Toxic hybrid grains

The poisonous hybrid grain was an accidentally created crop whose toxicity devastated both livestock and strained relations between the Ahfal Oma and other settlers. Its history emerges through conflicting accounts: the grain killed fire horses and sheep, while later recollections connect it to poisoned carcasses eaten by dogs and to the contested origins of mittsual.## Origin and effectsThe hybrid arose when Aquafa wheat farmed by the Ahfal Oma crossbred with rye introduced by settlers. Taya explained that this had not been deliberate: rye pollen was probably carried into the wheat fields on the wind. The resulting grain was more likely to be toxic than either crop alone, and its poison was exceptionally strong.The consequences crossed species and communities. The grain killed the Ahfal Oma’s fire horses, a major disaster for the people who depended on them. Sheep also died after eating it; before dying, they leapt as if dancing and then suffered convulsions. The settlers called this illness sheep-dancing sickness. Taya said they eventually burned off the Aquafa wheat and, after a long period, were able to grow rye safely instead.## Competing accounts and communal grievanceThe grain’s legacy survived as an argument over blame. An elderly settler, Nohmeh, rejected the claim that the settlers’ own grain had killed the animals and angrily insisted that the Ahfal Oma’s red wheat was responsible for the fire horses’ deaths. Her anger had a personal history: her older brother had been killed during that period, and Taya explained that remembering it made her emotional.Her account also complicated the apparent distinction between the victims. Taya clarified that the fire horses had indeed eaten Aquafa wheat, but wheat crossbred with introduced rye; the sheep, too, had died from the toxic hybrid. Thus the grain was not simply an accusation aimed at one community: its harm extended to animals owned by both settlers and the Ahfal Oma. After the Ahfal Oma were exiled, the settlers continued burning the native wheat until rye could be cultivated safely.## Carcasses, dogs, and the disease inquiryThe poisoned grain also entered a later investigation into mittsual. Shikan recalled a practice associated with an old song about the god Kinma: sick fire horses were buried, then their carcasses dug up and fed to pregnant dogs. In the historical practice he described, the dogs survived and their pups grew loyal and strong, although the song told of a dog that died after eating the dead animal.Speaking for the Ahfal Oma, Tomasolle said they had likewise buried fire horses that died after eating poisoned rye and fed the carcasses to pregnant dogs. He considered whether the pups might have become carriers of disease, but reported that the dogs bore no pups and instead suffered and died. Because the first known case of mittsual had occurred near the place where the horses were buried, he could not rule out a connection and requested permission to investigate. The grain therefore supplied a plausible historical circumstance for inquiry, not a proven explanation of the disease’s origin.## How the dogs acquired a taste for sheepNohmeh offered a further link between poisoned livestock and dogs. According to her, the dogs did not eat grain; they dug up sheep that had died after eating it. Their owners then made them eat the dead sheep, and Nohmeh believed this was how the dogs developed a taste for sheep. She said the dogs later died, while their community was blamed for defiling the land.This account helps explain why the grain’s consequences were remembered beyond the animals it directly poisoned: dead livestock became part of a chain involving dogs, sheep predation, and mutual accusation. But Nohmeh’s recollection is presented amid unresolved hostility, and Tomasolle’s investigation remains an inquiry rather than a verdict. The poisonous hybrid grain is consequently significant both as a documented cause of livestock deaths and as a contested part of the history surrounding disease and displacement.