If they met before, particularly with it being somewhat recently, she would probably remember him!
As for how they'd have met to begin with, bailing him out of trouble or his helping her both make sense; he could have been passing by the village while trying to escape something and Rae provides a rescue, or happening to pass by while the village itself is being attacked and choosing to try to lend some aid himself. If you want him to actually know her rather than just having been acquaintances, he could have stuck around for a little while too, like to recover after whatever was going on, or one of the adults offering to let him stay around for a bit as thanks.
If you want, we could even go with both scenarios, where one of them happens at one point and then the second happens some time later with whoever had been the one being assisted returning the favor.
no subject
As for how they'd have met to begin with, bailing him out of trouble or his helping her both make sense; he could have been passing by the village while trying to escape something and Rae provides a rescue, or happening to pass by while the village itself is being attacked and choosing to try to lend some aid himself. If you want him to actually know her rather than just having been acquaintances, he could have stuck around for a little while too, like to recover after whatever was going on, or one of the adults offering to let him stay around for a bit as thanks.
If you want, we could even go with both scenarios, where one of them happens at one point and then the second happens some time later with whoever had been the one being assisted returning the favor.