Aerie's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

Word of the healed moonmoth bat spread fast. By dawn, three new creatures waited near the glass dome. By noon, six more. Aerie counted them and felt the ledger grow heavy in their hands. The garden was not ready. The east bed still would not hold water. And now the line of waiting creatures stretched past the path. A shimmering unicorn stood at the back of the line, favoring one leg. A small fox-thing licked a burn on its paw. Aerie knew the truth at once: shelter and food had to come before any new planting. A hungry creature could not wait for a herb to grow. Aerie dragged a stone basin from the storage shed and set it in the open yard. They fitted the crystalline vents Eldrin had once shown them, and a soft glowing liquid began to pool inside. One trough. Enough for a day, maybe two. They ran for the steward. Eldrin came, read the yard in one slow look, and set his staff down. "Too many for one garden," he said. "You feed. I will sort them. Worst hurt first. The rest wait in the shade." They worked until the sun dropped. Eldrin moved among the creatures with quiet hands. Aerie filled the trough again and again. The unicorn drank. The fox-thing slept. No one died waiting. But when Aerie looked at the east bed, still cracked and dry, they knew the next wave would be larger. The garden had to grow, and it had to grow now. Eldrin paused at the gate before leaving. "You cannot hold this alone," he said. "Tomorrow we send word out. Others will come." Aerie nodded. The promise had not broken. But it had outgrown them, and that was its own kind of answer.