Chapter 30 — The Last Seed Keeper

Two days after leaving Salt Dome, the group stopped by a low rocky slope to rest overnight, and for the first time since the hasty escape over the northern wall, Khe Mien felt that her heartbeat had truly returned to normal.

She sat by the small fire, took out her notebook, but instead of writing right away, she turned to the previous pages — the words recorded from the first day she stepped out of the Filtration Roof, through the first sandstorm, through the ruins where Kien was injured, spending the night under the stars when Bach Lam told her about his past, and now, through what they had just witnessed at the Salt Dome.

"Are you reading again?" Diem Quynh asked, sitting down next to her, curiously glancing at the text-covered pages.

"Yes," Khe Mien replied, closing the notebook but not putting it away immediately. "I kept thinking about how quickly things had changed in just a few weeks. When I left the Green Dome, I thought the biggest challenge would be the sandstorms, the lack of water, the physical dangers of the Bronze Ash. I didn't think that the biggest challenge might be seeing what people can do to each other when no one is watching."

"I thought about that too," Diem Quynh said, her voice more thoughtful than her usual vivacity. "I always thought our Green Dome was normal — the Council, the meetings, the public arguments but always a solution in the end. I never thought it could be anything special, until I saw how different it could be."

Bach Lam, who was sitting and checking the condition of the newly filled water bottles, looked up to hear the story, and after a while, he spoke, his voice carrying a rare contemplation. "Ten years of traveling through the Ashes, I've learned that each Dome is a unique experiment in how people will treat each other when the world no longer has enough to spare for them to have the luxury of kindness. Some places, like your Green Dome, seem to find a way to keep the best in people even when things are scarce. Others, like the Salt Dome, let the worst in people prevail."

"What makes that difference?" Khe Mien asked, a question she had asked herself many times since leaving Salt Dome but had not found a satisfactory answer.

"I'm not sure there is a single answer," Bach Lam said, after a moment of thought. "It could be luck — who holds power at the most important moment. It could be tradition — what a community chooses to value in the first place. It could be both, intertwined in ways no one can predict." He stopped and looked into the fire for a moment. "But I think, whatever the cause, what's more important is what a community does once it realizes it's off track. Salt Dome may have had a chance to be different, years ago, according to the man we met. That chance was missed."

Ngan The Binh, sitting guard not far away but still listening to the conversation, added, his voice was deep and firm. "That's why what our team is doing is more important than you think, Khe Mien. It's not just about bringing new breeds to the Green Domes. It's also about proving that there is another way for the Arches to treat each other — through fair exchange, through mutual respect, instead of through fear and control."

Kien, who had been sitting quietly listening since the beginning of the evening, finally contributed. His voice was still a bit timid but he clearly thought carefully before speaking. “I think maybe that's why the Green Dome sent Khe Mien, instead of just sending a normal merchant delegation,” he said. "Not only because I clearly understand the value of seeds. But because I also care about bigger things than exchanging supplies."

"I don't think the Council thought that far when sending me," Khe Mien said, laughing lightly at Kien's unexpected seriousness. "But I like the way you look at things. Perhaps sometimes, the best decisions do not always come from a perfect plan, but from choosing the right person, and then letting that person find their own path when faced with things no one can predict."

Diem Quynh nodded in agreement, pulling the thin blanket around her shoulders tighter as the night wind began to cool. "I think, even though this trip was much more difficult than I imagined when I volunteered to participate, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I've learned more in the past few weeks than I did in a whole year working in Green Dome's engineering workshop."

"Me too," Khe Mien said softly, looking around at the familiar faces that had become an indispensable part of her life in just a few short weeks — Diem Quynh with her meticulousness and quiet courage, Kien with her young sincerity that was maturing day by day, Ngan The Binh with her experience and quiet conscience, and Bach Lam, who had now become more than an escort in her heart.

Khe Mien sat silently, letting those words sink deep into her mind, and she realized something was slowly forming within her — not just a mission to bring seeds to the Green Dome, but a much larger question about the future of all the Domes, about whether it was possible to build some network between them, based on sharing instead of hoarding, on trust instead of fear.

"Perhaps one day," she said, her voice soft but with a new assurance, "the Arches will no longer need to choose between self-isolation, as the Green Domes have done for generations, or brutal control like the Salt Domes. Perhaps there will be another way — where the Arches share what they have, not out of compulsion, but out of the understanding that the survival of all is tied together."

"It's a big dream," Bach Lam said, but his voice held no sarcasm, only quiet appreciation. "But I've learned, since meeting you, that sometimes the biggest dreams start with the smallest actions — a water-storing root found in the middle of Dong Tro, a bag of water left at night for a strange family."

That night, after everyone had fallen asleep one by one, Khe Mien was still awake, sitting next to Bach Lam during his last watch shift. The two didn't say much, just quietly looking out at the darkness of Dong Tro stretching ahead, somewhere, Vom Cat was waiting, carrying both hope and new questions that Khe Mien never thought he would have to face when leaving Green Dome.

"What do you think we'll find at Sand Dome?" Bach Lam asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Khe Mien answered honestly. "But I think, after all we just went through, I'm not going into it with the same naivete as when we left the Green Dome. I'm going to look more closely, ask more questions, and perhaps, dig deeper into things I never thought to learn about before."

"What things?" he asked, curious.

“I'm not sure,” she said, looking up at the starry sky. "But I kept thinking about the story Ms. Diem Ninh once told me, about the Root Store, about a name she mentioned only once and never again — Thien Ho. I used to think it was just a vague memory of a long-dead old man. But after seeing the Salt Dome, after understanding how power can be distorted when no one controls it, I began to wonder if there were some bigger secrets hidden behind it. official history that we are all taught."

Bach Lam looked at her for a long time, not saying anything right away, and in his eyes, Khe Mien saw a new seriousness, as if her words had just touched on something he had also felt but had never named clearly.

"If there are such secrets," he said at last, his voice low and sure, "I will go with you to find them, no matter where they lead us."

Khe Mien smiled, a small but sincere smile, and placed her hand on his again, like she did the night he told her about his past. Ahead of them, Dong Tro still stretched out in the darkness, but for the first time since leaving the Filter Roof, Khe Mien felt she was not just searching for the seeds for the Green Dome, but was embarking on a journey far greater than she had ever imagined—a journey that might, in the end, force her to face questions for which none of her lessons at the Seed Store had ever prepared her.