Back to ze past

Darkness covered the grounds of the village and that of anything around it. Unless someone had night vision, they wouldn't have been able to even see the woman walking towards the rice feilds. Or the bowl of herbs and what not she had in her hands.

The woman bent down and placed the bowl beside her. She started to chant as she placed the herbs on the crops.

She stood back and smiled softly as the entire feild lit on fire.

The next morning the village was in uproar. Cries of 'demons,' 'spies from other villages' and the like were ringinng out, and nobody knew what to do now that their only income had been torn away. It was chaos.

And Shade had slept straight through it.

He stretched as he woke, and blinked, snapping awake when he heard the rucus outside.

---

Taro's head rested back against the wall of his room. He'd smelt the smoke, heard the villagers, but hadn't been bothered to get up. What differennce could him adding to the crowd make anyway?

Elizabeth groaned as she woke up. "What happened?"

Shade was already half out of bed. "I have no idea, but I'm gonna go check it out." He said, stepping outside. Rhun charged into Elizabeth's room and jumped on the bed as Shade left the house.
"There was a fire mum! They said fire!"

"Really? Do you know where?" Elizabeth asked, sitting upright.

"No idea!" He proclaimed brightly. "but our house is fine, so it's okay right?"

"Yeah. Now get off the bed, Mummy wants out." Elizabeth said.

Rhun scooted off the bed. "It's the rice fields" Shade said, sounding rather stunned. "They've been destroyed" he had walked back inside.

"By the fire? But thats the income!" Elizabeth exclaimed, climbing from bed

"I know! I know," He ran a hand through his hair. "Now what do we do? There's no way anything willl be grown in time."

Elizabeth looked down. "Why am I covered in soot?"

"I, uh, have no idea." Shade's eyebrows furrowed. "Did you get up at all? Maybe you walked outside or something?" He frowned.

"I-I don't remember." Elizabeth admitted, buring her hand into her hair. "I'm going to go wash..."

"Yeah, good idea." He shook his head slightly and walked from the room, trying to calm Rhun down. The fire had him excited.

Evelyn walked from her room rubbing her eyes. "Why is everyone screaming?"

"There was a fire sweetie." Shade said, bobbing down and opening his arms for a hug. "It's okay though. It's out."

Rhun sat down by the table and dropped his face onto the surface. "I'm hungry!"

Evelyn yawned and walked forward, giving her daddy a hug. She rubbed her eyes. "Is breakfast ready yet? I'm hungry."

"I can start breakfast." He said, kissing the top of her head and standing up. "What would you like? Fruit... Umm... anything?"

"Food." Evelyn said, climbing up onto the seat next to her brother.

"Okay, let's see what I can do." He ended up serving them the more perishable of the fruits. The village was in trouble, big trpouble, and the preserved foods were not coming out until they had to.
"There, how's that?"

Taro walked out of his room and seated himself at the table. Shade moved to get him some food but the blonde stopped him. "I'm not hungry this morning." He smiled brightly at the kids.

"Daddy Taro!" Evelyn grinned. "Theres a fire so Daddy has no work so he's going to play dolls with me today!"

"Oh?" He glanced at Shade.
"Maybe later today, Eve. I'm going to go and help the others out. It was a big fire." He said lightly.

"Thats okay." Evelyn shrugged Sadly. "Will you play with me Daddy taro?"

"I should be able to. I'll have to see if they need help first though." He said with a smile. "But I promise I'll play today."

"Yay." Evelyn clapped. "Rhun wont play Dolls with me. He says his dolls are too manly. Daddy taro can you make me a man Doll to marry my doll?"