Corvan looked at him with the expression of a man who had walked in expecting a particular kind of encounter and found himself in an entirely different one.
For a moment, nothing moved.
The two of them stared at each other - Jin with cold eyes, the steward with blank ones. The silence stretched long enough to become uncomfortable.
Then the head steward walked back through the door and closed it behind him.
A knock.
"Come in," Jin said.
Corvan entered. Whatever he had adjusted in the hallway, he had done it quickly. His expression was unreadable.
"You called for me, young master?"
"I did."
Jin understood the situation clearly. Corvan had spent years managing a household in which Encrid Gannon was a resident embarrassment, nothing more than a problem to be managed and minimized, someone the staff feared not out of respect but for the trouble he brought.
Whatever authority came with being the duke's son, Encrid had eroded it through consistent effort.
Jin understood all of that.
But he still wasn't going to take it, he wouldn't let anyone take him lightly.
He made that point already, now there was work to do.
"I'm leaving for the Wall in the morning," he said. "I need provisions arranged for the journey. I'm going to give you a list, and I need everything on it ready before dawn. Can you manage that?"
Corvan's expression shifted again.
"...Yes, young master. I can manage that."
"Good"
Jin handed him that list.
Corvan received it with both hands and read through it once. Then he read it again. When he looked up, something behind his eyes had changed.
'He expected Encrid to ask for wine,' Jin thought. 'Maybe a carriage. Maybe nothing at all.'
But what Jin had just handed him contained everything that he would need to make the journey to the Wall and survive whatever came after it.
'A full set of cold-weather gear to survive the northern winters,' Corvan read through. That wasn't hard to prepare -The Gannon's house had plenty.
'Rations for fourteen days of travel.'
Dried meat, hard cheese, preserved vegetables, grains- the kitchen kept a standing stock throughout the year, so that wasn't even a concern.
'Two horses. One for riding, one as a pack animal.'
That was where Corvan paused for the first time.
The Wall had a standing rule. Noble carriages were barred from entry - no house crest, no family banner, nothing that carried the weight of a title could enter the Wall. The only exception was the Emperor's own procession, and even that was rare. Most nobles who ended up at the Wall either didn't know the rule or didn't believe it applied to them until they were turned back at the gate.
The young master had known this and planned it without being told, which impressed him a little. But he didn't say anything and moved on.
'Medical supplies. Wound dressing, suture thread, a healing potion, and other basics.'
The kind of kit usually provided to soldiers.
'A blank ledger, ink, and three quills.'
Corvan registered that without understanding why Encrid would need it and kept reading.
Then he reached a line which made him read it twice.
'Weapons,' he read, quite taken aback. ' A Sword, a crossbow, and daggers.'
The deadbeat young master who hadn't touched a sword in years, who had spent the better part of his time cultivating talent for drinking and causing problems, was requesting a sword, a crossbow, and several daggers.
It wasn't a difficult request to fill. The Gannon armory had no shortage of blades. Corvan let it go and moved to the bottom of the list, where one item was written plainly.
Money.
"I'll have everything prepared by dawn," Corvan said. He paused, "But regarding the money, young master-"
"What's my monthly stipend?"
"Twelve Gold Solari, young master."
Jin blinked.
He kept his face still and his voice even, but behind his eyes he was doing the arithmetic. A single Gold Solari was enough for a family of five commoners to live on comfortably for a year. Twelve meant the Wall, the journey, a place to sleep, food, supplies - all of it covered without any issue.
'It really is good to be rich' Jin thought to himself.
"Then please prepare that."
"That is the difficulty, young master." Corvan's voice was careful. He had the expression of a man who genuinely did not enjoy this part. His eyes moved-just for a moment-to the three empty bottles still lying on their sides across the floor. He looked back at Jin. "You have already used your stipend for the month."
The silence that followed lasted exactly one second.
Jin looked at the bottles.
'Encrid, you absolute fool!'
He turned back to Corvan with what he hoped was composure. "Is there a way to claim next month's stipend in advance?"
"...I would need to check with the Duke, young master."
"Please do."
"I will."
Corvan, noticing that Encrid didn't have anything else to say, bowed and left. The door clicked shut behind him.
✧ ✧ ✧
The room was quiet after Corvan left.
Jin sat without moving and stared at the ceiling. The fire had burned low while they were talking, and the room was settling into a dim, amber half-light.
He turned the problem over in his head. If the advance came through, good. If it didn't, he'd have something in the household worth selling.
His reputation was already at the bottom- a little theft before he left for the Wall wouldn't push it any further underground.
"It's still an option, and hopefully I don't have to opt for it."
He set it aside.
When he finally looked away from the ceiling, his eyes landed on the desk.
There was a pile of letters sitting on the corner of it. He had noticed them earlier and filed them away as something to deal with later. He had a great deal of more pressing things to think about - the Wall, the journey, the events he knew were coming and the ones he didn't, the hundred small decisions that needed to be made before dawn. All of it was waiting.
But somehow his feet carried him to the desk anyway, and before he had consciously decided anything, he was sitting in the chair with the stack of letters in his hands.
The handwriting on the outside was neat and consistent. And every envelope had the same name.
From your dearest sister, Zuri.
He counted them.
There were sixteen in total, one delivered every two weeks without exception. The most recent one had arrived a week ago.
None of them had been opened.
Not a single one.
Jin sat with that for a moment. Then he picked one from somewhere in the middle of the stack, broke the seal, and unfolded it.
✧ ✧ ✧
Encrid,
I know you are not going to read this letter. But still.
I reached the Master realm last week. It happened in the middle of the day, while I was training with Sir Agnus. It came all at once - you should have been there when it happened. I sat on the ground for a long time afterward, just looking at the sky. The first thought I had was that I needed to tell you.
I don't know why. But you were the only one I thought to share the news with.
I'm learning to control the water element now. I'm not proficient like Father, of course, but I'll train hard.
It's been six months since I came south. It was supposed to be two. The Barbarian raids keep coming - not large enough to call a war, but not small enough to ignore either. Every time things quiet down and I start thinking about leaving, they hit another border village and I'm back in the saddle. I'm starting to think they're doing it on purpose just to inconvenience me specifically.
I want to come home.
I'm tired of the South. The heat is miserable, the food is worse, and I've had the same argument with General Harwick about the supply lines eleven times now. I don't know how much longer I can endure this.
But I'll wrap it up soon. One more push, and the situation should hold long enough for someone else to babysit it.
When I'm back - and I will be back, probably before this letter even reaches you - let's eat at Selvara's. The one near the Merchant's Bridge that we used to visit. I heard they still make the braised lamb the same way.
You don't have to say yes in advance. Just don't say no.
Your dearest sister, Zuri
✧ ✧ ✧
Jin set the letter down on the desk.
He sat very still.
There was something moving up his chest that he didn't have a clean name for. It hadn't arrived all at once but crept up on him somewhere between while he was reading the letter.
He raised a hand to his face.
His finger came away wet.
He turned slowly towards the mirror on the wall.
The face looking back at him- Encrid's face, the face that was adorned with tired eyes…that face was crying.
Tears moved steadily down the face that didn't seem to know what to do with them.
Jin stared at his reflection for a long moment.
'These aren't my tears,' he thought.
But they were falling anyway.
✦ ✦ ✦