Team practice concluded at three.

It was a successful session, the kind where team coordination truly clicked and they understood each other.

Seraphina’s positioning, William’s timing, and Liam’s raw power synchronised effortlessly without anyone needing to call it out.

Even Mira, despite operating at a slower pace since the expedition, navigated the combined formation drills with her characteristic precision.

Afterward, as everyone gathered their equipment and moved toward the exits in the cooling practice hall, Liam approached William’s shoulder with a look that indicated he was about to ask something he wasn’t entirely certain was appropriate.

"You seem different," Liam said.

"Different how."

"I don’t know. Less like you’re doing math in your head about everything." Liam considered it. "More present, maybe."

William didn’t respond to that. Liam took the silence as his usual quiet and gave him a casual clap on the shoulder, a gesture that felt natural and often surprised William.

"Good practice," Liam said. "We’re going to do well."

He moved off to catch up with Marcus, who had appeared to walk with him to dinner. William watched them go and thought about what Liam had said, about being more present, and whether that was true and if so what had changed.

He thought he knew what had changed. He chose not to examine it in the middle of a training hall.

Seraphina materialized beside him with her jacket half-on and her braid slightly undone from the session. She didn’t look at him directly, which was its own kind of communication.

"Message crystal," she said quietly.

"Yes."

They waited until the hall had cleared. Mira left last, pausing at the door to look back at them with her characteristic unreadable expression, and then continuing out without comment.

William noted that Mira noticed everything and said very little, which was either a sign of discretion or a sign of patience, and he hadn’t yet determined which.

The hall was empty.

William reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and withdrew the message crystal his mother had given him, it was small, dark and warm from body heat. She had told him it would pulse once when a message was stored, twice if the message was urgent.

He had felt two pulses that morning during practice, during a section of footwork drill where he was too focused to acknowledge the sensation without breaking formation. He had filed it and continued.

He held the crystal now and activated it with a thread of fire essence.

His mother’s voice emerged, low and precise, clearly recorded with care to avoid ambient sound.

[William. I’m writing this from the capital. The broker Darius received a third visitor two days ago, different profile from the previous two.]

[No military posture, no essence concealment, which is itself notable because it’s either carelessness or deliberate performance of carelessness]

[Our observer identified him as a mid-level administrative functionary attached to the Regional Cultivation Council’s competition oversight committee]

[His name is Soren Hale. He has no personal combat record and no family with notable cultivation history. He is, on the surface, completely unremarkable.]

A pause in the recording. His mother choosing her next words carefully.

[He is also the person who processes the official competition registration documents, including the essence-signature identification forms that all participating students submit before the event.]

[Those forms include full essence-signature profiles. Detailed enough to confirm identity remotely. Detailed enough for, say, a professional organization to use as a targeting reference.]

William looked at Seraphina. She had heard it. Her expression had shifted into the focused stillness she wore when something clicked into place.

His mother’s voice continued.

[I don’t yet know who Hale answers to. His financial records show payments from a consulting firm that doesn’t appear to conduct actual consulting.]

[The firm’s registration traces through two intermediaries to a holding company in the northern territories with no public directors. I’m working on the next layer.]

[What I can tell you now is that the competition registration data, including the essence-signature profiles of every student competing, has almost certainly been passed to whoever placed the Hollow Court contract]

[They know who they’re looking for. They have the means to confirm on sight.]

Another pause.

[This changes the threat profile. They are no longer operating with uncertainty about their target. Whatever hesitation or operational caution was present before should be considered resolved. They will move with confidence during the competition.]

[Stay close to people you trust. Keep your rings on. If something feels wrong, it is wrong — don’t talk yourself out of your instincts in the name of appearing normal.]

[I love you. Be careful.]

The crystal went dark.

William stood holding it for a moment, feeling its weight, which was not different than it had been but felt different.

Seraphina was quiet beside him. When he looked at her, she was looking at the middle distance with the expression of someone running rapid calculations.

"They have the essence-signature profiles," she said.

"Yes."

"Which means they confirmed the target when Hale passed the registration data. Which means they’ve known for however long it took to process that transfer." She looked at him. "How long ago was competition registration?"

"Three weeks."

"So they’ve had confirmed target identification for potentially three weeks. Which means the expedition approach, the uncertainty about the target being present, happened before they received the registration data."

She was working through it quickly, the same way she worked through tactical problems, without hesitation and without needing to speak every step aloud. "The expedition contract was placed earlier. Before confirmation. The Hollow Court inserted a team speculatively, before they had complete intelligence, because someone was operating under time pressure."

"Or because the expedition was an opportunity of convenience," William said. "They knew the expedition was happening. They had a general target range. They decided to attempt early rather than wait."

"And it failed, and now they have complete information and will not fail again." Seraphina turned to face him fully. "We need to tell Kai."

"Yes."

"Now."

---

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