Chapter 1790

The following morning, Jude woke to the sound of someone arguing outside his cabin.

"I told you those are not the right seeds!"

"They look exactly like the ones we collected yesterday!"

"They are different!"

"They are both small and brown!"

"That doesn’t mean they are the same!"

Jude opened his eyes and stared at the wooden ceiling for a few seconds. He recognized the voices immediately. Stella and Scarlet.

He sat up, rubbed his face, and listened.

"You can’t plant every seed you find!" Stella protested.

"Why not? That’s how planting works!"

"Not if you don’t know what you’re planting!"

"Then we’ll find out what grows!"

Jude sighed and got out of bed.

By the time he stepped outside, the village was already awake. A thin layer of morning mist rested over the gardens, and smoke rose lazily from the cooking fires. The central firepit was still glowing from the previous night, though someone had already placed fresh wood beside it.

Stella stood near the flower garden with two small wooden bowls. Scarlet was beside her, holding a handful of seeds and looking entirely unrepentant.

"What happened?" Jude asked.

"Scarlet mixed the meadow seeds with the seeds from the eastern farm," Stella explained.

"I did not mix them. I placed them together for convenience."

"That’s mixing them!"

Scarlet turned to Jude. "Tell her that seeds don’t care which bowl they are in."

Jude looked at the two bowls.

Then he looked at Scarlet.

"Stella is right."

Scarlet’s expression fell. "I knew you would say that."

"Because she’s trying to keep the garden organized."

"Organization is the enemy of adventure."

"Not when you’re growing food."

Stella gave Jude a grateful smile and began separating the seeds again.

Jude approached the small patch of soil beside the path. The flower garden was still unfinished, but Rose had already marked its boundaries with smooth stones. A few flowering plants from the eastern forest had been transplanted there, and Stella had been carefully recording their growth.

"Where should we plant the new seeds?" he asked.

"Along the back edge," Stella replied. "The violet flowers can go near the stones. The taller ones should be farther away so they don’t block the smaller plants."

"Then we’ll need to prepare the soil."

"I already asked Grace to bring the tools."

As if summoned by her name, Grace emerged from the direction of the storehouse carrying a wooden tray of small gardening tools. Emma followed her with a basket of compost.

"Good morning," Grace said.

"Good morning. Have you eaten?" Jude asked.

"Not yet."

"Then why are you carrying all that?"

"Because Stella said we had work to do."

Scarlet shook her head. "This village has become a place where everyone obeys Stella."

Stella didn’t even look up. "Someone has to."

Jude laughed and took the tray from Grace. "Let’s have breakfast first. We can plant afterward."

That decision was welcomed by everyone except Stella, who seemed reluctant to leave the seeds unattended. She finally placed both bowls on a high shelf inside the storehouse and followed them toward the firepit.

Breakfast was a mixture of warm bread, roasted fruit, and a thick vegetable soup left over from the previous evening. Susan had prepared it early, adding herbs gathered near the river. The soup smelled wonderful, and Jude took a second helping before anyone could comment.

"Someone is hungry," Natalie observed.

"Someone woke up to an argument about seeds."

"That’s a reasonable excuse," Rose said.

Scarlet sat across from him. "I was trying to improve the garden."

"You were trying to plant unidentified seeds."

"That’s a form of improvement."

"Not necessarily."

"Fine. Next time I’ll ask you before doing anything."

Jude paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth.

He knew that tone.

"Please don’t."

The table erupted in laughter.

After breakfast, the village divided into several groups. Stella, Grace, and Emma began preparing the flower garden. Susan and Natalie went to the vegetable plots to inspect the crops. Rose and Layla checked the food storehouse, while Serena and Sophie carried baskets toward the eastern farms.

Zoey and Lucy volunteered to clean the western path, though neither seemed particularly enthusiastic about the task.

Jude decided to help with the garden first.

The soil beside the path had become compacted after several weeks of rain. He used a wooden spade to loosen it while Grace mixed compost into the earth. Stella arranged the seeds into small groups, keeping the different varieties separate.

Emma carried water from the nearby stream.

"Not too much," Stella reminded her.

"I know."

"Last time you flooded the entire patch."

"That was because the ground was unusually dry."

"It was a muddy puddle."

Emma smiled. "A very healthy muddy puddle."

Jude shook his head. "I think we’re going to need a better system for recording these plants."

Stella immediately looked interested. "I’ve been thinking about that."

She went to retrieve her journal from the cabin and returned with a small book bound in brown leather. Its pages were filled with drawings, notes, and little marks indicating where each plant had been found.

"I want to make a proper record of everything we grow," she explained. "Not just the vegetables. The flowers, herbs, fruit trees, and the plants we find in the forest too."

"That’s a good idea," Jude said.

"We could divide the journal into sections," Emma suggested. "Food plants, useful plants, flowers, and plants we don’t recognize."

"And perhaps a separate section for dangerous or unsuitable plants," Jude added. "We shouldn’t assume something is safe just because it looks similar to something we’ve eaten before."

Stella nodded and wrote it down.

Grace glanced at the journal. "You could also draw the different stages of growth. Some of the plants look completely different when they’re young."

"Exactly!" Stella said.

She looked so pleased that Jude decided not to mention how much work the journal would require.

By midmorning, the garden was beginning to take shape. The soil had been loosened, the seeds had been planted, and small wooden markers stood in neat rows. Stella placed a simple protective fence around the patch so that the animals wouldn’t wander through it.

Scarlet arrived carrying a bundle of thin branches.