Chapter 51 — The Last Seed Keeper

Bach Lam raised his head at the exact moment three figures appeared from behind the mound, and Khe Mien would forever remember the expression on his face in that moment—not the wariness of a seasoned traveler facing a stranger, but a naked shock, almost disbelief, before it broke into something she had never seen from him on his long journey.

He ran towards her, no longer maintaining his usual calm demeanor, and when the two met in the open space of Dong Tro, he hugged her so tightly that she could barely breathe, his face buried in her shoulder, and she felt his whole body tremble, a trembling she had never witnessed in the man who had always been the strongest support of the group.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered into her hair, his voice choked with an emotion he wasn't trying to hide anymore. "When the rock collapsed, I didn't know if you'd get out in time, I didn't know..."

"I'm here," Khe Mien said, hugging him equally tightly, her tears falling uncontrollably. "We're all fine. All three of us."

Ngan The Binh, standing behind Bach Lam with a large bruise on his cheek and an arm hastily bandaged with a piece of cloth torn from his jacket, smiled, a rare smile that softened the thick wrinkles on his face. Kien rushed to hug him immediately, and Diem Quynh, unable to hold back any longer, also sobbed as she hugged both of them.

"What happened to you two?" Khe Mien asked, finally stepping back enough to see Bach Lam clearly, examining every scratch and every bruise on his body with the worried eyes of someone who couldn't believe she was actually seeing him alive.

Bach Lam led the group to sit around a small fire that was almost extinguished, and while sharing the remaining water, he recounted what happened after the rock collapsed separating the two groups — how he and Ngan The Binh had to fight three soldiers in the narrow darkness of the tunnel, how they found another way out through a side crack that Ngan The Binh discovered during the chaos, and how they had to evade patrols for two days before daring to advance towards the rendezvous point.

"Darkness is the only thing that saves us," Ngan The Binh said, continuing when Bach Lam stopped to take a sip of water. "The soldiers are used to the fixed oil lamps in the heart of the mountain, not used to fighting in complete darkness. We turned off the lights, letting them stumble over each other while we followed the cliff to find a way out."

"There was a moment," Bach Lam said, his voice low as he remembered, "I thought we wouldn't escape. A soldier was so close that I could feel his breath. But Ngan The Binh, even though he was over sixty years old, was still one step faster than him."

"Experience always wins over youth, at least in the dark," Ngan The Binh said, a thin but proud smile flickering across his lips, and the group burst into light laughter, a laughter needed to dispel some of the tension that still lingered from the story.

Diem Quynh, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, asked, her voice still choked. "And where does that secondary crack lead you guys?"

"Another mountainside, quite far from the water outlet we planned to use," Bach Lam replied. "That's why we were slower to reach the rendezvous point — we had to detour a much longer distance than planned, staying away from any trails that might be patrolled."

"We arrived at the arrow-shaped rock a day later than planned," Ngan The Binh said, his voice low but somewhat proud when mentioning what happened next. "And we found Kien's engraved mark on the stone. That's when we knew for sure that you guys were safe, and knew which direction to look for."

Kien blushed because he was complimented, but the smile on his lips, for the first time in many days, no longer carried the shadow of fear or guilt he had brought into his heart.

"Documents and badges," Bach Lam said, his tone becoming more serious as he turned to a heavier topic. "We can't get them back, right?"

"No," Khe Mien replied, feeling the pain of that loss again even though it was somewhat overshadowed by the joy of reunion. "Han Dinh Sang kept them as evidence. But I still have the notes in the notebook, and more importantly, we still remember what Lai Ba Nguyen told us — that no one can confiscate."

Ngan The Binh nodded in agreement, but his eyes carried a deeper concern. "We need to be more careful from now on," he said. "If Han Dinh Sang is suspicious enough to act like that just because of a question about Thien Ho, I'm afraid that what we are learning has more weight than we ever imagined — big enough to make people act beyond common sense."

Bach Lam looked at Khe Mien, a seriousness mixed with gentleness in his eyes. "But that will be another time," he said, standing up, reaching out his hand to pull her up with him. "Right now, I just want to make sure we're all safe, rested, and hydrated before we continue on our journey."

The group spent the rest of the morning truly resting for the first time since the night they escaped from the Stone Dome, sharing every little detail of what each group had experienced — the story of Mr. Nam Khoi made Ngan The Binh nod with a silent respect for someone he had never met but understood that type of person, and the story of Bach Lam and Ngan The Binh's war in the dark made Diem Quynh constantly cooing in worry despite everything. has passed.

Before leaving, Khe Mien pulled Bach Lam a little distance from the group, wanting a moment of privacy before both had to put on the steadfast facade needed to lead the rest. She looked at him closely, as if trying to memorize every line of his face in case a moment like this never happened again.

"When I saw the rock collapse," she said, her voice still trembling despite trying to suppress it, "I thought that was the last time I would see you. I had to move on, leading Diem Quynh and Kien away, not knowing if you were still alive or not. I don't think I've ever felt such pain in my life."

"I know that feeling," Bach Lam replied, reaching out to gently brush a strand of dusty hair from her face, a gentle gesture that completely contrasted with what he had just experienced in the dark tunnel. "I felt exactly that, every second of every minute during the two days I made my way here. But I also learned something, during that time."

"What?" she asked softly.

"That my fear of losing you is greater than any fear I've ever carried in ten years as a traveler," he said, his voice dropping to a raw honesty he rarely revealed. "Greater than the fear of what happened to my sensei's group. And I think, that is the clearest proof of what I feel for you, clearer than any words I have ever said."

Khe Mien hugged him again, briefly but passionately, before the two returned to the group, where Ngan The Binh had stood up to check what little luggage he had left, and Diem Quynh was helping Kien bandage a small scratch on his hand that he had been trying to hide all morning.

As the sun rose, Bach Lam stood up and looked toward the horizon toward the Green Dome, his voice carrying a new determination. “We have a long way to go,” he said. "But this time, we go together, no one is left behind, no one is separated from the group even for a moment."

Khe Mien took his hand, feeling that familiar warmth like a renewed promise, and as the five of them continued on their way, their steps, though still carrying fatigue and unhealed wounds, carried a new steadfastness that could only come from having overcome the worst together and survived to tell the tale.

Kien walked next to Ngan The Binh, looking at his bandaged arm with anxious eyes. "Are you in much pain?" he asked.

"It doesn't hurt as much as not knowing if you guys are safe or not," he replied, stroking the boy's head with his good hand, a rare gesture of affection from the normally reserved man. "Things are much better now."

The group of five continued to walk in the midday sunlight, towards the horizon where, somewhere far away, the Green Dome was still waiting for them to return, bringing with them not only what they had promised to bring but also new scars, new lessons about a world more complex and dangerous than any of them had ever imagined before the day they left the Filtration Roof.