Chapter 405: Back to Its Row

Tobin began at the upper trial setting where the last run had ended. The lining was already warm when Ren changed into the inspection gloves and fastened the clear face guard.

They took fresh readings before Tobin moved the feed slide. Ren checked the middle section, both sides of the internal joint beside the dressed seat, and the rear contacts. He kept the face and inner readings paired, with the seats in their own columns and the feed setting beside each set.

Tobin checked the baseline against the operating limits entered for the run, then brought the supply up in stages. He held at each mark while they checked the branch. Through Fire, Ren could follow the release across the internal joint. The adjustment he had made during the previous window remained in the cultivated layers. He left it alone; Tobin was managing the release throughout this run.

At each hold, Ren worked through his assigned contacts and reported the results. When a tip softened, he tested the next grade with a fresh one before entering the band. He kept the pressure and count consistent, seating the deeper holders against their stops. Tobin compared the entries with his own checks before advancing the feed.

At ordinary supply, the readings settled. They continued checking while the branch ran at that setting, giving the deeper contacts time to respond. The pairs remained within Tobin’s limits, and the seating readings held through the later rounds.

The downhill end, where the replacement met the old lining, had needed Tobin’s attention during both previous runs. He checked it himself, then returned twice more before laying the record beside the first heating’s entries.

"Within limits, three checks running."

He entered the results and the ordinary setting.

Joss came back from the cavity opening with his strip and long hook. He had checked the bed passage inside the divided support, reaching its bracket beneath the crosspiece.

"The passages are drawing. No hot discharge from the repaired stretch. The cavity’s air is going to the flue."

Lenna compared her marks beside the dressed seat, then checked the surrounding bedstone. The contacts had held as the lining warmed.

A garden hand brought the report from above. Maren and Nel had examined the soil at the bed’s old position during the holds, comparing it with the neighboring growing beds. The receiving position had warmed steadily. They had checked it again after the ordinary setting settled and were satisfied with the conditions there.

Tobin finished the branch record.

"Back in service," he said. "I’ll keep it at ordinary supply while you move the bed."

"The receiving structure’s ready," Lenna said. "I’ll check below as you lower it."

Ren returned the inspection gloves and face guard, put his port hand covers back on, and went up to the growers.

— • —

The bed still stood on its receiving blocks uphill of the repaired section. Nel was kneeling beside the shallow tray of cultivated stone, clearing soil from the lifting recesses. There were two beneath each long side.

Ren set down his bag clear of the carrying path and helped bring the garden’s frame alongside. Nel checked all four recesses before moving around the tray’s downhill edge.

A thin root had reached the margin of the neighboring bed. She eased the soil away to see where it joined, then cut the connection and dressed both ends. She tucked the bed’s freed end back into its soil and checked the rest of the margin.

"That’s the only connection."

Trailing growth lay across one recess. Nel lifted it out before the frame came closer.

"That comes with the bed."

Ren held the frame while she laid the stems clear. At the bed’s head, Maren worked the worn wooden marker out of the soil, brushed its base against her sleeve and slipped it into her coat.

The receiving points were prepared at the old row position, supported by the repaired footing. Beside them, the fitted cover still spanned the surface crack on its own bearings. Its bars remained reachable from the path, clear of where the tray would sit. Maren had left room for the frame to turn without passing over them.

Lenna checked the points from above, then went down to the gallery. A garden hand took the relay position at the stair. While they waited, Nel showed the two frame hands where the tines needed to reach, and Ren checked the turn between the temporary blocks and the row.

The report came back from below. Lenna had checked the footing and the new supports against the prepared bearing positions.

"Ready below."

The hands fed the tines into the four recesses until their ends reached Nel’s marks. Ren took the long side of the frame. The other two stood at the ends, keeping it square while Maren watched from beside the cleared path.

"Up a hand’s width."

Ren took most of the weight as they lifted. The tray came clear of the receiving blocks, and they stopped with it level.

Nel checked along the underside from the edge, then went around to the far side. No roots pulled taut between the tray and the ground. She freed a hanging stem from the corner of a block and stepped back.

"Clear."

"Bring it down the path," Maren said.

They moved together, Ren matching the others’ pace. The return was downhill, and he kept the frame level while the hands guided its ends. The blocks stayed at the temporary position; the garden crew would collect them after the move.

At Maren’s signal, they turned toward the row. Ren shortened his steps while the far end came around. One of the hands called the clearance behind him, and he waited for the end of the frame to pass before moving again. They left room between the frame and the crack cover’s bars. Nel walked beside the tray, holding the loose growth clear of the neighboring bed.

Maren stopped them over the receiving points. She checked the tray’s position against the row and had the far end brought slightly toward her. Nel looked beneath both long sides before agreeing that the bearing points were aligned.

"Lower."

They brought it down slowly. Ren felt the weight begin to leave the frame and stopped at Maren’s raised hand.

Below, Lenna checked the first contacts as the tray’s load reached the footing. The garden hand relayed her call to continue. They lowered again, keeping the tray level until it met all the prepared points.

"Seated," the hand called. "Keep the frame there."

Ren eased the remaining weight onto the stone while the tines stayed in the recesses. The two hands kept their grips without lifting. They waited while Lenna read the distribution through the repaired section with the tray fully resting on it.

Air moved through the canopy above them. A loose stem brushed Ren’s sleeve; Nel gathered it with the others and waited beside the bed.

Lenna’s next report came through the hand at the stair. The footing and seating marks had held. The permanent supports were carrying the returned load, and the root recesses and passages remained clear. She had checked the two later pillars and the rib as well; their contacts along the exposed face were undisturbed.

"Take the frame out."

With the tray fully supported on the receiving points, Ren and the hands drew the tines free. They carried the frame aside before Nel checked the margins against the neighboring beds. She loosened a stem caught beneath another and settled the trailing growth on the soil.

Maren took the marker from her coat. She pressed it into the soil at the bed’s head and straightened it with two fingers. The shoot beside it moved in the canopy air, then settled.

The branch remained at ordinary supply while the keepers finished their checks below. Tobin confirmed that the lining contacts were still within their limits, and Joss checked the passages after the weight had settled. Lenna’s final report accepted the placement.

The exposed face still had its two pillars, rib and shoring. Lenna would keep those in place under the garden’s tending, with Joss’s access left clear and the surface cover secured.

At the keepers’ entrance, Maren opened the contract on her slate. She recorded Ren’s support work as complete and accepted, the supervised foundation study provided during the job, and the bounded Fire task completed with Tobin’s acceptance. The fee remained as agreed.

She turned the slate toward him. Ren read the entry, including the contract reference, before handing it back.

Nel called to the frame hands from the temporary position. They went to collect the receiving blocks while Maren closed the record.

— • —

Ren returned the issued layers at the port and took the service to Dawnspire. From the transit hall he walked home, carrying his bag up to his room. His notebook and slate came with him when he entered Verdance.

The peg still stood on the open ground west of the Worldroot, clear of his mother’s flowers. He set the bag beside the trunk and sat with his back against it. After the heat of the gallery and the covered walk to the port, he was glad to leave his coat folded beside him.

"How is the garden, Ren?"

Kaia’s voice reached him privately from the roots.

"The bed’s back in its row."

He rested his hands on his knees for a moment before taking out the slate.

The archive’s reply had arrived before he reached Dawnspire. It was under the inquiry recorded by the clerk at Sovereign Dawn: references on preparing an existing stellar structure. He opened the reply.

The attached extract lists the observations required before stabilizing an existing stellar structure.

Ren looked across at the peg, then took his notebook from the bag and opened the attachment.