Chapter 58 — The Last Seed Keeper

The Green Dome Council Chamber, a circular room with stone walls gently etched in leaf patterns, had not changed since the last time Khe Mien had stood in there nearly three months ago to ask permission to leave the Dome, but the way she felt when she entered this time was completely different — no longer a young Seed Keeper nervously presenting a risky proposal, but someone who had returned with truths that could change the way the entire community viewed the world.

Bien Ba Uy sat in the center of the semicircular council table, and around him, the Council members had gathered - Su Dinh Lam sitting with a familiar solemn expression, along with a few other faces that Khe Mien recognized from previous meetings. Vu Dinh Khoat stood in the back, allowed to be present as an observer even though he was not an official member, his eyes following his daughter with silent support.

"Guardian of Vu Khe Mien," Bien Ba Uy said, his voice solemnly opening the meeting, "The Council would like to hear the full report of your trip, and any findings you consider important to share."

Khe Mien took a deep breath, and began to tell, trying to present everything in clear chronological order — the journey through Dong Tro, the encounter with Salt Dome and the harsh rule of Confucius Ba Truc, the meeting with Dai Van Cuong and the first documents about Thien Ho Group, the visit to Cat Dome and the deep conversation with Lai Ba Nguyen, and finally, with a much heavier voice, she told about Stone Dome — about Han Dinh Sang, about the espionage accusation, about the night escape and the painful separation from Bach Lam and Ngan The Binh.

A heavy silence filled the meeting room when she finished telling about the Stone Dome, and Su Dinh Lam was the first to break it, his voice sharp.

“So,” he said, “you confirm that this trip resulted in the Green Dome caravan being accused of espionage by another Dome, attacked, separated, and nearly killed?”

"That's right," Khe Mien replied, not shying away from the truth even though she knew it would be used against her argument. "But I believe that the cause lies not in our venturing to leave the Arch, but in the fear that is spreading throughout the other Arches — a fear that isolation has only exacerbated, not alleviated."

"That's a convenient way of putting it," Su Dinh Lam said, his voice unable to hide the sarcasm. "But the simple truth is: you left your safe place, and almost lost your life because of it. This is exactly the proof I need to convince the Council that the Green Dome should keep its gates closed, focusing on self-sufficiency rather than risking any more trips."

“If we keep the gates closed,” Khe Mien countered, her voice rising with urgency, “we will never receive warning of what is really going on out there. We will not know about the growing tension between the Arches, about the threat of war over resources, until it arrives at our gates without any preparation.”

"War?" another Council member asked, her voice worried. "Do you think there is a real danger of war?"

“I can't say for sure,” Khe Mien admitted, “but what I saw—the Salt Dome's oppression of the small settlements, the growing divide between the pro-sharing Domes and the pro-hoarding Domes, the presence of observers from the Upper Dome probing the loyalties of the smaller Domes—all told me a storm was brewing. And the Green Dome, though closed, gate or not, will eventually be caught up in it."

Vu Dinh Khoat, standing behind, couldn't hold back anymore and spoke up even though he was not an official member of the Council. His voice carried a seriousness that he rarely showed in public. "Forgive the suddenness," he said, "but I am the chief engineer of the Respiratory Station, and I know better than anyone that our filter core, even with temporary repairs, still requires additional parts and technical knowledge that can only be obtained from the outside. If the Green Dome closes its gates completely, we are betting the future of the entire community on complete self-reliance — a possibility I'm not sure we actually have."

Su Dinh Lam turned to look at him, his voice still sharp but somewhat softened at the words of a person he respected professionally. "I understand your concerns, engineer Vu Dinh Khoat," he said. "But I also understand that every time we open the gate, we take on a new risk. The question is, which risk is greater — the risk of opening the door, or the risk of keeping it closed?"

“That is exactly the question we need to answer together,” Bien Ba Uy said, interjecting before the debate could get more heated, “not with emotion, but with evidence and thoughtful consideration.”

He turned to Khe Mien, his eyes carrying a silent encouragement. "Is there anything else you'd like to add before we continue our discussion?"

“Yes,” Khe Mien said, standing up straighter, feeling a new determination in her voice. "I want the Council to know that, although this trip was full of dangers, we also received help from strangers — from Dai Van Cuong, who kept the secret for twenty years so that one day he could give it to the right person; from Lai Ba Nguyen, who spent his life researching to find the truth; from Duong Thi Yen of the Stone Arch, who risked her life to warn us even though she did not know us; and from a person who lived in seclusion outside all the Arches, who gave us water and shelter when we had nothing left. The world out there is not only dangerous. It also has good people, willing to help strangers, even when they themselves have nothing to gain."

Bien Ba Uy, listening to the entire debate with a pensive expression, finally spoke, his voice carrying the weight of someone who had carefully considered before speaking. "I think," he said, "the question is not whether we should absolutely open the gates or close the gates. The question is how do we both protect the safety of the community while not isolating ourselves from information and relationships that could become vital in the near future."

"So what do you propose, Mr. Dome?" Su Dinh Lam asked, his voice still skeptical.

“I propose that we maintain careful contact with trusted partners like Vom Cat,” Bien Ba Uy said, “while strengthening our defenses and self-sufficiency at Vom Xanh, so that we are not completely dependent on anyone. And I propose that we seriously consider the invitation to attend the conference at Vom Thuong that Khe Mien reported — not because I have complete confidence in their intentions, but because of the complete absence of Negotiating can be more dangerous than carefully participating."

Khe Mien felt a fleeting sense of relief at that balanced stance, even though she knew this was just the beginning of a debate that would last for weeks and months to come, as Green Dome, like every other Dome in Ash Field, was forced to shape its stance in an increasingly divided world.

"I support the Dome Chief's proposal," she said, "and I volunteer to be one of the Green Dome representatives if we decide to attend that conference."

Su Dinh Lam did not respond immediately, just looked at her with an unpredictable look, a mixture of lingering disagreement and a newly formed reluctant respect for what she had gone through and still maintained the courage to stand before the Council to present. "We'll discuss the details further," he said finally, "but I'll take your word for it."

When the session ended, Khe Mien walked out of the meeting room with a feeling of both relief and heaviness — relief because she had been heard, because the Green Dome had not completely closed the gate as she feared, but heaviness because she knew clearly that this was only the first step of a political journey longer and more complicated than any she had gone through on Dong Tro.

Bach Lam was waiting for her in the hallway, and when he saw her face, he didn't need to ask to know how the meeting went. "There's no final decision, right?" he asked.

"That's right," Khe Mien replied, tired but not hopeless. "But at least, the door was still open. It was more than I dared to hope for when I walked into that meeting room."

“That's all we can do, one step at a time,” Bach Lam said, putting his arm around her shoulders as they both walked down the stone corridor, toward the daylight pouring in from the large windows overlooking the green terraces of the Green Dome.