The first thing I did after waking up the next day was to check up on the little girl. Thankfully, she was still there. From the way the blankets were, I could tell that she moved around quite a bit in her sleep. My blanket was almost completely off the side of her bed and the red blanket was folded a bit by her arms. My first thought was to put my blanket back on her but then I noticed something on the red blanket. Peeking up on the edge of the fold was something blue. I quietly came in closer to see it more clearly. If I pulled the fold more, I could reveal what it was, but...well, there are a few reasons why I didn’t want to do that. I picked up my blanket and put it over her, pushing my curiosity aside until she awoke.

That would not be very long for her eyes opened at almost the very instant I put the blanket over her. She stared at me with clear blue eyes and I could not simply look away despite my nervousness. As she continued to stare at me, I slowly pulled away while keeping eye contact. I went over to the door and she sat up in the bed, the blanket slipping off her body. However, she tugged at the blanket again to wrap it around her shoulders, still probably feeling quite cold. I very awkwardly waved at her again.

“Good morning.” She blinked a few times at me. “Still can’t talk? Uh, not that I think that’s a bad thing, I mean…” I have no idea what I mean. “So, want some breakfast?” She gave me no clear response. “My name is Braith,” I said, as if a re-introduction would get the ball rolling. “Um…can you speak at all or am I just looking more and more stupid right now?” Still, she said nothing. Wait, did I just say that part out loud. I’ll just get some food.

I returned with more porridge yet again, but this time with bread. I sat on the bed and we ate our food. I don’t know if this is wrong on my part, but I kind of got tired of completely averting my eyes from her. The blankets were around her waist now, and yes, she was still naked, but come on, she’s five. At least the bottom part’s still covered and it was only briefly glancing at most. As we ate, I remembered what I wanted to check earlier and I looked at the red blanket and I could now see what was on the other side. I saw a pair of crossed blades. I stopped eating for just a moment. Well…this made some sense right? A five year old girl knocked out a wolf. That isn’t normal. Neither is it normal to just be out in a snowstorm naked. Yeah, she got cold, but she didn’t actually catch a cold, she was just sneezing for about half an hour. This still didn’t explain why she was out in the snow in the first place, but it was at least a start.

Unfortunately, that was kind of a problem. It may be wrong to call it racism, but yeah, I’m pretty sure the town here is a bit racist. A giant war fought between the three races kind of strengthens my belief. The foreman, in particular, lost his brother in the war, as well as a lot of the other townspeople. I never heard anything good about the Battle-Hardened the whole time here. I looked at the little girl as she continued to eat and eventually, she noticed and she stared back at me. Then, she just went back to eating.

As I started to think harder about this, I heard some knocking from my door. I got up to go get the door before stopping in my tracks. There is a Battle-Hardened girl in my house. She looked at me when I got up and I brought one finger to my lips.

“Shhh.” I will not comment on how stupid I felt for doing that. When I opened the door, I found Lars.

“Braith, are you alright?”

“Uh, I’m fine.” The snowstorm died down but it was still pretty bad outside. “Are you, okay, Lars?”

“Oh, I’m just fine. The snowstorm was pretty bad so I wanted to make sure you’re alright.”

“Lars, it’s really bad outside, why did you come all the way here? Wait, am I still supposed to come to work?”

“Oh, goodness no, the weather is far too bad for that.” But not bad enough to stop you from getting here.

“Well, would you like to come inside for a-” Wait, I can’t let him come in here and see the Battle-Hardened girl.

“Hmmm?”

“Well, I’m fine, and you’re fine and there’s no work so you can just go home.”

“Oh…okay.”

“Yup.” I started closing the door when he put his foot in the way.

“Wait, there’s one more thing.”

“Uh, what?”

“Braith, if you ever need help with something, just come to me. I promise I’ll do my best to help.”

“Thanks,” I said, a bit confused. He withdrew his foot and I closed it. I turned around and saw the little girl peeking her head out of the doorway. “Ah! Uh…you.” She went back inside and I returned to the room. When I got back inside, I saw she had the red blanket back on but the outside was showing the Battle-Hardened symbol this time. Actually, now that I got a better look at it, I think it’s actually a cape of some sort. Worn by knights or something, maybe? Not being able to talk to her was really starting to annoy me.

“Ah…” My eyes widened. Sure, it wasn’t a word, but she finally made a sound.

“Yes?!” I asked excitedly.

“Ah…” she repeated.

“Is there something you want to say? Something you want to ask? Go on, don’t be shy?!” I spat out ecstatically.

“I…”

“Yes?!”

“Name…”

“Name? Are you trying to tell me your name?!” Very slowly, she nodded. “What’s your name?” She stared at me blankly for a moment before shaking her head. Huh? “Your name?” She nodded again. “What is your name?” She shook her head. What? “Do you… have a name?” She shook her head. “Oh.”

“Braith…” Man, when was the last time I ever heard a little girl say my name?

“Yes, my name is Braith,” I said, pointing to myself. She pointed over at me as well.

“Braith.”

“Yes.” She then pointed at herself and looked at me quizzically.

“Name?”

“Do…do you want me to give you a name?” She slowly nodded her head. I don’t know why exactly, but I suddenly had a very big smile on my face. This reminds me of when I first got my pet dog, Samus. Oh, maybe she’d like the name ‘Samus’? Oh, but wouldn’t it be weird to give someone the same name as your dog? Well, Samus technically isn’t exactly a dog’s name, it’s just something I named her.

“Name?” she asked again, pointing at herself again.

“Okay, I’ll give you a name, but, I will do my best to give you a good name. So, I’m going to go through a list, and when you hear a name you like…nod or something. Okay?” She stared at me for a little while before nodding.

“Okay…” I am having way more fun right now than I should be.

“Hailey? Joanne? Jessica? Ashley? Michelle? Nancy? Rebecca? Alice? Jasmine? Jennifer? Daisy? Madison? Marilyn? Betsy?” I fired off names randomly and garnered no response. I went through about thirty other names before I finally got a response. “Natasha?” She lifted up her head a bit. “Natasha?” Her eyes then turned up a bit as if thinking about it. “Uh, maybe Natalie or something?” She shook her head. “Tasha?” I asked. She thought for another moment before nodding her head with a small smile. “Really, Tasha?” She then looked at me with a confused expression. “Uh, no, no, Tasha is a great name. It can be short for Natasha! Yeah, it’s fantastic.” I didn’t dislike the name, ‘Tasha’, in fact, I did like it. But, I said so many other good names, even ‘Samus.’

“My name is Tasha,” she said cutely. I don’t know if that was intentional, or if that was her natural voice.

“Yes, you are Tasha; I am Braith.”

“I am Tasha; you are Braith,” she said cutely again. Okay, so it is just her normal voice. Oh, and she catches on pretty quick, too.

“Daddy?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“Where is mommy?” she asked.

“Wait, you can actually speak?” She then ran out of the room.

“Mommy? Where are you mommy?” This just got really complicated.

“Tasha!” I cried out, chasing off her.

“Where are we?” she asked, finally stopping.

“Where? Uh…” Where are we again? “Um…Befson?” She looked at me with what was probably a lot like how I looked when I first got here. “Yeah, I’m a bit lost, too. Um, do you know where we…you are supposed to be?” She shook her head. I put on a serious expression and put my hands on her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Tasha, I’ll help you get home.”

“Where is home? Am I not home? Where is mommy?”

“I don’t know. I’m not too familiar with where I am either, so it may take a while, but when I get myself sorted out, I’ll do all I can to get you where you need to be. Okay, Tasha?” She then hugged me.

“Okay, daddy.” What am I supposed to say to that?

“Yeah…” was all that came out in the end.

I asked Lars about the Battle-Hardened the next day, and he told me quite a bit. In particular, when I was asking about how strong Battle-Hardened children were, he told me that they usually do not show any level of extraordinary strength until at least a year or so before reaching adolescence. Furthermore, most Battle-Hardened are only slightly stronger than average humans. Although, most of the stronger ones do end up becoming soldiers or knights, which explains the generalization from the war. Apparently, Tasha’s strength would be very rare, even among the Battle-Hardened.

I still wasn’t sure how I was going to go about finding Tasha’s home, though. I shared with Tasha what I learned, but that didn’t seem to help at all. She couldn’t remember anything about her home. Things might have been easier if I could actually bring her with me to ask questions, but I don’t know how the town would react to a Battle-Hardened. Until I could actually figure out where I needed to go and how, I told her that she had to stay at home. Yeah, I know that’s kind of negligent so at the very least, whenever a merchant came by the town every month or so, I would buy some knick knacks or toys to give to Tasha to play with. I’d also buy some children’s clothes for her, which was only really awkward the first few times. I didn’t even try to make up an excuse the first few times and just kept quiet about what they were for. I would still hear whispers behind my back every once in a while when I came back for more, though.

I also started working shorter hours as well. I also started to get more productive at my job, mainly because I’ve been building up my strength and endurance from all the work. Thanks to that, I got a pay increase so that I didn’t need to work as much. Since I only spent money on necessities and some things for Tasha, I could get by on that.

I would spend at least six hours a day with Tasha and during that time, I would teach her all sorts of things. I may not be the smartest guy, but I’m sure whatever I remember from my school days would still help her. I also shared with her the various things I learned about from Lars and the other lumberjacks, such as how to use a coal stove and a rumoured hot spring in the forest. Arming ourselves, we did go out in search of that hot spring, and found it surprisingly quickly; it was only about a twenty minute walk into the forest. I’m guessing that this was used by the lumberjacks who used to work at my lodge. Why nobody bothered to tell me this before, I will never know. Oh, but just so you know, we would be sure to be armed whenever we went into the forest.

You may call this especially irresponsible, but seeing as how she was Battle-Hardened, I thought it only made sense that she should also train her body, so I exercised with her outside at night. She was stronger than me to begin with, but as she got older, the difference became clearer and clearer. Let’s just say that by the time she was eight, she was doing one-handed push ups while I sat on her back. I’d also like to say that it was her idea; I totally did not suggest that she try it. Also, by eight, I mean counting from when I first found her, which I count as her fifth birthday.

Things seemed to be going quite well when something very strange happened. It happened about four years after I found Tasha when Lars told me he wanted to speak to me in private after I finished my shift. When I went to talk to him, I could tell from his expression that what he wanted to talk to me about had to be something he was holding off on for a long time.

“What’s the matter, Lars?” Lars looked down at the ground for a moment before staring at me.

“So, how have you been doing lately?”

“Uh…fine?”

“Good. Anything planned for tomorrow?”

“No…not really.” Lars nodded a tiny bit. “Lars, whatever it is; just tell me. I mean, you’re the one who always says to just come out and ask whenever I need something.” Lars’ left eye went up a bit and he gave a tired smile.

“Yeah, I did.”

“So, what is it?” I asked, feeling a bit worried.

“Braith…you’ll be leaving soon. Well, not soon, but eventually.” Huh? “I’ve known, or should I say I believed, that you had no intention of staying here for the rest of life.” I opened my mouth to respond, but he continued speaking. “I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, though. I’m not about to convince you to stay, either. What I am here to say is that when you do leave you will need to be prepared.” I closed my mouth and waited for him to continue, my silence acting as my agreement. “I’ve told you about the Outlands, the Battle-Hardened, and the Farseers, so I’m sure you know about the tensions going on right now. Well, even though the war is over, things can still be very difficult for any traveler. I told you that the Outlands are generally quite safe, but that doesn’t mean your safety is guaranteed. You must be able to defend yourself when you need to.” Lars took a deep breath. “So, Braith, I will train you so that you will be able to defend yourself.”

“You will?” I asked a bit doubtfully.

“Yes, I will train you with a weapon I am quite familiar with: a shortsword.”

“You know how to use a shortsword? How?” Lars started to pace around a little bit.

“I used to be a mercenary, but that should not be very important to you.” I think it is pretty important that someone who’s basically my best friend used to be a mercenary. Nevertheless, I went along with it. “Will you accept my training? It is free of charge, of course.” I knew Lars was hiding more from me, but I trusted him enough to let that be.

“Thank you, I accept. Although, I hope I won’t need to use your training.” Lars’ expression suddenly looked more burdened, but he said nothing in response.

After that, Lars gave me a shortsword and two-hour-long lessons almost every day. Tasha got really excited the first time I brought home the shortsword and although she is Battle-Hardened, it felt kind of dangerous to let a nine-year old girl play with swords. I told her to not play around with it but I came back home from work the next day and saw her swinging it around. I didn’t want her to break anything in the house, so I just let her mess around with it during our nightly exercises. I gave some of the pointers I got from Lars to her at the beginning, but that didn’t last very long. Even without proper lessons, she was clearly more talented than I was. I’m not jealous or anything, though.

It was several months after my training began that I really started to question what I’ve been doing this whole time and I went to have a talk with Tasha.

“Tasha…how are you feeling today?” Oh wow, I sound just like Lars.

“Uh…good,” she said, perplexed.

“That’s nice.” Come on, just say it. “Tasha, I feel I have made a horrible mistake.” Don’t say it like that! “Tasha, I feel like I was wrong to have you stay inside this house this whole time. I mean, yes, you’re Battle-Hardened, but it’s not like that’s obvious. If I bring you into the town, there’s no guarantee they’ll find out. Well, they’d question where you came from and I’m still not really sure how to answer that but I’ll think of something. Anyways, even if they do find out you’re Battle-Hardened, I’m sure it won’t be that bad. I mean…yeah, I’m sure it won’t be that bad. I know Lars will support us, at least. And…uh…even if it was that bad…” I’m pretty sure this went better in my head.

“Daddy, it’s fine,” she began with a smile, “What fun can I have in town that I can’t have here?”

“Uh, well, you could…play with other kids your age? Wait, there aren’t any- okay, I think there might be a couple a few years younger than you.”

“Does it really look like I want to play around with some random kids?” she said, sounding somewhat pretentious.

“You might enjoy it. You don’t know.”

“Yeah, but I do know I have fun with you. And if there could be all those troubles for just going into town, I’d really just stay and have fun here with you.” Wow, is she really only nine? Well, she is turning ten soon.

“You’re right. You are absolutely right,” I said, smiling as well. “I am very lucky to have a daughter like you.”

“You got that right!” We both laughed.

Our time like that continued for more than three years before something happened one night in spring. During that one night, I couldn’t quite fall to sleep for some reason and I got up to just walk around the lodge. As I did, I could hear sounds coming from Tasha’s room. When I came in closer, I thought I could hear her voice, so thinking that she was also awake, I knocked on her door.

“Tasha, are you up? Tasha?” I received no response, but I thought I could still just make out her voice. I opened the door and saw her sleeping on the bed. For some reason, this made me remember the last time I saw her simply sleeping. It has been more than eight years now and she has certainly grown up quite a bit. Her hair was much longer now, the back reaching past her shoulders and her bangs stopping just below her eyebrows. She was also obviously taller now as well, a bit under five feet. Also, despite being a lot stronger than me, she really doesn’t seem much different from any other girl her age. Well, aside from my clear favouritism towards her that leads me to be believe that she is the most adorable little girl in the whole wide world. I wonder how she’ll look when she’s older. Ah, this is only out of innocent curiosity.

I started to think of my own age then. Despite being in my late twenties, I still haven’t been able to grow a beard. Although, I still had to have my hair cut. As for Tasha, I cut it for her. It’s not as bad as it sounds though, well, eventually. The first several times could have definitely gone better, but I think I’m at least decent at it now. Or, at least I can trim and even out hair just fine now.

My idle thoughts were interrupted when I saw her mouth start to move a bit and when I came closer, I found out she was talking in her sleep. I went right up to her bedside to find out what she was dreaming about.

“Mommy…mommy…where did you meet daddy…?” Are you serious? “Where…? Where is that? The…plains?” Plains? What plains? “The Dridam Plains?” Tasha stopped talking and her eyes suddenly opened. She started to scream and I reeled back in shock.

“Woah!” I yelled out as I fell back.

“Dad! What are you doing over my bed?!”

“Uh, I heard voices coming from your bed-”

“Voices? What voices?!” she asked, frantically looking around the room now.

“No, no, the voices was you, I mean you were the voice- argh! It was you!”

“What?!”

“You were talking in your sleep!”

“I was?”

“Yes.”

“…Do I sound weird when I talk in my sleep?” she asked, looking suddenly embarrassed.

“Your voice comes out staggered, but that’s not important. You were talking to your mom and were asking her about how she met your dad! Uh, your real dad…um, don’t you remember anything about your dream?” Yeah, real nice transition.

“What…no…I don’t remember having a dream…”

“You were saying something about the plains, the Dridam Plains.”

“Dridam Plains? What’s that?”

“It’s- Uh…it’s…I don’t know.” I got off the floor and started to think. I started to stroke my chin and Tasha copied me. It sounded familiar, something that I heard a long time ago. Wait, I remember now. “I got it! The Plains of War! It’s this area in the northeast of the continent. I think it’s between Battle-Hardened, Farseer, and human territory. Lars told me.”

“Do you think I come from there?”

“Seems likely, or at least one of your parents were from around there, assuming that what I heard was actually a memory from your past.” Tasha lowered her eyes.

“That’s…good.”

“Aren’t you happy that we may have something about your past?”

“Yeah, I am,” she said with a little smile. “So, are we going to go to those plains?”

“We’re going to need to get plenty of traveling gear set up first before we leave town. Also, I only have a rough idea of where the place is and from what I remember, it’s practically on the other side of the continent. We’re going to need to make sure we are fully prepared. But don’t worry; we’re definitely going to get there.”

“It’s going to be very dangerous, though.”

“We’ll make sure to stay out of trouble and stop by towns as often as we can. Also, I know we can handle a few wild animals just fine by ourselves. Heck, remember that bear you took out in one hit a year ago?”

“Yeah! He was all like ‘rawr’ and I was like ‘I’m not afraid of you! Hiya!’” she said, laughing.

“You’re even stronger now, and well, I’m also pretty strong now. I’m pretty sure I could take you on if you were five again.” We both laughed. “Alright, Tasha, good night.”

“Good night, dad.”