Kaiden brought the SUV up to the compound checkpoint at half past seven, and Bastet was still purring.
She had not stopped since the highway. The man on the gate was one of theirs now, a C-tier with a decade of logged hours and a clipboard nobody had asked him to carry. He leaned down to wave them through, heard it rolling out of the middle row, and lost his place in his own sentence.
"Evening, sir. Good- good day out?"
"Very good," Kaiden said.
The barrier went up.
The gravel had gone blue, and the headquarters stood over the lot with three stories of dark glass holding the last of the light. Dorm windows ran in rows above it. The mess hall was still lit at the far end, with somebody's music coming out of it.
Yuna Park was out of the third row before the vehicle finished rocking on its springs.
"Guild leader." She was already walking backward toward the building. "Nothing followed us in. I'll file tonight."
"That can wait until tomorrow. Great job today, Park."
