The seed crates arrived before the charter vote.
Their carrier came up through the booked freight turn with Hearth’s growers’ marks intact, a paid receiving agent and a woman who wanted the tuber crates opened beneath cover rather than left in the cold while people went to a meeting.
The seed keeper agreed with her.
On the four hundred and ninety-eighth day, the remaining thirty tonnes were weighed, inspected and accepted. Added to the eight bought locally, they completed the spring purchase: eight tonnes of grain seed, ten of beans and twenty of seed tubers. The owners’ balances and the separately agreed freight fee were paid against the receiving marks. None went into the food bulk balance.
Iven helped the keeper shift one test crate from the cart to its slatted support. The load was small enough for a short, controlled use of the conveyor drive through the dolly’s fixed rail. When the wheels reached the uneven edge of the floor, he stopped and let the receiving crew lift it the last few inches.
The carrier’s woman opened it, checked the packing and nodded.
“Now go argue,” she said. “These can stay alive without listening.”
He went to the school hall with soil still lodged in the seam of his boot.
