Chapter 49 — The Last Seed Keeper

Khe Mien awoke before dawn, awakened by the gentle smell of kitchen smoke and the crackling sound of a small fire carefully built in a rock alcove designed to hide the light from distant view — a refined survival technique that she immediately realized had been honed over years of living in hiding.

The old man was sitting next to the fire, grilling a few small pieces of dried meat on a simple iron stick, and when he saw Khe Mien awake, he motioned for her to sit down without saying a word, as if the morning silence were part of a ritual he had grown accustomed to over many years of living alone.

"Do you have a name?" she asked softly, not wanting to wake Diem Quynh and Kien who were still sleeping soundly under the canopy.

“The people at Stone Dome used to call me Five Smoke, when I worked in the blacksmith shop, in charge of furnace number five,” he replied, without looking up from the stick of meat he was roasting. "My true name died with the person who gave it to me, many years ago. I no longer use it."

"What made you leave the Dome of the Rock?" Khe Mien asked, cautiously but unable to hold back her curiosity.

Old man Nam Khoi was silent for a long time, his eyes looking far away into the small fire as if searching for a memory that had worn away over the years. “Another collapse,” he said finally, his voice low. "Thirty years ago. My son was one of those buried. The security chief at that time — the predecessor of the current Han Dinh Sang, a man he had never met but heard about enough to understand his unchanged nature — also needed an explanation quickly for the grieving families, and he found it in a group of young miners accused of breaking safety procedures to mine faster."

"Are they guilty?" Khe Mien asked softly.

"No," said Five Smoke, his voice hard. "I did my own investigation, after burying my son, and found out the truth — it was the mine support system that was aging, not replaced on time because the Mining Council at the time wanted to save costs. But when I presented the evidence, I was called a troublemaker, someone who refused to accept the officially decided truth. I left the Dome of the Rock not long after, not because I was banished, but because I couldn't continue to live under a dome where the truth was. could be buried as easily as my son was buried in the heart of the mountain."

That story left Khe Mien cold, because it so clearly mirrored what her own group had just experienced, thirty years apart but almost identical in every detail—the fear, the need for a quick answer, and the willingness to sacrifice innocent people to fill the void of the unknown truth.

“So history repeats itself,” she said, her voice heavy.

"History only repeats itself when no one learns from it," Mr. Nam Khoi replied, finally looking up at her, his eyes surprisingly sharp in the firelight. "You said you were learning about an ancient organization. Thien Ho, right?"

Khe Mien was startled. "How do you know that name?"

"I have lived long enough outside all the Arches to hear things that people in the Vaults never say out loud," he replied. "There are caravans of traders passing through here, sometimes stopping to trade with me a few items for information. Lately, there's been more and more news about the growing tension between the Domes — a water dispute between the Salt Domes and a small settlement to the east, rumors that the Upper Domes are sending envoys around to probe the loyalties of the smaller Domes. The world out there is changing, girl, faster than most people realize. out."

When Diem Quynh and Kien woke up, the whole group ate breakfast in silence, sharing the small portion of dried meat that Mr. Nam Khoi generously shared even though it was clear that his reserve was not abundant. Diem Quynh, after listening to Khe Mien briefly recount her story while Kien was still rinsing his mouth by the puddle, looked at him with a look different from the initial wariness - a quiet respect for someone who chose to carry his pain for thirty years without letting it turn into bitterness towards everyone.

"Aren't you lonely living alone like that?" she asked, her voice gentle, no offense intended but just the sincere curiosity of a young person who had never imagined such a life.

"Loneliness is different from loneliness," Mr. Nam Khoi replied, a rare thin smile flashing across his weathered face. "I choose this solitude so I don't have to see justice being distorted every day. It's a price I'm willing to pay. But no, I'm not completely alone — the merchant caravans that come by, the stories they bring, sometimes even reluctant guests like you guys, are still enough to remind me that the world out there hasn't completely lost all of its kindness."

Kien, having somewhat regained his spirit after a night of rest and a more filling breakfast than usual since leaving Vom Da, spoke up with youthful curiosity. "Aren't you afraid of wild animals or sandstorms when you live here alone?"

"I'm not afraid," replied Mr. Nam Khoi, standing up and extinguishing the small fire by expertly covering it with sand. "But fear of things in the Ashes is always easier to deal with than fear of things in people's hearts. At least the sandstorm didn't pretend to be your friend before betraying you."

That sentence, although carrying a certain bitterness, did not make Khe Mien feel cold, but on the contrary, evoked in her a deep sympathy — she thought of Wei Ba Cuong, who tried to be fair within the limits of her little power, of Duong Thi Yen, who risked her life to send a warning note, and she understood that even in a system dominated by fear, there are always individuals who choose to keep their consciences.

Then, just as promised, Mr. Nam Khoi led them to a high point on the mountainside, using his stick to point in a specific direction through the distant peaks.

“Go that way, following the shallow stream at the foot of the southern mountains, and you will be out of the rocky mountains in two days,” he said. "From there, the Ashes will open and you can navigate towards the Green Dome based on the setting of the sun, if you remember what your guide taught you."

"Thank you, for everything," Khe Mien said, feeling a sincere emotion rising in her heart. "For water, for shelter, for trusting three strangers."

Old man Nam Khoi looked at her for a long time, and in those old eyes, Khe Mien glimpsed something almost like hope, a feeling he had probably buried for a long time. “If you truly find out the truth about the Guardian, about what is happening among the Arches,” he said, “remember that there are people like me, living beyond every wall, also waiting for an answer that is not distorted by anyone else's fear.”

"I will remember," Khe Mien said, and when the three turned to walk in the direction he pointed, she turned her head and looked back one last time, seeing the thin figure of Mr. Nam Khoi standing motionless on the mountainside, like a quiet landmark in the middle of a land that belonged to no one, until the distance swallowed his silhouette into the morning mist that remained between the mountain peaks.

They traveled half a day before Diem Quynh, walking next to Khe Mien on a gentle slope, broke the silence that had lasted since leaving Mr. Nam Khoi's shelter. "Do you think we will find Mr. Bach Lam and Mr. Ngan The Binh?" she asked, her voice carrying a fragility she rarely let on.

"You have to believe so," Khe Mien replied, her eyes looking straight ahead, where the road led down into a narrow valley covered with low thorny bushes clinging to the dry ground. "Not because I have any solid evidence, but because that belief is the only thing that keeps me going every day."

"I thought about what Mr. Nam Khoi said," Kien contributed, walking a little behind the two of them, his voice more thoughtful than the carefree teenager who left the Green Dome nearly two months ago. "About how history only repeats itself when no one is willing to learn from it. I think that's why we have to keep going — not just to find Mr. Bach Lam and Mr. Ngan The Binh, but to make sure what happened at the Stone Dome doesn't repeat itself anywhere else."

Khe Mien looked at him, a warm pride creeping into her chest amidst all the worries that were weighing her down. “I learned more on this trip than anyone could have taught me in a classroom at Green Dome,” she said. "I hope you'll carry those lessons with you for the rest of your life, no matter what happens next."

The sun continued to move across the sky as the three of them continued to walk, each step taking them further from the Dome of the Rock and the gray mountains that had witnessed both terror and unexpected kindness, toward a future that was still uncertain but no longer quite as hopeless as the first night they stood in the darkness, not knowing whether those they loved were still alive.