Their path led them beyond the market, into a quieter part of the city, where the houses stood a little farther apart, and the gardens were small but well cared for, with flowers on the windowsills and the scents of damp earth, mint, and lavender. The wind moved more freely there, carrying with it the sound of the windmills from higher up.

Vienna spoke again after they had walked long enough for the silence between them to feel less unfamiliar.

"Alina said you have knowledge of medical care."

Lyra was not surprised. She had expected the subject to come up eventually. Even so, she felt her body tighten almost imperceptibly.

"I have experience," she said carefully.

"From where?"

The question had no sharp edge. It was simple. Quiet.

And yet it was exactly the kind of question one could not easily avoid.

Lyra took a small breath.

"From... my life before I arrived here."

Vienna did not say anything right away.

Perhaps because she understood she would not receive a full answer. Perhaps because she did not wish to corner her so soon.

"And before you arrived here, you were used to caring for the injured?"

Lyra nodded slowly.

"Yes."

"Often?"

"Quite often."

Vienna's gaze moved ahead, but her attention remained on her.

"You did not panic in the courtyard."

Lyra smiled faintly, but without joy.

"I didn't have time to panic."

The answer remained between them for a while.

"I understand," Vienna said at last.

And Lyra had the strange feeling that perhaps she truly did.

Not the world she had come from.

Not how she had ended up here.

But that specific sense of duty that shoved fear aside until something urgent was finished.

They passed a small group of recruits heading toward the Headquarters. As soon as they saw Vienna, they straightened almost at the same time. She returned the gesture with a brief nod without breaking stride.

Lyra noticed.

"They respect you a lot."

Vienna only nodded.

She carried the weight of someone who had learned to function within hierarchies, scrutiny, and expectations. Someone who knew what it meant to be watched more closely than others, and to have no room for mistakes.

Lyra said nothing. She simply looked at her a little more carefully.

Vienna was beautiful, yes, but not in the soft, sweet way that made people relax around her. She was beautiful in a clean, almost cold way, like polished steel beneath the sun.

And for the first time, Lyra wondered how often that composure had been mistaken for harshness, simply because others did not know what it had cost her to become that way.

Their route brought them back toward the central area, where the streets opened once more toward the Headquarters square.

The building rose before them, imposing and familiar all at once, with its pale walls, large doors, dark wooden elements, and the quiet certainty of its presence.

Vienna stopped a few steps before they crossed the square again.

The wind lifted the edges of her cloak slightly. For a moment, she remained silent, as if choosing the exact wording of what she wanted to say.

"The Grand Master believes you may be useful at the Headquarters."

Lyra looked at her in surprise.

Vienna continued before she could speak.

"And I believe your presence here has practical value. There are frequent minor injuries. From training, patrols, and accidents. Until now, most of them end up at the Cathedral, whether it is necessary or not."

Her gaze stayed steady on Lyra now.

"The Grand Master has decided to prepare a small space inside the Headquarters. An infirmary for immediate cases and anything that can be treated on-site."

Lyra's heart beat faster.

"And... he wants me to stay there?"

"He wants you to be given that option," Vienna said. "Temporarily, for now."

The wording was careful. There was nothing falsely reassuring init. She was not selling her a dream. She was setting her boundaries.

And strangely, that made the offer sound more real.

Lyra stared at her in silence.

The other woman stood calmly before her, with the same straight posture and steady gaze.

"I will not tell you this is being done only out of kindness," she said.

The honesty of the sentence struck Lyra more clearly than any politeness could have.

"The Headquarters will benefit from having you nearby. You will also have shelter, food, and a role. It is a practical arrangement."

Then, after a small pause, she added more quietly,

"But, it wouldn't have been offered to you if we believed you were a threat."

Lyra felt something in her chest loosen, some knot she had not even admitted was there.

Not because Vienna trusted her. It was obvious she did not fully trust her yet. And she had every reason not to.

But because she was not treating her as a burden, nor as a suspect who had to be kept at a distance until proven otherwise. She was speaking to her as a person who had suddenly found herself outside of everything familiar, and who was now being given a place to stand.

Lyra took a small breath.

An infirmary at the Headquarters.

A place inside this world.

A point of reference.

Until that moment, she had not realized how deeply it frightened her to keep drifting from one day to the next, without purpose, without a role, without any certainty that she belonged anywhere, even temporarily.

She lifted her eyes towards the Headquarters building, then towards the square, towards the trees bending gently in the wind, towards the familiar strangeness of this world.

Then she turned back to Vienna.

"All right," she said quietly.

Vienna did not speak.

Lyra swallowed and smiled faintly, more genuinely this time.

"Yes. I want to stay."

For the first time, something softened a little more clearly in Vienna's expression. It was not exactly a smile. But it was enough to change her whole face, just slightly.

"Good," she said.

So simple.

"Then I will inform the Grand Master that you agree."

Lyra nodded.

They stood there for a moment without speaking.

"You know," Lyra said at last, before thinking about it too much, "you're kinder than I was afraid you would be at first."

Vienna slowly turned toward her. For a moment, Lyra thought she might have said something entirely foolish.

Then the corner of Vienna's mouth shifted so little it almost did not show.

"That is not an impression I hear often."

Lyra smiled a little more.

"I imagined so."

"Do not spread it around," Vienna said with the same perfectly serious expression. "It will cause confusion."

Lyra looked at her for half a second, then laughed quietly, surprised more by the moment itself than by the comment.

Vienna was not cold. She was simply someone who kept her distance until she had a reason to do otherwise. And perhaps Lyra could respect that more than she would have respected easy, effortless warmth.

Vienna turned her gaze back toward the Headquarters.

"Come. You'll need to see the room."

"Now?"

"The sooner, the better."

Lyra took a breath and followed her.

As they walked toward the great entrance, with the noon light falling over the stone slabs and the flags moving high in the wind, Lyra felt for the first time that this beautiful, foreign place she had accidentally fallen into was no longer merely something surrounding her.

Slowly and carefully, it was beginning to make a place for her inside its own reality.

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Thank you for reading "Rookie of the Wind".