Sooooo. Hello stranger, I'm Kite, and I've got Thorin here who was heavily involved in Calderan military for the last 20+ years. As Earthkin and eventually fairly highly ranked, he was in the thick of the fighting, but they might still know each other!

Bonus points for him influencing her to go - he stepped down and left Caldera shortly after Union helped end the siege, even though his chances of getting into a leadership position in Caldera were probably pretty good. y/n/???