"Wow, thanks Lian-Chu!" Zoé giggles holding a newly knitted pair of pajamas in her hands. This pair was a little thinner than the pair she was wearing last night. Lian-Chu had decided to knit her a new pair because the warmer months were quickly approaching and she only had thick pajamas that fit her. Gwizdo walked down the stairs late that morning and Zoé's excited giggling fully woke him up from his exhausted state.
"Papa look!" Zoé excitedly holds up the pair of pajamas in front of her father's view. Lian-Chu laughs as Gwizdo tiredly rubs his eyes and strachtes every inch of his body just in that short amount of time as Zoé waits impatiently for a response from him.
Gwizdo finally looks the pajamas over, "they're nice, good job" he compliments Lian-Chu who nods at his friend. Zoé giggles another time before running off back into the living room. Gwizdo walks over to the fridge of their country-styled kitchen.
"Zoé, did you eat yet?" He asks as he pulls out a bowl of freshly laid eggs they got from their chickens.
"No" she yells back as she's distracted by playing tug-o-war with Hector in the living room.
"Do you want an omelet?" He asks. Omelets were her favourite food and she especially loved the ones Gwizdo made.
She gasps which makes Gwizdo snicker to himself, "yes please!" She yells back. Hector took that chance of vulnerability and tugged hard on the rope, ripping it from her grasp.
"Aww. Dang it papa, you made me lose" she pouts as everyone else laughs and Hector stands proud with the rope between his sharp fangs.
"Alright Zoé, go get dressed and put your new pajamas away before they get ruined" Gwizdo says as he cuts up some mushrooms, peppers and onions to put into her omelet. Wordlessly she walks upstairs with her head down in defeat.
10 minutes later she comes back downstairs, now dressed in her usual red outfit and her blonde hair neatly done. She sits on one of the dark wood stools at the breakfast table as Gwizdo places a plate infront of her then slides the omelet onto it from the frying pan.
"Thank you, papa" she says before she hungrily digs into the meal.
"You're welcome" he smiles at her and watches her devour the food before starting to cook his own breakfast.
After breakfast, Gwizdo, Lian-Chu and Zoé go outside to start their busy day of farm work. Their farm consisted of a big field for planting crops like wheat, and various fruits and vegetables. They had numerous farm animals like cows, chickens and sheep that Lian-Chu wanted ever so much. Everyday they went out to do their daily chores and now that it was getting warmer outside more work was to be done as they could start planting crops again.
"Zoé can you feed the animals for me?" Gwizdo hands her a bag of chicken feed and wordlessly suggests to feed the cows and sheep hay as he points to a bundle behind him. She didn't need to be told what to feed the animals as she's done it so many times.
After Zoé finishes he chores she decides to play with the white floating bunnies out in the big field. She missed playing with the bunnies when they were hibernating for the winter. Zoé loved playing with them. During the Summer, Gwizdo often found her in her bedroom surrounded by floating bunnies as she danced around the room, giggling.
Zoé ran through the green open field up and down hills, jumping into the air. She pretended she could fly just like them. Hector followed her just like he always did. She soon grew tired and fell onto the bed of soft grass, trying to catch her breath. Some flowers were beginning to bloom and she couldn't wait until the whole field was covered in colourful flowers once again. She digs her chewed fingernails into the wet soil as she closes her eyes, shielding them from the bright afternoon sun. She breaths in the cold air and feels a soft fur rub against her arm, she's laughs thinking it is Hector cuddling up next to her like he usually does, but to her surprise it was one of the bunnies she was chasing earlier rubbing against her arm. The bunny looked to be a baby, probably born this year during the winter.
She slowly sits up and the bunny only curls up closer towards her. She remembered Gwizdo once telling her that animal's fur was always the softest when they were babies when one of their sheep had babies and she realized he was right as she pet the soft baby bunny. The sweet moment ended short when the bunny suddenly flew away as if it got scared of something. She watches with confused and sad eyes as the bunny flies farther and farther away, then she hears the sound of electric shocks directly behind her and she knew instantly why the bunny had left.
Gwizo was just finishing his last chore of the day of milking the cows. He had milked 3 buckets full of milk and was carrying the last bucket to the house when he heard his daughter's desperate screams for him. "Zoé!" He dropped the bucket and ran in the direction of her screams.
"Papa! Papa, help!" She screamed louder and louder as she struggled to out run the Jimbob dragon. She knew she had ventured further away from the farm than she was supposed to. She's thought she was too far away from her father for him to ever hear her, but that was all she could scream at that moment. She needed him.
He ran faster and faster each time he heard her scream. Each scream sounded more desperate, scared and tired. He had to get to her and fast. Lian-Chu had heard the commotion going on and was quickly following behind Gwizdo. Once they got closer they saw the blue electric shocks from a Jimbob dragon and knew exactly what kind of danger she was in. Gwizdo ran faster up the steep hill and found Zoé on the ground, desperately trying to kick the dragon off that had a hold of her leg.
"Zoé!" He ran over and kicked the dragon off of her.
"Papa!" She cried.
"Shh, it's okay. Are you hurt?" He quickly eyed her over and saw a burn on her left leg where the dragon had a hold of. Her pant leg was ripped and blood seeped from the sizzling skin.
"It hurts, papa" she cried more. He hugged tightly as he sheds some tears himself. He had thought he lost her for good and it hurt him seeing her hurt.
"I thought I lost you" he whispers into her ear. His throat felt so dry as if he was the one screaming for his life. Lian-Chu quickly kills the dragon with his homemade sword that he had built himself after he broke the other one trying to slay the World Gobbler.
"Lian-Chu, please carry her" Gwizdo says to his friend as he walks into the scene and sees her badly burned leg. As much as Gwizdo wanted to, he physically could not carry Zoé on his own and they needed to get home fast.
They quickly run home with Lian-Chu carrying Zoé in his big muscular arms. He places Zoé on the couch in the living room as carefully as he could, but she's still whimpered in pain.
"Dad it hurts" she looks Gwizdo in the eyes. She never has called him that and he couldn't help but smile, he liked the sound of it.
"I know kiddo, it will all be over soon I swear" he kisses her on the forehead and strokes her head comfortingly. Lian-Chu returns with the first-aid kit.
"Alright, this should help" he pulls out a tube of ointment for burns, " but first I need to soak the leg with a cold cloth" he soaks a cloth with ice cold water and rings the water on her leg. She winces, which makes Gwizdo cringe at the sight of his daughter in pain.
"I'm sorry I went farther than I should have, papa" she says between her shallow rapid breathing.
"It's alright. I'm just glad that you're still in one piece." He was more than upset that she had ventured off further than she was supposed to, but if she went any farther than she did she could have been killed because they wouldn't be able to get to her fast enough and he didn't want to think about his daughter dying.
"you're gonna be just fine" he squeezes her hand tight. "It will be over soon" he says in a tone to release some of his own nerves, not just hers.
Lian-Chu finishes soaking and drying the wound, then he puts the burn ointment over her welch covered leg. The sizzling and burning had stopped, as well as Zoé's cries of pain. The pain was still there, but she now resorted to only silently crying. The constant screaming had tired her small body out, she didn't want to talk, her throat was so dry and thick. She was half-asleep by the time Lian-Chu finishes bandaging up her leg. She wanted to stay awake, but she could no longer fight it and soon she lets sleep take over her body. Gwizdo kneels quietly at the edge of the couch, stroking her sweat filled hair. She looked so peaceful as she slept.
"Come on," Lian-Chu taps his worried friend on the shoulder, "let her get some rest"
Gwizdo nods and stands up slowly without looking his friend in the eye. He sits down in the closest chair to the couch and wipes any fallen tears off his cheek.
"She'll be okay" Lian-Chu tries to reassure him.
"I hope so" Gwizdo voice breaks as he eyes the sleeping figure on the couch.