Chapter 75 — The Last Seed Keeper

The central square of Vom Cat, once home to the bustling markets that Khe Mien remembered from her first visit many months ago, was now reconfigured into a large meeting space, with small flags bearing the symbols of each Dome participating in the alliance planted along the edge of the square — the green leaf of Green Dome, the stylized sun of Sand Dome, the rough cobblestone of Gravel Dome, the twisted cluster of leaves of Moss Dome, and in a more modest corner, the gray triangle of Stone Dome, representing a newly formed, although not yet official, relationship.

“I never thought I would live to see this day,” Cau Bach Thinh said, standing next to Khe Mien as they both watched representatives from the different Arches arrive one by one, some bringing their entire families, some with only one or two people sent because there were not enough resources for a larger delegation. "Many Arches gather together in peace, not to compete or threaten each other, but to build something together."

"We still have a long way to go," Khe Mien replied, though she couldn't hide the joy rising in her heart at that scene. "But I think, today, we deserve to allow ourselves a little hope."

The meeting officially began as the sun rose, and Khe Mien stood before all the representatives of the fledgling alliance, clearly feeling the weight of this moment on her shoulders — no longer just individual conversations with each of the Domes, but the first time they were all sitting together, having to face their differences head-on and find common ground.

“We come here from very different places,” she began, her voice ringing clearly in the vast space of the square. "Green Dome grows crops and preserves species. Sand Dome crafts glass and captures solar energy. Gravel Dome mines stone. Moss Dome grows algae in the rare remaining marshes. We are not all the same, and I think that is precisely the power of what we are building — not a uniformity imposed from above like the Central Council's Unification Pact, but a diversity connected by trust and fair exchange."

Xa Binh Nguyen stood up to speak; his confidence was now much greater than when Khe Mien first met him at Vom Soi. "In the three weeks since joining the alliance," he said, "Vom Soi has received water filtration supplies from Green Dome and begun exchanging tunneling techniques with the engineers Vom Cat sent. We are still struggling, but for the first time in many years, we feel we are not alone in facing it."

Quac Thi Hien, although still maintaining her usual discreetness, also contributed briefly. "Moss Dome shared its biofiltration techniques with Green Dome engineers," she said. "In return, we received seeds of several plants that can withstand high humidity, helping to diversify our food sources for the first time in generations."

Diep Ba Nhan, standing next to Cau Bach Thinh with a stack of documents in hand, presented the next part of the meeting — a formal framework for the alliance, tentatively named Dong Tro Network, reflecting the harsh land that forced all these communities to come together. "We propose a rotating council," he explained, "where representatives from each member Dome take turns serving as coordinator for three months, ensuring that no one Arch, no matter how large or small, holds permanent power over the entire network."

The discussion lasted all morning, with practical questions raised and resolved step by step — how to safely transport supplies through Dong Tro, how to verify the true needs of each Arch to avoid abuse of the shared system, how to handle internal conflicts if they arose. Nothing was decided hastily or idealized, and Khe Mien felt a deep respect for the realism that every representative brought to the table — this was no naive dream, but a system being carefully built, brick upon brick.

By mid-afternoon, when most of the framework had been agreed upon, Bach Lam and Ngan The Binh turned to the discussion for which they had both carefully prepared — the issue of common defense.

"We have built a resource sharing network," Bach Lam said, standing in front of a map of the area hung large in a corner of the square, marking the location of each member Arch and the distance between them. "But if Confucius decides to attack one of our smaller Arches — and I believe that is only a matter of time, not possibility — we need a concrete response plan, not just goodwill."

Ngan The Binh stepped up and pointed to the points on the map that he had marked before. "Pebble Dome and Moss Dome are the most vulnerable targets — few people, weak defenses, located closer to Salt Dome's territory of influence than Green Dome or Sand Dome," he said. "I propose we establish an early warning system, using the radio network we already have, along with small rapid response teams trained from more combat-experienced Arches — able to move in to assist within a day or two if needed."

A more heated discussion erupted as the representatives began hammering out the specifics — who would train the response teams, what weapons and supplies could be shared without weakening the self-defense capabilities of the individual Domes, and most importantly, how to ensure this common defense force never became a tool for a new form of control, repeating the very mistakes they were trying to avoid from the Central Council.

“We need a clear principle,” Khe Mien said, entering the discussion with a certainty tempered by all she had been through. "The Joint Defense Force is to be used only to protect, never to attack or coerce any Arch member. If we violate that principle, even once, we will be no different from what we are fighting against."

Approval spread across the square at those words, and when the meeting finally ended as dusk fell, dyeing the desert sky in brilliant orange and purple hues, Khe Mien stood looking out at the scene of representatives from five different communities dining together, chatting, laughing as if the boundaries between the Arches had never existed.

"I think this is exactly what Co Diem Ninh dreamed of when she told me about the Root Store," Khe Mien told Bach Lam, as they both stood in a corner observing the warm scene in front of them. "Not a closed repository, guarded by a single authority, but an open network where everyone shares what they have."

“You're building your own version of it,” Bach Lam said, taking her hand. "Not a distant myth, but something truly living, breathing, right here, right now."

Khe Mien smiled, but a worry still smoldered under that layer of happiness, as she remembered the cold anger in Loi Bach Dat's eyes at the conference, and Ngan The Binh's warning that an attack on one of the Dom members was only a matter of time. "I just hope," she said quietly, "we have enough time to solidify what we've built, before it's tested."

As if in response to her own words, a distant engine sound rang out over the eastern horizon, and a Sand Dome guard rushed forward, his face filled with undisguised panic.

“Emergency signal from Pebble Dome,” he said, panting from running. "They reported seeing a large army moving in their direction, from Salt Dome territory."

The warmth of the evening vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold tension that spread throughout the square as the news passed from person to person. The representatives who had just been laughing together at the dinner table now stood up, their faces changing from relaxation to anxiety in just a moment, and Xa Binh Nguyen, upon hearing the news about his own Vom, paled visibly.

“My family is still there,” he said, his voice shaking. "My daughter, my grandchild..."

"We'll act now," Khe Mien said, walking up to him with a steadfastness she tried to convey to him, even as a similar panic swirled inside her. "This is exactly why we just spent all day today formulating a plan. Now it's time to prove it's more than just words on paper."

Bach Lam approached the map, his fingers quickly traced the shortest route from Vom Cat to Vom Soi, calculating distance and time with the absolute concentration of a person accustomed to making life-or-death decisions in a split second. "If we leave tonight, with the rapid reaction team that has just been formed," he said, "we can get there before the other army can surround the entire Arch."

Khe Mien exchanged a look with Bach Lam, both understanding that what they had just built, young as it was, was about to face its first and perhaps most dangerous test, much sooner than any of them had ever been prepared for.