Chapter 322: What He Brings Home

They measured the block before lifting anything.

Eira worked around the cluster on her knees, parting the grit in narrow places and covering each again when she had looked. Pale roots spread farther than the stems suggested. Beneath them, the darker layer continued past the stone Ren had set at the change in warmth.

She pointed beyond the last roots she had exposed.

"Leave a margin here. I don’t want the edge breaking through these when we move it."

Ren marked the wider outline while she checked the other sides. The cluster sat off-center within it. He measured the length and width against his forearm, then showed Vesper how much room they would need.

She returned to the channel with Mistwhisker and the wrapped plates. Ren and Eira stayed beside the growth, with Ward visible beyond the rise. When Vesper came back, she carried the cargo pack. Tarin had the cat, and the supplies had been secured in the other declared carriers to make room.

Vesper opened the pack beside the marked ground. Its base was broad enough to support the block, and the sides would close around the soil without pressing the stems.

She lined it with spare cloth and pointed toward the lower slope.

"This side toward the fastening?"

Ren nodded. Vesper marked the corresponding edge of the cloth so they could keep the orientation after the stones were left behind.

— • —

Ren knelt outside the marked outline and brought Earth Law into the ground beneath it. Eira had exposed the dark layer at the sides; he extended his working below that, keeping a supporting thickness of earth under the roots.

He began to raise it slowly.

A narrow seam opened around the block. Loose grit fell from its edge, but the darker material held together. Eira followed the seam, watching for roots still passing into the surrounding ground.

"Hold there."

Ren stopped. A fine root hung from one side, its end clear of the hole. Eira eased it against the moist layer and drew the cloth close beneath it.

"All right."

He raised the block the rest of the way and brought it over the open pack. Vesper kept the folds clear while he lowered it onto the lined base. Only when its weight was supported did he release the working.

The stems remained upright. Eira pressed her fingers against the exposed substrate, comparing its warmth with the ground beside the hole.

"Still the same."

They folded the cloth around the soil and secured the pack’s sides below the stems. Ren and Vesper lifted it together, supporting the base as they carried it back along the higher ground to the channel. Eira followed with her kit, watching the block through the open top.

— • —

Vesper secured the pack on Ward, clear of Keep’s cradle. The wrapped plates traveled separately. Ren and Eira rode beside the growth while the land group followed the road and Riptide checked the channel ahead.

By the time they reached the third stake, Eira could feel the substrate cooling at its outer edge.

Ren rested his hand against the pack and supplied a little warmth through it, keeping the Fire working low. Eira checked the exposed layer again, then reached to the other side.

"A little more here."

He adjusted the working and waited while she compared the two points.

"There. Keep it at that."

Ren kept his attention on the warmth as Ward moved. He eased it whenever they stopped, increasing it slightly when the colder air reached the pack on the open stretches. Eira checked the soil rather than the cloth around it. By the landing, it still felt close to the warmth they had lifted from the mound.

— • —

Ren lodged the collection report at the post: two plates from the native, one living growth with its surrounding substrate, and the recorded location of each. Through the landing contact, he requested inspection and a return crossing for himself and Eira with the material.

The office’s reply gave a time and the reference for the attending inspector.

They waited together at the shelf. Vesper took Mistwhisker back from Tarin while Eira checked the dressing. Ren stayed beside the pack on Ward, maintaining the warmth until the attendant arrived along the depot road.

The reference matched the reply. The attendant read the collection record, examined both plates, then had them lower the pack onto the shelf. Ren held the sides open while the attendant checked the block and its packing, leaving the roots covered.

Vesper supplied a copy of her notes about the dead carrier farther along the road. The attendant added it to the reports, checked the equipment going back with Ren and Eira, and signed the inspection sheet.

"These are cleared for return. Keep the collection record with them."

Ren took the copy and went to Vesper.

"Hold the landing. I’ll be back with Eira before the next report is due. If we’re late, send the report anyway."

"We’ll stay together."

The office opened the connection at the appointed time. Ren and Eira carried the pack through, with the wrapped plates secured beside it. The cove’s warmer air met them on the other side.

— • —

Bolt turned toward them from the shallows. Snap remained on its rock while they set the pack down long enough to check the block. Ren withdrew the Fire working, and Eira tested the soil before they moved on.

They left the inspected plates on the dry rock shelf with their collection record, then carried the growth through the flower field to the Worldroot.

The Tide tender was at Eira’s marked place beside the pocket. The princess rested against the submerged root, with Wick’s light on the water and Loom’s current moving through the shallows. Eira spoke briefly to the tender before joining Ren beyond the roots.

They set the pack beside the stone barrier. The sheltered water behind it lay quiet.

"Along here," Ren said, indicating the bank beside the space they had left for a nest.

Eira checked the ground above the waterline. It was cooler than the water itself. Farther down the bank, the damp layer beneath the surface was warmer. She tested along it while Ren compared it with the substrate in the pack.

They chose a low stretch beside the sheltered strip, where the block could sit damp without putting the stems underwater or occupying the nesting space.

Ren opened a bed to the block’s size, setting the removed earth nearby. Eira checked the bottom and sides before they brought the pack over. The warmth beneath the surface was close to that of the carried soil.

"The marked edge downhill," she said.

They unfolded the cloth and lifted from beneath the block. Ren turned it to match the bank’s slope, then lowered his end while Eira guided the other. He kept his palms against its sides until the bed took the weight.

Then he drew his hands free.

Eira filled the gaps with the earth he had removed, pressing lightly around the block without packing down the root bed.

"You brought the ground with it, Ren," Kaia said privately.

He stayed beside it while Eira checked the dark layer again. They waited with the pack open on the bank, the Fire working still withdrawn. When she tested the same points a second time, the warmth had held and the stems remained upright.

"We’ll check it again when we’re back," she said.

Ren added the planting and the check points to the bank sketch.

— • —

Eira found the fragment as she folded the cloth.

A little soil had crumbled from the block’s outer underside during placement. Among it lay a flat piece of worked stone, cut along three edges and broken across the fourth. She picked it out and brushed away enough dirt to uncover a mark on its face.

"Ren."

He took it from her. The emblem was familiar, but he opened the route papers beside it before saying anything. It matched the mark at the head of the survey sheet.

Ren looked from the fragment to the newly planted block. It had come out of the substrate they had carried from the mound. He could record that much. The emblem gave him no date and no name for whoever had left it there.

He noted the discovery against the inspected collection entry, ready to report through the landing when they returned. Eira shook the remaining crumbs into the bed while he held the fragment beside the open sheet.

The mark on it was already on his route papers.