The wind carried the scent of rain and earth across the fields. She leaned against the wooden fence, watching her horse graze lazily in the fading light, the world painted in gold and shadow. Out here, everything slowed down. Even her thoughts. No noise. No pressure. Just breathing.

Until it wasn’t. She felt him before she saw him. A presence quiet, controlled, heavy in a way that didn’t belong to this place. Her fingers tightened slightly on the fence as she turned her head.

He stood a few meters away. Simon. No uniform this time. No mask either but somehow, that made it worse. More real. More dangerous. His face was unfamiliar and yet unmistakably him. Cold eyes, sharp edges, a silence that felt like it could swallow the whole field.

“You’re far from base” she said, her voice steady despite the way her pulse picked up.

“So are you.”

His voice was deeper in the open air. Less filtered. More… human. But not by much.

She turned fully now, resting her arms on the fence. “This is my base.”