Chapter 321: His Name on the Amount

Chapter 321: His Name on the Amount

"That’s the team’s," Elsa said. "That’s got to be the team’s."

She was bent over the notice Marris had placed on the Longstable table, counting the zeros with one finger.

"No," Marris said. "Look at the recipient."

"I did. I thought he’d collected it for everyone." Elsa turned to Jin. "Tell her."

Jin had spent half the night checking his account. Hearing somebody else reach the same conclusion was oddly comforting.

"It’s mine," he said.

[Meridian Academy — Individual Award Notice]

[Recipient: Astor, Jin]

[Regional League prize allocation: 200,000 Credits]

[Meridian Academy performance award: 300,000 Credits]

[Total disbursed to recipient: 500,000 Credits]

[Material reward: entitlement to select suitable evolution or breakthrough materials, subject to specialist foundation assessment.]

Arthur drew the paper closer. "The two hundred is the tournament allocation?"

"Yes," Marris said. "The delegates receive that share from our runner-up result. The additional three hundred comes from the academy."

"For Jin alone?" Elena asked.

"For Jin. I recommended a separate award for his contribution, and the board approved it after the final." Marris tapped the second line. "This recognizes the revival sweep and the semifinal decider."

Arthur read the notice again. His finger moved beneath the numbers the way it did when he checked a warehouse manifest that didn’t look right.

"Five hundred thousand," he said at last.

"Already paid," Marris confirmed. "You can stop looking for the condition at the bottom."

Jin almost laughed. He had looked for it too.

Then he noticed his mother hadn’t touched her tea.

Elena was staring at the notice. "We checked the egg payment so many times," she said softly. "Your father thought we’d entered an extra zero."

Fifty thousand. Everything they had managed to put together, spent on a lizard egg nobody else seemed to want.

Jin pushed the paper toward her. "This one’s right."

"I know." She reached across the table and held his hand. "I’m very proud of you."

He could have handled that better if her eyes hadn’t been wet.

"Mum, you’re doing it again."

"I haven’t done anything."

Elsa abandoned the numbers and leaned across to hug him. Jin tried to complain about being squeezed while his mother still had his hand, but nobody paid him much attention.

Marris looked down at her tablet and gave them a moment.

"The others got their notices?" Jin asked once Elsa returned to her chair.

"Everyone’s allocation has been processed," Marris said. "And yes, their work is being recognized too."

"I wasn’t saying—"

"I know what you were asking." She put her tablet down. "They kept us in the competition. You gave us wins we had very little right to expect. The academy can recognize both."

Jin nodded, relieved. He wanted the award. He also wanted to be able to sit down with his teammates afterward without feeling as though he had taken their share.

"The material entitlement is separate," Marris continued. "It’s access through the council allocation. A specialist assesses Glitch’s foundation, then you choose from the suitable resources."

"When could we arrange that?" Jin asked.

"An initial consultation can be discussed after your return. Anything involving Glitch’s exertion waits for veterinary clearance."

That suited him. A week ago he would have wanted to see the list immediately. Now he wanted to know what Glitch could safely use before he became attached to something expensive and completely wrong.

Arthur was still studying the cash award when Jin turned toward him.

"Dad. Your brace."

His father’s eyebrows rose. "What about it?"

"It needs refitting. You keep putting it off." Jin kept going before he lost his nerve. "I want you to see someone who specializes in old tamer injuries. A proper assessment, not another adjustment that only helps for a few weeks."

Arthur glanced at his leg beneath the table. "You’ve just received the money."

"I’ve been thinking about this since before we had it."

For a moment Jin thought they were going to argue. Instead, Arthur folded the notice and asked, "How much are you keeping?"

"For what?"

"For yourself. Glitch’s care. Your next stage." Arthur waited until Jin met his eyes. "I’m asking because I know how quickly a beast can use up a reserve."

Jin looked at the account on his phone. Half a million had seemed impossible last night. His father had made it feel finite in one sentence.

"At least half," he said. "Probably more until I know what recovery and preparation will cost."

"Good." Arthur unfolded the notice again. "Then we can look into the brace."

"Bring your old fitting records," Elena said. "The last adjustment helped for a while. Whoever sees you should know what they changed."

Arthur nodded. "They’re in the cabinet at home."

Jin added that to his phone. He had pictured paying a bill and watching his father walk more comfortably. Of course there would be appointments and measurements first. He could wait for those, provided his father actually went this time.

Jin tried to hide how pleased he was. He had prepared at least three arguments and hadn’t needed any of them.

"There is something bigger," he said.

Elsa lowered her cup. "Bigger than that?"

"I want you to move closer to the academy." Jin looked between his parents. "Not right outside the gates. I checked that area. We can’t afford it sensibly."

"You checked housing?" Elena asked.

"A little." He had checked until a nurse took his phone away for the night. "There are neighborhoods a couple of kilometers out. Better security, better services. Close enough that I could come home for dinner."

His mother glanced at Arthur.

Jin hurried on. "I don’t know about work transfers yet. Or Elsa’s school. I’m not asking you to pack everything. I just want us to look."

"We have jobs," Arthur said, without dismissing the idea. "And leave that will run out."

"I know. We’d ask first. Find out what’s possible."

Elena finally picked up her tea, though it must have been cold. "I’d like to see the neighborhoods before we decide."

Jin looked up. "You would?"

"Of course I would." She smiled at his surprise. "I’d like having you close. That doesn’t mean I know how we’d manage everything yet."

"We can make inquiries," Arthur agreed. "Nothing gets signed until we’ve worked it out."

"That’s all I’m asking," Jin said.

It was slightly less than he wanted, but much more than he had feared they would accept.

He opened a note on his phone for housing, work, and school. Elsa leaned over to add room for a beast beneath the last item, then sat back as though she hadn’t done anything.

Jin stared at it for a second.

"Els. When’s your public awakening?"

"About six months. Middle of the final school year." She frowned. "Why?"

"You’re old enough to do it privately now."

Elsa looked at him, then at the award notice.

"Jin."

"A supervised serum appointment is around forty to fifty thousand," he said. "I’d want the suitability assessment first. A proper clinic."

Fourteen was the safe early threshold. The children who could afford to start then had gained a head start Jin had envied often enough. Elsa was fifteen; he couldn’t give her all that time back, but six months was still six months.

"You’d learn what your talent is earlier," he told her. "Then we’d find an egg that fits. You could actually prepare with your beast before entrance instead of getting it at the last minute."

He remembered counting the days he had left with Glitch’s egg. Elsa wouldn’t have the Engine. He couldn’t make her chances depend on the kind of secret luck that had saved his.

Elena looked concerned. "The public procedure is free."

"I know," Jin said. "We’d be paying for the extra time. Only if she’s suitable, and only if she wants to."

"I want to," Elsa said quickly. Then she hesitated. "I think I do."

"Talk it over," Marris advised. "There are reputable providers. Don’t let a clinic sell you promises about talent grades."

Jin nodded. "And we won’t buy the egg first. We need to know what we’re looking for."

Elsa had gone unusually quiet. She traced the edge of the award notice without looking at its numbers anymore.

"Before the public session," she said. "You really mean before?"

"That’s the idea," Jin said.

His sister looked up at him. "Then when we get back, can we find out where?"

He opened another note beneath the housing list.

"Yes," he said. "We can."