The knowledge did not spread like wildfire, but like a slow, pervasive change in the weather. There were no announcements, no dramatic revelations. The people of Verdant Promise simply began to notice things.
Old Man Hemming’s chronic joint pain, which had plagued him for decades, eased noticeably after Kael had spent an afternoon helping him sort seed packets. A failing power conduit in the residential sector, scheduled for a complex and dangerous repair, suddenly stabilized to optimal levels as Kael walked past it, lost in thought. The community’s children, often scraped and bickering after a day of play, seemed more harmonious, their minor disagreements dissolving with a quiet word from the boy who had once been just one of them.
At first, it was dismissed as coincidence, a run of goo
