Alex found her in the corridor outside the bunks, his knuckles hovering over the thin metal door. The Iron Mule's engine thrummed through the deck plates, a constant low vibration he'd stopped noticing weeks ago.
He knocked. Once. The sound deadened against the insulation.
"Go away."
Not the quiet he'd expected after the council chamber.
"Rhian—"
"I said go away."
The door didn't open. He hadn't expected it to. His palm flattened against the cold surface, fingers spreading.
Alex swiped the master card through the reader. The lock clicked green, and he stepped inside.
Rhian sat on the lower bunk, arms crossed, chin jutting.
"How did you get in?"
"I built the thing."
He leaned against the bulkhead.
"Also designed the lock. Master key comes with the job."
Her glare softened at the edges.
"That's cheating."
"Engineering. There's a difference."
Rhian didn't turn around. Her shoulders stayed hunched, spine rigid against the bunk frame.
Alex crouched, knees popping on the metal deck. The corridor's hum faded behind them, the Mule's engine a steady pulse through the bulkhead.
"Rhian."
He waited.
"Look at me."
Her head tilted, profile sharp in the amber strip lighting. Tear tracks cut through the dust on her cheeks, dried now. Not fresh. She'd cried already, quietly, while he stood in the council chamber pretending the math was the only thing that mattered.
"I'm sorry. For how I spoke to you. For the order. It wasn't fair."
She didn't answer. Didn't move.
"I didn't walk away because I don't care."
"I walked away because that thing..."
He stopped. Swallowed.
"That thing is B-rank. It's a terraformer. It manipulates earth. The Liger's Mane Blast barely scratched the Mire-Devourer's hide. The Colossus would crush us before we got close enough to matter. You die. Ziya dies. I die. All three Zoids go down with us. And the river would still be gone."
Rhian's fingers twisted in her tunic hem.
"Doesn't matter anymore. You're leaving them to die."
"Let me finish."
She went still.
"You're right. We have the power. The Liger, the Arosaurer, the Lanstag, we can do something. I just..."
His throat worked.
"I was afraid. Afraid of getting you killed. Afraid of failing again. So I hid behind the numbers and called it logic."
The silence stretched. Somewhere aft, the Arosaurer's core pulsed its even rhythm.
"I'm not walking away. We're going back to that basin. We're going to find a way to move that Colossus or break its hold on the river. Whatever it takes."
Rhian turned. Her eyes were red-rimmed, fierce.
"You mean it?"
"I mean it."
She launched herself forward, arms locking around his neck, face buried against his coat.
"Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you…"
His arms came up automatically, one hand cradling the back of her head. The blue pendant pressed cold between them.
He did it for her. But the longer he sat with it, the more the Colossus looked like exactly what he'd come looking for: a B-rank terraformer with earth manipulation and a taste for rare minerals. The kind of core that didn't come around twice.
Ziya appeared in the doorway, one shoulder braced against the frame, one eyebrow arched.
"Took you long enough."
Alex stood, joints stiff from crouching. Rhian scrubbed her face with her sleeve, grinning through the red eyes.
Ziya leans back against the frame.
"Everything settled?"
"For now."
Alex straightened, rolling his shoulders.
"We need to go back to the town hall."
They walked back through streets that had gone quiet in the hour since the battle, the Mule's engine a distant hum behind them. The town hall's heavy door stood open, spilling lamplight onto the packed earth.
Inside, the Council sat where Alex had left them: Elder Thorn with her waterskin still empty, Keeper Mara's map frozen on the table, Master Rowan's hands folded tight in his lap. The room's air had thickened, stale, throats tight in a settlement that had already decided it was dying.
Thorn looked up as they entered. Her face didn't soften.
"You're back. What are you doing here again?"
Alex stopped three paces in, Ziya and Rhian flanking him.
"I'm here to accept the job. I'll eliminate the Colossus. I'll restore the river."
The silence that followed was louder than the argument they'd left behind.
Mara's chair scraped back.
"You said it was suicide. Your team was outmatched."
"It is. We are. Doesn't change what needs doing."
Rowan leaned forward, his hands unclasping in his lap.
"What changed your mind?"
Alex glanced sideways. Rhian stood straighter, shoulders squared, the blue pendant catching the lamplight.
"Thank her. She changed it."
Thorn's gaze shifted to the girl, a muscle tightening at her jaw before the weariness closed back over it.
"Is that so."
"With conditions."
Alex didn't wait for the gratitude.
"I need full cooperation. I need full logistical support: fuel, repair facilities, local guides, whatever the Mule needs. I need access to every scrap of data you have on the basin, the Colossus, the river's original course. And no interference. This is my plan. It's my call. You commit fully, or I walk right now."
The three councilors exchanged glances. Thorn's eyes narrowed while Mara's fingers tightened on the map's edge. Rowan exhaled, long and slow.
Thorn's shoulders drop.
"Done. All of it. Whatever you need."
Mara gave a short nod.
"We'll have the fuel depot opened within the hour. Old Tam's crew can handle mechanical support."
Rowan's hands refold in his lap.
"And the data. Everything in the archives. Survey records, seismic logs, the old geological surveys from before the Sundering. I'll have it copied and brought to your vehicle."
Alex inclined his head once.
"Good. We move at first light."
Thorn's hand rests flat on the table.
"Thank you. All of you. For... for choosing to stay."
Alex turned toward the door and quickened his step, not trusting himself to look back. Rhian fell into step beside him, her shoulder brushing his arm, while Ziya brought up the rear, her mouth set in a line that gave nothing away in the lamplight.
Outside, the rivers still rushed at the confluence, oblivious. The Oldfoot foundations held steady beneath a town that had just bought itself a chance it hadn't earned.
Advance chapters on my p@tR$0n/Najicablitz.
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