The morning after the convoy ran quiet. The pines still moved, but the yard had that clean, post-evaluation calm where everyone pretended to study and really watched the notice board. I went straight to registration.
"Valcrey," the clerk said, tapping the form. "Approved tools for Zero-Light."
I set the bone lantern on the counter. Cold glow, small radius. "Low output only," I said.
He measured it with a ward strip, wrote the number, and stamped. "Registered. Don't crank it."
I slid over two more slips. "Bone Sapper, one unit." A coin-sized crawly with a tapping foot for tile checks. "And one rope tool: bone pin with Prusik."
He checked the engraving marks, compared them to Liora's note, and stamped again. "Registered. Captain use only."
"Understood."
