As I climb out of the river, I feel like I am being watched. I scan the forest edge just before going entering the forest. I grip the knife and to try to calm my nerves. It is just a wolf. I remind myself they are more scared of you then you are of them. I take a few moments to calm down. I try to focus on the colors of the forest. Fall is always my favorite time of year. I take a deep breath and continue my journey into the forest.

The leaves crunch underneath my feet as I make my way through the forest. Many of the trees are still full of leaves but a few leaves have fallen littering the pathway. I keep my eyes up and constantly look around for any signs of the wolf or wolves. I hear something ahead of me rustle in the path and I grip my knife tightly. I prepare myself and slowly creep to where I heard the noise. As I move forward, a deer jumps straight towards me. I dive out of the way before getting trampled by the deer. I grunt, “Stupid animal.” I go to stand up but freeze. I must have dropped the knife when I dived out of the way. I utter some curses underneath my breath and start to search for it. After brushing away some leaves, I find the knife.

“Lose something?” A woman’s voice says behind me. I jump up startled and quickly grab the knife. I turn around to look at her. I am caught off guard by the fact this woman is about a foot taller than me. She has snow white hair and looks to be a traveler. Her purple eyes stare into me like she is judging my soul. Her skin makes me look tan. She almost looks like a ghost. Her clothing looks strange. It is made from animal pelts, but they look extremely well made.

“No. Now excuse me, I have some wolves to kill.”

“Wolves? Are you sure there are some here?” She asks in a questioning tone. This makes me instantly dislike her.

“Yes. Oh, by the way, what are you doing here on Nicolas’s land?” I turn around and give her a look. Looking at her again, I can tell that she has been living in the woods for some time now. Her clothing is extremely dirty in addition of tiny leaves in her hair.

“I am just… walking through?” She says, failing to convince me.

“Liar. What are you really doing here? Have you been living here?” I say somewhat annoyed. She pauses and sighs.

“Um… yea.. I have been living here…” I sigh with annoyance.

“Why?”

She shrugs looking down as I glare at her. She looks to be in her late twenties but is acting like a teenager girl. I groan and look around one final time. “Are you sure that you haven’t seen any wolves around here?”

She nods and stretches slightly. “I haven’t seen any wolves at all.” She looks at me for a second and smiles. “My name is Lupa. What’s yours?” I pause confused by this situation. I roll my eyes at her and start to walk back to the farm.

“It doesn’t matter what my name is.” I start to walk but I hear Lupa walk behind me. I stop, and she stops. I turn around to face her. “Listen, whatever is going on. You can leave me alone. Okay? Okay.” I turn around and walk towards the creek. I don’t pay attention rather or not she is following me. This girl gives me serious creeps when being around her. I get to the river and look behind me to see if she she followed and sure enough, she did. I sigh in frustration. “Lupa. Go. Away.” I say getting more annoyed. Lupa keeps a straight face and shakes her head no.

“I am hungry, and you are the first person I have seen in… Um…” She stops talking and seems to get embarrassed. I frown at her.

“Just go home then.” I say my annoyance rising.

“… Um… that is kind of far away.” My eyes narrow having an idea of where she is from.

“How far?”

“About nine or ten days north.” She says with a smile on her face. I groan hoping she doesn’t answer what I think she will answer.

“You are from the Northern Mountains. Aren’t you?” I say somewhat cautiously. She nods, and I frown knowing that we are both in serious trouble. The Green Belt, which is where we are located, has been at war with the Northern Savages for a few months now. I should have guessed that she is from the north with her white hair. I look her up and down one more time. “Alright, you need to get out of here before anyone else sees you. It’s dangerous for you to be in the Green Belt.” She frowns and looks behind her into the forest.

“… Could you help me? I just need some food and then I will be on my way.”

“No. I can’t help you. If someone catches you anywhere near here it will cause too many issues.” I say trying to distance myself from her. I can’t help her it’s too risky. She frowns and gives me these puppy dog eyes. I laugh slightly, “That won’t work on…me..” My voice slowly stops looking at her eyes. For a split second, I want to hold her tight and protect her from the world. I shake off this feeling and ask, “What are you doing?”

She looks at me without the puppy dog eyes. “What do you mean? I am doing nothing.” I curse at her within my head. Of course, she is some sort of mage. This is just what I needed in my life. A Northern with magical abilities that she doesn’t even know that she has. I go to cross the river.

“Goodbye Lupa.” As I get to the edge I look at the farm. I see a life of slavery for the rest of my life. I hesitate for a second and I feel Lupa grab my shirt.

“... Please..” She says looking a little scared. I go to say no, but I get an idea. A mage from anywhere brings great fame and money. Mages are so rare that it is said only one is born every hundred years. I slightly smirk at that idea and slowly look annoyed. “… I guess I could help you, but you have to do everything that I say. No ifs or buts about it.” Lupa smiles a lot and instantly hugs me.

“Thank you so much!” I frown and try to break the hug.

“No hugging.” I say already regretting this slightly. She smirks and lets go. I roll my eyes and start to head back to the farm. Now I just have to figure out how to hide her from Nicolas.