They had just completed the harvest and were making preparations to cart the produce to the neighboring towns and villages to sell. Half of the village would stay behind to ensure the safety of their land, and the rest would tour the land to gather supplies for the winter. Rensa laughed as she hopped into one of the carts to sit among the fruit baskets, just behind where her mother and father were controlling the horses.

Her mother giggled at her happiness. "What has got you in such a good mood?"

She selected an apple to toss back and forth between her hands. "This is my favorite time of the year! I love to see how other people are living. We don't meet anyone new and life here can get kind of dull. Besides! I get to help sell the fruits I helped harvest!" She spouted off her reasons in just a few breaths and then placed the bright red apple back into the basket.

Her mother laughed again.

"Rensa, remember we are going to work. We must make the sales so we can survive the winter." Her father interjected. He was down the earth, but enjoyed her happiness.

"I know father, I will do my duties. It's still so exciting though!" She promised before gushing and bouncing even higher to the bounce of the slow moving cart.

Several weeks later they had arrived into the last town they had mapped out, after selling the last few baskets quickly, Rensa and her mother were sent to purchase large buckets of salt and grains to take back to the village. As they were walking out to meet her father, everything happened quickly, too quickly for her to react. Her mother gasped and reached for her, but it was too late. A fast moving cart pulled by stampeding horses swerved and hit her. She crashed to the ground and could hear the snapping sounds of a few bones, but that pain was nothing compared to that of having her leg run over by the wheel. Rensa screamed.

They spent many days in with the town doctor who bandaged her up and watched her carefully. With a mixture of a few herbs, the pain was lessened and she was able to rest well. Her ribs were broken and her leg was too, though the doctor did not know the extent of the damage. There were other villagers from Hoshu in the town, so her father sent them with some goods and a letter to the village chief explaining what had happened.

A few weeks later word was received that they were not to come back until she was healed, or at least stable enough to be transported back to the village. She apologized profusely for being so careless as to get hurt. Apologized because her parents could not return home. And everyday they remained in the town where she was being cared for, the more fear crept into her heart. She was afraid they would not accept her, if the damage was too extensive.

After a few weeks her ribs were healing nicely, it no longer hurt to breathe or move. The doctor, a man named Ha-shi, wanted her to stay until he was sure she was healed. Except, her leg was not healing. There was a constant pain just below her knee, and she could not feel where the rest of her leg attached. They remained in the town for the rest of the month, and then she told her parents she was ready to return home. After receiving the Doctor Ha-shi's permission to leave, with strict instructions that she was to remain in the back of the cart.

The journey was alright until the cold began to move into their path, bringing dust filled wind. They coughed and shivered. By the time they had returned to Hoshu, Rensa was beginning to fall ill. Her parents kept her contained within their home. She was racked with a high fever and coughs, and intense pain radiating from her right leg. Her mother had unwrapped the bandages and found the beginning of an infection. She harvested herbs to make into a poultice, hoping it would help heal. Other villagers also helped, by supplying her family food and homemade medicines. The infection became worse, spreading throughout her leg. After weeks of being sick, her father had sent for the doctor, Ha-shi from the village. He arrived and the diagnosis was… he was not able to save her leg. To avoid further spread of the infection, or worse, her dying because of it, he would need to cut the infected part off.

Her parents, knowing there was no other way, but with much grief, agreed that it was the only way to save her. The doctor gave her herbs to numb away some of the pain. However the operation was excruciating. He had to slice through the bone to remove the bottom half of her leg. It took hours for her to stop bleeding.

She was sure she almost died. But she did not. She survived, and the healing process began.

Her parents did not leave the house until she was well on her way to becoming better. Word did not spread of her sickness until after she had lost the part of her leg. The village then decided she would be too much of a burden, they wanted to abandon her, to give her to another village, maybe the one that doctor was from. Her parents fought, vowing they would care for her, help her become stable and self-reliant again. Her people grudgingly agreed.

It took her a year to come to terms with the loss, and to learn how to move around on her own. After that year, both of her parents had fallen ill with an incurable sickness and passed away, leaving her to survive on her own. That was when the villagers began targeting her. It was another year of her figuring out how to live within a village that hated her for her weakness. For her lack of ability.

And that brought her to the present tense, when she had met Jae-ha.