Upon hearing this, Sera grabbed her injured arm, squeezing it and tears began to form in her eyes as she remembered that she had told the creature where it was, blaming herself for its actions. A few moments went by before the sound of her father banging on the table snapped her out of her trance. She suddenly winced as she let go of her arm, the previously white bandages now soaked in the blood of her freshly opened wound.
The door next to her opened and in came her mother, who upon seeing the bloody arm, gasped in surprise and rushed over to her daughter. "What happened? Why are you out of bed?" The blood dripped from the bandage into a small puddle below. She grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped the arm again to try to stop the bleeding.
"I’m fine Ma, I just moved it the wrong way and it seems to have opened the wound." Sera smiled weakly, burying her initial fears into her subconsciousness. Nari looked at her daughter with slight suspicion but walked out grabbing a clean bucket of water and some more towels.
She brought them back into the room and knelt down intending to clean up the blood, yet Sera squatted to the side of her mother, hiding her pain all the while and put her free hand on one of the towels. "Please Ma, let me handle it. It's my mess after all."
Nari looked at Sera with a worried expression and was about to refuse, but she could see in the eyes of her daughter that she did not wish to just lie around doing nothing. "Hunny, you don't have to do everything on your own. You’ve just been attacked and were unconscious for a few days. It’s ok to allow me and your Dad to take care of you until you’ve recovered a bit more." Nari tried to persuade her daughter, yet Sera simply took the towel from her mother’s hands and dipped it into the water ignoring her advice.
Nari reached out and grabbed her daughter by the chin and turned her head so she's looking directly into her eyes. "Seraphina….You truly are your father’s girl. Both of you can be as stubborn as oxen." Nari sighed gently as Sera stared back with an almost pleading expression. She kissed her daughter’s forehead and smiled, before getting up and dusting off her dress. "Just promise me to take it easy for now, Hun."
With that said, her mother turned around and headed towards the door. As she grabbed the door to close it behind her, she heard Sera’s gentle voice. "Thank you, Ma."
The door shut, leaving Sera alone in her room. For a moment the teenager sat in silence staring at her calm and clear reflection in the small pool of blood. As she stared deeply into the red reflection she began squeezing the towel in her hand angrily.
After wringing it out, she began to clean up the mess. What followed were 30 minutes of grueling pain, before she finished cleaning up. Every muscle on her body screamed in pain at her as she finally stood up. Sera looked to the ceiling and took a deep breath in. She held her breath for a few seconds before slowly letting it out.
The bucket sat on the floor near her leg as she grabbed the handle, picking it up. The water swayed gently on the way outside, yet Sera made sure not to spill a drop. She made her way over to the compost pile, dumping the water on top. Her eyes drifted over, looking towards the forest that was the cause for her current pain. With a determined look, she walked back to the house.
The hallways echoed with the sounds of her footsteps as she reached the study. She stopped right outside of the room, in which the door was never closed. Alec sat there filling out some paperwork, an activity he dreaded and therefore always postponed until the end of the week.
His green eyes were focused on the paper and his pen swiftly danced despite his dislike for the activity. As a farmer he had wide shoulders that hunched slightly as he worked. His short black hair and bushy beard had streaks of gray running through, a sign that age was slowly catching up to him.
Sera took a deep breath and strutted into the room, walking up to the desk. Alec had naturally recognized his daughter’s footsteps. So as he continued the paperwork he began, "Hey baby girl, what can I.."
Sera gave him a dead serious look, as she stared at him as he worked. "Pa, I know you wanted me to go to a common school and stay to help Liz around the farm, but I'd like to enroll in a cultivation school!" She slammed her good hand on the desk.
Alec finished writing, not flinching a bit, then he put the pen down and looked up at Sera. As he did he stretched slightly, sitting with his back straight in the chair. He smiled with a gentle expression and started to speak.
"Are you sure about this? Listen, little raven, if this is about what happened earlier, John has been put in charge of guarding the border leading to the forest."
Sera blushed upon hearing her old nickname. "I'm sure, Pa. I just feel like I can do more than farm work. You've always told us to go follow our hearts, and this is what my heart is telling me now." She looked at her dad with an imploring expression.
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"Liz is the only one with cultivation that decided to stay home and work. I know that means if I leave then there'll only be three of us helping you, but I can still come back to do daily chores to help out."
The burly man stood up and smirked at her. "Fine then, but if you're really going to do this, I'm going to make it a lot tougher for you." This statement brought a look of confusion across Sera's face.
Alec patted the top of her head, his large callused hand bringing her immense nostalgic comfort. "I'll explain more later. For now, I still have to finish this paperwork and make the necessary arrangements. I’ll get a few folks to sign some documents and the lot, but I can't guarantee anything until I’ve talked to them."
He led her out of the study and gently nudged her out. "Now scoot. You’ve seen how much paperwork is still waiting for your old man." He turned around and began walking back to the desk. Two steps in, he unexpectedly felt a smaller hand embrace him from behind. "Thanks, Pa!"
Before he could turn around his daughter had already happily run out of the study, down the hall to her room. He just shook his head playfully, but the large smile on his face was testimony to how happy it had made him. Meanwhile, Sera laid down on her bed and exhaled happily. Exhausted from the long arduous day, it took her less than a minute to fall asleep.
The forest was dark and ominous as the wind gently blew the branches about. Sera looked around panting heavily, the sound of leaves rustling on the forest floor. Out of breath, she leaned against the closest tree and closed her eyes, trying to calm down her racing heart.
Her breathing slowly normalized, but before she fully recovered, the tree got hit by something hard. The trunk burst into pieces as the rest of the tree fell revealing a large wolf-like creature.
{Thought you could get away from me ‘Little Raven’?}
Sera didn’t waste any time answering the creature. She got back up and began running through the forest as fast as her legs allowed her to. She had practically grown up in the forest, yet it somehow seemed almost like a maze to her in that instant.
Her just recovered breathing became heavier as she fled from her pursuer. She looked back to see how much distance she had gained, only to be met with its paw swiping and smashing her across the forest floor, cuts appearing all over her body as she tumbled.
The creature walked over to her body. {Truly miserable. I wonder if the rest of your family is this weak. Guess I'll find out soon.} It was close enough to stare down at her and Sera was sure it was smirking at her. {I'd ask if you have any last words, but have you ever cared about your meal’s opinion?} He snapped down at Sera, the last thing she saw were the sharp and pointy teeth coming down towards her neck.
Sera woke up in her bed, the furniture drenched in her cold sweat, as the girl was desperately gasping for air. She looked down at her injured arm and clenched her fist. Pain shot up her arm and while it hurt, she was thankful for this feeling as it proved to her that this time she was really awake.
A dim light crept through her window, the moon low, indicating it was getting close to morning.
The bed creaked as she got up and walked over to one of her dressers. The sling that held her arm was thrown to the floor as she 0 one of the drawers.
After she grabbed a towel, she placed it on the floor and knelt down placing her hand from the injured arm on it. She got into position and began doing push-ups. A couple of the stitches in her arm ripped slightly causing her to flinch and almost fall.
Her eyes closed as she pushed through the pain and continued going. A couple hours went by and sweat dripped from her as she lay on the ground attempting to control her breathing. The towel lay next to her, covered in sweat and blood.
When she got up, she saw the sun now hang low, rising slowly. After getting washed and wrapping her arm, Sera changed into more appropriate clothes for fieldwork. Once properly dressed, she headed outside to start working.
Alec woke up stretching and got out of bed, the naked Nari beside him was still asleep. He looked over his wife's gorgeous figure, admiring her. One would be unable to tell that she was actually the mother of seven children. He briefly contemplated slapping her still perky butt, but decided against it, as he did not wish to disturb her sleep, instead choosing to dress himself.
The house was quiet as he walked out to the kitchen. He grabbed a pot and put it on the stove.
He grabbed some wood from the pile nearby to start the fire and happened to look outside, where he saw their Huhai and plow move through the field.
When he took a closer look he could see that Sera was in the back leading them.
Sera raised the plow as she finished the last section of the fallow plot. She looked over to the other plots, each one housing a unique plant. The Huhai pulled gently on the plow and she led them to the animal pen, where she unhooked the plow from the yoke and pulled it to the side.
The Huhai were large creatures. They had a large shoulder hump and a bulky build. The top of their head had four large horns protruding out and curving back.
Walking back up to the animals, she took off the yoke harness. The lighter colored Huhai shook his body slightly after the long piece of board with neck holders designed for them to work together was taken off and Sera hung it on the wall near the back.
She began to brush them down, the dust from their fur lingered in the air near her. As she continued to brush, a shadow cast upon the interior of the pen. Sera turned around to see a shadow-clad figure standing in the doorway with their arms crossed.