Forest Shroomy's Arc

Chapter 10 of 10

Dawn broke pale over the eastern grove. Forest Shroomy walked the property line at first light, counting the new mushroom caps where the bypass network had taken hold. Her radio crackled on her belt. The conservation officer's voice came through, tight and early. The lab results were back ahead of schedule. But there was a problem with the boundary, the officer said. Luke's property line cut straight through the planting site, and only half the mushrooms sat on protected ground. Forest Shroomy stopped walking and looked down at her boots, one heel in soft moss, the other on packed dirt that belonged to Luke. She met Luke at the small brick office where land disputes were settled. The split-colored door faced them like a line drawn in paint. Inside, the officer spread a map across the table. The endangered classification was confirmed. But the old fence outside, gray wood and faded markers, ran right through the heart of the grove. Half the network would be saved for five years. The other half could be cleared tomorrow. Luke stared at the map a long time. Then he picked up a pen and signed his half of the land over to the protected zone. The officer drove a polished metal post into the ground at the new boundary, its round head catching the morning sun. Forest Shroomy laid her palm against the cool steel. The whole grove was safe now. The thieves' tunnels, mapped by the officer's team that week, would be sealed by the county. The probes were gone. The machine sat chained and quiet. Luke nodded once at her across the post, then walked back toward his garage. Forest Shroomy stayed in the grove until the sun climbed high. She knelt and pressed her fingers into the moss where the bypass mushrooms had rooted strong. The eastern network pulsed under her hand, whole again, healing. She listened to the small sounds of her forest waking up around her, and for the first time in many days, she let the weight she carried rest gently down into the soil.