The Kit is a Lakota orphan and a scout for the Franciscan Strays. She is sly and clever, albeit with a fiery temper. Her presence unsettles most people; she is mute and communicates almost cryptically, coming and going as she pleases. She spends most of her days scouting, setting snares and tending fires. She enjoys foraging and collecting trinkets along the way, which she stores in her coat. She has a strange obsession with fire and is known to make them almost ritually. She is difficult to read and seems to prefer it that way. Strangely, no matter the weather, her fires never go out…

The Kit was born in autumn 1870 into a Lakota band in the Dakota Territory. Despite being an unremarkable child, those who knew her noted that she displayed odd behaviours and long silences, which unsettled the adults around her. In the spring of 1876, her band was attacked by soldiers. The camp was raided and burned, and most of the people were massacred. The Kit escaped into the surrounding countryside. Shortly afterwards, she was found by soldiers and taken to a Franciscan mission school somewhere in the territory.

She spent two years at the school. At some point, she stopped speaking entirely, whether due to injury, trauma or choice. This made her especially frustrating. The school operated on a rigid schedule designed to dismantle whatever the children arrived with. Names were replaced, traditional clothing was confiscated and languages other than English were forbidden. The days were structured around prayer, labour and classes. She detested it all but knew she was powerless to do anything about it.

It was there that she met a boy, around whom a small group of similarly displaced children had gathered. When he proposed an escape, the Kit agreed without hesitation. The head of the school was murdered during the escape and the building was set alight before the group fled into the surrounding woods. The Kit is believed to have started the fire. The group has not been caught since.

That first winter, a fox followed them out of the woods, or perhaps they followed it. She grew close to it and named it 'Kit'. When the animal was badly injured, she put it out of its misery. She skinned it, wore its pelt and took its name. The gang accepted this without much discussion, discarding both the name she had been born with and the one she had been given at school.