The moss became a carpet, then a meadow. Its simple, strengthening song began to interact with the harmonics still being used to disaggregate toxins at the meadow's edge. A symbiosis emerged: the life-song softened the harsh notes needed to break down the polymers, making the process less energy-intensive. In turn, the cleared ground provided new territory for the moss.
They weren't just healing the Basin; they were conducting an ecosystem into existence.
But Charlotte's silence was a growing counter-pressure. Reports filtered in of deserters—small groups, often families with sick children tired of "magical uncertainty," slipping away into the wastes toward the promise of her sterile haven.
Roxana analyzed the patterns. "It's not the desperate or the poor. It's the pragmatic middle. People who had a little stability under the Syndicate and see it slipping away. They don't want a song; they want a solution that fits in a cup."
Valentine, her hands stained with earth from helping direct the moss-growth, looked at the data. "We're winning the philosophical argument with a moss garden. She's winning the practical one with a guaranteed glass of water. We need to bridge that. We need to show the Song can deliver."
The answer came from an unexpected quarter. Elara, the grizzled janitor-turned-Choir-member, had been experimenting on the side. Using a small, personal resonator and a vial of unified Vitae, she had been "talking" to the seeds they'd brought for potential cultivation—ancient, resilient legume stocks.
"I asked it to be nourishing," she said simply, showing them a single, plump bean pod that had grown in a matter of days in her tent. "Not to grow fast. Just to be… full."
Analysis showed the bean was a nutritional powerhouse, packing proteins and vitamins it hadn't for centuries. The Vitae, guided by a focused intention (a "nourishment" harmonic), had collaborated with the plant's genetics, not overriding them, but encouraging their fullest, healthiest expression.
It was the missing link. Not just cleaning, not just growing life, but cultivating abundance.