Jia collected her rematch the next morning at a river crossing north of the rookie camps. She stood on the final stone with her sword drawn, blocking the route toward Wren's feeding ridge.
Her temple cut remained wrapped from the stampede route she had followed blindly. The bandage made her admitted mistake visible, but it had not weakened the challenge in her stance.
Ivory's failed ownership hearing had delayed every leading trial team until nightfall. Jia found Blackforge first after dawn because she had spent that delay learning which crossing their matriarch trail required.
"You said after the trial," Vell said, setting Blackforge's salvage case above the waterline.
"I decided twenty hours counts," she replied, pointing her blade toward the opposite bank, "unless the famous owner needs his cat to protect him."
