Page 73 of Rookie Rules

"Tight after the second. Released between shifts."

"Any sharp pain, instability, or symptoms down the leg?"

"No."

"Good. Heat later. Mobility this afternoon. If the range changes, you tell me before tomorrow's skate, not after."

"Available?"

Owen's hand remained on Rowan's ankle. "Available is not fine. You know this conversation."

"That was not an answer."

"Yes, Captain. Available."

Rowan sat up.

Luca had moved to the bike beside Finn. His eyes stayed on the display while his feet turned the pedals. If he had heard, nothing in his face acknowledged it.

That privacy was chosen, not assumed.

Owen handed Rowan a heat pack wrapped in a towel. "Ten minutes."

"I have video."

"Video will retain its dramatic tension."

Rowan took the pack and sat in the chair beside the table. Luca continued pedaling. Finn talked about the winning goal to anyone who would listen, revising his role upward with each telling.

"I pulled both defenders," he said.

"You were changing," Jace said.

"My absence created space."

Luca looked at Rowan across the room. "Veteran leadership."

The smile came before Rowan could stop it.

Only a fraction. Luca saw it anyway.

The moment stayed where it was allowed: inside a team joke, visible to everyone and belonging to no one.

Owen released Rowan from the heat pack into a controlled circuit: bike, hip rotation, core activation, then the cold tub if stiffness remained. The program was not punishment or cure. It was maintenance, repeated until careers looked effortless from the stands.

Luca moved through the station ahead of him. Opening night had left a bruise high on his right thigh and a shallow cut along one knuckle. He treated both as unimportant, which meant he accepted disinfectant when Owen handed it over and tried to skip the balance work.

"Three sets," Owen said.

"I scored."

"Your tendons remain unmoved by the argument."

Rowan took the station beside him. "Three sets."

Luca looked between them. "This is collusion."

"Leadership group," Finn said from the floor.