MATH BLAST
🍄 SPLIT RIDGE

Tangle had looked back. That one moment changed everything. Footprints in Branchwick. Wrong divisions in Fernmoss. Grouping patterns at the Cascade Festival. Arrays in the sacred forest. And then — a bundle of vines, placed at her feet.

But right now, Blaze had a more urgent problem. Split Ridge was carved into a cliff face, with platforms at different heights connected by rope bridges. One hundred and fifty-six Sprockets were stranded on the far side of a crumbling ledge, waiting for help.

"Each raft holds eight," said Elder Crag, a weathered Sprocket with only two original antennae. "We have one raft. How many crossings do we need?"

The rescued Sprockets were safe on the platform. But now the real work started. Split Ridge ran entirely on equal shares — everything had to be split perfectly fairly.

"Three hundred and seventy-two building rocks for five Sprocket families. Equal shares keep the peace at Split Ridge. Always have," said Elder Crag.

The ground shook slightly. Then stopped. Then shook again. Blaze turned slowly.

Tangle had followed her from the Array Forest all the way to Split Ridge. It stood at the edge of the cliff platform, an enormous tangle of natural vines, carrying five hundred and thirty-four vines in its trailing tendrils.

It set them down — and began arranging them into groups of eight. Blaze watched, fascinated.

"You like making groups, don't you?" she said quietly. "Let me show you another way to group them."

The raft had solved the first problem. But the crumbling ledge still needed proper rope bridges.

"Four hundred and thirteen planks stored in the supply cave. Each bridge needs seven planks to be safe," said Elder Crag.

The rescue was complete. Every Sprocket was safe on the platform, the bridges were holding, and Elder Crag had conceded that equal shares really did keep the peace.

The rescued Sprockets had brought a gift: four hundred and twenty-three star-fruits for seven families. Another sharing problem — but this time, Blaze just smiled.

Then Tangle stood up. And began unloading vines. All the ones it had taken. Arranged in perfect groups, laid out along the clifftop. It was giving them back.