Chapter 307: The Vault

The event office occupied the wing behind the Muster hall. Beyond the admission desks and result boards, a quiet corridor ran between numbered doors. Ren checked the room on his appointment and found it just past the middle, with a few minutes left before his time.

Adrien Sol stood outside a nearby office with a folder under his arm. Ren had beaten him three completed stations to two in the quarterfinal.

"Valis."

"Sol."

"Congratulations on first." Sol lifted the folder slightly. "I’m collecting my paperwork. You?"

Ren showed him the appointment. "The prize."

"Something from the catalog?"

"A nurture medium. The handling sheet lists a living partner as well. I need more information about where to find one."

"Ask for the supplier’s habitat record."

Ren looked up from the appointment. "They keep that with the entry?"

"They did with mine. I collected a growth medium once, and the catalog told me it was compatible. It didn’t tell me enough about the conditions it had been used in. I found those in the supplier’s field notes after I’d already taken it home."

"Will they give me a copy?"

"Ask at the counter. They can tell you what they’re allowed to release." Sol shifted the folder under his arm. "Ask for the record itself. Otherwise you may get someone reading the same catalog description back to you."

Ren nodded. "Thanks."

Sol continued down the corridor, and Ren knocked on the numbered door.

— • —

The room had a single counter, shelves of fitted cases and a ledger open beneath the window. The woman behind the counter marked her place before looking up.

"Ren Valis?"

He set his appointment in front of her.

"Tesh Ambry. I handle the living cultivation resources."

She checked his name and appointment against her list, then turned the ledger to the collection entry.

"One measure of fire-aspected core nurture medium." She moved the book where he could read it. "I’ll check the jar against this before you sign."

The case she brought down was about the length of his forearm. She opened it on the counter, revealing a stone jar held snugly in a shaped recess. A label crossed its shoulder.

Fire-aspected core nurture medium — one measure.

Tesh turned the jar without lifting it from its support, comparing the consignment mark with the ledger. She inspected the seal around the lid and let Ren see that it was unbroken.

"Measured and sealed by the supplier. The quantity record is here, with the inspection."

The description beneath it listed fine, dark-red grains. Ren checked the matching marks, then rested his fingers against the stone. It was warm through the jar wall.

"Does it need opening for the check?"

"No. The seal is intact and the records match. Leave it closed until you’re ready to use it."

He signed where she indicated. Tesh placed the handling sheets beside the case and turned to the storage section.

"Keep the jar upright and sealed, away from direct heat or abrupt changes in temperature. The case will keep it steady during transport."

"How long will it keep?"

"Under those conditions, it can be stored until administration. The handling record doesn’t set a deadline for using this measure." She moved her finger down the page. "The support it provides during early core development is described here. Storage and use have separate instructions."

Ren read the paragraph before asking, "How is it introduced?"

"Gradually, into the treatment water. Don’t empty the jar in at once. Prepare the space first so the warmth stays steady and the recipient can remain undisturbed while taking it up."

"What about the support already in place?"

"Keep that going, along with the ordinary circulation. You shouldn’t need to move the recipient around to administer it." She opened the next sheet beside the first. "The procedure is written out in order across these pages. Read both before you begin."

Ren drew them closer. The preparation came first, followed by the introduction of the material and the handling during uptake. He read through to the end, then returned to the section on maintaining the treatment space.

Tesh waited until he looked up.

"What can your office confirm about the result?" he asked.

"We can stand behind the material’s identity, the quantity record and these handling instructions. The file includes documented uses, but I can’t promise the same result for a recipient I know nothing about."

"And the living partner?"

"Not supplied with this measure."

"I know. I read that before requesting it."

She nodded and entered the collection in her ledger. Ren noted the limit of the office’s assurance in the margin, then looked back at the jar.

While Tesh wrote, he addressed the System silently, thinking of the young Pyreborn at the Worldroot.

’Is this the material she needs?’

[THIS MEASURE: COMPATIBLE NURTURING MATERIAL.]

’And following these instructions will help her before I find the partner?’

[PRESCRIBED USE WILL BENEFIT THE SUBJECT BEFORE A PARTNER IS FOUND.]

He also asked privately whether keeping the sealed jar in his System storage would alter it. The answer confirmed that it would not.

Ren closed the case and lifted it from the counter. He could feel a little warmth through its side. Before taking it under his arm, he folded the appointment and handling sheets beneath the carrying strap, easing their edges down until they lay flat.

— • —

"I’d also like the supplier’s habitat record," he said. "For this consignment, including the field observations."

Tesh checked the mark in the ledger again and took a file from the shelf.

"I can give you the relevant entries. Do you want the medium’s collection history as well?"

"Yes."

She set the file on the counter and copied the entries onto a fresh sheet. Ren waited while she carried over the dates and source references, checking each against the original before moving to the next.

"These are separate records," she said when she passed it to him. "The collection history tells you where the medium came from. The observations concern creatures recorded nurturing immature cores. Finding one at a collection site doesn’t make the two interchangeable."

Ren followed the headings. Each site had its own date and conditions, with the source written beside it.

"These observations were made and signed by the supplier’s own people," Tesh said. "The signatures and collection references have been checked. We haven’t sent anyone from this office to repeat the observations." She pointed to another entry. "This is copied from an older file. We can identify that source, but we can’t verify what its writer saw."

Below the checked entries were two later reports, both marked as awaiting verification. Ren kept his finger beside those marks as he read.

"There isn’t a species listed here."

"No. The observers recorded the care they saw and the conditions in which it continued. That’s what this file can help you compare."

"So appearance isn’t enough."

"It wouldn’t establish the ability. And ability alone doesn’t tell you whether a creature will willingly sustain the care." She turned the original file toward him. "The records distinguish those. Some observations ended with the creature ceasing to tend the core. The successful cases continued."

Ren checked the corresponding notes on his copy. "Does it say how they persuaded one to stay?"

"Not in the entries we hold."

The conditions varied by site. One nesting place lay beneath a stone overhang, in sheltered water warmed from below. Another entry described the substrate and depth, with the young kept clear of the current. The notes recorded what the observers had found; they did not establish that every feature was necessary.

Ren read the dates alongside them. Even the firsthand entries described earlier visits. He would still have to find a suitable creature and learn whether it would accept the arrangement.

He checked that the copied conditions and references were complete, thanked Tesh and put the record with his notes.

— • —

Outside, the path toward the seclusion buildings was quiet. Ren waited until he was beyond the office windows and out of sight of the corridor, then put the secured case into his System storage.

He kept the habitat record out and sat on a low wall to read it again.

The last checked site entry, before the unverified reports, carried an additional line beneath the supplier’s observations.

Survey access restricted on the authority of Custodial Records.

Ren already knew the region was restricted. The destination note he had consulted before the final had named the region, and the Guild’s access board had listed it among its recent changes. Neither had named the department responsible.

He took out his slate and opened the copies Yueying had sent him. The older inventory attributed the receipt to the seal office. The altered version retained the reference but credited a different department.

Custodial Records.

He laid the habitat sheet beside the slate and checked the names again. The department appeared on both: once in the changed inventory credit, and once as the authority restricting the survey. Neither document explained why it had handled the other matter.

Ren copied the restriction’s reference and the relevant site entry into a message for Yueying. He included the date and the source notation so she could distinguish the supplier’s observation from the restriction beneath it.

After checking the extract against the paper, he added a final instruction and sent it.

Compare this with the altered inventory. Keep any follow-up request on record.