It had felt freer since the fifth piece joined it. The new seam still ached, but the ache was smaller under THE Farmer's warm authority, and with five pieces humming together it could feel farther and move more easily than it ever had. So when THE Farmer reached for it across all of existence and sent it shooting up out of the soil in that burning place, it went eagerly, expecting to carve the great four-armed lifeform open from side to side.
It left a scratch. One thin, shallow line across grey skin, barely enough to draw blood, and that was all. Even simple lifeforms could be sturdy, it thought, a little offended, but that was not the thing that stayed with it afterward.
