Asural, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

The TR room was full when Todd and Stephanie walked in. Kids were everywhere, practising with weapons and running through the obstacle course. Kids half Todd's age were completing the course in record time and he tried to ignore how incompetent that made him feel. He followed Stephanie over to the section designated for throwing knives, axes, and bows. There was a line up at each of the three targets, and Todd waited for Stephanie to find the weapon she was looking for. He watched the kids ahead of him idly, envying how easily they wielded the weapons. The children only had training every other day, while he had training every day, and yet they still surpassed him in every way.

He found Stephanie making her way back to him, holding a strange-looking bow. A crossbow, she had said. It didn't look like the bow she had been using during their trip. As he watched her, he couldn't help the sudden warmth that filled him. She had noticed that he had stopped smiling, and that meant more to him than she'd ever know. Now she was smiling as well. It was strange, this connection he felt with this girl. He wondered if she sensed it as well or if he was just overthinking it all.

When he glanced back at the kids in front of him, he did a double-take, his mouth opening a bit in surprise. That blonde hair... the girl was small and wiry, but she held the two throwing knives with an expertise he hadn't seen before. She threw the first with a strong arm. Bullseye. Someone in the group gave a whistle of approval, and the girl glanced over her shoulder, immediately catching Todd's eye.

It was her. The child who had come in hysterics, the girl who had lost her father. He hadn't seen her since that night. Instead of the shaking, bloodied kid he had left curled up in a wailing ball, he saw a steady girl, her hair pinned back with a blue bow that matched her eyes almost exactly. She was fair-skinned. Beautiful. A look of mischievous laughter was alight in her eyes as if she was sharing a joke with Todd only they could understand. He stared at her in surprise, shocked at the change. Impressed, actually.

She held his gaze for a moment, twirling the other knife in her hand. She gave him a clever little smirk before turning and throwing the knife. It hit the bullseye directly beside the other one.

Todd was left in shock, watching her flounce over to retrieve the weapons — he was unsure if he had seen correctly. She had smiled. She had smiled at him as if she knew he smiled, but how could she have known that? He hadn't smiled at all during their first encounter. It shouldn't have shocked him as much as it did, but this... this was Desmond. No one smiled. The only smile he had seen since he had shown up here was Stephanie's, and that was just twenty minutes ago.

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This girl... there was something different about her.

"Todd, you okay?" He gave a start, looking down at Stephanie. She was beside him, watching him with concern as she held the crossbow under her arm.

He gestured to the girl. "Look. It's that girl. She's here."

Stephanie also watched the girl in surprise as she returned to the line, handing her knives to the kid behind her. "She's changed."

The girl looked over at them as if she had heard Stephanie's comment somehow over the din. She slowly approached them, not saying a word until she was right beside them.

"Hi." The word was so quiet Todd lost it to the noise around them. He only saw the form of it on her lips.

"Uh, hey." He had no idea what to do or say. She was probably around twelve years old, but there was that same darkness to her face he had seen in others, proof that she had experienced much in her young life and was tainted by it. She looked a bit awkward fully facing them now. Shuffling her feet a bit, she said, "I thought maybe I should introduce myself. Since you, well..." She trailed off before sticking out her hand. "Jessica. You can call me Jessie."

Todd accepted her hand. It was small and cold, but she had a firm shake. "Todd." Stephanie also shook the girl's hand and introduced herself.

The girl smiled faintly; Todd felt Stephanie stiffen beside him. "It's nice to meet you both. Thank you... for earlier, I mean." She looked at Todd. "You were very kind."

Todd swallowed back the desert in his mouth. "It was the least I could do. I... I'm sorry about your loss."

Jessie's face immediately darkened. The smile was gone. "Thank you." With that, she turned and hurried away from them. Todd watched her go, a mixture of confusion and wonder stirring his thoughts.

"She smiled," Stephanie whispered. He barely heard her. He only nodded slowly.

Something told him Jessie would be back. There was something different about her, and he wanted to know what it was.