Well, apparently it wasn't enough for Song Terem. He's Jade and not any older than she is. He's been Jade for a few years, in fact. He's somewhat famous up in the highlands, their own home-grown hero, the match of any Jade in the valley they say for all that there's no chance it's true. He's famous, polite but somewhat standoffish according to rumour, and also on the other side of the village square from her. He seems to be speaking with the village headman, their voices quiet enough that Meresankh can't overhear what's being said. Nobody is sure exactly where he came from, Song isn't an uncommon name in the highlands around the valley and no family has ever credibly claimed him.

You wouldn't necessarily guess there was anything extraordinary about him from a distance until you use your copper sight and notice the armour he's wearing is entirely made of scales of forged force madra. It's that, in fact, that tips her off to exactly who she's looking at.

Oh gosh, it's the prodigy Jade. He's kind of handsome, honestly. She's heard about him of course but she can't help taking a longer look because frankly he's nice to look at, he's like her dream boy — 

Wait, no, what is she thinking. She's — the boy in her dreams doesn't have his face, but it's clear to her that the two are the same. The mannerisms are right, and she's sure she's seen him around once or twice before. She's been mooning after this ridiculous prodigy with his Jade-stage core and his tremendous... power... for absolutely far too long.

That's just like her. Always wanting what she can't have. 

Her gaze skates away from him. She's talented, yeah, but the distance between Iron and Jade might as well be the whole length of the valley. The Golden Sword school keeps the powerful peaks for themselves up here, and she's never been invited close. She's strong, but strong for a clanless, school-less child. Not actually strong, for all that her family calls her a prodigy. 

But this boy is the real thing. 

... oh well. 

She goes back to her ice-loading, packing it in with straw, keeping it safe from the noonday sun. 

Some distances are never meant to be crossed.

The similarity really is apparent once she sees him move. He holds himself exactly the same way, shoulders in the same position, the little fast nod he gives at something the village headman says, the cutting gesture he makes with a hand at something else. The face being different makes sense- this is the closest she's ever been to him.

As the conversation with the headman ends he looks around the square and apparently he notices her family. A spark of recognition enters his eyes and he wanders over. "The Xue family, correct? Any news from farther up the mountains?"

Her father relays some minor news, but nothing suggesting he needs to head up to the mountains quickly to handle some dangerous remnant or sacred beast. Oh well. Off he walks to the inn, humming a tune as he goes.

It's a familiar tune. It calls to mind an image of her running her fingers through his hair, soft notes falling from her lips. 

She thinks there were words to this song, but she can't recall them. 

It makes her feel a little oddly sad for some reason.

What is she imagining. Stroking a stranger's hair is just a straight up no-no! Much less a strange boy's, much less a strange prodigy boy's! No way she would ever get away with stroking the hair of a Jade, even if he is her age! 

She shakes her head to clear it and tries to focus on loading the ice. She's moving slowly because she's distracted and that won't do. She's the one in the family who has the easiest time hauling these big blocks around and getting them into the cart, anyway.

She finds the song catching in her mind. Where has she heard it before... In a dream? When she last saw him? It's not a popular song, the tune's all wrong. 

She suppresses her traitorous urge to hum it back, and hauls another heavy block into the cart.

And off he heads, moving on to chat with other people on the other side of the square. Perhaps the rumours of his standoffish nature were exaggerated? But no, they're staying in the same inn (really just a tavern with a few rooms one can rent off to the side usually used for storage) and she can see him on his own on the other side of room, alone. Oh, if people walk up to him to talk he seems willing enough to respond, but he never seeks anyone out the rest of the evening or the following morning before he leaves.

He leaves before her family does- they still have goods to sell. On the other hand, he's walked in, seen no problems present that are best solved by a sword, and determined the next town over is calling his name. He leaves in the direction her family came from.

He's standoffish, huh. She supposes she knows what that's like. The other girls her age are so shallow, by and large. Few of them even really read much other than to learn the odd technique. 

She can relate. 

(Her fingers, running through hair...) 

Why does she keep daydreaming about that? Why is it so clear? 

She takes a steadying breath. There's work to do, after all. 

She doesn't see him again the next morning. She supposes that's good. She has places to be, after all. Another loop down through the hills to deliver food and ice for storehouses. It's summer, after all, and there's only so long you can keep a block of ice cold without ice madra, even a large one.

Xue Meresankh tries to put the implausible Jade boy out of her mind. 

But even as her and her family make their rounds through the lowlands, it feels like a switch has been flipped in her brain. She listens to the rumors about Song Terem more carefully now. 

They say he talks to everyone once...

So if she wants to impress him she'll only get one try.

Ugh, she keeps slipping into daydreaming about him... 

So many fantasies of his smile, his voice, his gentle hands. His hands in her hair as he croons to her that song he was humming. The words are foggy, indistinct.

Come on, Meres, you have to focus. 

He's a Jade and you're an Iron.

They say he's ruined his spirit. That he uses Forging and Enforcement almost equally, so much that he must be weak in both of them from the imbalance. That's what they whisper about him when they don't think he's listening. A broken Jade, they say. 

Strangely enough, that gives her a little flutter of hope. 

If he's a weak enough Jade, maybe he's close enough. Maybe she can reach him. Maybe it's not impossible. He's not Clan. He's not part of a School. Maybe... Maybe she can catch up. Just maybe.

Oh who is she trying to fool. 

She's head over heels. She keeps seeing him in her dreams, that damn smile of his, that bouncy humming, firm hands, warmth, not being alone —

She should get over it. She really should. 

It's hard to let go, though. 

... Maybe she'll see him again when this round of deliveries is over. Until then, she should put him out of her mind, and train. Train hard. Just in case. 

Near the end of the loop the rumours shift. He's absent, a longer stretch between visits than normal. He has a circuit, you see, if not a perfectly stable one. Still, it's not usual for him to go quite this long without passing through this village, and then the next says the same thing. It's usually a visit every couple months, and now it's been four. Nothing tremendously worrying, and this has happened a couple times before, but it's still a bit odd.

She was going to ask, when she saw him again. 

She was going to try to get to know him. 

But he isn't there, when her family return to the mountains to gather their fall ice. 

She won't be back again until after the winter. No need to return to the mountains for ice when the valley's river is frozen. 

It hurts. It hurts, and she doesn't know why. It's not as if she knows him through anything but stories. 

It's just... there is an emptiness inside her, and he would fit there. He would fit there so neatly.