After the head of the rose maidens declared and the tree wardens carried away the table, she turned to Lily and the other children, enjoying their meal and began to speak.
“The Emperor of Life bestows gifts upon all who are weak and small; he does this out of pure kindness.” She then looked at the older children and continued
“However, once you become big and strong, you must make a choice, for those who stand far from the rootweave throne will always be smaller, weaker than the ones at the foot of the great tree.” The maiden let a smile cross her face, and her hair shone with a green glow.
“Join those who serve the Emperor with all their might, and he will see to it that you grow tall and strong beyond anything you can imagine.” Finishing her speech, she thrust forth a hand and turned the palm upwards. Cusped inside was a seed, and in front of everyone's eyes, it cracked open; a stem shot upwards from its shell and at its top, a rose bloomed a brilliant scarlet.
The maidens continued, spreading the Emperor's word to the children before all but one who would watch the children retreated inside the buildings. Having eaten all her food, Lily turned to her friends and, seeing that they had finished their meals, got up quickly, followed by the rest. They joined the small crowd of children walking up to the crate to return their bowls. Then, they joined a larger group of children and began to play in the grassy patch amongst the great field of flowers, with the great tree looming overhead.
Devin's brown hair waved in the wind as he ran through the grassy field; the wind tickled as it passed through the hole he had torn in his shirt's side. He, his sister and their friends were playing a game with a larger group in which one child would pretend to be a fearsome ruin beast and chase the other children, trying to tag and eliminate them. Another child played the sovereign role, and with their mighty authority, they could tag and destroy the beast. As always, Devin wasn't either of them; the older kids always got those roles. Instead, he ran with a group of civilians as the beast chased after them. In his group were two friends. Jani was at the front, being older and faster, and Wes was near the back with Devin. Behind them, Tom, chosen as the beast, began to get closer, closing the distance; he first tagged the slowest of the group, followed by Wes and finally Devin himself. Falling to the ground, he clutched at his throat and made fake dying noises; with a final blegh, he splayed out his arms and legs and stopped moving.
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After a few seconds, he got up and, along with Wes and the other kid, all walked over to the “dead” zone. When they arrived, an older boy let out a whoop and took off like the wind. He was the sovereign, and after ten players had died, he was released to hunt down the ruin beast. Devin watched Tom, also noticing the sovereign's release changed course from the older kids he was after to a group of younger kids, including Lily and Io. It was a good strategy because younger players were more accessible to catch, and all players were worth one point. Even if the sovereign managed to hunt down the ruin beast, as long as they killed over half the players first, it was considered a win, hunting down Lily's group would complete that goal. However, the sovereign was faster and tagged Tom just before he reached the group.
Devin and the other, tired after the running game, gathered back near the building, resting in the shade; he watched as rose maidens and tree wardens went in and out of the nearby building carrying their duties. Most wardens did mundane tasks such as cleaning, laundry, and dishes. Meanwhile, the maidens walked amidst the great field of flowers, tending to each of them as needed. Some had watering cans, others some kind of backsoil, and some had nothing, but when they bent down, a green glow was visible from their hands. A few who seemed to be the heads of the group carried baskets and travelled in pairs. Every once in a while, one would bend down and pluck out a black flower, and the second would follow up by planting a new bulb in the soil.
Devin, Lily and their friends chatted away in a group. The conversation went from the stone-throwing game to talking about the four great heroes of Thaldun City from the stories sometimes told by Rose maidens. The two saints, Rose Matron, St Lotus-Rose and St Nightshade. The Tree Guardian, High St Oak and the head of the broken continents army, General Ryker. The conversation switched again when Lily brought up ideas for them to make money. Still, they shot most of them down, only agreeing with the one about checking the garbage in the middle districts for anything they could salvage something valuable from or make into useful items and trinkets.
As the day wore on and the hour grew late, a bell began to toll from the great cathedral; as if by clockwork, regular citizens left the buildings in the field of flowers and followed the paths back to the city; in contrast, the maidens and wardens began to close and shutter all the windows then went inside and locked the doors. The children also followed this trend as they all shuffled out in a crowd headed towards the poor district, with only a few turning elsewhere. As Devin looked back, he could see a strange sight; although it was later, the sun was still in the sky, and yet, starting from the base of the great tree, all the flowers began to close and lower their heads, but here and there flowers still stood tall with their petals spread open towards the lowering sun.