As a child, Ellyn was interested in all things. Mechanisms, chemicals and odd relics and stones were curated and collected by the strange old man, and such she was exposed to it in her childhood when he took her in as his daughter. He was enraptured in his work, sweating, and furiously dusting and poring over odd relics with miniature tools and tiny brushes.
When he first adopted her, the usually quiet and solitary villagers extended a kindness to him, as he needed their help and supplies from other villages combined with his expertise to treat Ellyn's injuries. Even though he was treated as outcast, he was still part of the village. He then worked as a handyman, a tool fixer much to the refusal of the village elders.
"It is natural to ensure the survival of a child, everyone on earth deserves at least that much." They said. As he worked, he left the young Ellyn alone at the house while she was in bed recuperating. He tried to feed her regularly, and she was only strong enough to manage to eat before she went back to sleep.
As he finished all the work he could and was being forcibly refused by the villagers he went back home. He was eager to continue his study and observation of his collection. He was writing on a tiny piece of paper with an ink quill, labeling it and using a resin to stick it to a tiny vial filled with white sand. "Explosive" it said. He heard a sound behind him, like someone was haphazardly rummaging through his belongings and boxes.
"Hey, don't touch that." He remarked as Ellyn sat on the floor behind him, one hand carefully examining a heavy crossbow. He picked it up with both arms and put it atop his desk. "What… is that? Give it… to me." Ellyn remarked. She held one arm out expectantly. "You just got out of bed and now you're walking straight right into another injury." The old man remarked. "I was looking at it." Ellyn remarked. "Kid, are you interested in this thing?" "Yes. I want… to see… how it works." She answered. 'Good to see her doing so well after her injury. I didn't she could talk, or maybe speak after that. Who are her parents? So many questions, don't have the answer for any.' "You want to know how it works huh. Do you agree not to touch it if I told you?" Said the old man. Ellyn nodded. "You need to pull this cord back, lock it in, and then release." He labored as he slowly underwent the process and was slightly pushed back by the force of the firing.
"There's something missing." Said Ellyn. 'Bright kid.' "That's right, the most dangerous thing is the bolt that goes in between this. But I suppose it could still be dangerous if you caught your hand in it." He put down the crossbow on the table. Ellyn instinctively pulled her hand back, as he said those words. As he worked around the village, he observed the people and searched for any possible families that could take her in. But then, he changed his mind.
He continued to raise her throughout the years, Ellyn making friends with the village children and helping with various odd jobs around the town. She was not hindered much by the loss of a limb, using speed or careful analysis to solve problems. From preferring to eat breads or bowls of soup instead of meals requiring both knife and fork, using a stick to pull in objects closer, or simply kicking things from the ground to her hand instead of picking it up with both hands.
She acclimated well to the environment but after a few weeks of being in the village she asked him a question. "I'm… Different from them, from you. My arm is missing." Said Ellyn. She held up the stump that remained of her arm. The man smiled and patted her on the head. "Yes, it is true that part of you is missing." Ellyn frowned. "But don't fret, many things have missing parts from them, and they still work. Mugs with no handles, a crossbow with an incomplete stock, we can still use them but we just need extra care and extra effort. Many people have either bad eyesight, or a bad leg but they can still make use of themselves." The old man remarked. With this Ellyn smiled and made her way out of the old man's small house. She smiled. "Thanks, old man." He chuckled in response.
As Ellyn grew older, she became more and more curious and explored in the outskirts of the nearby forest as well as the snowy wilds as a hobby. She liked observing nature and watching the animals. She hid behind a rock whilst watching a small rabbit running in the snow. Then a lone wolf came and with its feet pattering like soft rain on the snow swiftly pounced on the creature before it could retreat to its burrow. She watched intently as the wolf proceeded to chow down on it, hiding quietly a distance away not making a sound.
Then a group of hunters came, and one shot it dead with their bow, a single arrow piercing through its fur and killing it. After inspecting if the animal was dead, they took it back, discussing intention to skin it for its pelt. At first, she thought it disturbing. Then she noticed the remains of the rabbit, the scraps being taken by owls, and then by small rodents.
She asked the old man about this once, and he called it the "mechanism of life". She raced back to town, whilst experiencing bursts of realization. She was exhausted and breathed heavily as she stopped from running. As the strings of the bow are attached to the wooden frame, they are stretched back by its wielder, and arrow is loosed striking a target, the wolf uses its senses and its fangs and muscles to pounce down on its prey. Various processes and components move their bodies, like complex mechanisms, one part moving to affect the other.
She could see it. The rabbits, the wolf and the hunters, having their own will and their previous actions like the priming and pulling of a crossbow, and all of these events occurred at the right time for the interaction to happen, like the crossbow firing and so happening to strike through a fly moving through the air. She slammed open the door of the old man's quaint home and asked: "Pops, I'm going to go with the hunters! Even if it's not hunting with them, I want to go out there." The old man never saw her as desperate or exhilarated as she was now and thus could not utter a word of refusal. "Just watch out for bandits."
In those times bandits never ventured far onto the icy lands and preferred to raid caravans and travelling merchants near the capital. And as a few more years went by, Ellyn became respected as an assistant of the hunters, being praised for her good judgement and her sharp eyes, she was considered to train herself in either sling or spear as alternative methods but it never came to pass.
The bandits were organized and amassed by leaders and thus became more desperate for targets and became more ferocious. After the bandits visited the village, the townsfolk initially showed no resistance, surprised by their sudden attack. They came and took goods and supplies as well as forcefully recruited some of the younger ones to join them. After most of them left, a few are left who fooled around and caused disarray for the people who cowered in their homes.
This is when Ellyn and the hunters returned home with their spoils only to find the bandits in the square of town, parading themselves like kings. The scuffle ensued and ended up with Ellyn gravely injured once more, as she used the last of her strength to put down the last bandit who stayed behind.
The old man and the villagers who were once afraid emerged to help Ellyn. The old man dropped his rusty old crossbow, as moments ago he was shivering in indecisiveness to try to oppose the remaining bandits. When Ellyn awoke, she instinctively reached around with her arm to grab a weapon but saw the familiar sight of the old man working away at his desk. She lay on a bed in her room, with the old man staying in it, still working but watching over her.
"Oh goodness!" He cried out and gave her a hug. "Ow." She remarked. "Oh sorry, I remember you are still injured." Ellyn placed her hand on her shoulder, wrappings of bandages covering it. She was suddenly shaken and alerted by realization. "What happened?!" She quickly stood up. "Calm down. your injuries were quite severe. Don't worry, the bandits have been all dealt with, luckily no more have come back since then. I don't think they care enough about each other to investigate that a few of them were missing." Said the old man.
Ellyn sighed and sat back down. "Whatever you're thinking, don't pursue them. This is the second time you've been gravely injured, you've been lucky to survive it twice, if everything happens for a reason then we best not continue to endanger your life. We mustn't tempt fate." He cried out with conviction, sweating, and slightly shaken. Ellyn simply smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "You said everything was moving like a complex mechanism. With each person's actions converging, not unlike parts of a machine, all interacting with each other and moving towards some goal." The old man calmed down. "Yes, I remember." He sighed and sat back down on his chair. He recalled something he said to Ellyn when she was younger when she asked about how the weather worked.
"In truth I don't actually know how all of it works. There's wind blowing, rain is falling when it gathers in the clouds, the sun shines and goes down in nighttime. We wake up when the sun rises and go to sleep in the nighttime. We stay inside when there's a blizzard. I like to think that there is a design behind all of this. Like a hunter operating a complicated crossbow, with all the parts consisting of everything that's happening in the world, from the weather to people. Some people call it fate, if its fate that brought you to me, I'll be fine either way." The old man didn't even notice Ellyn leaning on his shoulder and appearing to have dozed off. He smiled, carried her to bed and then tucked her in. He left to continue on his work, whilst Ellyn smiled and proceeded to actually go to sleep.
A now grown Ellyn held out her stump of an arm and stated: "You said I was incomplete." The old man began to speak but Ellyn cut him off. "I know that I live fine well enough. But you said that there was a reason that we were brought together. I want to be something more, to be more complete. And…" She briefly paused. "I saw the "gift" you were making me." The old man sighed. "I suppose there's no use hiding it any longer." He walked out of the room and brought back a box.
A rudimentary wooden prosthetic was wrapped in cloth and he brought it out gently. He slowly fitted into her arm, and used straps to fasten it onto her shoulder. She tried to move it, straining herself but only the fingertips of it started slightly twitching. "By the way, how did you find out I was making it?" "I woke up to the sound of someone chiseling something in the middle of the night." The old man started with a quiet chuckle but burst out laughing. Ellyn smiled at first but laughed as well.