Chapter 366: Something Frontier

Chapter 366: Something Frontier

Glitch sulked for the whole four hours, and Jin felt every minute of it.

The displeasure came through the bond from the cargo deck in slow, heavy waves. Glitch wasn’t frightened or hurt. He objected to the humming floor, the travel restraints, and whatever decision had put him back on an airship.

Flicker slept in her carrier. She had apparently settled her opinion of airships on the outward journey.

Jin rested his forehead against the window. Guard towers passed below, then farm belts, then roads crowded together until the ground looked familiar again. Around him, passengers discussed exams and rent. He listened without joining in, one hand over the antler tip inside his jacket.

By the time they landed at Meridian on Tuesday evening, he wanted a bath and eleven hours of sleep.

He called home from the passenger ramp.

"Landed," he told Arthur.

"Good. How did Glitch travel?"

"He’d like to complain to whoever invented it."

Arthur chuckled. A voice sounded behind him, and he covered the phone badly enough that Jin heard Elena ask whether he’d eaten.

"Your mother says dinner," Arthur reported.

"Tonight?"

"She put extra potatoes in an hour ago."

Jin looked towards the transport stand. "I’ll come after I’ve settled Glitch."

At the stables, Glitch planted all four feet on the concrete and stood motionless, apparently checking whether this floor intended to move too. Jin stayed until he had eaten and lowered himself into his straw with a gusting sigh.

"You can sleep now," Jin said. "Some of us have potatoes waiting."

Glitch closed his eyes.

Jin took Flicker on the transit to Coldwell, getting off early for the grocer near his parents’ flat. He bought real butter, a tin of the coffee Arthur pretended he didn’t miss, and small sweet oranges.

At the till, he realised he hadn’t calculated the cost before picking them up.

He checked the total anyway. Then he paid, tucked the receipt away, and stood outside with the carrier in one hand and the shopping in the other.

I could do that again next time.

The thought stayed with him all the way upstairs.

Elsa opened the door before he knocked.

"You’re back!" Her eyes went from his face to the bag. "Did you bring it? You said something frontier."

Breeze hurried past her knees to investigate Jin’s boots. When he noticed Flicker’s carrier, he sat upright, his crest raised. Flicker woke, looked at him, and turned away.

"Let me get inside," Jin said.

"You’re inside."

He was, technically. He handed Elsa the waxed-paper parcel.

She unwrapped the antler tip in the hall. It was about as long as her hand, pale at the point and darker towards the polished base. She turned it beneath the light, running her thumb over the faint growth rings.

"What is it?"

"Ridge elk antler."

"Did you kill it?"

"Bought it from a stall."

Elsa considered this. "That’s still frontier."

"I’m glad it qualifies."

She weighed it in her palm again, then looked towards her bedroom.

"Aldous wants me practising around different shapes," she said. "Feeling where the air catches. I’ve been using a pencil."

"Does this work better?"

"I don’t know yet. It’s much nicer than a pencil."

She went to find some cord. By the time Jin had removed his boots, the antler hung above her desk, turning in the draught from the window. Breeze stood beneath it with his nose lifted.

"It’s mine," Elsa told him. "Your rope’s over there."

Jin left them negotiating and carried the groceries into the kitchen.

Elena met him in the doorway. She touched his cheek, then tipped his face towards the light before he could escape.

"Your lip’s split."

"The wind was awful."

"I can see that."

She fetched a familiar little tin of balm from a drawer and handed it over. Then she opened the shopping bag.

"Jin. This is butter."

"For the potatoes."

She lifted out the coffee. At the table, Arthur became unusually interested in his newspaper.

Jin rubbed balm into the corner of his mouth and waited for the question about what he’d spent. Elena looked at him, then put the oranges in a bowl.

"Wash your hands," she said. "It’s ready."

He ate most of his first plate before Arthur asked about the survey.

"Who led your team?"

"Dagny Holt. Rank Three. Her wolf’s enormous."

Arthur shook his head when he heard the name. "Don’t know her. What did she have you doing?"

"Scouting with Flicker. Checking the route." Jin thought of the retreat. "Counting people."

"Out loud?"

"Yes."

His father nodded and cut another potato. "Good. Easy to think someone’s behind you until you turn round."

Jin looked at him, but Arthur had gone back to eating.

"Did you see anything big?" Elsa asked.

"A bear."

Elena’s spoon stopped.

"How big?" Elsa leaned forward. 𝔣𝖗ⅇℯ

"Big enough that I was very pleased Holt was there."

"Where were you?" Elena asked.

"Getting out with the others. She kept it off us. We all got back."

His mother studied him for another moment, then put an extra potato on his plate. Jin accepted it without pointing out that he’d already eaten two.

Across the table, Elsa was explaining her new antler to Arthur. Jin peeled an orange while he listened, letting the bright smell cover the lingering memory of wet earth and the bear’s breath.

He was glad he’d come.

When Jin helped clear the table, Arthur opened the coffee tin and breathed in over it.

"You could have bought a smaller one," he said.

"Then you’d run out sooner."

Arthur glanced at him. Jin busied himself stacking plates, suddenly embarrassed by how much he wanted his father to like a tin of coffee.

"I’ll make some next time you’re over," Arthur said.

"I’ll hold you to that."

* * *

The development courses were released on Wednesday afternoon.

At the stable dispensary, the pharmacist checked the formulations against both beasts’ care records before handing Jin the tubs. Verrick went through the printed instructions with him.

Glitch’s course supported his armour and joints under his evolved weight. The grey powder went into a measured portion of feed. Flicker’s amber pellets included processed Kindlewind Sage, prepared for her developing muscles and fire-and-wind affinities.

"Six weeks," Verrick said. "Follow the quantities on the labels. If either of them leaves a dose, tell us before you add anything extra."

Jin loosened Flicker’s lid. She immediately leaned towards it from his shoulder.

The faint smell reminded him of the Ember Shelf.

"Recognise that?" he asked her.

She reached with her beak. He closed the lid.

"Later. Measured. You heard."

That evening, Glitch ate around the powder. Jin gathered the uneaten portion and mixed it into a little wet feed instead. The drake sniffed it thoroughly before accepting the compromise.

Flicker took her pellets from Jin’s palm and searched his fingers afterwards.

The academy account still showed 360 Points. The package had already been paid for; now the two labelled tubs stood on his shelf, ready to use.

Jin set the care sheets beside them and took out his pouch of Astral Stones.

Three small lights glimmered through his fingers. He rolled one across his palm, tempted to try drawing just a little.

Then Glitch pushed his empty bowl with his nose.

"You’ve had yours."

The bowl scraped again.

Jin put the stones away before dealing with the argument. Brand’s follow-up was tomorrow. He could wait one more night to find out what they felt like.