Chapter 388: A Better Fit

Ren sent three messages before entering Verdance.

He asked Maren about further work with the specialists at Kilnreach, and Tamsin about water-control work at the Ebbmere nursery. Then he told Lyra that the spear’s second head was getting its load checks. If it passed, he would test it on the coast. Did she want to watch?

Her reply came while he was retrieving the fitting blank from beneath his bed.

Yes. Tell me when to come to the Terrace.

He brought the blank and his range notes through to the cove workshop. The assembled spear lay on the bench beside the padded test fitting and its weights.

"Movement first," the craftsperson said.

Ren took his grip on the blank and went through the throwing motion without releasing it. He repeated it twice while the craftsperson watched his hand and shoulder.

"Now with the spear."

He exchanged the blank for the weapon, closed his eyes and settled his throwing grip. When he looked, his hand lay beside the pale wax line the craftsperson had made at the range.

"Balance?"

Ren raised the spear and brought it forward slowly. He didn’t need to shift his grip to keep the head steady.

"Feels right."

The craftsperson took it back. It secured the head in the padded fitting and hung the same measured weight from the haft as before. After that check, it dropped the assembled spear point-first onto packed earth from the marked height.

Back at the bench, it dismantled the joint. Ren watched it inspect the point and the rest of the glass, then turn the collar, pin and haft under the light.

"The joint held. Now we test the transfer."

It reassembled the spear and checked the seated pin.

"Put the harness on. Show me the movement again."

Ren fitted the forearm and shoulder guards beneath his coat, then faced the clear space beside the bench. The craftsperson watched from the side as he raised the spear, drew back and completed the motion without throwing.

Both guards stayed seated. The forearm piece left Heavenpiercer’s line clear, and the shoulder guard stayed clear of his torc. He repeated the movement at his throwing pace.

"Any pull?" it asked.

"No."

It left the straps where they were.

— • —

Ren returned to Dawnspire and sent Lyra word. When she met him on the Terrace, he admitted her into Verdance, and they joined the craftsperson at the cove. It carried the covered spear and its tools as they walked north to the range.

The old impact holes remained in the bank. Ren checked their depth, filled them and compacted the earth before clearing the approach. He fitted a post at the recorded distance and set the white-banded markers a hand’s width to either side.

From the throwing line, he checked the gap and the bank beyond it against his notes.

Lyra sat on the flat rock behind the line. The craftsperson laid out its tools nearby, beside the replacement posts.

"Unpowered first."

Ren made three restrained throws without Farcast. The first entered the bank above the post, leaving the collar exposed. The second lodged in the post; the third went into the earth beside it.

He retrieved after each. Where the head was buried, he cleared around it before drawing the spear out along its entry line. The craftsperson checked the cleaned assembly each time. The pin stayed seated, and the head showed no damage.

Ren replaced the pierced post and returned to his mark. Both observers were behind him.

He prepared Farcast at the method’s lowest setting, with his hand beside the wax line. As he brought his arm through, he kept the transfer with the movement and finished it as his fingers opened.

The spear passed between the bands, split the post and drove into the bank behind it. Part of the collar disappeared into the earth.

Lyra leaned forward on the rock. Ren followed the haft’s line with his eyes before walking down to retrieve it. He cleared the collar, freed the head and brought the spear back for inspection.

The craftsperson checked the glass, joint and pin while he fitted another post.

His next four throws struck cleanly. Between them, he dug out the head, replaced the damaged wood and waited for the craftsperson to finish its check. Each time he returned to the line, Lyra was watching from the same rock.

On the sixth, his fingers began opening before the transfer was complete. He held on to finish it, and the haft caught against his fingers as it left.

The spear went high and entered the bank above the markers.

’He could have copied that miss out of his old notes.’

Ren lowered his hand. He knew where he’d lost the release before he reached the spear. Practice with the blank had made the grip and movement familiar; he still had to coordinate the working with them.

"You held on," Lyra said when he returned.

"I did."

"Looked like you knew before it hit."

"I knew before it left."

While the craftsperson examined the spear, Ren wiped the dirt from his hand and checked the entry in his notes. On the clean throws, the transfer and release finished together. On the miss, he’d tried to complete one by delaying the other.

For the seventh, he followed the transfer through his whole throwing movement. His hand opened without catching the haft, and the spear struck between the bands.

He repeated it on the eighth, ninth and tenth throws. All four hit. He could feel the clean release each time, but still watched the impact before lowering his arm.

"Ten. Nine in," the craftsperson said after the last inspection. It checked the point once more. "Nothing has shifted."

They examined the bank before increasing the setting. The impacts remained well inside its depth and clear of its edges. Ren packed the disturbed earth again, then fitted a fresh post.

The next setting was the small increase they’d tested on the earlier visit. He kept his throwing effort and distance unchanged.

His first throw passed between the markers and drove farther into the bank than the lower-setting hits. He took longer freeing it, exposing the collar before drawing the head out. The craftsperson cleaned and inspected it while he recorded the result.

The second hit. After retrieval, inspection and another replacement post, the third hit too.

Ren brought the spear back with a strip of wood caught against the collar. Lyra looked from it to the dwindling pile of posts.

"Did you bring enough?"

"I brought what I had."

"Then you’d better stop hitting them."

He pulled the wood free and handed the spear over.

— • —

The craftsperson sat on the rock for the final inspection. It turned the head in the daylight, checking the point and edges, then dismantled the joint and examined the collar, pin and wood.

While it worked, Ren checked the harness. The shoulder strap lay where it had started, and the forearm guard had stayed seated through the throws. He bent his arm across his chest, then raised it again. Nothing pulled.

"Some polish on the point. Nothing I need to dress."

It reassembled the spear, checking the pin’s seat and the alignment marks before setting it across its knees.

"Joint’s as it was fitted."

Ren finished the session’s record: three unpowered throws, then nine hits from ten at the lowest setting and three from three at the next. Beside the single high miss, he noted the late completion and the extra hold.

The craftsperson took out its wax and refreshed the grip line in the same place. It handed him the spear.

His hand settled beside the mark. He held it there while it spoke.

"Use this head at the settings we checked. The dressed one still needs its checks."

"Understood."

It covered the head and secured the cloth. Ren gathered the broken posts with Lyra while it packed its tools, then carried the spear back along the coast.

At the workshop, he collected the fitting blank and put it with his notes. The dressed head stayed wrapped on the bench. He and Lyra returned to the place where they’d entered Verdance, and he opened the way out for her before following with the weapon.

Maren’s reply was waiting when he reached his room.

We can arrange supervised work on a sound section of the garden passages. Tobin will check the teaching section and set the permitted feed changes before you begin. Joss can add the third passage he promised you. Meet him at the keepers’ entrance on the shaded side. The available window is below, before the next inspection round.

Ren checked his other messages. Tamsin hadn’t replied yet.

He compared Maren’s window with the outbound connections, allowing time for the port and the covered walk to the garden. Then he checked the return service, booked both journeys and sent her his arrival details.

The fitting blank went beside his desk. He stood the spear in the corner with its head covered, then laid the range notes on top of his bag.