Delphine Fernside's Arc

Chapter 1 of 11

Della knelt in the strawberry patch and counted berries until her fingers ached. Red ones. Pink ones. Tiny green ones blushing toward summer. She wanted every single one, ripened and gathered, the sweetest harvest the valley had ever tasted. She set her little basket down beside her. It had soft frayed edges and a few small holes she'd long stopped trying to mend. She loved it. She had carried it everywhere since she was small. She began picking. The basket filled fast. Too fast. Berries piled to the rim, then over, then tumbled into the moss. Della stared at the patch. Hundreds of berries still waited. Her basket held maybe twenty. "You'll lose half to the birds," said a flat voice. Togg sat on a root, paws folded, tail twitching once. "Math problem." Della's cheeks went hot. She picked up a spilled berry and set it carefully back on the pile. Then she looked up through the trees at an old mossy hut tucked between the roots, its door still hanging straight. She pictured something bigger. A hollow stump, maybe, lined and cool, big enough to hold every berry the forest grew. "Then I need somewhere to put them," she said. She stood up, basket in hand, berries bright against the weave. The little basket was finished as her harvest tool. Today she would find something that could hold a real harvest.