The Everburning City

Act 1, Part 4, Chapter 4

"Above the bicep, just below the shoulder," Gwendolyn replied without thinking.

Min nodded, then surprised her with a follow-up. "Why not any lower on the arm?"

"It's the easiest spot," Gwendolyn insisted.

"Really it's the only spot, when you're in the field. Do the simple things right," Min said, and she smiled for the first time since they started speaking. It was a fleeting thing. "Consider your specialty ratified, if the captain hasn't already. Now, let's get to what I'd like to talk to you about."

Gwendolyn waited, silent, for the sergeant to continue.

"Have you heard of the concept, 'mission critical specialty'?" Min asked.

"No, I can't say I have," Gwendolyn admitted.

"I'd be surprised if you have. Not just because you've been with us less than a day," Min explained, and she glanced over her shoulder. Towards Valen. "But because he is your teacher."

"If you're about to insult my sergeant, ma'am, this might come to blows," Gwendolyn said, shouldering her salamander.

That got her another appraising look from Min. Their eyes met, her head tilted to the left, just a hair, and then she nodded as if she had an answer for an unspoken question. "There are certain lessons you need to have, as a medical specialist, that your sergeant is uniquely unsuited to provide. The one I need you to know, before we leave, is that in a squad, the mission critical specialty is to be protected above and beyond all else."

"Okay," Gwendolyn said.

"And as a medical specialist, that specialty is almost always yours. And I can tell, by the fact that you're touching the Gloam without anyone else nearby, that you don't understand the need for that yet."

Gwendolyn felt the indignation rise up in her stomach, and her thoughts began to stitch a defence together. But she held it back, deliberately, and listened without responding as Min continued. "You were a caretaker for teenagers in a remedial work camp, before you joined. You're used to being the one between others and danger. It's a good instinct for a soldier. It's also exactly where a medical specialist shouldn't be. After all, if you went down to a bite from Gloamtaken, who in your squad would patch you up? And could they manage it without you walking them through your treatment?"

Gwendolyn flinched, and nodded.

"A mission critical specialty is the whatever skill is most important to accomplishing your task. And unless the mission demands that a task be accomplished, that means you're the most important skill in your squad. Casualties might happen, but the surest way to kill a squad with a single death is to lose your medic. You need to get used to letting people stand between you and the enemy, Corporal Aranhall."

"And why is Valen so unsuited to teaching that?"

"He's a soldier, for one. We don't train soldiers to hide behind others. He's young, and earnest, which is a good combination for staying in the front. And he might be the City's best swordsman, a skill that guarantees he will stand between just about anyone else in the rangers and the Gloamtaken. Those are all good things, but he could live a hundred years and never understand the lesson that you need to learn right now."

Gwendolyn didn't respond, didn't answer, but nodded. She had heard, and as Min gave her another clinical look, she realized it would be enough.

"Everything all right?" Valen asked. Strangely, she hadn't heard him approach, and even as he drew close, his footsteps were too quiet to make out.

"She was telling me something important about my specialty, sir," Gwendolyn said.

Valen nodded. He was solemn, though he paused a moment or so as if expecting an explanation that wasn't forthcoming. He turned to Sergeant Min, and asked her, "has she taken that lesson to heart, Master Sergeant?"