The following morning, Kael arrived at the flower bed after the nameless man but before the former Reference. The man was crouching in front of one of the new markers, writing with the pencil he had purchased in the city. Beside him were three small white stones marking spots where new seeds had been planted the previous afternoon.
"Did you plant more?" Kael asked, approaching.
"Three," the man replied, finishing writing the date. "I want to find out if they grow the same way as the first ones."
Kael examined their arrangement.
"The same seeds?"
"Two are the same. One is different."
"Which one?"
The man pointed toward the stone closest to the edge.
"Sylphie said it's a marigold."
Kael nodded as though he knew exactly what kind of plant that was.
The man looked at him.
"Do you know what that is?"
"A flower."
"I know that much."
"Then we're at the same level."
