TurboTAD had barely turned to the travellers when someone behind him said, “Wait.” 🫧
THE BOOK OF TAD
PAGE 21
THREE BENDS AWAY 🌿
The traveller with the split reed basket peered at the pale clay.
“I’ve seen that. Maybe.” She pointed beyond the flowering weeds. “Three bends that way, under low roots. My basket scraped there last week.”
“Did it smear?” Glint asked.
“No. It crunched between the reeds.”
“Worth checking.”
TurboTAD asked two travellers to watch the marker. “Keep the lane open. Don’t move it or clear the break.”
The basket carrier nodded. “We’ve got it.”
Zale scanned the weed line. “Three bends. This way.”
They left the marker behind.
Zale led them through the first bend, then the second. At the third, the flowering weeds fell away. Daylight broke into stripes beneath tangled willow roots, and the soft black bed changed to rounded brown pebbles.
The water moved in small threads between the roots instead of one open lane. Three bends wasn’t far, but it felt like another part of the Pond.
“Low enough to catch a basket,” Zale said, ducking underneath. “She remembered that bit.”
TurboTAD slowed them. “Look first. Try not to stir anything.”
They spread out.
TurboTAD searched between the pebbles. Nothing pale. He moved farther beneath the roots.
Glint stopped beside one worn smooth by passing water.
“Here.”
Caught in a narrow crack beneath it was a crumb no wider than a seed.
Zale leaned closer. “Clay?”
Glint pressed it gently. The crumb broke into pale grains.
“Same colour,” he said. “Same grit.”