The Mana-Garden

The mana-garden is the reason the Verdigris still makes sense as a bounty ship in a mana desert. Concord built her as a Class II mid transport with a maintenance blister on the dorsal spine; Talyra chose the hull because that blister could be turned into a sealed dome — then the retrofit bill arrived twice because a nine-foot Karthun and her exo-rig needed paths that would not crack the glass.

Inside, the air is humid and warm on purpose — for the plants, not for her. Karthunai run hot on human ships; Karth Deep bred them for ice. Talyra still tends every bed because the garden is the crew's mana lifeline, but she works in cool-weave wraps, takes shorter shifts when she can, and keeps iced tea on that wooden table. Hydroponic troughs climb the curved walls; bioluminescent blooms throw amber light between industrial grow-lamps. Dried herb bundles hang beside valve manifolds. Ceramic cups, a stone mortar, wet soil — the smell makes Ivan sneeze if he lingers.

Talyra's working survey puts the dome near 120 m² gross floor with about 120 m² of effective cultivated surface after stacked racks and trellises are counted. Roughly 860 established plants and 300 nursery cells cover herbs, medicines, atmospheric buffering, and perhaps 25–35% of the crew's fresh-food needs. Not calories. Nobody has yet enchanted lettuce into rice, oil, or protein.

For the table: magic in this setting is life-fueled. Deep space has none. Different crops carry different mana output: trees and perennial medicinals hold stable power, while greens and roots feed people better but lose biomass when harvested. The garden generates a low-mana bubble the whole crew lives inside — enough that Elias can work, enough that rituals don't die mid-syllable, never enough to feel like standing on Khesret-Prime soil. Neglect the beds and the mage throttles within a week. Land on a living world and everyone feels the difference in hours.

A glass dome fills the frame — segmented panes, heavy ribs, the black curve of a planet and city lights below the horizon. Dense green climbs the walls in metal planter troughs wired with pipes and manual valves. Glowing yellow-orange flowers mix with ferns and hanging vines. Left wall: dried herbs on a rack. Center: a weathered wooden table with teapot, cups, and flower-shaped lamps. Floor: industrial grating over drainage. Warm lamplight, not sterile LED — a living room that happens to be a reactor for spell fuel.

₡650/week baseline — nutrient cartridges ₡300, water-reclamation filters ₡150, grow-light power ₡200 (often rolled into fuel accounting). Skipping a week costs −1 mana step for Elias. Roll greenhouse upkeep d100 every 14 days.

Talyra — botanist on duty: tea rituals, blight response, armor lubricant scented with crushed leaf from bed three; cool-weave because the dome heat is real. Elias — assigned one pot to water (forgets); runs garden sensor taps from the engine side when the hydro loop throws codes. Ivan — avoids extended visits — Null field wilts cuttings near his bunk.