'Meaning what exactly?'
[Meaning it knows it's being approached,] Puffball said. [Or it was built to behave as though it does. Someone designed this to push back.]
Faelyn crouched at the edge.
Mira crouched beside her. "Well?"
"The plants can feel something underneath the first layer. It feels different. Like it—" she paused, trying to find the right word. "Like it's aware something is coming."
"Not aware," Mira said. "Designed. There's a difference." She looked at the water. "The first layer was passive. It sat and spread and did its damage slowly. Whatever is underneath was placed by someone who understood living systems well enough to build a resistance into it."
"Who could do that three hundred years ago?"
"Someone with deep knowledge of the old ways. Someone who knew what a blessed one's abilities looked like and wanted to make sure the damage couldn't be easily undone." Mira paused. "The same era as the cave. The same kind of deliberate harm."
"The same person?"
