21

She starts slightly when she sees you, as if she's just been jolted out of a daze. When she blinks to focus on you a little better, you're not entirely sure if she recognizes you—but either way, she greets you with a polite smile.

"Oh, hello," she says. "Sorry to be in your way. It's Huknock, isn't it? I think you spoke about the forest at last night's meeting."

"Yeah, that was me."

"Well, it's nice to meet you."

She shakes your hand and quickly gestures to the man by her side.

"This is my colleague, Richard Owen; he's the Deputy Council Leader."

You shake her companion's hand—though he seems just as distracted as before while he does. He only gives you a quick smile before turning back to Dina with a dark look—a look that tells you this might not be the best moment to chat.

"If we're not going to move the sculpture, we should at least put up a rope around it. It might not withstand any more damage."

Dina and Richard turn as one to look at the sculpture. This close up, you can see that apart from the graffiti, it looks as though some parts that used to be there have been torn off it. You're just wondering what the story behind this strange wooden sculpture is when Dina, seeing you looking, points a finger towards it.

"You may not have come across it before, but that sculpture has been important to Silvertree for a long time. It's been here for about fifty years, ever since the park was built; Mr. Ambrose—the Council Leader at the time—wanted everyone to be able to see it out in the open. It was quite old even then—in fact, it was created about a hundred years ago by probably the most famous person to come out of Silvertree: Selene Corvina."

You give her a blank look.

"Oh—I suppose you might not have heard of her. She was an artist and a poet, but her best known works are her sculptures. No one knows very much about her outside of her work. There are several more sculptures of hers around town, but this one—"

Dina gestures towards the tree stump. When she catches sight of it again, she sighs.

"This one is probably the most important one we have. You might not think it to look at it now, of course, since someone's taken the time to destroy it. From what we can tell, somebody climbed over the gates last night just to vandalize it."

You suddenly put the scene in front of you together with what you saw outside the park last night, realizing that those flowers you rescued were probably in that state because somebody used them to vault over the gate. You think about saying as much to Dina, but she doesn't really pause long enough for you to get a word in. In any case, it seems like she's already up to speed.

"The graffiti is one thing," Dina goes on with a grim look. "It should clean off easily enough. Strangely, there doesn't seem to have been any specific motive or message behind it—just random spray paint, as far as we can tell. But the worst thing is that some parts of it have been stolen, too. There used to be long branches coming out of the base, weaving all around it and all decorated differently. It was supposed to represent the passing of the seasons; I'm not much of an art historian, but I think that was the intention. Now we don't know how long it will take to restore it, or if it will ever be the same as it was. It's such a shame to think of having to move it out of the park—right before the fair, as well—and maybe indefinitely."

You watch as Dina and Richard survey the stunted sculpture, both of them hopelessly weighed down by the sight of it. Just then, however, someone with a large collection of tools standing near the stump calls to Dina, and she and Richard politely excuse themselves for a moment. Left on your own, there isn't much you can do except watch.

You can see from the amount of busy movement still going on around the sculpture that there's a real uncertainty about what can be done. You start to feel a tinge of sadness about this sculpture, sitting ruined and bare in front of you. And now that you're looking at it a little closer, you notice dozens of small holes like pockmarks in the wood where you assume the branches once came out. It doesn't seem as if the whole piece could be restored unless those missing branches were found.

But as you take it in, you start to wonder—is there anything you could do to help? You think Dina would certainly be appreciative if you could; the only question is how.

Of course, you're not sure she'd be so appreciative if you didn't really know what you were doing. There's a chance you could make things worse just by trying—and you're not sure that's something anybody has time for.

Still—if there is something you could do—shouldn't you at least give it a shot?