The northern path curved along a low stretch of ground before rising toward the trees. After the rain, small pools had formed in the shallow dips.
Rhys walked the length of it first without touching anything. He watched how the water moved. Some of it already drained away. Some remained where the ground had compacted too tightly.
Caria followed behind him, marking the worst spots with small sticks pressed into the mud.
Puddle spread thin over one section and then withdrew, showing a narrow groove where runoff had begun to cut a line. It was small now, but left alone it would deepen.
Rhys drove the shovel into the softer edge and redirected the groove toward the side ditch. Caria widened the ditch slightly with a hoe so the water could move away from the path instead of across it.
They worked steadily, not quickly.
Two others joined them without being asked. One brought a wheelbarrow of gravel. The other carried flat stones from a nearby pile.
