Chapter 372: An Awakening Gift

Chapter 372: An Awakening Gift

Breeze had learned to lift the latch of his pen with his nose, and Arthur was taking it personally.

He was kneeling in the paved yard behind the Coldwell building on Tuesday evening, fitting a two-stage catch from the depot store. Breeze sat a metre away with his crest raised, following every turn of the screwdriver.

"He’ll have that open by Friday," Elsa said from the back steps.

"He will not."

"He opened the cupboard with the treats in it, Dad. The one with the child lock."

Arthur took the screwdriver out of his mouth. "That lock was faulty."

Elena came down the steps in her hydroponics jacket. She kissed Elsa’s head in passing, tapped Jin on the shoulder, and pointed towards the kitchen window.

"Soup’s on the back ring. Don’t let your father eat it standing up."

"I heard that," Arthur said.

"You were meant to."

The gate clanged behind her. Jin sat two steps below Elsa, and Breeze abandoned the latch to settle across his feet.

He had thought about this conversation several times since reserving the egg. Now that his sister was beside him, he found himself picking at a loose thread on his trousers.

"I never got you anything," he said. "When you awakened."

Elsa looked down at him. "You paid for the awakening."

"That wasn’t your present."

"And the antler? I use it every day."

"That was from the frontier." He glanced up. "I mean something I chose for your awakening. I looked before Breeze came, but I couldn’t find anything right."

"Breeze was pretty right."

Breeze lifted his head at his name. Elsa reached down to rub between his ears.

"He was," Jin agreed. "This wouldn’t replace him."

Her hand stopped.

"Jin. What did you find?"

"An egg. A Brinecoat Penguin. Water species, Silver Low." He watched her face. "I’ve reserved it until Thursday. If you want it, I’d like to buy it for you."

For a few seconds, her delight was so immediate that he nearly laughed.

"A penguin? What do they look like when they’re grown? Are they big? Do they—"

She stopped and looked at Breeze, then back at Jin.

He knew that expression too.

"Before you start," he said, "I checked the cost."

"Of course you checked the cost." Elsa rubbed her thumb along the edge of the step. "That’s what you do. You’ve got Glitch, who eats more than all of us, and Flicker’s special course, and your cultivation. You went all the way to the frontier to earn money."

"And came back with some."

"You’re always doing sums. Even when we’re eating."

Jin considered denying it, but she was watching him too closely.

"I’ve got Breeze," she continued. "He’s Gold Peak. Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am, and he’s already everything I could have wanted." Her voice softened. "It isn’t because the egg’s Silver. I’d love a penguin. I just don’t want you spending money you need."

Breeze rolled onto one side, trapping Jin’s left foot more thoroughly.

Jin looked down at him while deciding how much reassurance Elsa would actually believe.

"Their feed is covered," he said. "The courses are paid for. I checked the egg’s care costs before I reserved it, and I can afford those too. I’m not borrowing anything or hoping the next hunt goes well."

Elsa’s shoulders eased a little, though she still looked doubtful.

"This is what I want to do with some of what I’ve earned," Jin said. "It’s your awakening present, Els."

She opened her mouth, then closed it.

"There’s something else," he added. "I think it might turn out to be special."

"Special how?"

"I can’t promise you exactly." He chose his words carefully. "There are things about it I’d like to understand better. Don’t dismiss it because of the Silver label, that’s all."

Elsa leaned forward.

"I wouldn’t."

"I know. It might need a lot of patience, though."

She was quiet for a moment, looking past him towards the yard. Arthur had set the catch down and was searching his pockets for a screw.

"Flicker was Bronze," Elsa said eventually.

Jin nodded.

"She was so poorly when you first had her. Now she flies everywhere, and she’s Silver, and Dad says she’s already five-Star."

"Rank One, five-Star."

"That’s fast, isn’t it?"

"For where she started? Yes."

Elsa tucked her hands into her sleeves.

"And Glitch was the lizard Dad could afford. Everyone said he got lucky." She looked at Jin again. "Maybe he did. But then there was Flicker, and now you’ve found this egg."

Jin could feel where the conversation was heading. He tried to keep his expression ordinary.

"They put C-Rank on your card," she said. "Everyone acted as if that meant they already knew everything you could do."

"It’s still C-Rank."

"Then maybe they don’t know how useful C-Rank can be."

She said it with enough certainty that he had no idea what to say back.

Elsa seemed satisfied without an answer. She leaned down to scratch Breeze’s chest, and the fox stretched luxuriously across Jin’s boots.

"Will he be jealous?"

"Of an egg?"

"He gets jealous when I do homework."

"Then probably."

Elsa smiled, but she was still thinking. Jin let her. He didn’t want her accepting merely because she felt she ought to.

At last she sat up.

"I want it," she said. "If you’re sure about the money."

"I’m sure."

"And you’ll come with me? To ask about everything?"

"Tomorrow, if you’re free."

"I’ll be free."

Jin laughed at how quickly she said it.

Her words began coming faster. She wanted to know whether they could touch the shell, whether it needed salt water, and whether the person who had helped with Breeze would know about penguins too. Jin could answer only one of those questions.

"We can ask Pike."

"Good. I’ll write things down." She looked at him, suddenly serious again. "I’ll look after it properly, Jin."

"I know you will."

She leaned down and kissed his cheek before he had quite registered that she was moving.

Then she drew back, apparently surprised by her own impulsiveness. Colour rose into her ears.

"I’m getting my phone," she announced.

A small gust fluttered her jacket as she hurried up the steps. Dust lifted behind her heels, and she disappeared through the back door with Breeze scrambling after her.

Jin remained where he was.

Arthur tested the new latch.

"She’ll be down for soup," he said.

Jin touched his cheek, then lowered his hand before his father could look round and find him doing it.

Well. That went better than the version in my head.

A window opened above the yard.

"Tomorrow!" Elsa called. "After school! Don’t go without me!"

"Four o’clock. I’ll meet you at the transit stop."

"I’ll be there."

The window shut.

Arthur rose carefully, bracing one hand against the pen. Jin stood to pass him the screwdriver he had left on the paving.

"Penguin," his father said.

"Water species."

Arthur nodded. "We should find out how much water."

"We’re going to."

"Good." His father took the screwdriver and nodded towards the kitchen. "Come on. Before your mother finds out we let the soup go cold."

Jin followed him inside, still smiling.