Girl from Mitras ★ A. Arlert

Chapter 1 - When everything was fine

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It was a warm summer day. Life was in full swing in the palace: audiences, business dinners, meetings. No one paid any attention to a girl who lay on the lawn in one of the patios, enjoying another book she stole from her father's library.

Since childhood, Y/N was interested in non-standard things: while her peers played with toys, she brought to play with a stethoscope or a magnifying glass. A couple of times, she brought syringes with her, which she stole from her father's work bag, for which she was scolded, but she still didn't listen. When she learned to read, she read everything she could find: at first, it was children's fairy tales, then it was novels, encyclopedias, newspapers. She was currently reading one of her father's medical books about anatomy.

The father was the only authority for Y/N. Joseph L/N was a doctor in the palace. He worked in the palace for more than 30 years, and although he wasn't a nobleman, he belonged to the inhabitants of the palace. And his daughter was also perceived in the same way - Y/N grew up next to noble children, although she wasn't friends with them. It was hard for her to have relationships with her peers - they seemed too simple to her, she liked spending time with her father and his patients and friends more, listening to their conversations, learning something new. Or just dive into another scientific book.

A military delegation passed through one of the internal passageways, which caught Y/N's attention. She really didn't want to interrupt her reading, combined with the enjoyment of a sunny day, but curiosity took its toll. She closed the book and slowly walked in the direction where the military had gone. «Probably another military meeting», she thought. «Maybe they are scouts?»

Scouts were an obsession for Y/N: people going beyond the walls, fighting the titans - this is admirable. She wasn't interested in all these battles, the art of war, she was attracted by the idea that the scouts knew more about this world than she did. Therefore, deep in her heart, she hoped that someday she would gain access to the knowledge of the scouts.

«Uncle» Erwin - Erwin Smith – a section commander in the Survey Corps - was one of her father's close friends, although they both asked Y/N not to say that they communicate. It was weird, but Y/N didn't care, as if she had someone to tell. He always met Joseph when he was in the Capital. Usually, most of their conversations were held behind closed doors, Y/N tried to eavesdrop, but after 5 times when she was caught doing this, she stopped. Sometimes, after the «private» part of the conversation, Y/N 's father would invite her to have tea with them. Uncle Erwin spoke about their missions beyond the walls, without concealing frightening details, because at their first meeting, her father said that Y/N wasn't a shy person, she read books old enough for her age, and how she would feel if Erwin decided to soften the truth. Y/N was only 6 years old then. Now, at the age of 10, a scout who secretly visited her father was almost like family to her. Erwin didn't have his own family, like most senior scouts, with jobs like theirs. It was illogical. Start a family if any day you can lose your life. Therefore, Erwin also cherished communication with a little curious girl who always listened to his stories with burning eyes and put forward her ridiculous theories about the structure of the world, or came up with crazy ideas on how to solve this or that problem. Communication with Joseph and his daughter was a reminder to him of why they went beyond the walls, as well as a reminder of his own father - how he was attached to him, just as Y/N was attached to her father.

Y/N walked through the corridors. She heard the conversations and accelerated a little but, before the last turn, carefully peeked around the corner, unsure of her actions. «Yes, it is scouts». Commander Sadies and a couple of his officers, among whom she saw uncle Erwin. «So, tonight is going to be interesting», Y/N thought. Therefore, she decided to return to her father to tell what she saw.