---
The next 72 hours blurred. Kai sparred with Shale beneath brass gongs. The four star's ant hammer blows nearly cracked Kai's shell, but each parry etched fresh muscle memory.
Needles spread dune charts across a mess hall table. There was thin paper marked with red pins (oasis), blue pins (raider nests), black skulls (Ruler type or predator sign). Kai memorized routes until lines danced behind his eyelids.
Mia drifted through these scenes like a quiet comet. She spoke little yet saw everything: adjusting Shale's stance, tracing new paths on Needle's charts, time to time Kai pressing a cool cloth to Renna's wound.
Night before departure, Kai found Mia on a terrace overlooking the lantern-lit city. Sand colored armor hung over a cedar stand; she wore only a thin training tunic, hair braided.
The air between them tingled, awkward but gentle.
"Kai," she said without turning, "tomorrow we step onto a stage where my sister shines. She will try again to break morale. Stand firm."
