Strawberry's Descent

Arista arrived in the Demi-Human territory with a list of things to inspect. She had worked out what to check before she had worked out what to say to Sorrel.

Sorrel greeted her at the territory's edge, pleased by the visit despite its unannounced nature.

"...A check-up," Sorrel said, studying her. "It has been some time since you last inspected these personally."

"I wanted to make sure everything's still holding," Arista said. "The seals, the ventilation, all of it."

They walked the dome network together, Arista running through her familiar inspection routine, testing seal integrity, checking airflow, confirming every system still operated as designed. The first two domes held nothing she hadn't expected, the same careful rows of crops she remembered from the original handover.

It was in the third dome that she noticed the beds had changed.

"...You're growing them in layers?"

Tiered beds rose along the dome's curved wall, nothing she'd included in the original design, each tier holding something different.

"The upper beds stay warmer," Sorrel said. "We moved the plants that preferred it. The hardier ones do well below."

Arista crouched to examine the lower tier, running a hand along the joined frame. "I could adjust the ventilation. Even out the temperature across the whole dome."

"We use what the land provides," Sorrel said. "That includes heat."

Arista looked along the beds, picturing how they'd been arranged during her previous visit. "...These used to share a bed, didn't they?"

"They did," Sorrel said. "We kept finding a temperature that both would tolerate, and neither one especially liked."

"And now each gets what it actually prefers."

"That was the idea."

Arista studied the two crops, leaves broader and darker on the lower tier, something paler and more delicate thriving above. "How did the harvest compare?"

"Better, for both," Sorrel said. "The lower crop nearly doubled. The upper one took longer to adjust. We lost most of the first planting before we understood how much warmth it actually wanted."

"You kept trying?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We wanted to know whether we'd chosen the wrong place or simply hadn't learned how to grow them there."

Sorrel reached up, plucked something small and dark from the upper tier, and held it out. "Let me know what you think."

Arista took it, her attention still on the bed frame. "...It's a definite improvement over the old layout."

"I meant the fruit, Strawberry."

"Oh." Arista tasted it. The flavor was sharper and sweeter than she'd expected. "...That's good, actually."

"The first ones were sour," Sorrel said. "We adjusted the watering before we adjusted the heat. It took us a while to understand which variable actually mattered."

Arista accepted another piece of fruit. "I've been meaning to ask you about that boat full of golems. Their captain said your people were very helpful in directing them to another harbor."

Sorrel's expression turned faintly wry. "They were very polite golems, and very set on staying exactly where they'd anchored. That made it harder, honestly. Shouting at rude visitors is simple. These simply smiled and thanked us for the directions, then stayed anyway, so we kept having to offer the directions again, a little less subtly each time."

"...What did you actually tell them?"

"That the coast wasn't suited to a vessel built the way theirs was. True enough, as far as it went. We left out the part where half the children wouldn't stop staring at the metal, and the elders muttered about ships that didn't need wind or current. Their captain agreed to leave almost immediately, once our suggestions were too direct to mistake for anything else. Thanked us properly for it, too, which surprised me."

"But?"

"But agreeing and actually leaving turned out to be two very different problems for him. We stood by the mooring lines quite a while, pointing the way to the next harbor every time he looked over, while he argued with his own ship."

"He told us it took half an hour."

"It felt longer."

"He didn't seem to hold it against anyone."

"Good," Sorrel said. "We were unwelcoming. I will not pretend otherwise."

"Wait, didn't Thoth also spend some time here?"

"You mean the mechanical dragon?"

"Yep, that's my Thoth."

"We were wary of him too," Sorrel said. "But he wanted to learn how we lived. Your captain seemed more interested in what we thought of him."

"He mentioned thinking about sending your village a thank-you."

"For asking him to leave?"

"For the directions. They helped convince the ship."

Sorrel looked at her. "Then I am glad we were so thorough."

They stepped outside once Arista had finished her inspection.

"There's another bed like this, two domes over," Sorrel said. "You could look at it next time."

"I could do it now."

"There is no hurry."

Arista didn't answer right away.

"...There's something I need to tell you."

Sorrel waited.

"I'm leaving," Arista said. "In a few months. Not just this territory. Everywhere. I wanted you to hear it from me directly."

"...Your world calls you elsewhere," Sorrel said, not quite a question.

"Nothing here drove me away," Arista said. "I wanted you to know that."

"Will you visit again before you go?" Sorrel asked.

"Yes. I just don't know when yet."

"Did you come to inspect the domes," Sorrel asked, "or to tell me?"

"A bit of both. But I did hide behind the check-up part."

"You did not need an excuse to visit, Strawberry," Sorrel said. "You have always been welcome here."

"I believe the first time I met you, you said I was uninvited, Sorrel."

"I said your heat vents were uninvited."

Arista felt her throat tighten and, for once, didn't try to hide it behind a smile.

"Come," Sorrel said. "You wanted to see the other beds."

Arista followed her toward the other dome.