Aster Alloway's Arc

Chapter 20 of 26

Aster pushed the cart up the trail. Her yellow dress hummed against the fridge, and the pollen glowed under the glass. The chime and her voice held the spores alive. She felt light. Then she heard boots on the path behind her. A man came up the trail. He wore muddy sandals and carried a pack heavy with pots and cuttings. His eyes went straight to her glowing dress. Then to the cart, which chimed and shone like a lantern. He slowed and smiled. It was not a warm smile. It was the smile of someone doing sums in his head. "That's a rich cart," he said. He edged closer. "Glowing seed, is it? I trade in seed. Maybe we make a deal. Maybe we don't." His hand drifted toward the cart lid. Aster's four hands tightened on the handle. If he saw the pollen was priceless, he would take it. She could not fight him and hold the cart. She had to make the glow look like nothing. An elder stepped out from behind a tall stone. She was spindly, with ink-stained fingers and a pressed floral vest. A thick almanac sat under one arm. Aster knew her from the city. Nell Corra walked the long weather route each year and kept a desk at the flower-shaped library. She never wasted a word. "Storm coming," Nell said. She did not look at the trader. She looked at the sky. "Glow-moss reacts to wet air. That's all that cart is. Wet moss lights up before rain." The trader frowned. "Moss." "Cheap moss," Nell said. "Fades by noon. I've charted it forty years." She tapped her almanac. "You want proof, wait for the rain. You'll be soaked and holding nothing." Aster caught on. "It's just for warmth on the road," she said. She pulled a fold of green herb dress from her pack and draped it over the fridge's glow. The chime dulled. The light dimmed to a soft ordinary green. "See? Damp leaves. Nothing to trade." The trader looked from the dulled cart to Nell's flat face. He weighed it. Then he shrugged and hitched his pack higher. "Not worth the wait," he muttered. He walked on up the trail and did not look back. Aster let her breath out. "You lied for me." "I stated a fact he couldn't check," Nell said. "Rain is coming. That part is true." She glanced at the covered cart. "Whatever glows under there, it isn't moss. Keep it hidden until the city." "I will," Aster said. Nell nodded once and turned back to her route. Aster looked at the sky. Clouds stacked dark to the west. She still had the pollen, and now she had a warning. The trader was gone, but the rain would find her before the walls did.