“EVAAAA SAAAAN!” Eva sat up straight on her bed with her eyes wide open. Strands of hair suck out at random ends, a thin strip of drool drying at a corner of her mouth. The white blanket that covered her only moments ago now pooled up around her hips and the bed covers were ruffled, indicating her peaceful slumber. Blinking a couple of times, Eva was in the middle of a yawn when she heard her name being called at the top of someone’s voice again. Grumbling rather audibly, not awake enough to slip her masks on, Eva twisted her upper body to slam her face on the soft pillows, patting the bed for another one before grabbing it and placing it over her head.

“Go away!” she cried, though her voice was soft enough for only someone in the room to hear. “EVA SAN!” she groaned again, though this time, she actually recognized the voice. Farmer Jim was someone she had been acquainted with rather one too many times while she stayed in Marigold. He had a voice that was somewhere between a squeak and a whine, both very annoying and very loud. She heard him cry for her one more time until there was loud footsteps coming up the stairs and the inn owner lady’s voice yelling at the man to get back. “EVAAA” he knocked on her door urgently, almost throwing the old door off its hinges.

With a sigh, Eva threw the pillow to a side and sat up again. Rubbing her temples, she cast an irate glance to the still being pounded upon door and threw the blanket off her. “For the love of,” she muttered under her breath but managed to mask her irritation in time to speak the next few words, “Give me a minute, Jim san”. Grabbing her white silk pants from the corner of the bed, she pulled them on, ran a hand over her untamed hair, and quickly ran to the bathroom to splash some water on her face.

Farmer Jim was once again at the verge of crying when she opened the door, looking down with beads of tears lining the corner of his eyes, looking sad and impatient all the same as he tapped a foot on the wooden floor, his hands crossed over his chest. A couple of steps away from him stood the inn owner with a frown, glaring at the short farmer for barging in. At her presence, Jim instantly lunged forward, prompting Eva to reflexively put a hand out to stop him, leaning back with wide eyes. “Wh-what?” she asked while trying to keep the old man off of her.

“It’s the wolves!” he cried. “My sheeps are being killed! Eva san, do something about it!” he sobbed, flailing his arms around. ‘Ah,’ Eva thought. She had a rough idea on what was bothering the old farmer this time but, looking down at her pyjamas, she was in no way ready to kill wolves.

500/1000

Eva’s blank converse shoes dug into the wet mud coated ground of the farmlands. To either side of her extended hectares of fields bearing cabbages, something that was starting to make her a little sick from all the curried she had to eat. People of Marigold loved their cabbages for no apparent reason. Farmer Jim was only a few steps away, still depressed from having already lost a couple of sheep to the white wolf that he described as ‘vicious’.

“Come along,” Jim instructed, overtaking her to lead them towards the barn where he kept the sheep. “It’s this way. I lost two of them during the last two nights. And just when I solved the deer problem, too. You have to do something about this, Eva san,” he told her, pointing to the flock of puffy white sheep wandering around the farm. Since they were standing outside the fence built to keep the sheep in, Eva placed her right elbow on the wood, dropping her chin on her palm, her left hand casually slung over the fence, staring at the sheep that went in random directions with blank eyes. With the height the fence was built in and how the barn’s doors were kind of old and falling apart, Eva could easily guess how the wolf managed to get to the sheep.

“Yah, I think I can do something about it,” she told farmer Jim as she retreated from the fence, facing him with a smile. “We just have to wait for night,” she said and they walked back into Jim’s house where she had lunch and received an advanced lesson in the history of cabbages that she could have honestly gone without.

At night, Eva hid among the sheep much to her chagrin. She wasn’t pleased to be sandwiched among fluffy white balls that kept trying to pick on her hair. A few hours must have passed when Eva finally noticed something silver flash past her, lunging at one of the sheep that cried for its dear life. Quick to her feet, Eva directed a sharp gust of wind at the wolf, throwing it to the other side of the barn. It howled in pain but was on its feet in seconds, too. Eva was amazed at how fast the thing was as it bolted to her side and pounced at her before she could make any sudden movements. If a panicked sheep hadn’t run between her legs causing her to fall back, Eva realized that she would have had a bloody wolf on her throat at that moment.

This time, she wasted no time as she threw a hand up, raising a sharp piercing wind through the wolf, effectively injuring it. Thanks to a dagger that Jim had entrusted her for the quest, Eva managed to kill the limping wolf, red blood now pooling around the deep wound on its stomach. She wiped at the blood on her shirt, clicking her tongue angrily as she just knew it was going to stain. Dragging the dead wolf back to Jim, she received her rewards before bidding farewell to the farmer.

1022/1000