There she was again. The girl on the hill. Her silhouette was always formed by the sun behind her, a strong figure wielding a sword, battling invisible enemies. Tobias swallowed and sneaked in looks when he wasn’t working the gardens for Mr. Hope. She was the girl who worked at the blacksmith in the Pale District.

He had seen her plenty of times before. Always keeping to herself. While he and Stephon dueled each other with sticks or the two of them met Warren at his house, Tobias would see her, up on that same tall hill, fighting the air. The other boys noticed her too, of course, but her reclusiveness seemed to give them more disinterest than interest.

Tobias couldn’t have been more interested. She wasn’t in their classes. He, Stephon and Warren were in their third year of advanced schooling. Two years away from being full-fledged adults. And they hadn’t seen her participate in the schools at all. She was clearly their age. What was up with her?

During workdays, when Tobias would help Mr. Hope with his crops, sometimes he would have the task of delivering produce to the Pale District markets. These sorts of days thrilled him. Because he was able to see the strange girl who fought the air and worked a blade at the blacksmith. One day he eyed her as he passed through pulling his wooden cart. The girl was being guided through the motions of forging a sword. Without much help. She would look up to the large man of the Iron Forge for a helping hand here and there, but overall, she did most of the work herself.

When he returned with a sweet from Oleanna’s shop and to deliver Mr. Hope’s coin for the delivery, Tobias stopped and ducked behind a pillar of a shop across the way. She was alone, hammering into steel, seated behind the anvil. The sparks flew and she had her face covered with an iron mask of some sort, meant to shield her face. However, she stopped. Seemingly looked up. Tobias panicked and tried to figure out what to do. He tripped over his own feet and fell to the cobblestone, catching himself on his hands, but ruining the pastry he had just purchased for himself. He looked up. The girl had lifted the mask and stared at him with a soot-ridden face.

Tobias rushed off, leaving the mess of pastry behind.

He didn’t know her name. She always had black stains on her arms and face from soot like that. Hard at work. The youngest apprentice he had ever seen.

And now, taking a rest from his work, he walked back home under the setting sun and saw her up on that hill again. Training with that sword. Tobias tensed himself and got the courage to climb that hill and talk to her. He just had to. What other time was there? The climb was long. Exhausting. Nothing he hadn’t done before but… this was so different. His knuckles were white and his fingers were red by the time he got to the top, clenching his fist so hard.

The girl was using her sword in ways he had never seen before. It was a real one. A little too big for her. But her arms showed the fruits of her efforts, muscled and sturdy. Her clothing was simple, her blacksmith’s clothing tied around her waist with a sleeveless shirt on. Strong yet fluid motions. She was beautiful.

She twirled, turned, her footwork unbelievable. The way she twirled the blade with two hands, he couldn’t believe she didn’t cut herself. Tobias had always been interested in swordplay. Seeing her, someone his age, do such a thing was nearly magical. She looked like the Knights themselves. And the way she ran up to targets was in such a way he’d never seen before, playful in her approach. It was almost like she was skipping.

Tobias closed his eyes and prepared himself. By the time he opened, she was swinging away but backing up closer to him. She was getting ready to turn and swing. Right at him.

“Ah -- wait --” he backed away. The sword came swinging. Her eyes were closed. But she snapped them open and yelped, pulling back her swing. Tobias had already leaped back out of the way, slipping, tumbling down the large hill. For a moment, he was weightless. For a moment, being so close to her, he felt like he had achieved something incredible.

The last thing he heard was the girl shouting in surprise. And his entire world turned upside down, again and again, unable to grab onto anything or get his bearings. He gave in to the pull of Nadi on his body. His arm hit something hard and a pain surged through his entire body for a moment.

He flopped to a stop on the grass below. And he rested there. His body had dug into some rocks on the way down, nothing too awful, but it certainly didn’t feel great. His arm still hurt incredibly bad. He groaned and exhaled, the grass entering his nose on the inhale.

The girl had come running down after him. “Are you okay? Did you break anything?” Her voice was pretty. Somewhat deep but almost raspy in such a strangely musical way.

Tobias grinned. He slowly turned over to see her crouched at his side, looking down at him with concern. Yeah, that really hurt. But this was worth it. The sun was still giving the world light and he could see her bright green eyes.

“Nothing broken… I don’t think so anyway.” He tried to get up. But his arm was stabbed with sudden pain and he dropped back down. “Oh, uh.” He didn’t want to cry in front of her. But that was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. “Hey, I think my arm might be broken, actually.”

“Oh, shit.” She looked him up and down. “Um. It’s going to be okay.” She lunged forward and held her hands in front of him as if to drive that point home. “It’s going to be fine!” Repeating it certainly didn’t make him believe her more. She was panicking. Such a strong warrior for her age -- seeing her like this was sort of funny.

Tobias’ pain was growing, but perhaps it was only because of how aware of it he was now.

“I’ll go get help! Just hold on, okay?” She touched his shoulder and stared at him until he responded.

“Go on,” he grinned. “I’ll be just fine. See you soon.”

The girl rushed off and Tobias was left alone. At least the sun was warm on his skin and the grass was soft. He didn’t even feel his arm break. Must have just been fractured maybe? Somewhat dislocated? Nothing he could do about it now.

The girl brought back an Alchemist after what felt like an hour later. Nobody was around to see Tobias alone in the grass. He didn’t mind resting in the grass. But it was getting cold. The Alchemist sighed and knelt beside him. A Knight was with her too, Tobias knew from the sound of armor in motion. He couldn’t turn correctly to see them. The Alchemist was an older man, around the age of his father the last time he saw him.

“You kids.” The Alchemist shook his head and searched through his bag. “One of them was using a sword as well it seems.” He nodded to the steel blade in the grass.

The Knight spoke up at this. Tobias turned to see the girl blush and smile nervously, backing away from the Knight, closer to the hill. The Knight circled round to Tobias’ left and stared at her.

“Kip,” the Knight said. “This is the third time you’ve taken a sword without permission from the armory. How many times do I need to cover for you?”

“Sorry, Sandon…” Kip looked down.

So her name is Kip, Tobias thought. Couldn’t help but smile. He repeated it over and over so he wouldn’t forget it.

“What are you smiling about, kid?” the Alchemist poked his arm, making him yelp. “You have internal bleeding here. You’re going to lose your arm.”

“Wh-- what?! No way! You can’t be serious!”

The Alchemist, the asshole, laughed, removing a vial from his bag. “I’m just messing around, boy. You’re going to be fine.” He squeezed and felt around his arm and nodded. It hurt like all the Hells. “It’s a small break. Yeah, this is nothing. Hurts like a whole swarm of Stingers though, doesn’t it?”

Tobias furrowed his brow and glared at the man. The Alchemist smiled in return.

“Don’t worry kid. Name’s Cade. I’m the best Alchemist around, I’ll heal you up in no time. This potion will sting when I rub it into the skin, and the reconstruction of the bone will be painful. But it’ll be quick.”

“Tobias...” The Knight stepped closer and crossed his arms looking down at him. Tobias didn’t like how most of the Knights knew his name. But how could they not, after all? “Out picking fights with others, now?”

Tobias stared up at the Commander. Sandon was large and intimidating but with a kind face. He had seen the strong Knight plenty of times before, but he had never really spoken with him.

“Were you two fighting?” Sandon turned to the girl, Kip.

“It was my fault!” Tobias shouted. Everyone looked at him. He carefully looked at each of them, thinking fast. “Yeah. I… I wanted to see how I’d do against someone with a sword. I stole it and gave it to her because there was no one else. Told her I’d beat her up if she didn’t. So it’s my f--”

“You couldn’t beat me up if you tried!” Kip shouted, glaring at him, putting her whole body into that rebuttal.

Tobias blushed and turned to her, trying to sit up past Cade’s pushback. “Wh-- I was just trying to cover for you, you weirdo!”

Sandon chuckled. “Very kind of you, Tobias. But Kip’s right. She’s the strongest little warrior I’ve ever seen. If she does anything but become a Knight when she’s older I’d say the Force will suffer a huge loss to its potential.” He smiled over at her, but she didn’t look back. Her arms were crossed, looking away from everyone. “Kip you need to come with me. I think some time praying will do you some good.”

Kip looked at Sandon suddenly. Then to Tobias. She clearly didn’t want to go.

“Hey, you can’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to!” Tobias tried to sit up but Cade pushed him down.

“Kid,” Sandon said, crouching down. “I’m a Knight. I can’t let people get away with stealing property. There are punishments for our actions.” He smiled and stood up. “Come on, Kip. Does your Father know where you are?”

“No,” Kip said, her voice becoming silent as they walked away.

Tobias watched her go until he couldn’t turn around anymore. To his delight, she looked back at him for a moment until she was out of sight.

“And what about your parents, Tobias?” Cade asked as he rubbed whatever the material was on his arm. It stung but nothing he couldn’t handle. “Where are you off to after this? I need to let them know what happened. Tell them how to help you care for the bone’s recovery.”

Tobias turned away. “I’ll be fine. No parents.”

“I’ll just learn where you live from the Knights, kid. I’ll need to bring back supplies and something to make a sling out of. Or we could just talk to them now and not waste both of our time.”

Tobias told Cade the truth under his breath.

“What was that?”

Tobias glared at him. “I don’t have parents. Okay?” He sniffed in acknowledgment. “Not anymore. I live on my own. The Knights know it. I have an Assigned Guardian who visits me.”

Cade kept applying the potion to his skin. “Oh.” Silence. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were…” But he didn’t finish.

A sharp pain ran through Tobias’ arm. He yelped. Then screamed, feeling his very bone move around between the muscles. Sweat formed across his entire body, straining against the pain.

“Just hang in there, it’s almost done,” Cade said. His voice was deep, crackling like fire. Calm. Then, Tobias settled and exhaled heavily. “There you go. Move your arm -- slowly. How does it feel?”

Tobias steadily lifted his arm and felt his fingers extend and close into a fist. “It’s sore. Stiff. Like someone is pinching my muscles. But I can move it at least.”

“Good sign.” Cade smiled. “Well, I’ll get the information about your Assigned Guardian and they should prepare a sling for you. You’ll need to wear it for about a week in the proper position. You should be good for today, but I’ll make sure they bring it to you tonight.”

That night, after Tobias had gotten fit with his sling from the Speaker who checked up on him, he sat and prepared hot water over a fire with his other arm. If there was one thing Tobias was good at, it was cooking. And his studies. And someday, swordplay.

He just wasn’t so great at being an… interesting person. Outside of his friends that is. He wasn’t good at getting to know girls, either.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He tensed up, never getting visitors this late. It must have been Stephon or Warren. Were they in trouble? He rushed to the door and swung it open.

It was Kip. She flinched.

“Oh. Hey. Uh, sorry I thought you might have been someone else…” Tobias looked at her. She was a bit shorter than he was. “Wait. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Kip said, a little louder than either of them thought normal. She became somewhat red beneath the torch outside of Tobias’ home. “I… know you got a broken arm so I wanted to see if you were doing okay.”

Tobias blushed and feigned strength. “Psh. This? I break my arm nearly every month! I’m used to it by now.”

“I bet,” she eyed him.

Tobias felt dumb trying to show off that he hurt himself a lot. As if that made him seem cool.

“Uh, I just get into dumb activities with my friends…” he looked down and scratched the back of his neck. Laughed. “It’s not exactly a great use of my time.”

“But friends are nice.”

He looked up and Kip was smiling a little.

“Anyway,” she said. “I don’t know. I wanted to get you this. And see if you were feeling okay.” She practically shoved something wrapped into his free hand. “Okay, bye!”

Before Tobias could even respond she was hurrying off. He felt awful, wanted to come up with something to say but couldn’t think of anything to have her come back.

“Bye,” he said quietly to himself.

He went inside and sat down at his table and unwrapped whatever this gift could have been. She made her way all the way to his house and got him a gift?

He opened it and smiled. It was the pastry he had squashed when he tripped and fell that one day. When she caught him looking at her. It was a delicious doughy, sweet baked good.

Tobias bit into it, falling into the wonders of sugar and thoughts of the girl Kip. He hoped to see her again someday.