Chapter 53 — The Last Seed Keeper

The sound of rattles tied to the necks of pack mules rang out in the distance before the merchant group fully appeared on the horizon, and Ngan The Binh, the person with the sharpest hearing in the group, signaled the group to stop and observe from afar before deciding whether to approach or not.

“Four mules, three men,” he said, squinting and counting across the distance. "Lightly armed, not a soldier, likely a long-distance trader. The flag on the first mule is not the colors of Stone Dome or Salt Dome."

Bach Lam nodded in agreement after observing more closely himself. "It may be safe to approach. But it's better to be cautious."

When the two groups met in the middle of Dong Tro, the leader of the group of traders — a middle-aged man with tanned skin and an open smile rarely seen among people who had lived outside the Arches for a long time — raised his hand in a gesture of international peace that had become an unwritten convention among travelers on Dong Tro.

"Uong Dinh Bach, free trader," he introduced, his voice loud and friendly. "We are on our way from Sand Dome to a small settlement to the east. Where are you coming from?"

"Green Dome," Bach Lam replied, keeping a careful distance even though his voice did not lose the necessary politeness. "We just completed a trading trip and are on our way back."

"Green Dome," Uong Dinh Bach repeated, nodding as if he was rearranging the information in his mind. "I heard some rumors about a group from Green Dome having trouble at Stone Arch recently. Isn't that you?"

A tense silence spread across the group, and Khe Mien exchanged a quick glance with Bach Lam before deciding that bluntness, once again, was probably the wiser choice.

“Yes we are,” she said. "An unfortunate misunderstanding, resolved by us leaving before it got worse."

Uong Dinh Bach whistled softly, an expression of surprise mixed with sympathy. "I wasn't very surprised to hear that," he said. “Stone Dome has become much more tense since the collapse. But to be honest, they're not the only place. The whole Ashfield is becoming more tense, in a way I've never seen in my twenty years of trading.”

"What do you mean?" Khe Mien asked, her curiosity overwhelming her caution.

Uong Dinh Bach signaled his group to stop and rest for a while, and when both groups sat down to share some water and food according to the hospitable customs of long-distance travelers, he began to tell, his voice becoming more serious than the initial cheerfulness.

"The Salt Dome is putting pressure on small settlements along the eastern route, demanding they pay a 'security tax' to be allowed to use communal wells that were previously free to all," he said. "Many places had no choice but to accept, because Confucius had enough soldiers to coerce if necessary."

"What about the Sand Dome?" Bach Lam asked.

"Ku Bach Thinh still maintains an open stance, fortunately," Uong Dinh Bach replied. "He even began sending envoys to small settlements oppressed by the Salt Domes, offering to help with Sand Domes' surplus water and supplies. But that also caused tensions between the two Domes to grow — Confucius was unhappy to see his influence challenged."

Ngan The Binh, listening with an increasingly serious expression, spoke up. "And the Upper Dome? Did they react to this situation?"

Uong Dinh Bach looked at him for a long moment, a sudden caution crept into his eyes, as if that name carried a different weight than other names. "Upper Dome doesn't say anything publicly," he said, lowering his voice even though no one else nearby could hear. "But there are rumors that they are sending people around, much more quietly than the overt emissaries of the Sand Dome — people calling themselves 'observers', asking about the loyalty of the Lesser Domes, about whether they are willing to join an 'alliance' led by the High Dome."

Khe Mien felt a chill run down her spine when she heard that, remembering Lai Ba Nguyen's warning about the Central Council always tightly controlling information, and now, it seemed, they were expanding that control further than ever.

"What is the alliance for?" she asked.

"No one knows for sure," Uong Dinh Bach replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Some say it's for general protection against widespread resource scarcity. Others worry it's just another way of saying 'submission'. I'm just a trader, girl — I don't have the answers, only what my ears heard along the way."

As the merchant group continued their journey, Uong Dinh Bach lingered for a moment to speak privately with Khe Mien, his voice lowered to one of sincere advice. “If I were you, I would bring this news back to the Green Dome as soon as possible,” he said. "The world is changing faster than most Arches can adapt. It's better to be prepared, rather than caught by surprise."

When the merchant group disappeared behind the horizon, Khe Mien stood still for a moment, looking at them with a new anxiety growing in her heart, heavier than what she had carried since the night she fled from the Stone Dome.

"An alliance led by Vom Thuong," Diem Quynh repeated, her voice filled with nervous confusion as the group continued on their way. "That sounds like a good thing, at least in name. But why do you shudder when you hear it?"

"Because name and substance are not always the same," Khe Mien replied, remembering what Lai Ba Nguyen had said about Thien Ho, about the slogan "protecting the sky for everyone" that once hid a completely different truth. "If Upper Dome is indeed connected to the Thien Ho Group as we suspect, an alliance led by them may just be a new version of the same type of control — repackaged under a more cooperative-sounding name."

Bach Lam, leading the way, turned back to contribute, his expression serious. "We need to distinguish two things," he said. "True cooperation between the Arches — like what Gou Baisheng is trying to do for the small settlements — and a control disguised as cooperation. I fear that in the coming months, the line between the two will become ever more difficult to discern, and each Arch will have to choose what it believes."

Ngan The Binh nodded, his eyes looking far away towards the northern horizon, towards Salt Dome and beyond, Upper Dome. "In the twenty years I've led the group through Dong Tro," he said, "I've never seen the situation this tense. Before, each Vòm kept each other at arm's length, sometimes coldly, but rarely openly hostile. Now, it seems every Vòm is being forced to choose sides, whether they like it or not."

Kien, listening to the conversation with the tense expression of a young person trying to understand a world much more complicated than what he had been taught in the classroom at Green Dome, spoke up and asked the question that they were probably all wondering in their hearts. "So when we get back to the Green Dome, which side will we choose?"

No one answered immediately, and in that silence, Khe Mien felt more clearly than ever the weight of responsibility that was gradually falling on her shoulders — not only the responsibility of a Seed Keeper to preserve precious lineages, but now, perhaps, also the responsibility of someone who must help her community find the right path in a world that is gradually dividing.

“I think,” she said finally, choosing her words carefully, “we will choose the side of truth, and of what is fair for all, regardless of whether that coincides with any formal alliance or not.”

"It's a beautiful ideal," Bach Lam said, a small but nervous smile crossing his lips. "I just hope the world will be kind enough to let us hold on to it, when things force us to make clearer choices."

The group continued to walk in contemplative silence under the afternoon sky that was gradually turning pale orange, each person carrying their own thoughts about what Uong Dinh Bach had just told, about a world that was changing in ways none of them could have predicted, and about the small but perhaps not meaningless role that each of them would have to play when things became clearer.