122. Seeds Before Food

Carlos was halfway across the southern field when the wheat in the Spirit Farmland began to change.

Then the green stalks rose. They pushed higher one after another beneath the pale light of the Tidal Silverwood, their heads filling out, their color turning from green to gold. The whole row changed in less than a minute.

Tarin saw it before anyone else.

"Rowan!"

The shout brought everyone running from the new farmland. Carlos reached the marked path at the same time as Mira and the two new Farmers.

Blue was already above the wheat, drifting from one end of the row to the other with so much energy that its round body kept swelling and shrinking.

Carlos looked at it and smiled.

"Good work."

Blue spun once in the air. Rowan put one arm out before anyone stepped off the path.

"Nobody enters yet. The roots of the Silverwood run beneath this side. One careless boot is enough to make our first harvest expensive."