Ashbeans

Ashbeans grow as low, bushy plants that reach about knee height, with several slender stems rising from a shallow but tenacious root system. The stems are green near the tips and darken toward the base where they meet the soil, often stained grey by the ash rich ground they favor. Each stem bears clusters of trifoliate leaves, the three leaflets broadest near the center and tapering to soft points. The upper surface is a deep matte green, while the underside carries a faint grey or ashy cast that shows clearly when the wind turns the leaves. In full sun after ashfall, the foliage can look dusted in silver. Small pale flowers appear along the stems in modest clusters, quickly giving way to narrow, slightly crooked pods. These pods are a dull green at first, then fade toward tan or grey brown with fine dark speckling that resembles soot. Inside, the beans themselves are plump and smooth, usually tan, brown, or off white, each marked with streaks or flecks of charcoal grey that give the Ashbean its name and release a faint, dry smoky scent when soaked before cooking.

Ashbeans are a staple food wherever they grow, boiled into thick stews with roots and greens or mashed into hearty pastes spread on flatbread. Their natural smoky note lets even simple pots taste as if they have been cooked over woodfire, which makes them prized on Ubharnā, where fuel is often scarce. Dried Ashbeans travel well, and families store sacks of them against lean seasons or ship them in bulk to other islands and even Colwyn as a cheap, reliable source of protein. Some millers grind the beans into ashbean flour, a dense, nutty meal that is mixed with Cloud Millet or other grains to make travel loaves that keep for weeks and sit heavy in the stomach in a way sailors and field workers appreciate. Because Ashbeans repair and enrich the ash blasted ground they grow in, the Earth Steward favors their use in new and recovering fields. This has led some traders to press Ubharnā toward becoming little more than a bean granary. Islanders push back against that idea, wary of outsiders who see only cargo and not the careful rotations that keep their thin soils from washing away, and determined that Ashbeans remain a symbol of resilience rather than just another export to be stripped from their hard won land.