Muallim
ShortStory 4,989 words Recommended by 5 award/anthology sources
"Irada the blacksmith ran a hand over the dents in Muallim’s chest. Most were superficial, but one was deeper than the others. The paint here was chipped. She could see some corrosion underneath. “I’m going to have to remove your whole chest plate, Muallim. It will take some work to repair. In the meantime, I can trade it out for your spare chest plate."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Asimov's, where the author gets the click.