Chapter 71 — The Last Seed Keeper

Cau Bach Thinh greeted them at the gate of Vom Cat with undisguised relief, embracing Khe Mien in a brief hug before stepping back to see her face clearly, as if needing to confirm for himself that the group had returned intact from their escape from Vom Thuong.

"We've been so worried that we've lost sleep over the past two days," he said, leading the group into the familiar office where the map of the area was still spread out on the table from previous discussions. "When the Central Council announced the temporary detention of the Green Dome group, we didn't know what to do but wait and hope."

"We were lucky," Khe Mien said, sitting down in his chair with fatigue seeping into every muscle after two days of continuously moving through Dong Tro to stay away from any possibility of pursuit. "But luck is not something we can rely on forever."

Diep Ba Nhan, sitting at the corner of the table with a stack of papers in front of him, nodded in agreement. "News of your public refusal spread faster than I expected," he said. "It's not just within the conference attendees — merchant caravans have begun to tell the story at all the stops on Ash Field. Many small settlements, which once felt helpless under the pressure of the Salt Dome and the Central Council, are now asking if there is a way for them to join what you are building."

"We haven't built anything concrete yet," Bach Lam said, his tone as matter-of-fact as usual. "It was just a statement, a refusal. Turning it into a real alliance is a completely different thing."

"That's right," Khe Mien said, taking out the notebook whose corners were worn out from accompanying her throughout the journey, and opened to a new blank page. "But I think this is exactly where we need to start, before fear or hesitation causes this opportunity to pass us by."

That evening, when the radio signal with the Green Dome was stably established, Khe Mien narrated everything that had happened at the Upper Dome to Bien Ba Uy and the Council, her voice steady but unable to hide the weight of what she had experienced. When she got to the part about the discovery of Loi Bach Dat's lineage, a long silence covered the transmission, to the point where she had to ask if the signal had been interrupted.

"We still listen," Bien Ba Uy replied finally, his voice heavy. "It just takes time to digest what you just said. If it's true..."

"We don't have enough evidence yet, Chief Vom," Khe Mien said. "But I believe it's important enough to shape how we act from here."

Another voice rang out through the transmission - Su Dinh Lam, his voice carried a seriousness different from the familiar skepticism. "What are you proposing, Khe Mien?" he asked bluntly.

Khe Mien took a deep breath before answering, clearly feeling that this was the decisive moment that would shape the entire path ahead. "I propose that the Green Dome officially endorses the building of an alliance between the Domes and settlements willing to stand up to the Central Council's manipulations — not by force first, but through solidarity, resource sharing, and mutual defense. I would like to represent the Green Dome in building that alliance, starting with the most vulnerable small Domes — the Gravel Dome, the Moss Dome, and perhaps, if there is a chance, Assembly, the entire Stone Arch."

Another silence stretched over the link, and Khe Mien waited anxiously, knowing full well that this proposal went far beyond anything she had ever asked the Council to approve before—no longer a quest for spare parts or seeds, but a political commitment that could pull the Green Dome into the center of a much larger conflict.

"I have a question," Su Dinh Lam said finally. "If the Green Dome officially sides with this alliance, are we making ourselves the next target of Confucius, or worse, the Central Council itself?"

"Maybe," Khe Mien admitted, not avoiding that difficult truth. "But I think we are already a target, whether we officially declare a position or not. I have just publicly rejected the Unification Treaty in front of the entire conference, in the name of the Green Dome. The question is no longer whether we will be noticed — the question is whether we will face that attention alone, or with allies who can stand by our side."

There was another silence, shorter this time, and when Su Dinh Lam spoke again, his voice carried something Khe Mien had never heard from him before—an acceptance, almost reluctant, but sincere.

“I once believed that the best way to protect the Green Dome was to keep the gates closed and become self-sufficient,” he said. "But I have seen, through everything you have brought back, that the world will not allow that isolation to last any longer. If we have to choose between standing alone and waiting for our fate, or standing with others who are also threatened, I think, for the first time in my life, I choose the latter."

Bien Ba Uy, his voice carrying the weight of final decision, spoke up after letting Su Dinh Lam's words subside. "The Council will approve it," he said. "Khe Mien, you will be the official representative of the Green Dome in building this alliance. I trust you more than anyone else to carry our honor wherever you go."

As the conversation ended, Khe Mien put down the receiver, feeling a new solemnity in the role that had just been given to her — no longer just the Seed Keeper, the preserver of rare breeds within the four walls of the Seed Warehouse, but now a representative carrying the responsibility of shaping the relationship between the Green Dome and an entire network of communities searching for hope in the midst of war.

"You did very well," Bach Lam said, standing nearby and having heard the entire conversation, his eyes filled with deep pride.

“We're just getting started,” Khe Mien replied, looking down at the map spread out on the table, her fingers tracing the paths leading to Pebble Dome, Moss Dome, and beyond, Stone Dome. "But I think, for the first time since leaving the Green Dome, I feel like we're building something that can last longer than a single trip, a single mission. Something that can grow, like a seed planted in the right place at the right time."

Ngan The Binh, standing next to the window looking out at the night sky falling over Vom Cat, spoke with his characteristic matter-of-factness. "So where do we start?" he asked.

Khe Mien looked up, a clear determination in her eyes. “Pebble Dome,” she said. "Xa Binh Nguyen found the courage to say no with us at that conference, even though he looked more scared than anyone else in the room. I think, that's where courage needs to be met with the first real commitment."

Diep Ba Nhan spread a smaller map on the table, marked three points with the tip of a pen — Com Soi in the southwest, about four days' journey from Vom Cat; The Moss Dome lies deeper in a rare wet area to the south, where there were marshes before the Great Change; and Stone Arch, the farthest, located in the heart of the mountain range that the group had passed through with so many storms.

"Vom Cat can provide a small escort and spare supplies for the journey," Cau Bach Thinh suggested. "But I think, the weight of this invitation needs to come from you — the people who stood up at the Upper Dome, not from a mere trade delegation."

“We'll go,” Khe Mien said, turning to look at the group that had accompanied her through Salt Dome, Sand Dome, Stone Dome, and now Upper Dome. "But this time, we need to think differently. This is no longer a trip to find spare parts or historical evidence. This is a trip to convince people who are used to being abandoned that this time will be different."

Diem Quynh, having regained some confidence after stressful days, spoke up with a practical idea. “I think we should bring not just a promise,” she said, “but something concrete — perhaps a clear resource-sharing plan, to show them this isn't just empty talk like the Unification Treaty.”

"That's a good idea," Bach Lam said, nodding in agreement. "An alliance with nothing concrete to offer would be just another promise among many they have already heard and disappointed."

The group spent the rest of the evening sketching out the first outlines of a cooperative framework—not a top-down treaty like that of the Central Council, but a network of voluntary exchange, where each Arch contributed according to its ability and received according to its needs, overseen not by a centralized committee, but by rotating representatives of the member Arches. Khe Mien jotted down each idea in her notebook, clearly sensing that what they were sketching, however rudimentary, carried within it the seed of something that could truly change the way the survivor communities viewed each other.