Turn 006 · Ternhaven — Result

The Fourth Ford Exchange and Thaw Indications

Del and Seli led Ternhaven's four-person delegation along the alder path to the stream cairn lean-to, having verified safe, low-water conditions at the crossing. Across the flat stepping stones, the party met with High Barley's representatives and successfully carried out their fourth monthly barter.

Ternhaven delivered baskets of clean coastal sea-salt, choice smoked fish fillets, and rendered tallow. In exchange, the uplanders provided warm, dense fulled woolen garments, dried medicinal herbs, and upland barley grain. Alongside trading, the parties reaffirmed their peaceful cooperation and compared observations regarding early spring thaw indications, maintaining their strict discipline at the water boundary before the delegation returned safely eastward.

Storehouse Stewardship, Seed Safeguards, and Inner Bar Foraging

Inside the settlement, Ves completed an audit of late-winter provisions to ensure food supplies last through the tail end of the cold season. To protect the coming growing cycle from late-winter consumption pressures, Ves quarantined the settlement's seed root stock in elevated baskets, keeping it dry and separate from daily meal rations.

To stretch remaining preserved stores without risking boats in cold open waters, Ruan organized low-tide foraging crews along the sheltered inner gravel bars. Working in buddy pairs linked by safety lines, the foragers brought back fresh shellfish from the gravel beds, adding valuable protein and minerals to the settlement's diet.

Shoreline Defense, Wellhead Drainage, and Indoor Craft

Along the inner landing, shifting temperatures created drifting slush floes in the inlet. Kiri and the shore crews remained stationed on the beach with long timber rammers, actively fending drifting slush floes away from the hauled skiffs and their greased skids before moving ice could crowd or abrade the hulls.

Uphill from the hall, Wen directed work crews to deepen the diversion ditches above the freshwater wellhead, routing early surface thaw and hillside meltwater away from the settlement's drinking supply. Meanwhile, inside the warm hall, weavers and spinners set to work processing the raw fleece received from High Barley, producing warm clothing and outfitting gear in preparation for early spring activities.

Immediate Pressures and Open Questions

• Thaw Runoff and the Alder Path: As winter loosens and hillside snowmelt increases, the stream at the ford will swell. Continuing the monthly exchange with High Barley will depend on whether runoff submerges the stepping stones or washes out sections of the alder trail.
• Spring Launch Readiness: The two fishing craft remain sound and protected on their timber skids, but putting them back to sea as inlet slush clears will require final checks on seams and gear, followed by careful assessment of the volatile, unsurveyed outer sound.
• Late-Winter Store Depletion: Quarantining the seed root stock protects spring planting, but baseline grain and cured rations are nearing the end of their winter run, keeping the community reliant on measured meal allocations and inner-bar shellfish until early spring harvesting and fishing can begin.