Lillie Sadik swung on her branch idly, tail wrapped around where it attached to the tree trunk. Humming softly to herself, she watches with disengaged interest as her father prepares their first meal of the day. In her hands she holds a toy she made for herself a few years ago, a doll of her mother comprised of metal scraps and tufts of grass.
“Lillie, why don’t you start the veggies? They need longer to cook than the lannger steak.” Her father requested, taking an improvised dagger from his belt and dicing up the meat into small chunks before submerging them in sour munsfruit juice.
“Okay pa,” she replies, hopping from branch to branch to their wooden platform.
She scoops their only pot up, clambering down the tree to draw water; Down past Lady Peony’s and the Shaze Family, down the hill to the well. Right against the farm fields.
Having drawn water, Lillie pauses for a moment, sniffing the air. There's a trace of smoke steadily growing. She looks around, spinning in place searching for the origin of that acrid smell. Turning to the fields of grain, she lets out a startled gasp, dropping the pot full of water to the ground with a clatter.
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Figures towering above the grain on stilt-like legs rake the golden plants with fire spewing from their bodies as Lillie makes out tiny silhouettes of the farmers, fleeing the monstrosities.
She watches as one of the farmers, closest to the flame-spewers, is suddenly impaled on one of the creature's massive, spindly legs. Shaking in horror, she screws her eyes shut, tears snaking their way down her face as she runs back to her father as fast as her legs could carry.
She stumbles as an ear-splitting sound booms out from behind her. It sounded like the death throes of a frightened lannger that found its way into their village, toppling several trees before it was subdued and killed.
Already she could see Lady Peony darting down the tree, her tail looped tightly around a makeshift spear. She see Lillie, a look of horror and concern splashed across her features.
“Lillie! Oh, thank the spirits! Are you hurt? Your pa is-” she grits her teeth as another earth-shaking howl erupts from the fields.
Farmers can be heard yelling now from the fields, as panicked children and frantic parents attempt to corral their offspring.
“We have to get you out of here, follow mama Shaze, to the tunnels!”
Lillie shakes her head up and down, tears rolling down her cheeks as she scrambles up to the Shaze family and starts helping bring the children too young to climb down. She catches a glimpse of her pa putting on his armor, shouting commands to the other defenders as they start rushing down to the fields.