Ariadne felt a little offended on the trees' behalf. To suggest they weren't real! But she understood what Sam meant. Even still, she patted Jane's trunk, as if to comfort her. It was all right. She was as real as she wanted to be. As real as she felt.

"A community can't survive without agriculture," she said quietly, a little line forming between her eyes. "Not with this many people."

Actually, she still wasn't sure how many people there were in Trench. It was so hard to keep track of people, given the way the streets were arranged and how the homes had so little in the way of markings.

Still. It was a lot.