The door closed softly behind her.

Valir did not move right away.

He remained where he stood, beside the window, with the afternoon light falling at an angle through the pale blue curtains and carving golden lines across the warm wooden floor. Fine specks of dust drifted in the air, lit for a moment before disappearing back into shadow. His office was, as always, orderly. Almost too quiet after the commotion in the courtyard.

His mind, however, was anything but quiet.

Some people, when faced with chaos, revealed their true nature.

That was what he had seen.

His mind returned again and again to the same image. To her clear gaze. Her composure. The instinctive certainty with which she had begun giving instructions, as if she were not standing in the middle of the military headquarters filled with armed soldiers. She had set her fear aside until what needed to be done was finished.

That woman was not merely some random traveler.

His instinct told him that clearly.

She was not a threat. Not yet, at least. If he judged her only by her actions, he would have said the opposite. Her reactions had not seemed rehearsed. Alfry and Alina had noticed the same thing when they visited him earlier that morning to brief him on the stranger.

She had been frightened, they said.

When he saw her outside the Headquarters, she had looked confused, hesitant. As if she were staring at something that should not exist.

Valir rested his hand on the wooden frame of the window and lowered his gaze to the courtyard for a moment.

Everything looked orderly again.

Most of the knights had returned to their posts. Two recruits were carrying equipment toward the storage room. Even through the closed door, the muffled sounds of the courtyard reached him. Footsteps on stone. Brief commands. The metallic echo of weapons changing hands. It was a familiar noise, almost reassuring.

Everything continued moving as it should.

He slowly turned back toward the room. His gaze passed over the desk, resting for a moment on the unfinished reports, the pen he had abandoned earlier, the books carefully stacked beside the candlestick.

Under normal circumstances, he should have sat down and finished the work waiting for him.

Instead, he began walking slowly around the room.

He had always had that habit when he was thinking. His mind worked better when his body was in motion.

The stranger seemed to have secrets, and he did not yet know whether they would prove dangerous or useful to his people. But she also had knowledge. Discipline in the way she used her hands.Experience. Hard experience, most likely.

A sudden thought crossed his mind and made him lower his gaze.

He had not only seen skill in her.

He had seen exhaustion.

Not physical exhaustion. Something deeper. More difficult. The kind that remains in people who have grown used to standing upright when everyone else falters.

In the moment the young man had looked at her in panic, she had not hesitated. But when it was over, and she rose from the ground, something in her posture changed abruptly.

As if she had suddenly returned to herself.

As if she had remembered where she was and what she had revealed in front of everyone.

It was a feeling that seemed strangely familiar to him.

Some people did not know how to do otherwise. First, they saved whatever could be saved and only afterwards did they remember to be afraid.

He smiled.

A knock sounded at the door.

He did not need to ask who it was.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Vienna stepped inside with her usual silent, steady stride. Tall, straight-backed, her pale blue uniform flawless down to the last detail. Her blond hair was carefully tied back, and her face carried that familiar, restrained seriousness and discipline that seemed cold to others.

Valir knew better.

Beneath it was steadiness, judgment, and a stubbornness that had kept her standing through more hardships than she ever allowed to show.

She closed the door behind her and stood across from him.

She had just returned from the Cathedral.

"The knight is stable, Grand Master."

Valir nodded. Her gaze remained steady.

"Alina has taken full charge. There no longer appears to be any immediate danger. The bleeding was controlled in time."

"Good."

Vienna took one step farther into the room. She did not sit. She rarely did unless he explicitly asked her to.

Valir looked at her for a moment, and the thought came almost on its own, old and familiar.

If he left her alone in the Headquarters for enough hours, there was a serious chance she would even put the walls into better order.

"Tell me that, at least today, you haven't already prepared to hand me a three-page report. I have enough work as it is."

Vienna blinked slowly.

"Two, Grand Master."

The corner of his mouth pulled slightly.

"You're joking."

"I am not."

"That is exactly what worries me."

She did not smile.

Not visibly.

But he saw the tiny shift in her eyes and decided not to comment on it.

"The woman?" she asked.

Valir moved behind his desk, but instead of sitting, he rested his palms on its edge.

"She is... interesting."

Vienna's expression did not change.

"That is not what I asked."

"It is an initial assessment." He paused briefly. "At first, she entered the courtyard like someone who had lost her way. A short while later, she was ordering armed knights to bring her cloth and water. That takes courage."

"Or a lack of awareness of danger," Vienna countered.

"Sometimes they are the same thing."

Vienna looked at him for a moment, a little more intently.

"Are you saying that because we are speaking about her, or because you recognize something familiar?"

Valir smiled sideways.

"I always have an impeccable sense of danger."

Vienna did not even blink.

"Of course. You simply choose to ignore it often."

That made him laugh quietly.

For a moment, Valir did not answer. He only looked at her with that calm gaze he reserved for the people who truly belonged to his inner circle.

He remembered her as a stubborn eight-year-old girl, strict even then, trying with fierce determination to prove herself worthy among the other recruits. She had been the youngest addition to the Headquarters at the time.

Valir had been training the recruits then. It had not taken him long to see her talent and skill.

And now?

Now she was his right hand at the Headquarters. His deputy whenever he was away. Now she stood across from him as if she had been born for that position.

Valir pulled out his chair and sat, but for a while he did not speak. His gaze lowered absently to the papers on the desk before lifting back to Vienna.

"What do you make of the incident in the courtyard?"

Vienna took a small breath before answering.

"The incident in the courtyard proves two things. First, she possesses substantial knowledge. Second, that she can remain functional under pressure."

"In other words?"

Vienna lifted her gaze slightly.

"In other words, she is not some random passerby who simply got lucky."

Valir's expression softened almost imperceptibly.

"No," he said quietly. "She is not."

He smiled faintly.

"For now, she will stay at the Headquarters."

Vienna did not seem surprised. She only lowered her head slightly in a small nod of acceptance.

"It is a good decision."

Valir raised an eyebrow.

"Really? That easily? I had prepared myself for a larger battle."

Vienna continued.

"Her presence here is the most prudent option. We do not know who she is, where she came from, or whether her appearance is connected to something we have not yet identified. If she is allowed to move freely without supervision, we lose our only way to observe her behavior."

Valir linked his fingers in front of him.

"I like how you always find a way to make everything sound like a report note."

Vienna remained exactly as she was.

"It is useful to treat matters that way until they prove they require something else."

This time, Valir truly laughed, low and quiet, shaking his head slightly.

"I raised you far too well, and I have regretted it on several occasions."

Vienna did not smile, but the severity in her face softened.

"You do not seem to regret it very much."

"No. But it has made my life more difficult."

"That is different."

Her tone remained the same. Calm, respectful, without a trace of challenge. Just enough to reveal the years of familiarity between them.

Valir leaned back more comfortably in his chair and looked at her for a moment with the silent appreciation he rarely showed.

Vienna was one of the few people in the Headquarters who could enter his office and speak to him directly, without fear, because she felt the weight of responsibility as seriously as he did.

Perhaps more seriously, sometimes.

He took a deep breath.

"I will give her a small infirmary inside the Headquarters."

Vienna remained silent for a moment. Not because she was surprised, but because she was already weighing the consequences.

"Permanently?"

"Temporarily. Until we see exactly what we have in front of us."

"That sounds... like a good choice," she said thoughtfully.

Valir raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Only good? I expected something more enthusiastic. Perhaps a 'I will draft three reports and two surveillance protocols before sunset.'"

"If you believe they are necessary, I can do that."

"I am certain you can."

An almost invisible tightening appeared for a moment at the corner of her mouth. It would have gone unnoticed by anyone else.

Not by him.

He knew her far too well.

"But it is not necessary."

"She does not seem naive or useless," Vienna said.

Valir tilted his head slightly.

"That was almost a compliment, Vienna. Should I record it somewhere?"

She almost smiled, but ignored him the way she always ignored those kinds of comments, which only made Valir enjoy them more.

"There must be conditions if she stays," she continued.

"I'm listening."

"The infirmary will serve only the members of the Headquarters. Her movements will be known. She will not have access to operational reports or areas that do not concern her. Someone will be available to accompany her when necessary. And her presence here will be reassessed regularly."

"Accepted."

Valir's answer came so quickly that Vienna looked at him with disbelief.

"But I want something else," he told her. "If she stays here, we will not treat her like a suspect in front of everyone. We will not place her in a room and wait to see whether she makes a mistake. We will give her real work. Boundaries, yes. Observation, yes. But also purpose."

Vienna considered his words more carefully than she had considered his jokes.

"So she feels useful?"

"So she is useful. And because people speak more when you do not force them into a corner."

"That is true."

Valir turned his gaze toward her.

"So we agree again? I am beginning to worry."

"We do not fully agree yet."

"Ah. There it is. The world is balanced again," he said quietly.

Vienna ignored the comment.

Valir smiled and rose from his chair again. He could not remain still once he had already made his decision. He walked to the window and then turned back.

"She can use the room next door. It has not been used in years. It is small, but sufficient, and easy to supervise."

"It will need cleaning, supplies moved in, a workbench, and basic equipment." Vienna had already shifted into practical matters. "And I want a list of everything she requests."

"Of course you do."

"And I will speak with her first."

Valir looked at her.

"Alone?"

"Yes. I want to hear what she has to say without her being influenced by your presence."

"Are you accusing my presence of influencing people?"

Vienna looked at him expressionlessly.

"Often."

"As you wish."

He looked at her for a second, then nodded.

"Be gentle."

Vienna looked at him for a moment.

"I am always gentle."

Valir slowly raised an eyebrow.

"Vienna."

She said nothing.

"You have the gaze of a person who could make a recruit apologize for breathing louder than necessary."

"I will be clear, not hostile," Vienna said.

"Good."

Valir sat back down in his chair.

"Have the room prepared. I want the basics finished by tomorrow."

"I will handle it."

"I know."

Vienna brought her fist to her chest in a brief, formal salute.

"Is there anything else, Grand Master?"

Valir looked at her for a quieter moment.

"Good work today, Vienna."

She did not answer. She only nodded faintly and left the office, closing the door behind her without a sound.

Valir pulled a blank sheet of paper in front of him and took up his pen.

People often called him impulsive.

And perhaps they were right.

But he knew how to recognize a useful person when he saw one. He also understood when something new entered the life of a place and changed, however subtly, the direction of things.

The stranger had no explanations.

No past that could be verified.

No place yet within the order of the Headquarters.

Not yet.

But that would change.

Soon.

With that thought, he began writing the order to prepare the room.

Her infirmary would be ready.

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Thank you for reading "Rookie of the Wind".