"She's on her way back", I said.

I grabbed a lantern and ran to the door swinging it open to meet Aya.

She strolled back almost casually with her body slightly tilted, as though to keep whatever was on the strings that seemed to be dripping somewhat away from herself.

"Are you okay?" I asked?

"I'm fine."

She let go of the strings and let them drop onto the ground in a pile.

It turned out those "things" weren't just things. They were gremlin corpses... Eight of them, and the strings she seemed to have been holding them by were actually their tails.

"How's your father?", she asked.

"I think he's fine.", I answered. "My mom is helping him take care of the wound right now."

"Okay, that's good. Let me see him."

I led her back inside to my father.

"Fine, huh?", Aya said.

I tried looking anywhere else, but somehow I could still feel her giving me the cut-eye.

Lillie stood beside him grasping the sleeve of his shirt.

"Dad? Dad? You're not going to die, are you?..."

She was almost in tears. Lillie only ever called him "Dad" when she was worried about something, otherwise she'd say "Papa", so it was easy to understand just how scared she really was.

"Ah, I've had worse", he said with a fake snort.

I knew he probably said that to keep Lillie from crying, but from where I was standing the man was sitting back in a chair letting his bloody leg with a chunk missing leak into a bucket, and somehow he still felt the need to be boastful. I was so embarrassed all I could do was shake my head.

"Wait here a minute.", Aya said, quickly leaving the room.

"Wait here a minute?" It wasn't exactly like he was going to be leaving any time soon.

I heard her footsteps going down the hall and opening a door.

I looked back at my dad. His face was twisted into one of annoyance more than any actual pain. I wondered to myself how anyone could stare at an open wound like that and feel more off put with it as though it was some minor inconvenience, than the idea of dying do to poisoning or blood loss.

My mom ran a bit more water from the gourd over the wound and my father made a wincing sound like someone trying to stifle a bear with a tablecloth.

"You still can't move it? Hope this doesn't get infected...", my mom said with a concerned look.

I heard footsteps quickly returning. Aya entered the room holding two glass vials and went to my mother.

"Here, you should put these on it.", she said, handing them over.

"The yellow is for paralysis, and the light green one should be able to give small healing.", Aya said.

Mom thanked her and began to pour some of the yellow liquid onto the leg. She then handed what was left over to my dad.

"God, I hate this part...", he muttered to himself, clenched his fist, and swigged down the rest.

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Mom did the same with the green potion and handed it back to him to drink.

Everyone inspected the wound.

The reaction took place faster than I had expected, but not as effectively as I'd hoped it would, but at least now he was able to rotate his foot and wiggle his toes, even though the wound was still mostly there.

Aya looked back through the window at the barn. "So, do you get monsters like those often around here?"

"No, not often. Something like that actually hasn't happened in a long time.", my mom said.

Aya looked over to me almost as though she was seeking confirmation.

"Yeah, it's true.", I said. "I've lived here my whole life and never seen one."

"That's strange that they'd come here, and especially strange considering their levels for gremlins." Aya, said lost in thought.

"Sorry, what? What do you mean levels?", I asked.

All of a sudden Aya perked up again like snapping herself back to her senses.

Her eyes moved around the room and she smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I don't know what I was saying. Nevermind...", she said faking a laugh.

It was fake. Very fake. I definitely knew it was a fake because it was the same way I sound whenever I tried covering for something stupid I had said, but I wasn't going to pursue it. She had already been a big help, and potions weren't exactly cheap to come by.

"We should probably try to get some sleep now.", my mother said.

"Yeah.", my dad added. " We still have a long trip tomorrow."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, startled by how he could say such a thing when he was still unable to even properly move. "You can't go anywhere like that!"

"I don't have a choice, I have to go talk with the kingdom, and also I did promise Aya a ride to town."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.it made me wonder if some of that venom had reached his brain and caused paralysis on it a bit as well.

"It's fine. You don't need to take me. It's better if you stay and recover more.", Aya said chiming in. "I'm an adventurer, so walking distances like this are normal form me"

My mom looked to my dad "She's right. You can't go until we get you some more potions and you're properly healed."

"I told you I don't have a choice, if I don't then it'll just lead to more problems later.", my father insisted stubbornly.

This was a mess. This whole thing was a big mess. I didn't know if whether my father was wrong or right, but things were starting to get worse, and worse, and if something didn't happen soon I knew the worst was yet to come.

"I'll go!", I said.

"You? You wouldn't even know what to do.", said my dad.

"What do you mean? You're going to the castle to ask for an extension. Sounds simple enough. I'm pretty sure I can manage that. You still need extra potions to recover right, plus I'll be able to take Aya at the same time."

I could see my dad thinking with his brows furrowed and a worried look on his face.

"It's not like I haven't been to Gram Town before, so it should be fine."

"I'll also be there to help if he needs it", I heard Aya say.

My dad looked up at her from his seat as he thought for a moment.

His face seemed a little bit more at ease hearing that.

"Alright, I suppose so."

I'd like to say I was happy about this moment, but honestly seeing him have more confidence in this stranger-girl he had just met who seemed no older than me, over me, his own son... Well, that was more than a little bit of a wound to my pride... Honestly, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...