"Now I do."
Marcus turned back to Eli. "Eight thousand solves a lot of flood damage."
"It does."
"Cash."
"That usually helps."
"And you avoid the risk."
"Which risk?"
"Drying. Extraction. Hidden defects. Buyers backing out. Historical claims."
Eli nodded. "Those are real."
Marcus relaxed slightly.
Then Eli said, "We're not selling the marked three."
Marcus's expression hardened.
"Then the offer doesn't work."
"There it is," Norah said before she could stop herself.
Marcus looked at her. "There what is?"
"The reason you're here."
Eli did not scold her.
Marcus stood very still.
"Kid, you think you've figured something out because you've spent a couple weeks in a library."
Norah felt heat rise into her face.
"Maybe."
She used Eli's word deliberately.
Marcus almost smiled despite himself.
"Old timber markets are not school projects. A log is worth what somebody will actually pay after extraction, sawing, drying, grading, and waste."
"Raymond said that."
"Raymond Pike hasn't bought commercial volume in twenty years."
"Dr. Carver said it too."
Marcus's eyes shifted.
That name meant something to him.
"Forestry extension?"
Norah nodded.
The conversation changed.
Marcus no longer spoke to her like a child.
"Then you know enough to know eight thousand isn't an insult."
Eli answered. "It isn't."
Marcus looked at him.
"It's also not enough to buy information we just spent three weeks earning."
Marcus exhaled through his nose.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing from you today."
"Everybody wants something."
"I want my tractor fixed and my fence standing. I don't need to solve both by selling the best material before I know its yield."
Marcus stared toward the pasture.
"You going to mill it yourself?"
"Some."
"You'll ruin half."
"Maybe."
Marcus laughed once.