Page 159 of Rookie Rules

Finn's brows lifted.

"You asked whether I needed a friend or a winger," Rowan said. "Friend. If the offer remains."

"It remains."

The corridor was not private enough for names. Rowan did not use that as an excuse to say nothing.

"I hurt someone because I was afraid," he said. "Then I called the damage protection. He ended it. He was right."

Finn absorbed the shape of the truth without reaching for the identity inside it. "What are you going to do?"

"Stop asking him to trust promises I have not lived yet."

"That sounds inconvenient."

"Yes."

Finn touched his cup to Rowan's. "Good."

Neither conversation guaranteed Luca would return. That was why both mattered.

Owen had tested him twice that morning. Strength remained acceptable, range limited but functional, and repeat examination showed no acute loss of strength, bruising, or structural sign that required immediate imaging. No sharp pain under controlled load. Rowan had completed activation, lateral pushes, and three hard starts without compensating enough for the therapist to remove him.

The clearance had not been casual. Owen compared both sides through resisted adduction at three hip angles, watched Rowan hold a single-leg squat, then made him accelerate, stop, and cross over under observation. The right side tired first, but it did not fail. There was no swelling or tenderness suggesting a new tear.

"Baseline tightness is not immunity," Owen said after the final start. "You report any increase. Ache becomes sharp, strength changes, stride changes, you come out."

"I know the protocol."

"Knowing it has never been your problem."

Rowan met the therapist's gaze. "I will report it."

Owen wrote the conditional clearance in the medical log and told Vale exactly what the condition was. No one asked Rowan to promise toughness. The decision to dress depended on function, not his value to the standings.

Available.

Not fine.

The distinction had carried him through eleven professional seasons.

The Wolves entered the night 6-7, close enough to the early playoff line that every broadcast graphic had begun using the word crucial while acknowledging it was November. The opponent sat two points ahead. A win would return Northstar to even and place the rebuild inside the conversation instead of beneath it.

Rowan wanted the game organized before it could become dangerous.

He won the opening draw. Finn established the forecheck. Luca stayed above the puck through the first exchange and denied the counterattack before it formed.

The line was quieter than it had been before the breakup, but it was no longer hesitant. Luca made decisions without checking Rowan's face. Rowan received them without trying to control the reason.

It should have felt like recovery.

It felt like evidence Luca could become everything Rowan had wanted for him without belonging to Rowan at all.

The opponent scored first at seven twenty when a rebound escaped Gabriel's pad and their winger reached it behind Eli.

0-1.

Rowan gathered the line at the bench.