Chapter 303: The Long Sheet

The event offered the finalists a view of their opponents’ practice staging. Ren watched Shuli’s entrants on a hall screen while they worked at a bank inside the sanctioned realm.

Fourteen plant-bodied creatures moved between the containers and the water. Their limbs were slender, but their broad hands closed firmly around the handles. Five stood along the short slope, with the first taking a crate from the loading group above.

They passed it down without leaving their places. At the bottom, the last entrant lowered it onto a waiting carrier’s support while two others cleared space for the next load.

Ren timed the whole transfer, then watched another. The first crate was still being secured when the next started down the line.

It took five entrants to cover that short bank, but none had to walk back uphill after every load. He noted the space between them and went to the boards.

— • —

Shuli had the final’s map spread in front of her. She was marking the edge of a protected staging area and the routes leading to it, checking where an approach could still be contested.

Her declaration was already posted. Fourteen entries: four at two points and ten at one, eighteen in total. Each was listed as a carrier.

Ren read the full rules beside it.

There were eight tokens at each of the six supply sites, all uniquely marked and worth the same amount. None would be replaced after collection. A token counted only when delivered to the squad’s receiving pad; once deposited, it could not be stolen back.

Loads still in transit could be intercepted. Tokens could not be destroyed or concealed in spatial storage, and all containers and carrying arrangements had to be declared and checked before entry. Ordinary handoffs were permitted, as was carrying a teammate with a load.

The receiving pad lay within protected staging. An opponent could obstruct an approach but could not occupy the pad itself. Ren followed the available routes on the drawing before reading the tie procedure.

If the delivered counts were equal, the earlier delivery of the last token contributing to that count decided the result. Identical records would send the active squads into the published neutral-token continuation, without a reset.

He folded the map and headed home to test the carrying arrangements.

— • —

At the cove, Ren spread the map on the flat stone for Vesper and the others.

"Ward takes the main load," he said. "Keep rides on the fitted cradle, with cargo secured separately. Wake handled the semifinal well, but Ward has carried us and our loads through the sea. I’m using that experience here."

He indicated the narrow tributaries feeding the main channel.

"Riptide and Pell take these. Tarin handles transfers and covers a crossing when we need it. Vesper commands from the land side with Mistwhisker."

"Bolt?" Vesper asked.

"Fit, but out for this round. Bolt and Snap could delay her carriers. I want those points on the routes where Ward can’t go."

He looked toward the two whales beyond the shelf. "A second whale would leave too little room for the smaller carriers and the people handling the loads."

Eira studied the proposed list.

"That uses all eighteen."

"Yes. You’ll be here at the receiving cove."

She nodded and began arranging what she would need when they returned. Ren wrote down the six entries for the test: Ward, Vesper with Mistwhisker, Tarin, Keep, Riptide and Pell.

They would carry the same equipment in practice that he intended to declare.

— • —

The craftsperson checked the cradle on Ward before Keep was placed in it. Ward floated beside the rock shelf while Ren steadied the frame and the Glassfire adjusted the seat and straps to its back.

They fitted a cargo pack ahead of the cradle, with space for Vesper to reach the fastenings. Eira helped settle Keep into its support, then checked the attachment while the pack was loaded with practice pieces.

Ward made a slow turn through the deep channel. The cargo stayed secured, and the cradle remained above the water throughout. When it returned, the craftsperson checked beneath the straps before letting the test continue.

Riptide came alongside with a small container secured against its body. Tarin released it and lifted it toward Vesper on Ward’s back. She took the handles and fastened it beside the pack.

Ren recorded the transfer time, then followed Ward to the shelf.

Vesper reached for the pack first. Its fastening lay partly beneath the smaller container, so she had to move that aside before she could release the strap. Tarin waited below for the load, then passed it onto the stone before taking the container.

Unloading had taken longer than the short swim.

"Try the container first," Ren said. "It’s covering the pack strap."

They reset the loads and repeated the delivery. This time Tarin received the container while Vesper released the pack behind it. By the time Tarin had set the first load down, she was ready with the second.

Ren noted the shorter interval and had them repeat the sequence once more before changing anything else.

Riptide and Pell then took their small containers through the cove’s narrow channel. Ren checked its depth against the published tributaries and watched each pass the bend under load.

Riptide kept the container secure through the turn. Pell moved along the surface with its load supported in the water, easing around the bend before accelerating on the straight. At the shelf, Tarin lifted each container clear for Vesper to receive.

Ren wrote down the separate travel and handling times. Ward could bring more in one trip, but only if the receiving crew cleared its loads promptly enough to send it out again.

— • —

He called them together at the shelf before the final test.

"One signal for leaving a guarded site."

Ren extended both arms to his sides, then lowered them.

"Stop guarding that site and move to the transfer point with whatever you’ve already collected. Leave the uncollected tokens where they are."

Vesper repeated the motion, checking that Tarin could see it from the water.

"You give the signal," Ren told her. "Tarin relays it to anyone who can’t see you. Keep’s position reports won’t carry the order for us."

They tried it with the loaded containers still secured. Vesper signaled from the shingle, and Tarin repeated the movement where the water group could see. Riptide and Pell turned toward the designated transfer at the shelf with their loads intact.

Ren checked that everyone had reached the correct place, then finished the declaration and equipment list.

— • —

Back at the hall, the attendant checked his submission and returned the declaration receipt with the technical handling sheet for his selected prize.

The heading matched the catalog: fire-aspected core nurture medium, one measure. Beneath it were the storage and administration instructions, followed by the conditions for use.

Ren stopped at a line near the bottom.

Full maturation requires, in addition to the medium, a living nurturing partner.

He kept his eyes on the sheet and asked silently.

’Does that apply to her?’

[NURTURING MATERIAL: COMPATIBLE.]

[FULL MATURATION ALSO REQUIRES A LIVING NURTURING PARTNER.]

Ren took the folded catalog from his jacket and opened it at the entry he had chosen.

Fire-aspected core nurture medium — one measure. Supports the development of immature spiritual cores.

He held the handling sheet beside that line, then folded both together along the catalog’s worn crease.

There was still a reason to win the medium. The instructions described support for development, and the compatibility remained confirmed. Completing her growth would require finding the living partner as well.

— • —

Before leaving the boards, he sent Eira a copy of the handling information with a short message explaining the additional requirement. He included the catalog entry so she could read both together.

The technical sheet ended with a source note naming a region where suitable nurturing partners had been recorded. Ren checked the reference beneath it. It described a documented habitat, but gave no assurance that a partner could still be found there.

He carried the sheet across to the Guild’s access board and searched for the same region.

Its name appeared among the recent access changes. Ren checked it against the source note before reading the entry beside it.

Access restricted.