Chapter 92 — The Last Seed Keeper

The convoy carrying the first shipment from the Root Warehouse left Vom Thuong on a chilly morning, twelve carts pulled by human power and pack animals, each carrying a small flag of the Arch, would receive the shipment, and Khe Mien stood at the main gate, not to escape like the previous two times, but to see off with a pride she had never allowed herself to fully feel throughout the long journey. The morning dew still lingered on the tarpaulins covering the goods, and the sound of wooden wheels grinding against the paved stone floor rang out steadily like a drumbeat opening to something she knew would continue long after she was no longer standing here to witness each trip.

"Green Dome will be the first stop," Diem Quynh said, checking the list of goods one last time before the convoy departed, her voice carrying an excitement that was hard to hide. "Then there's the old Dome of the Mist — where there are still a few families trying to hold on amid the ruins, hoping that one day the land can be restored."

"Even the Mist Dome?" Khe Mien asked, an emotion welling up in her heart as she remembered the cautionary tale about the collapsed Dome that Co Diem Ninh once told her when she was a child, as a lesson about what could happen if the Green Dome wasn't careful enough.

"Their remaining representatives contacted us two weeks ago," Diem Quynh confirmed, "asking if the network could help them rebuild their water regeneration system. I think, this is exactly the kind of story we need — not just sharing seeds, but proving that even a completely collapsed Arch can be revived, if given enough support at the right time."

Khe Mien nodded, feeling a strange circle closing in her heart — the story of Vom Suong, once just an abstract warning in the lessons of her childhood, had now become a real opportunity to prove that fate was not an irreversible one-way street.

Bach Lam came to her side, his hand carrying a small wooden box that was carefully packed, different from the larger wooden boxes being loaded onto the trailer. “This is reserved for the Green Dome,” he said, handing it to her. "I think you should be the one to bring it home."

Khe Mien opened the lid of the box, looking down at a small selection of carefully selected varieties — not just those with the highest economic value or resistance, but also a few with special symbolic meaning, including a small bag of seeds from the very same Bach Diep bean, the first variety that Co Diem Ninh had placed in her palm many years ago, now supplemented from the most original source that had ever existed.

"He — Doanh Ba Thong — said this lineage has a much higher rate of genetic diversity than what remained in Vom Xanh after many generations of closed breeding," Bach Lam explained. "If carefully crossed, it could solidify the entire lineage for at least the next hundred years."

Tears suddenly welled up in Khe Mien's eyes, and she didn't try to hide them, standing in the middle of the Upper Arch gate with a small seed box in her hand, thinking about Co Diem Ninh, about everything she had taught her, about the words she had repeated countless times: that today we keep it, tomorrow it will keep us. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the warmth of the morning and the noise of the motorcade preparing to depart fall behind, leaving only in her mind the image of a small room, the familiar smell of damp earth, and the wrinkled hands of a woman who taught her that patience is not passive waiting, but a persistent daily action.

"She would be so proud," Bach Lam said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I hope so," Khe Mien replied, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "I thought about what she used to say, that the job of the Seed Keeper is not just to preserve the trees, but to preserve what remains of memory. Now, I think, we are not just preserving memory — we are rewriting it, correcting what has been distorted by generations of lies."

The convoy departed amidst the cheers of the crowd gathered at the gate, not only the official representatives of the alliance, but also the ordinary residents of the Upper Dome, from both the luxurious upper floors and the dark Base Level, who came out to see off the first shipment as if it were a real festival, not just a simple logistical operation.

Vinh Thi Ngoan, standing in the crowd with her son by her side, waved as the procession passed by, and when her eyes caught sight of Khe Mien riding horseback leading part of the group, she shouted a simple but heartfelt blessing, causing Khe Mien to smile and respond with a grateful nod.

During the journey back to Green Dome, which lasted nearly a week through Dong Tro, Khe Mien had plenty of time to reflect on all that had happened since the day she left this very road, many years ago, with a small caravan and a fragile faith. She remembered each face that had accompanied her — Ngan The Binh with his practical wisdom, the people of Vom Soi and Vom Reo who dared to believe when all reason told them to doubt, Doanh Ba Thong with his silent courage that lasted for many years, and now, even Son Ba Dat and Vinh Thi Ngoan, who came from the heart of their old enemies but chose to stand on the side of light.

When the convoy finally approached the Green Arch gate, Khe Mien felt her heart beat faster, a feeling that almost returned to her childhood when she saw the familiar Filter Roof appearing on the horizon, the light filtering through the double layer of glass creating a gentle orange-yellow color that she had missed throughout the long journey.

Bien Ba Uy, Su Dinh Lam, and nearly all the residents of the Green Dome gathered in the square in front of the gate to welcome them, and when the big gate opened, cheers rang out like rolling waves, mixed with the warning bells that echoed throughout the Dome—not an alarm bell, but a welcoming bell that had not been used since the peaceful season festivals before the crisis began.

Vu Dinh Khoat, her father, stood at the front of the crowd, and when Khe Mien dismounted and ran to hug him, she clearly felt that he was much older than she remembered, but his eyes still lit up with the same pride she had seen the day she first told him about her first lesson at Kho Nut, many years ago.

"You're home," he said, his voice choked, holding her tightly as if afraid she would disappear again. "And you brought back more than I ever dared hope for."

"I bring back a promise that has been kept, father," Khe Mien replied, opening the small wooden box in front of him, revealing the seeds inside glistening in the afternoon sunlight. "The Root Store is real. And now, it belongs to all of us."

Tang Dieu Lam pushed through the crowd, hugged Khe Mien with a mixture of laughter and tears, and when the two close friends let each other go, Dieu Lam wiped away her tears, looking at her friend from head to toe as if she still couldn't believe that the girl who used to take care of the seedlings with her in the Central Nursery had now become the person who had just overthrown an entire order of power. "You changed the world," Dieu Lam said, her voice both proud and a little surprised. "But you still look exactly like the little girl who was so worried that she couldn't sleep because a bed of rice seedlings didn't germinate on time."

"Maybe that's exactly what shouldn't change," Khe Mien replied, smiling through the tears still on her cheeks.

Su Dinh Lam came closer, his look solemn but his eyes could not hide his emotions when looking at the small box of seeds in Khe Mien's hand. "I've opposed almost every decision you've made, from the first day you proposed sending people out of Filter Roof," he said, his voice slow. "I want you to know, I don't regret having doubted — doubt is sometimes necessary to test a path. But I don't regret it even more because I finally learned to trust."

That afternoon, the whole Green Dome held a small sowing ceremony right on the terraced fields, where Khe Mien, along with her father, Tang Dieu Lam, and the most veteran growers of the Green Dome, personally sowed the first bed of Bach Diep bean seeds just brought back from the Original Seed Warehouse, mixing with the seeds that had been preserved at Green Dome for generations. Standing in the middle of the familiar land of her homeland, her hands covered in dust, Khe Mien felt a peace that she did not expect she could still feel so completely, after everything that had happened, after all the long journeys, losses, battles she had gone through to bring this simple moment back to where it belonged.