Kit Althea lost track of how many pages she'd sorted through since her shift started. Today, she was sorting invoice files about bean purchases and rations for her district from decades earlier.

"Boss incoming,"

Kit rose at the voice to her left, trying to look attentive as one of her bosses walked past, ensuring everyone was still working. She exhaled when the coast was clear.

"Thanks, Sora," Kit said.

"Anytime,"

Sora had been Kit's best friend for years. Kit could barely remember how she met them, but couldn't imagine life without them. They had their own equally boring set of work, with packages instead of papers, getting in charge of measuring and weighing packages that had been deemed worthy to be shipped out of the district. Sora was frequently stressed and completely overworked, so Kit did her best to brighten Sora's spirits. When they weren't working, Sora was also her go to for advice or if she needed to get something shipped and didn’t want to pay for it.

Their lives were caught in a general haze of boredom. Kit and Sora had just finished a boring year of school, and were dragging their way through maybe the most boring job assignment they could get, sifting through page after page of old documents that the Verdant Colony wanted documented for whatever reason. The upside for Kit was that outside of the higher ups constantly checking on her, she had plenty of time to daydream once she removed herself from the smell of old paper. And usually, Kit thought about the three heroes.

Kit Althea was six when she first heard about Ihli, Endora, and Auren.

Her parents told her and her sister Myles the story of Ihli had been found as an abandoned baby by a hidden group of ancient ones. Ihli had a mark of embers around his wrist, a sign he could tap into the Xionis. The ancient ones raised him, helping him grow into the hero he needed to be to defeat the evil forces conspiring against the world.

The stories comforted Kit as the wars between the armies of the world began to rage again, bringing her parents into it.

Ihli did save the world, along with his friends Endora and Auren, defeating the evil Empress Astraea at the root of the world. But shortly after, a terrible tragedy struck. On the last day of the war, the sun turned a deep emerald, and half the population of the world vanished. No one knew for sure what power the Xionis really was, but Ihli and his friends utilized it, so they were blamed. Ihli and the heroes vanished shortly after.

Ihli couldn’t have gone at a worse time for Kit, as within the year the Verdant Colony rose from the remains of the fallen armies, swiftly enacting cruel rule over whoever they could.

With so many of kids Myles' age now parentless, they were relocated to Verdant Colony controlled settlements. Kit and Myles ended up in a beachside city. Even after the war had been over for years, they were never allowed to go back to our real homes, they were expected to continue on through school, never really talking about what happened, only getting the likely twisted history from the Colony.

Kit read about Ihli’ times with his friends over and over when Myles graduated the school program and had to leave to work in a far away city.

Kit clocked out after her shift, giving Sora a quick goodbye before leaving to wander the beach.

On the horizon, the awe inspiring and horrific remains of the giant leviathans of one of the southern armies of the war; organic and inorganic, the beasts, the ships, and bodies. The Verdant Colony never bothered trying to clean any of it up.

The memories of the war that caused the sight before her ached on a level she'd never really been able to confront, but sitting at the beach was one of her only reprieves from the world she found herself in.

The sun had set, and the stars were reflecting beautifully in the water past the sand. Some of the glow touched the jagged metal beams rising out of the water like towers. Something about the spot always made her think of Myles.

Wherever you are, I hope you’re OK.

Kit felt a sudden sense that she wasn't alone. She looked around the beach, but no one else was with her in the sands. She looked to the stars above, hoping she still had a bit of time before the curfew siren wailed.

One of the stars shimmered. Kit locked onto it, watching as it grew bigger. Her stomach dropped as she realized it wasn't a star at all, but something flying in her direction. A plane? A Colony dragon? Or a meteorite about to obliterate everything in its path? She couldn't move as she stared ahead. The flying object revealed itself to be a small, one seated plane that flew erratically across the top of the water, hopping on the top of the water as it landed harshly just as it reached the shoreline.

Kit blinked, barely able to process this. She realized someone was seated in the plane, and that they were still moving. And that the plane was on fire. Operating entirely on instinct, Kit walked into the water, somehow climbing on top of the plane and reaching the pilot. It was a girl around her age. Kit pulled the girl out.

“Come on, come on.”

She was caught on something, a strap around her shoulder to her waist was caught on the seat.

It was a sword. Kit yanked it off of the back of her chair and tossed it onto the beach, and then pulled the girl out with all the strength she had.

She set the girl down gently in the sand, looking her over. She didn't seem to have any big, noticeable injuries.

"Are you still breathing?" Kit asked. "Are you alright? What do I do when someone...but you didn't drown, did you?"

The girl coughed, laughing as she sat up. "That's why CE said I have to take a backup," the girl said.

"What?" Kit asked. "Wait, be careful, you just crashed your plane..."

"I'm alright, not my first plane crash," she said. "Just...give me a second."

"Yeah, of course." Kit said. She looked around, expecting someone from the Colony to have heard that crash and to come running to arrest this girl, who composed herself quickly in spite of the landing she just had.

“I should probably introduce myself.” She said. “I’m Esther.”

“I’m Kit."

"Ah," Esther said, looking to her plane. She seemed to realize something. "The sword. Is it?" Esther stood up frantically. "It didn't fall in the water, did it?"

"Oh, your sword? I got it, it's, uh..." Kit looked around the beach. "Somewhere around here."

The two looked around in the sand, with Kit finding the blade, sheathed safely. Kit approached Esther, holding the blade out to her.

"That's amazing. It's like, destiny." Esther said.

"That you survived that crash?" Kit said. "Very lucky."

"Well, that's amazing, but..." Esther smiled. "You're Kit, aren't you?"

Kit froze.

"What did you say?" Kit asked.

Her mind churned. Was this some kind of trick or a con? How did this girl know her name?

"You're Kit," Esther said.

"How...how do you..."

Esther smiled. "You look so much like her."

"Wh–" Kit said just as the curfew siren blared. "Ugh, we better..." She realized Esther probably had nowhere to go. "I can probably sneak you into my room, if you need somewhere to..."

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Esther said.

After making sure Esther had the rest of her belongings, Kit helped her evade the late night Colony guards and sneak back into her dormitory room.

"It's nothing special, but this is home," Kit said. "You can take my bed for tonight, you probably need it."

"Thanks," Esther said, collapsing onto the bed face first.

It hit Kit how absurd it was that she was bringing a girl into her room, one who just crashed a plane into the ocean and knew her name somehow.

"Make sure..." Esther yawned, as if she'd just had a long day at work instead of just surviving a horrific crash. "Make sure that sword is safe."

"What is this anyways?" Kit asked, looking at the blade as it was set against a wall.

Esther turned, smiling softly. "If you're careful with it, you can take a look."

Kit bet this was the point the con would be revealed. She'd take the sword out, and a bunch of Colony guards would swarm her for falling for this. Still, she had to know. She picked up the sword, slowly unsheathing it.

"Wow," Kit said. "It's beautiful. It's just like...just like..."

"That's because it is Ihli's." Esther said.

"Good one," Kit said, setting the sword back down.

Kit made Esther wash up and quadruple checked to make sure she wasn't injured before letting her sleep, then stayed up a bit later, looking between the strange girl and the sword she brought.

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