Artifact Record
UnknownForgotten Seed
A single unidentifiable seed of unknown origin, currently held in secure storage, which Elara says was planted too early and will therefore sprout late.
Forgotten Seed
The Forgotten Seed is a single seed, roughly the size of a chestnut, matching no cultivated or wild plant documented in any of Andy The Maker's worlds. It was found in a small clay pot, sealed with wax, in a hollow beneath an old-growth cherry tree on Cherry Mountain. The pot has been dated, informally, as old. The seed appears new. The Archives have stopped pretending these two facts fit together.
Physical Description
The seed is dark, smooth, and dense, with a faint seam running its full circumference like a closed eyelid. It is heavier than its size suggests. Under sustained observation it does nothing whatsoever, which after the well and the Stone is almost a relief.
The Elara Statement
The only substantive information about the Seed comes from Elara, unprompted, at the Cherry Mountain spring: she said it was planted too early, and would therefore sprout late. She did not explain who planted it, what early meant, or what it will be when it sprouts. The Archives have logged the statement verbatim and resisted the temptation to interpret it, mostly.
Custody and Status
The Seed is held in secure storage at Savanna Villa, pending permanent housing in the Hall of the Ancients. Bronwyn MacGruder has formally requested that if it is ever planted, it be planted in her walled garden. The request is on file. The decision is deferred, deliberately, until more is known — or until, as Elara's phrasing implies, the schedule stops being ours to set.
Field Notes
The storage chest is checked weekly. So far, the Seed has kept its own counsel.