Garran’s eyes went past Averik for a moment, toward the training yard.
The young man was still on one knee. Tovan had a hand locked around his shoulder while Bram stood nearby with the throwing knife. Half the yard had found something else to pretend to look at.
"Not here," Garran said. He turned toward the nearest Unit building. "Walk with me."
Averik went with him. Evelyn stayed at his side without needing to be asked, and Snow padded beside her. Garran didn’t object to either of them. He led them around the corner of the building and stopped on the far side, where stone and timber cut most of the yard noise down to a muddled thump of boots and distant voices.
The lane wasn’t empty. Unit members still crossed between buildings at the open end, carrying tools and bundled gear, but none were close enough to hear a quiet conversation. Two ordinary workers came out of a service door with a stack of folded canvas between them. They noticed Garran, dipped their heads, gave the four of them more room, and kept going. Neither tried to listen.
Snow investigated a crust of old ice along the wall base until Evelyn touched two fingers to the fur behind her ear. The wolf abandoned it with a quiet huff and stayed beside her.
"I think Caedren said something to you," Averik said, watching him.
Garran leaned one shoulder against the wall. "Yes, Caedren talked to me after you got back from the west road. Just the two of us."
Averik watched him. "What did he tell you?"
"Less than you’re probably wondering." Garran rubbed a thumb along the edge of his beard. "He saw you Taming that Frost Beast alive after it had already torn into the road and the team, your Red Eyes. And he saw what you did to the Breaker when the Corruption in his wound was getting worse. Enough to bring the kid home breathing. And what you did at the gate, too."
So Caedren had kept to what he’d actually seen.
"That’s all happened," Averik said.
"I assumed Caedren hadn’t invented a bear for entertainment." Garran’s mouth moved by a fraction. "I don’t need a list of everything you can do. I need to know whether either of those things becomes my problem the next time I put you outside with my people."
That nearly earned Garran a smile. He cared about the consequence instead of demanding a list of abilities.
"The Greatbear is mine. I sent it back west, and it’ll follow the orders I gave it. The other thing won’t be a problem, unless someone is foolish enough to get in my way, I won’t hesitate to do what’s necessary."
Garran watched him a moment longer, weighing the answer instead of digging for the part Averik had left out. "Caedren trusts what he sees. So do I. I don’t need every secret you have, Averik. I need to know when one of them can turn a route bad while my people are standing on it."
"If something I use can wreck the route or turn on the team, you’ll know before it matters." Averik glanced toward the yard. "I need your roads open too."
That was the part Garran could use. His expression eased by a degree. "Fine. Here’s the part you should know. The Breaker made it through treatment. The Restorer got the Corruption out of the wound and his Essence flow. He’s back on duty."
Averik’s attention shifted toward the open end of the lane.
As if the timing had been arranged for Garran’s benefit, two Unit members came around the next building with a squat tool crate between them. Averik recognized the younger one before they drew even with the gap: the Breaker from the west road.
He looked nothing like he had beside the west road. No cyan line showed beneath his skin. He wasn’t guarding the injured side, and his stride was even. When the other man adjusted his grip, the Breaker took more of the crate’s weight without hesitation and kept walking.
Then Averik felt what no one looking at the man would have noticed.
His Corruption Authority answered to the strand he’d planted, familiar because it was his. The faint pressure remained folded exactly where he’d left it. Quiet. Motionless. His.
’As I thought, the Restorer couldn’t remove the Corruption I planted, couldn’t even detect it. The Restorer cleared what was tearing him apart and never touched mine.’
The Breaker passed the mouth of the lane without looking their way. The strand remained still. Averik let it stay that way.
Waking it now would gain him nothing. The man was healthy, useful, and back inside Unit One’s working strength. A hidden grip inside him was worth more than a pointless demonstration that would leave Garran asking very different questions.
Snow shifted beside Evelyn, claws scraping softly over the packed frost. Averik’s attention settled on her, and the old question came back. Her ears turned toward a pair of boots crossing the far end of the lane before settling again. A cart wheel clattered somewhere behind the building, softened by stone and distance.
Corvin had given Snow to him when she was young. By the night the Blood Moon drove that hidden Corruption through their bond, it had already been inside her. Averik had never learned how it got there.
’It seems Snow’s case isn’t as simple as I thought. That means even Corvin didn’t know she had latent Corruption...or did he? Maybe Snow’s Corruption was planted by a being with high authority over Corruption too? Or is it just ordinary Corruption from the Blood Moon exposure? Well... Deal with what’s in front of me first.’
"Something wrong?" Garran asked.
Averik returned his attention to him. "No. He looks healthy."
"He is, as far as the Restorer is concerned." Garran glanced after the departing pair. "He was trying to get back to work before she wanted him out of the room. Apparently almost becoming a Frost Zombie didn’t improve his patience."
"Useful habit, if he learns when to stop." Averik said.
"Caedren would probably say the same thing with more swearing." Garran answered quietly.
Evelyn’s lips curved, but she said nothing.
Averik let the Breaker disappear between the buildings. There was no reason to touch him again while he remained useful.
"There’s something else," he said.
Garran’s expression settled again. "Yes, what’s that? ."
"Corvin. If he starts asking about me, or something he does points my way, I want to hear about it. If my name comes up around him in a meeting you’re actually in, tell me. Same if something reaches you through a report."
Garran’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Why Corvin?"
"He came to my house after I chose Unit One. Wanted to know why I wasn’t joining Unit Two. Wanted to make sure I wasn’t changing my mind."
"Why not ask him what he wants?" Garran asked.
"Because he’ll tell me what he wants me to hear." Averik kept his voice flat. "I’m more interested in what he does when I’m not standing in front of him."
Garran gave a low grunt. He didn’t look offended by the answer. "That sounds more like Roderic’s son."
Garran looked toward Evelyn rather than interrupting Averik with another question.
She answered the look, there was no need to raise it. "He came alone. He was polite, but he kept circling back to Averik’s choice. Roderic had led Unit Two, and Corvin wanted an explanation for why Averik went to Unit One instead."
"And he left when he got his answer?" Garran asked.
"Yes," Evelyn said. "He didn’t threaten us, and he never said why it mattered so much to him."
Averik glanced at her. She had given Garran exactly what she had seen and nothing she hadn’t.
Garran scratched once at his jaw. "Corvin is careful with his words. That alone doesn’t prove anything. I’ve sat through meetings with him since then. I haven’t heard him pushing your name or trying to move anything against you. That still doesn’t give me his private conversations inside Unit Two."
"I didn’t ask for what you can’t hear." Averik said.
"No. You didn’t." Garran let the silence sit. "If he brings you up where I can hear it, or something with your name on it crosses my table, I’ll tell you. If you’re asking me to put people on him, that’s a different conversation."
"I’m not." Averik answered.
That answer seemed to suit Garran better than a longer one would have. "All right."
A shout rose from around the corner, followed by Bram’s irritated voice and a burst of laughter from someone who had apparently decided the danger had passed. Garran’s shoulders dropped a fraction. "I leave the yard alone for five minutes," he muttered.
Averik looked toward the corner. "You left them alone with Bram."
"That was my first mistake." Garran answered with a hint of regret.
Evelyn covered a small smile with the back of her glove.
Garran caught it anyway. "You laugh now. You’re married to the one who put a spear through a man’s hand because the idiot couldn’t take no for an answer."
Her smile only warmed. "I know, Garran. My husband doesn’t frighten me."
Averik looked at her. The softness in her eyes was for him, not the man bleeding in the yard.
Garran stared at the two of them, then gave a tired huff that might have been amusement. "Right. I’m staying out of that."
He pushed off the wall and nodded back toward the training yard. "You two ever use the Unit yard properly?"
"Not yet," Averik said.
"Use it if you want." Garran glanced toward the corner where the knife had bounced off Evelyn’s protection. "You already trust each other under pressure. Better to find whatever still needs work here than on a road where something is trying to eat you."
He looked at Evelyn. "There’s enough room that nobody has to stand in the middle like that fool back there."
Evelyn turned her face toward Averik. "I’d like to train with you there, if you’d like that too. We haven’t had much room to work together properly."
Averik considered the yard beyond the corner. "Okay, tomorrow," he said.
"Well, that works for me." Garran straightened. "Tell whoever has the yard when you arrive. I’ll make sure they know you’re allowed to use it."
"They should already know well enough," Averik said flatly.
Averik nodded once and turned with Evelyn, Snow matched their pace as they headed down the lane.