The broken bow is laid out on the table in front of him. Arthur looks down at it and sighs. This is going to be harder than he thought.

Sheridan brought it over as soon as she'd gotten back. She tried to remain her usual stoic self, but Arthur had seen the concern on her face as she placed it on his station.

Arthur had been here for nine years, and he was still the youngest Engineer in the Abbey. The weapon in front of him, which he had always thought of as Penelope, represented the finest work he had done in those nine years.

So when Sheridan had asked him if he could fix it, that rare flicker of concern in her eyes, he had told her of course he could.

Looking at it now, he isn't so sure.

"Ok, baby, let's get to work," he says to Penelope.

Sheridan walks into the Armory, escorted by Lady Cyclone. She's maybe twelve years old, but already so serious. Today is a big day. It's her Outfit. So far, she's only practiced with training weapons, but today she'll get her first real piece of gear. This selection will give shape to her role and chart her development. Her life as a Hunter, her real life, that begins today. From everything Arthur's heard, she's excelled at sword, archery, pistol, and axe. That's rare, and Arthur is curious to see what catches her eye. Sheridan takes one look at Penelope and marches right over. She takes a long look at it before turning around. When she does, there's an unspoken plea in her eye "Can I have it?"

Penelope is in two pieces, and that just hurts his heart. The riser is cracked, and he has to make a new one, carefully attaching each limb. He replaces the loops at either end, and restrings the bow. He's still got some of the same stuff he used five years ago, in a special drawer marked PENELOPE. When Alice tries to bring him lunch, he shoos her away.

Arthur's heart is in his throat when Sheridan makes her request. He just finished the bow, and he was planning on saving it for Mallory, an experienced archer who he has a bit of a crush on. It's not just that, though. Penelope is special, he can feel it in his bones. The bow will take all of their trick arrows, ALL of them. That in itself is unheard of, and her power and accuracy are scoring off the charts. Arthur isn't sure he trusts a twelve year old with one of the best weapons in the arsenal. Lady Cyclone takes down the bow, and hands it to Sheridan. He still has hope. The testing process has revealed that the activation for Penelope is complicated, involving sliding and twisting each hand in opposite directions, while managing to keep the bow still enough not to miss. Arthur doesn't think any young girl, no matter how talented, is going to manage. Sheridan struggles at first, anybody would, but within half an hour she's firing relatively straight. Lady Cyclone gives her blessing, and, just like that, Penelope has her Hunter.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Arthur picks up the bow, wiggling it back and forth, and pulling on the string. It seems to be holding. He's nervous as he bangs it against the table, but if it won't hold up in here, it won't hold up out there. Penelope takes it like a champ, and Arthur is starting to feel better. He shoots it a couple of times, practically feeling Penelope roll her nonexistent eyes at his lack of skill. There's only one question left, and that's whether or not Penelope can take the Process again.

Sheridan brings Penelope back to him a month later. It pulls to the left, just a little, she says, and asks if he can fix that. She says she knows because she fired a hundred shots in a row and tracked them. Arthur assures her that it absolutely does not pull to the left, and the fierce little twelve year old stares back at him and states firmly that it does. He tells her to leave the bow with him, and come back in a week. Sheridan leaves the bow with some reluctance, looking back at it twice on her way out. Arthur lets the weapon sit for two days, still feeling a little salty, before taking it over to Mallory. He asks if she'll test it out for him, so he can shut this girl up. Mallory comes back the next day.

"Does it pull?" he asks.

"Barely, but yes. You'd have to be really good to even notice, though," she says.

He grumbles as he takes it back, but he barely sleeps the next four days as he makes adjustments. Sheridan is back at dawn on the seventh day.

He pulls Penelope out of the Kiln, and it's one of the most anxious moments of his life. He would have preferred not to put her through this again, but she's got new parts now, and they have to be brought in line with the Blue.

"You and me, baby." he says to Penelope before gripping her hard with both hands.

If the Process fails, she'll crumble like dry dirt in his hands. When he looks down, she's still solid. He exhales, just maybe shedding a tear or two.

There's a virtual treasure trove of young Hunters these days, a testament to all the work the Searchers are doing. In a few years, they'll fill more functional Halls that at any point in the history of the Abbey, or so they tell Arthur. He hears a lot about the Starling girl's aim, or Beckett's technique, or the raw talent of Darwin and Rafferty, those inseparable troublemakers. As far as Arthur is concerned, none of them can match Sheridan's potential. She's there every week with notes, which Arthur uses to recalibrate Penelope. They've added two new trick arrows just in the last couple of weeks, and one of them was completely Sheridan's idea. She went on her first real mission last week, as the probationary member of C Hall, and took out a Class Two God with a well placed explosive shot to the knee. She's not even fourteen. When Arthur asked her how it went, she said she needed to work on her positioning.

Arthur finishes the bow by painting the top and bottom edges. The new paint interacts well with the Blue, and it will help keep the bow even under a lot of torque. He chooses a dark red like the outfits that Sheridan favors. He throws in a few metallic green flecks, just for fun. There's no benefit, but they match her eyes.

Some time later, Arthur gives Sheridan a velvet box with a cattle prod inside. It's useless against the Gods, but it's great for close quarters, and it will help keep her safe in the sketchy towns outside the Ring. Now that she's been promoted to J Hall, and working regularly, he worries. Gus warns him that it's a dangerous weapon to give to one of the Hunters. He says it's too easy to be abused. Arthur tells him not to worry. His girl can handle it.

He sends for Sheridan. She edges into the room, like she's expecting bad news. He nods toward Penelope, gleaming on the table, and Sheridan lights up. She picks up her weapon and tests it before putting it down. Sheridan hugs him, squeezing as hard as she can, and Arthur wonders, not for the first time, if this is what it's like to have a daughter.

It's probably best that he doesn't. She would have an awful lot to measure up to.