---
She became a Sangufey who enjoyed building and was more useful than one who only enjoyed ruling. At last the planting was done.
The boxes stood empty on the grass, their useful contents now hidden under new soil lines, blood-garden roots, and Dryad-worked planting grounds. Around them, the patch did not explode outward, but it deepened. The life there no longer felt merely new. It felt anchored.
Leaf turned back toward Sekhmet.
She was still in her smaller form, but there was nothing small in the way she held herself now. Behind her, the five Dryads had returned to their positions, though the line of their bodies now bent subtly around the new planting points. Above her, the Flesh Fairies moved in slower circles than before, they were not guarding her alone, but they were guarding the zone itself. The Flesh Treant remained behind all of them, its huge eyes half lidded in a stillness that did not mean sleep, only ownership.
"It is done," Leaf said to Sekhmet.
