The Agreement of the Floating Islands

Two floating islands need the same wind bridge at the same hour, and both are right. Alice has to build a schedule both sides will sign, instead of naming a winner.

Two requests arrive at the sky post dock at once. Garden Isle needs the bridge briefly and urgently — medicinal herbs lose their strength unless they reach the garden before noon. Festival Isle needs it for a long time: a children's orchestra is carrying heavy instruments. The system offers the easy answer and hands the bridge to one side. The child refuses to appoint a loser, asks both islands about deadlines rather than volume, and discovers that a clean half-and-half split fails: with equal windows the herbs arrive late. A shared platform opens at the middle of the bridge, and the crossing stops being only a queue.