves. Each jar was sealed, even after all this time. Each time we opened one, a tiny bit of Chouko's living qi escaped, bringing with it the smell of a cool midsummer's night that warmed my heart.

Eventually, we settled on a jar of misty purple dust. It was infused with star qi, and Lin seemed sure that it would be safe for eating, though I wasn't entirely sure why. Something about how one of his seeds reacted to it. It also came with a label, and though the text had faded almost to the point of being illegible, I was able to make out the words "good for moths," which was all the reassurance I needed.

During the founding of Half-Moon Hearth, we used moths as pollinators for the gardens that fed the city. Being isolated from the rest of the continent posed many problems, but with the help of skilled moon artists called Mothkeepers, we were able to spread qi and pollen to all corners of the city, which meant we could keep some stores of food for ourselves when merchants were late or without wares. As a result, Chouko developed most of her fertilizers with the tiny creatures in mind. We never attempted what Ishida would try, fusing fertilizer with the moths themselves to distribute, but at least the test subjects wouldn't be poisoned before we began.

Lin tucked the fertilizer safely in a small satchel he found abandoned just outside the kitchen doors. No doubt it once belonged to one of Chouko's groundskeepers, what few of them there were since she cared for most of the plants herself. Alongside the fertilizer, Lin also pocketed another jar with a glowing green seed inside. It was filled with wood qi and would make a great advancement resource for him to reach Gold.

"This way," I said. "My palace is next, through the lily beds." I paused, trying to decide if I should continue.

"You can't trust him," the Labyrinth whispered. "He will betray you just like Jinshi did. Why would anyone keep a monster like you around?"

"You're hesitating." Lin faced me directly, a hand settling on the chains wrapped around my chest. "What's in the lily beds?"

"Nothing," I admitted. "Which might be the problem." He waited for me to explain, and I hung my head. "I burned them with moon fire after Chouko died. It was her favorite, but I destroyed it." I could still remember the cold, blue flames as they burned the garden to the ground. Remorse and regret filled me.

"If there's nothing there, then you can close your eyes," he suggested. "Xinya will light the way, and I'll lead you step by step."

With heavy feet and a heavier heart, I did as I was told and led them through maze of pathways and corridors to the northern exit. Just before we reached the gates to the final garden, I paused, letting Xinya walk ahead. Lin took my hand and smiled.

"Is the void whispering to you?" he asked softly, trying to keep Xinya from hearing. "You've been distracted and muttering to yourself since we arrived."

I furrowed my brow in confusion for a moment before realizing what he was talking about. When I finally realized, my cheeks grew hot, and I looked down.

"Were my reactions that obvious?"

He shook his head. "I don't know if Xinya noticed, but I did. What are they saying?"

"It's not the void, it's the Labyrinth. I hear its torment sometimes, like it still is connected to me and wants me back." I hung my head, but Lin squeezed my hand to continue. "It's been worse since we arrived here in the palace. It knows how much pain I have here, and it just makes it worse."

There was no reason to hide it anymore, no point in keeping Lin in the dark. A soft, sympathetic smile lit his eyes. There was no judgement in him.

"Well, whatever its saying, I think it's wrong," he whispered. "I meant what I said when I called you brave. I didn't realize just how much it would take for you to come here. If no one else can see the pain you're in within these walls, just because you can't share your past, then at least know that I can. Let me share in the weight you carry." Lin's hands squeezed mine. "Now, close your eyes. I will guide you."

I did, but I couldn't help the smirk from creeping onto my face. "Isn't this the blind leading the blind?" I could feel him scowling at me, even if I couldn't see it.

"You didn't seem to mind when I fished you out of the Tide Serpent's whirlpool," he countered, a note of mischief creeping into his words.

I didn't have an answer to that. There were a lot of things I didn't mind about nearly drowning during that particular battle. I didn't know if he was trying to refer to the moment when he breathed life back into me or the simple fact that he'd guided me underwater when I could neither see nor move. I really didn't mind either one.

Walking from one end of a flower bed to the other was far lower stakes than surviving the depths of serpent-filled waters, but my apprehension was far greater. Unlike the throne room, I knew the damage I'd caused here. I remembered it vividly.

"It's okay, Yoru," Lin murmured softly. "Just focus on the sound of my voice and the feeling of my hands."

He's right, I thought. It's just a flower bed. It might be burned to a crisp, but the only monster here is me…

The hand on my left hand released me, only to flick my forehead gently. I startled, trying to pull away, only Lin didn't let me. My right hand was still firmly in his gentle grasp.

"I can see your anxiety. Relax and take one step after another," he said, retaking my left hand. "It's okay. The mistakes you made in the past do not define your future. I'm here to help you change things. You just have to let me."

It was hard. How do you just…let go of control? I was the greatest control freak in history. I controlled every battlefield, shaping reality to fit my design rather than the mysterious hands of fate. How do you let go of that?

I bowed my head. Lin squeezed my hands. With more effort than was required for even the most potent techniques in my arsenal, I forced myself to relax. I surrendered to Lin's guidance.

"There we go, one step, then another. I won't let you stumble." He must have been walking backwards, but he never faltered as he guided me forward, step by step. "I can feel you trembling, but you're doing great. Just follow my lead. We'll be there soon."

"Uncle Lin?" Xinya's voice was farther away.

"Yes?" he answered calmly, never slowing his step.

"You should see this." The girl's voice was filled with awe, which confused me more than anything else. What was there to be awed by in a garden of ash? Had the ashes become a monster? It was possible, but given the lack of fear in Xinya's words, I wasn't sure.

"We're coming. One moment." Lin never released my hands as we walked together, step by step. When we reached the approximate point where Xinya's call had originated, at least by my estimation, we stopped. "What is it?" he asked. I could feel his body turning, even though he never let go of my hands.

There was a sharp intake of air from my wood artist brother. I felt my heart sink. It probably was a monster, or something equally awful. Maybe there was still nothing there, and he was merely insulted that anyone would ruin a garden that way.

I hung my head and tried to slip out of his grasp, but he refocused on me and kept his grip firm.

"Yoru, do you trust me?"

"Of course." There wasn't a doubt in my mind.

"Then open your eyes."

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