Chapter 380: Fourth

Chapter 380: Fourth

The carrier rode between them in the cab, secured so it couldn’t slide when Okonkwo braked.

Lucian shaded its top without covering the vents. Jin checked the latches again, then made himself put his hands on his knees.

Glitch settled in the trailer. Kite and Flicker travelled in their secured carriers, and the borrowed mesh was rolled and stowed behind the cab.

For the first few minutes, Jin listened to every movement from the marten.

Then it became quiet, which was somehow worse.

"Can you see it?" he asked.

Lucian leaned towards the inspection opening. "Yes."

"Moving?"

"Breathing. Looking offended."

Jin sat back.

The next rough patch of road brought his hand towards the carrier before he caught himself.

Okonkwo glanced at him in the mirror.

"It’s strapped."

"I know."

"Then leave it strapped."

Lucian turned towards the window, but Jin saw him smile.

At the waystation they made one brief check through the inspection opening. The animal remained alert, its breathing steadier than in the cave. They kept the door closed and continued towards Meridian.

There was nothing useful left for Jin to do during the journey, so he began trying to guess their placing.

The bad draw had cost time before they even found the target. Their failed approaches, the boar, the carrier trap, and the lizards had cost more. Other pairs might have been back while they were hauling carcasses down the quarry track.

He decided he would be happy with the top half.

Then he revised that to finishing at all, and immediately knew he was lying to himself.

Lucian looked over.

"Stop counting."

"You don’t know what I’m counting."

"You’re looking at the time every thirty seconds."

Jin put the phone away.

Lucian lasted another minute before checking his own.

Jin looked at him.

"Different question," Lucian said.

"Was it?"

His partner put the phone down without answering. Jin felt a little better knowing he wasn’t the only one who cared enough to be ridiculous about it.

They went directly to the Academy stable office.

The verification officer accepted the carrier, confirmed their pair number, and checked its seals before examining the marten through the inspection panel. A scanner supplied the remaining readings.

[Species: Shaleveil Marten — confirmed]

[Combat Rank: 2 — 1-Star]

[Condition: alive; no detected injury]

[Capture verified]

She recorded the delivery, then checked the capture location while the record loaded.

Jin supplied the coordinates and explained that they had driven the marten into a checked quarry recess. Lucian added the transfer method. Neither tried to make the account sound smooth; the officer needed the successful handling, not a version in which they had never lost sight of it.

She checked the carrier for damage before accepting the report. Jin found himself watching her fingers on the latch, remembering every time he had tested it himself.

Then she turned her screen towards them.

[Rank-2 Practical Examination]

[Pair 11: Vale / Astor]

[Completion registered]

[Position: 4 / 20]

Jin read the last line twice.

"Fourth?" Lucian asked.

"Three pairs delivered before you," the officer confirmed. "The others are still out."

She moved the carrier onto the waiting trolley. Jin watched until another handler checked the fastenings and took charge of it.

His phone chimed.

[Academy Points received: 2,000]

Lucian looked at the same award on his own screen.

For a moment they simply stood there grinning.

Outside, Lucian leaned against the wall and tipped his head back.

"I thought we’d lost more than that."

"So did I."

"If the boar hadn’t come—"

"We might have caught it yesterday." Jin considered the marten’s careful feet at the trap entrance. "Or it might have backed out anyway."

Lucian sighed, then laughed. "Fair."

The girl from the flight yards came around the corner with her partner and a crate. She noticed them before she noticed the board.

"You got it?"

"We got it," Lucian said.

Her eyes moved to their result.

"Fourth? My cousin’s going to hate hearing that."

"Tell him we understand the ankle," Jin replied.

She laughed and hurried inside to register her own team’s delivery.

Jin watched her go. He was still pleased, even with the faint ache in his legs and the thought of every minute they could have saved.

They had made mistakes. They had also brought the marten back.

The beasts needed attention before any celebration.

Verrick examined Glitch’s foreleg at the stable block, checking the scored plates and the small scrape beneath them. He watched the drake take several steps and turn.

"Keep it clean. Easy movement for the rest of today." He looked at Jin. "No extra training because you’re pleased with yourself."

"Wasn’t planning any."

"Good."

Flicker received a brief examination and immediately investigated Verrick’s pocket. He moved it out of reach while recording her condition.

Lucian’s technician checked Kite’s chipped claw. The boys then went to the medical annex, where a nurse cleaned their superficial wounds again and replaced the dressings.

By the time they reached the Association office, Jin felt less like he had brought half of Hollowmere back inside his clothes.

The stone sack remained in his pack.

Lucian looked at it as they climbed the steps.

"Two, if they round the way the notice says."

Jin nodded. He would rather keep all twenty-two, naturally. But two stones from a find in a maintained interior region seemed fair, especially with the waystation rest still fresh in his mind.

"We still get ten each," he said.

"I’m not complaining." Lucian opened the door. "I’m checking you haven’t counted twenty-three on the journey."

The assessor spread the stones on a felt tray and examined them one at a time. Jin submitted the location record and photographs while Lucian unwrapped the lizard salvage separately.

"Ordinary grade," the assessor said. "The accessible pieces are sound. Good size."

Jin felt a small knot loosen. He hadn’t realised he was still worried about finding some flaw beneath their brightness.

The assessor checked the site against the regional map.

"Interior discovery. Ten percent in kind."

He turned the calculation towards them.

[22 × 10% = 2.2]

[Levy: 2 stones]

[Released to finders: 20 stones]

"Equal shares?"

"Ten each," Lucian confirmed.

The assessor selected the levy and divided the remainder into two padded bags. Jin watched the two stones being removed with a brief pang, then picked up his own ten.

"Frontier finds are exempt from this one, aren’t they?" Lucian asked.

"They are. This site is inside the regional wall." The assessor saved the location. "I’ll pass your record on for a proper survey of what’s left."

He logged the lizard teeth and plates for separate assessment and gave each boy a receipt. There was no settled sale value yet; they would be contacted when that work was complete.

The photographs of the seam stayed with the discovery record. Jin checked that the marked approach led to the correct overhang; the dry quarry cave was farther east, and he didn’t want someone searching the place where they had fought the lizards instead.

The assessor corrected the approach note and showed it to him before saving.

Jin checked the stone record before putting it away.

[Astral Stones recovered: 22]

[Levy paid in kind: 2]

[Vale, Lucian: 10]

[Astor, Jin: 10]

Outside, he loosened the mouth of his bag just enough to see the pale glow within.

He remembered paying 1,920 Credits for three smaller stones. One was partly drawn now; the other two still waited in his drawer. Brand had stopped him after a modest improvement, though he had wanted to keep going.

Ten more did not make him suddenly capable of absorbing ten more.

He tied the bag shut.

"Keeping them?" Lucian asked.

"All of them. I’ll ask Brand how to work them into practice."

"Probably sensible."

"I occasionally manage it."

Lucian checked the Points notification again.

"I might keep more of mine than I thought. These could cover some of Kite’s conditioning costs."

"Check the course first."

"I will." Lucian tucked the phone away, pleased. "It’s nice having something to check it against."

Lucian smiled and adjusted his own bag inside his pack.

"I’d work with you again."

Jin looked up.

"Likewise." Then he added, "Different target."

"Something with fewer exits."

They shook hands at the foot of the steps. This time their sleeves were dry, the stones were assessed, and the examination was actually finished.

Jin watched Lucian head back towards the Academy before checking the next transit to Coldwell.

Elsa would want to hear the result. He was looking forward to telling her.