Aerie's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Dawn came gray and cold. Aerie walked to the east bed alone, before the helpers stirred. The ground there was the worst of it — shallow, knotted with old roots. The tower would rise here, or not at all. Aerie drew the long metal probe from their belt. They pressed it down at the first mark, read the number, moved on. Inch by inch they mapped the buried mess. Some places gave only a hand's depth before the probe struck root. Others sank deep and easy. The pattern was not random. It was a map. They carried each pulled core to the open brass cabinet by the herb rows and slid the samples into labeled vials behind the glass. Pale clay. Black loam. A tangle of dead root no spade should meet blind. By the time Whisper found them, the cabinet held the whole truth of the bed. "You've been at this for hours," Whisper said softly. Aerie nodded and handed her a vial. "Now I know where to dig. And where not to." Together they set the tall crystal markers across the yard, one for each footing the tower would need. The pillars caught the early light and hummed faint blue where roots ran deep beneath. Aerie shifted three of them a full pace east, away from the worst tangles. The footprint settled. The plan held. When the helpers came out with their tools, Aerie pointed to the glowing pillars and spoke clearly. "We dig here. Not there. Follow the light." The first spade broke ground clean. No collapse. No blind cut. The tower had a place to stand.