"Wow, didn’t see that coming. What’s the hurry? Thought one of the princesses would be the heir."

"Nah, it’s no big deal. The Queen has been all about this one for a couple of years now. Always calling her over, teaching her stuff," one person said, making fun of it, "Didn’t you notice those kiss-ups over there? They’ve been sucking up big time, must’ve known this would happen."

Another guy, who was in charge of fancy ceremonies, wiped some sweat off his forehead and told his buddies, "It’s all legit, we checked it out. Her mom has really pure royal blood. Just her dad, well..."

"What’s up with her dad?" His friends were all ears now.

"Um, not much, some stuff got lost or something. We don’t really have much info on her dad."

Realizing he’d maybe said too much, the official guy waved it away and laughed, "But hey, having a mom with super pure royal blood is enough, right?"

"Totally, the key thing is the Queen really likes her. What a perfect heir for our kingdom," the group of friends all agreed at once.

"Oh yeah, definitely."

"Super classy."

"Heard she even went to fight in the war herself, so cool."

"The kingdom’s in good hands."

"Hail to the Tower."

"And Her Majesty’s wisdom."

By then, Kestrel couldn’t hear the high-up Tower people chatting anymore. She followed the Queen to the part of the Tower where they grow plants.

"Here, we keep seeds of all the stuff people grow for food. Every plant is taken good care of," the Queen says, touching a little area of golden wheat. She even smiles a bit under her veil. "See, Kestrel, how awesome they’re doing."

They move past the wheat to a really green spot. She picks two red, ripe tomatoes off a vine and gives one to Kestrel. The tomato looks super juicy and red.

The Queen takes a bite, and Kestrel bites into hers too.

"Is it good? Tasty?" You can hear she’s kinda excited to know.

"Nah, not really," Kestrel says, being totally honest and looking at the not-so-great tomato she just tried. "It’s not sweet; it’s pretty bland. The ones outside the Tower taste way better—they’re tangy and sweet."

They’re in the Tower, so there’s no real sun, and everything grows in like, indoor farms. These fruits and veggies that look so good are actually pretty blah when you eat them. They’re nowhere near as good as the tomatoes Birdie once picked for Kestrel outside the Tower.

Those super fresh tomatoes, cleaned in cold well water, a bit peeled, and with some sugar on them, were the bomb. Biting into them, you’d get this burst of juicy flavor—a perfect mix of tart and sweet, with the crunch of sugar.

Just thinking about it makes Kestrel’s mouth start watering.

Wearing her fancy white dress, the Queen looked at Kestrel. Kestrel just shrugged, making it clear she was telling it like it was. She even sent the Queen all the feelings behind her words—like real soil, real sun, hard-working people, and truly awesome fruit.

"Hopefully, one day we should be able to plant all this stuff back on Earth," the Queen said, sounding not too sure, even using the word ’should,’ like she’s not 100% confident.

Right then, Kestrel felt this weird change in psychic power. It made her think that maybe, a long time ago, the Queen really did want to save the Empire and get people out of this Tower where they were all stuck now.

A breeze from the air system came in. This level of the Tower was super big and has all kinds of plants from all over the place. Even plants that had disappeared from Earth were still here. They’d been waiting a long time in this part of the Tower, hoping to go back to real dirt and actual sunlight one day.

The Queen looked up, her eyes behind the white veil sweeping over golden stalks, purple eggplants, and yellow pumpkins.

As she looked, she felt all these images and feelings—like real dirt, real sun, hard work, and sugar—coming from Kestrel’s psychic power. For a quick second, these made the Queen out of it.

She remembered that a really long time ago, when she was about Kestrel’s age, she had felt those strong feelings and pure dreams too.

Back then, as a young girl just learning the ropes, she took the throne. For that, she had had to get rid of her mean dad and useless brothers.

She used to be super ambitious, wanting to keep safe everything she cared about. She dreamed she’d take her people back to the real world, where humans belonged, making the Empire really shine.

But now, things are how they are. She had forgotten those old dreams and thought of them as just silly kid stuff.

Her huge, shaky psychic incarnation wiggled a bit. A golden liquid came out and quickly filled in the weak spots, closing the gaps.

Even though she was nearly falling apart, she was still huge and filled up all the space. The Queen snapped back and tossed the squishy tomato into the mud like it was nothing. She smiled at Kestrel and said, "Come on, let’s go to the next floor."

Kestrel’s look got really cold then. She noticed that the liquid inside the Queen was golden and super shiny—it was Erdtree, a part of Kaworu.

Because of some mess-up with taking in the kid’s psychic power, the Queen had busted into Kestrel’s house in a rush. She took Kaworu and used him to fix herself up.

"Is this what you’re mad about?" The Queen felt Kestrel’s psychic vibes change. She moved a bit, showing off the golden liquid inside her psychic incarnation.

"You’re not mad about this, right? He was just a mutant," the Queen said, acting like it was no big deal—because she really didn’t care. In her mind, letting Kestrel inherit the throne was a huge favor.

The Queen thought that nobody would make a big deal over a tree in a garden, or an enemy, or a different creature, when it came to being the queen of everything. She remembered all the stuff she gave up for this throne 400 years ago; compared to this Erdtree, it was way to tremendous and heavy.

To the Queen, Kestrel was like a younger version of herself, and this Erdtree was just a weird plant kept in the backyard. It was like how other nobles in the Empire kept strange pets in their yards to show off how different and powerful they were.

"It’s your fault too," the Queen said, a bit annoyed. "I asked you if you brought anything back from the Erdtree’s Polluted Zone. You kept it a secret."

"Yeah, sorry, Your Majesty," Kestrel replied.

"She’s really smart and level-headed," the Queen thought. But for some reason, by this time, it felt like Kestrel had totally blocked her out. The Queen couldn’t feel any of her real feelings anymore.

The Queen turned her head to look back at Kestrel. Past the stairs that were stacked with layers of bones, she saw Kestrel’s golden eyes staring at her in the dim light.