Chapter 327: Before the Result

Chapter 327: Before the Result

Two mornings before Elsa’s assessment, Jin found Glitch standing in the middle of his stall.

He stopped in the doorway with one hand still on the frame.

"Wait. Don’t come up here."

Glitch’s legs were set wide, his head lower than usual. He looked both pleased with himself and slightly uncertain about what to do next.

Jin called the veterinary technician instead of trying to help him walk. By the time she arrived, Glitch had shifted one forefoot and was watching Jin with increasing impatience.

"He did it himself," Jin said.

"I can see." She checked his breathing, the injured limb, and his balance. "All right. We’ll try a short walk while he’s up. Slowly."

Jin moved beside her. Glitch took a step toward him.

There was no rush to it. He placed each foot carefully, stopped to breathe, then continued across the stall. Jin had watched him charge through armored opponents. Seeing him work this hard to cross familiar bedding made him want to help, though he had no idea what help a beast of that size would accept.

The technician kept one hand near his shoulder and guided the turn.

At the end of ten meters, Glitch looked up at Jin.

"Yeah," Jin said, rubbing behind the horn ridge. "I saw."

A pleased warmth reached him through the bond. He had to look at the technician’s tablet for a moment before he trusted himself to speak again.

"That’s enough?"

"For now," she said. "Let’s get him settled before he decides to celebrate."

Lesser Regeneration was making a difference. The technician said so while Glitch recovered from his walk, explaining that the skill was helping his body repair itself alongside the treatment, feed, and rest.

"With the damage he took, I wouldn’t expect this progress without it," she said. "But he’s still recovering. The internal strain hasn’t gone away because he can stand."

"No training," Jin said.

"No strenuous skill use either. We’ll increase the walking gradually and watch how he feels afterward."

He sent Alcott an update. Her reply congratulated him on the progress and asked him to keep recording the distances and recovery periods. They would arrange the full assessment once the veterinary team considered him ready.

Jin added a note to contact her office after the next reassessment.

It felt better than having a date he might be tempted to rush toward.

That afternoon, Flicker decided to accompany Glitch’s second walk.

She dropped from the rail and landed lightly behind his horn ridge. Jin started to reach for her, but Glitch paused until she had settled, then continued with exaggerated care.

The technician watched their first few steps before allowing the little passenger to remain.

Flicker turned her head from side to side, inspecting a stall she knew perfectly well. At the end, she flew back to the rail and began preening.

"He’s showing off," Jin said.

"A little," the technician agreed. "As long as he doesn’t decide she needs a faster ride."

Glitch lay down looking satisfied with the trip. Jin recorded the distance, then added that his mood seemed good. It was the least clinical entry on the page and the one he enjoyed writing most.

Jin was improving too, though less consistently than he liked.

The latest blood treatment had helped. He had returned to some classes, taking a seat near the door so he could leave if the afternoon tiredness arrived early. Once, a classmate offered him her notes before he asked.

He thanked her and resisted explaining that he could manage.

Managing was easier when he stopped treating every offer of help as an accusation.

His Engine sessions stayed short. He used the same outer quarry routes, banked the returns, and closed the interface before curiosity took him deeper. The avatars were capable of far more than he was asking of them. For now, that was exactly what he wanted.

On the day before the assessment, his parents brought Elsa back for the clinic appointments. They stayed in the visitors’ guesthouse, where she spread her instructions across a table and checked them against what she’d packed.

Jin found her examining two shirts.

"Both have short sleeves," he said.

"I know."

"So either works."

Elsa looked at him. "You aren’t helping."

He chose the blue one. She took the other, folded it carefully, and seemed happier afterward.

Jin decided that counted as helping.

Fourteen days after the appointment confirmation, they met at the clinic.

Elsa wore the shirt she had chosen and sat straight-backed between her parents. She kept checking the door behind reception, then looking away before anyone could catch her doing it.

Jin took the chair opposite.

"Did you ask them about fainting?" he said.

"Yes."

"What did they say?"

"That I should tell them if I feel dizzy and stop reading stories about it."

He tried not to smile. "Seems reasonable."

Elsa turned her empty cup between her hands.

"What if I’m not suitable?" she asked. "What if we’ve come all this way and they tell me I can’t?"

"Then we listen," Jin said. "That’s why we booked the assessment first."

"But the money—"

"Doesn’t make your body ready." He leaned forward. "I’d rather pay for them to tell us to wait than have you do something you shouldn’t."

She looked down at the cup, then placed it on the table.

"Could you tell?"

"With my appraisal?"

Elsa nodded.

"I can’t read an unawakened talent," Jin said. "I don’t know what yours will be."

He could see that she was disappointed and relieved at once.

"Would you tell me if you could?" she asked.

"If you wanted to know."

She considered that. "I think I’d rather wait."

"Then you’re getting exactly what you wanted."

"That’s not funny."

"A little funny," Arthur said from beside her.

Elsa gave him a betrayed look, and the nurse called her name before she could answer.

The assessment took forty minutes.

Jin waited with his parents while Elsa completed the examinations and spoke with the doctor. The clinic gave them updates, but he still looked up whenever the door opened.

A man passed through reception carrying a small gray otter asleep across his shoulders. Elena watched him until he disappeared down the corridor.

"She’ll have one soon," she said. "A beast of her own."

Arthur followed her glance. "She’s been choosing names since we booked the appointment."

"She hasn’t told me any," Jin said.

"Because she knows you’ll make comments," his mother replied.

He couldn’t argue with that. "Are they bad?"

"We aren’t telling you," Arthur said.

Jin leaned back, smiling despite himself. He had been thinking about compatibility, growth, and the sort of foundation Elsa would need. She had apparently been thinking about what she would call a creature that didn’t exist in her life yet.

He hoped they could find her something she loved.

The older doctor came out with Elsa beside her. Jin stood before either of them spoke.

"I’m cleared," Elsa announced.

Elena reached for her hand. "Everything’s all right?"

"Her results are suitable," the doctor confirmed. "We can keep the reserved procedure tomorrow morning at nine. I’ll go through the preparation instructions with you before you leave."

"Tomorrow," Elsa said, looking at Jin.

He nodded. "Tomorrow."

She sat down to hear the instructions, but her foot kept moving beneath the chair.

Jin had expected her to be excited. He hadn’t expected to feel quite so nervous himself now that waiting was almost over.

That evening, he stayed beside Glitch after the last care check.

The lizard had completed another short walk and was sleeping. Flicker tucked her head under a wing on the rail. Jin’s phone rested in his hand, unopened until Elsa’s message arrived.

[I can’t sleep.]

He typed back that he was awake too.

[What are you doing?]

Sitting with Glitch.

Her reply took a while.

[Tell him goodnight.]

Jin looked down at the familiar head resting on the bedding.

"Elsa says goodnight," he murmured.

Glitch’s tail moved once. Jin sent his sister that small reassurance and told her to put the phone away even if she couldn’t sleep yet.

Afterward, he set his own alarm and checked it twice.

Tomorrow, Elsa would know what everyone else could only guess about her. Jin couldn’t improve the result, arrange it, or grind until she got a better one.

All he could do was be there when she opened her eyes.