Bram Holt laughed at something the applicant said, then handed her a copy of the contract.
The sound was ordinary. That made it harder for Eli to reconcile with the man he remembered blocking his path in the gate. In the old life Bram had stood between him and Venn while the manifest crumpled in Eli’s hand. Later, after an unidentified hunter delivered the wound, Bram had called for Tessa. Eli still did not know why he had done either thing.
Tessa sat across from him at the empty table. “What do you remember?”
“He stopped me from passing the manifest to Venn during the raid. We struggled over it. I was wounded afterward, but I didn’t see Bram deliver the wound. Another hunter did.”
“Did Bram order it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he help you?”
“He called for you after I was hurt.” Eli looked toward the banner. “I don’t know why.”
Tessa followed his gaze. “Has he threatened you here?”
“No. He doesn’t know me in this life.”
The applicant left the table with her contract. Bram spoke briefly to another representative, then looked toward Kellan and Sera. Kellan was reading the insurance page; Sera had marked a section about route decisions with her finger.
“I should tell them,” Eli said.
“What can you tell them without explaining the regression?”
“That I distrust Aegis because of conduct I remember, and that they should read the terms carefully. I can describe the concern without claiming Bram has done it now.”
Tessa waited while he stood. He wanted to tell her he could handle the conversation alone. She had not offered to speak for him; she had come because he asked her to sit with him.
Tessa touched the edge of the working agreement in Eli’s pocket. “You don’t have to tell them the whole story here. Give them the part that affects this decision.”
“What if they ask how I know?”
“Tell them you can’t explain fully yet. Let them decide what to do with that.”
Eli crossed the room. Sera was reading the scout clause with her head tilted, following the line with a capped pen. Kellan had found the section on treatment coverage and was comparing it with a note from Theo’s provider. Neither looked as though they needed Eli to rescue them from a table.
At the Aegis table, Kellan looked up. “The insurance covers treatment during an authorized operation. I need to find out separately whether there is a family plan for Theo and when any reimbursement is paid.”
Sera held up the scout terms. “A route warning goes to the team leader. The leader decides whether to continue.”
Eli looked at Bram, who was still several paces away. “I distrust this organization. I have information about conduct I can’t fully explain yet. I don’t want either of you to sign without understanding that.”
Kellan closed the contract. “Is there a present threat?”
“Not one I’ve seen here.”
“Then I’m still asking about the insurance.”
“And I’m asking about the route clause,” Sera said.
Eli nodded. The working agreement did not require him to approve their questions. It required him to share the concern that could affect their decision. He had done so incompletely, but he had not made their choice for them.
Before the consultation, an announcement from the front of the hall called applicants to a short equipment demonstration. Kellan went with the others to inspect the harnesses. Eli followed, grateful for a task that required him to look somewhere other than the Aegis table.
The instructor suspended a weighted training dummy from a frame and demonstrated how a poorly fitted buckle could shift the load toward the wearer’s neck. Kellan checked the replacement on his own harness, then helped the applicant with the cane adjust hers. He did not touch the buckle until she asked.
“Is that the same one you bought?” Eli asked.
“Same rating. Mine’s a different size.” Kellan showed him the tag. “If the inspector rejects it, I want to know why before I buy another.”
A bell sounded from the demonstration frame. The instructor released the dummy, and its harness caught. The load swung toward the audience. Kellan stepped forward, then saw that the instructor had already secured the guide line. He stopped and let the demonstration continue.
“Hard to watch someone else handle it,” Eli said.
“Harder to help if we both grab the line.”
Sera joined them after speaking with a scout from another guild. The scout’s team used a whistle code when their radios failed. She demonstrated the pattern, then said the guild had changed it twice because new recruits confused it with the evacuation signal. Sera wrote down the problem, not just the code.
Tessa returned from the medical desk with a copy of the clinician requirements. Marisol had confirmed that she could cover the clinic for the preliminary assessment, but only if the schedule stayed within the announced hours. Tessa showed the team the message and marked the end time on their calendar.
They crossed back toward the consultation tables. Bram was speaking with another applicant. Eli saw him slide a pen across the table and turn the contract so she could read it. The gesture brought back the manifest again, but the room did not disappear. He named the banner, the table, and the applicant’s red coat silently until the pressure in his chest eased.
A recruiter offered them numbered cards for a consultation. Sera accepted four and handed one to Eli. He considered leaving it on the table, then put it in his pocket.
While they waited, a young applicant at the next table argued with a recruiter about the cost of a damaged helmet. The recruiter said the replacement would be deducted from her first payment. She said the helmet had split during an exercise the instructor ordered.
“Then note that on the equipment report,” Bram said from the Aegis table. He had heard the raised voices. “Don’t sign a deduction you haven’t checked.”
The recruiter frowned. “She hasn’t joined us.”
“She hasn’t signed your report either.”
The applicant picked up the helmet and left the table. Bram returned to his own consultation. Eli watched him, uncertain whether he had intervened because he cared about the applicant or because the argument was drawing attention. He did not need to choose an explanation to acknowledge what had happened.
Kellan tested the weight of an Aegis sample pack. The representative said it was standard for a preliminary operation. Kellan opened it with permission and shifted the water containers higher, then lifted it again.
“Better,” he said. “Who packs it before entry?”
“The assigned porter.”
“And who checks the medical kit is accessible?”
“The medic.”
Tessa showed the representative how the kit’s strap could be released without taking off the pack. The first buckle stuck. The representative adjusted it and asked her to try again. This time the kit came free. He wrote a note for the equipment supervisor.
Eli remembered Corvin assigning him the heaviest load after the contract meeting. He remembered Tessa testing the release until it worked. This demonstration had a safer outcome, but it was still only a sample in a hall. He did not know how an Aegis team packed under pressure.
A child near the entrance knocked over a stack of paper programs. Kellan caught the top bundle while Sera kept the remaining papers from sliding beneath the display. The child’s mother apologized; the attendant thanked them and gave the child a program to keep.
Bram glanced over but did not leave his applicant. Eli realized he had been watching for the man’s reaction to everything in the room, as if each small choice could reveal the answer to a future he remembered. He turned back to the contract in his own hands.
A clerk announced that the independent registration desk would close for lunch in fifteen minutes. Several applicants rushed toward it, leaving their papers on chairs. One dropped a page from a medical form. Tessa picked it up face down and asked whose name was on it rather than reading it.
The owner returned, breathless. “I thought I’d lost it.”
“Keep it with the rest of your application,” Tessa said. “The desk closes for lunch, not for the day.”
The applicant laughed nervously and clipped the page into her folder. She asked whether Tessa was a medic. When Tessa said yes, she wanted to know whether the assessment would require her to disclose an old injury. Tessa pointed to the published medical requirements and suggested asking the assessment clinician; she did not make a decision about a stranger’s fitness in the middle of the hall.
Eli held their place while Sera went to collect the independent forms. She returned with four copies and a list of equipment inspection times. The earliest appointment conflicted with the clinic’s coverage; the later one might fit. Tessa circled it and sent Marisol the time. The answer came back a minute later: I can cover until then, but not beyond the afternoon.
Kellan checked Theo’s appointment. The later inspection did not conflict, provided the ride home stayed on schedule. He wrote the two times beside each other rather than declaring the day clear, and asked Theo to confirm the return route before he booked the slot.
The wait gave Eli time to watch Bram without inventing a motive for every movement. Bram helped an older applicant find a clause about equipment deductions. He directed a young hunter to a different table when her question concerned a medical condition he was not qualified to answer. He also persuaded one applicant to take an exclusive contract home for review rather than sign it in the hall.
None of those actions erased the memory of the raid. None proved that the man was safe. They were what Eli could observe today.
Kellan found a chair for an applicant using a cane. Sera moved their consultation cards aside so the woman could reach the table. Tessa checked her phone for a message from Marisol; the clinic had finished the morning appointments without a problem.
“Your turn,” the recruiter called.
Bram approached with a folder. “You’re applying independently?”
“Considering it,” Kellan said.
“Then you may want to know what sponsorship includes before deciding.” Bram opened the folder. “Equipment, training access, medical coverage during authorized operations, and a share of recovered material under the attached schedule.”
Sera pointed to the route clause. “Can a scout stop a team if the route isn’t clear?”
“A scout reports the concern. The leader decides whether the operation continues.”
“If the scout sees a wall about to fall?”
“Any member can warn the team of immediate danger. The leader remains responsible for the route.”
“Can the scout refuse to enter?”
Bram turned to another page. “A member can decline an instruction that violates the safety policy. The policy defines the process.”
“Can I see it?”
“I can provide a copy.”
He gave her the separate policy. Sera read the first page rather than accepting his summary.
Kellan asked about the reimbursement date. Bram found the relevant clause but could not identify a fixed date for every type of treatment. He marked the question for a benefits representative.
“We have an appointment coming up,” Kellan said. “A promise to reimburse later doesn’t pay it.”
“I understand. I can’t change the payment schedule at this table.”
Eli watched him. In the old raid Bram had repeated Rusk’s order as if the order itself explained the procedure. Here he was admitting the limit of what he could authorize. The difference did not tell Eli what Bram would become, but it prevented him from treating every sentence as the one he remembered.
Tessa asked whether the medical coverage required treatment at an Aegis facility. Bram showed her two options: direct treatment through affiliated providers or reimbursement for approved outside care. The approval process was not described in detail. He added another question to the list for the benefits representative.
Bram closed the benefits page and turned to Eli. “What would you change?”
Eli looked down at the exclusive recovery clause. He had a question he could ask in this room, in this life. He put his finger on the line and took a breath before answering.