Sigrid and I raced across the desert and made it home just as the first monsters emerged from hiding. The following morning, I set to work on planting my new crops and I wanted to establish some fields like they had in the village. That way I could grow lots of carrots and potatoes and they wouldn't be scattered all over the place like my pumpkins were. Plus, they'd be easier to harvest that way.

Since building still wasn't my forte, I decided to copy the designs I'd seen in the village for raised fields, but on a smaller scale. I'd make two plots, half the size of the ones in the village, each one with enough room to grow sixteen plants. One plot would be for carrots and would go just outside my yard, to the west of Morkmun, and the other plot would be for the potatoes on the east side of that terrible pit. I hoped that by placing good things around it, looking down into its gaping mouth wouldn't terrify me as much. It seemed unlikely, but it was worth a shot.

I set to work building the carrot plot first. Copying the design I'd seen in the village, I quickly learned how inefficient it was to build something out of oak logs. I kept having to cut down and replant the trees around my home to get enough materials.

Why use oak logs when you can get four planks per log?

I wondered who would build something like that and then remembered what the villagers were like. They weren't the sharpest picks in the chest. Couple that with their near-religious obsession with the emeralds and it all made sense. They didn't even tend to their own fields!

Once the oak log frames were in place, I diverted some of the stream into channels to provide the water that the plots would need. Following that, I used some oak slabs to build little bridges across the waterways so I wouldn't have to wade through them to tend to my fields. From there, I grabbed my hoe and started tilling the soil and planting the few vegetables I had. There weren't enough to fill the respective fields, but I figured that they'd be full in time with enough harvests.

Just means we'll be sticking to hunting for a little while longer, right Girl?

Sigrid barked excitedly. She loved hunting. With my farm work done for the day, I figured it was best not to keep her waiting. Together, we set out to wrangle up some more food.

Over the next few days, I tended to my crops and hunted through the fields with Sigrid. With each passing day, I had more and more potatoes and carrots growing until both plots were completely filled with their respective crop. There were only a few setbacks thanks to some monsters. One night, just before I went to bed, I noticed a pair of zombies nearing my carrots. They spotted me, but I didn't really worry about it with the fence between us. The problem was, they made a beeline straight for me, and dropped from the Small hill that my carrot farm cut through. They landed on the carrots, with each zombie squashing a plant and ruining the soil.

Oh, no you didn't!

Sigrid and I rushed out the gate to deal with the pests and ended up damaging a few more crops in the ensuing fight. After that, I replaced the plants and dug up the hillsides near my farms so no one else would be destroying my crops.

Meanwhile, the daily hunting trips proved to be erratic with their results at best. Some days we found plenty of food, and other days, things were sparse. I couldn't help but wonder where the animals came from in the first place. From what I could tell, they weren't migrating from anywhere. They seemed to just appear in the same way that the monsters did each night. As weird as it was, it meant that I didn't have to worry about over hunting the area. Sigrid and I rarely had to leave the plains to find food. While I could rely on always eventually finding animals, when they appeared was sporadic at best.

The only animals that I could consistently rely on were the chickens. Every morning I fed them any leftover wheat seeds from farming and bred new chickens. In the evening, if hunting had gone poorly, I'd thin the flock a little, always leaving some for breeding the next day. It worked better than the hunting, and so I made it my mission to gather up more animals to raise.

I created a big pen, eight blocks by nine, near the chicken 'coop' and I planned on putting whatever animal I first figured out how to lure in it. Once the pen was ready, I headed out with wheat, carrots, and potatoes at the ready. Today proved to be another slow day for hunting. We couldn't find anything other than chickens and horses. We picked up the chickens when we found them and left the horses alone. They didn't provide any food, and they had a terrible scream when they died. We accidentally killed one once, and that sound still haunted my dreams and sent a shiver down my spine. Meanwhile, once again, the thing that grossed me out/ scared me, didn't seem to bother Sigrid. I never saw her lose any sleep over that noise, and she's the one that caused it!

Still, I loved her. She kept me company, helped keep me safe, and helped keep me fed. I didn't know what I would do without her. She made even this trip fun. I loved watching her bound across the field, sniffing at random clumps of grass, then rushing off to some other spot with a giant smile on her face. Every once in awhile she'd bark and come running up to me with her tail wagging excitedly. I'd give her some pats on the head, or a few scratches behind the ear, and then she'd hurry off once more.

It was adorable!

After hours of what Sigrid would likely describe as frolicking through the fields, we stumbled upon a family of three cows.

Well, hello there. We've been looking for you all over. Want to come live with us?

One of them mooed in response, and I took that as a yes, despite their unwillingness to move without bait. Of the three crops I'd brought with me, my gut told me that the wheat would be my bait of choice. Sure enough, the minute they saw the wheat in my hands, they rushed forward. When the chickens had done this, it looked cute. They were so small and harmless. However, once three cows twice the size of me ran in my direction, I panicked. Thinking they would trample me as payback for all the cows we'd killed over the last few weeks, I shoved the wheat back onto my belt where they wouldn't see it. The cows immediately lost interest and returned to grazing.

Sigrid tilted her head as she looked at me.

Oh, don't give me that. That was scary, okay?

I took a moment to calm my nerves.

They're just cows. They can't hurt you. Probably. And they aren't mad at you for killing other cows. If the animals knew stuff like that then the chickens back home definitely wouldn't like you.

With a deep breath, I pulled the wheat back out. This time, the cows were slower to react. However, after a few seconds, they were rushing forward again. I didn't freak out as the cows bumped into me and tried to push past one another to get at the wheat, though none of them actually tried to take it from my hands. It was like they knew I didn't want to give it to them, and so they couldn't have it yet.

I led the cows home and got them into the new pen as the sun set over the distant swamp. I gave two of the cows the wheat I had, and the pair went to work on making a new cow while the third one watched me with sorrowful eyes.

Sorry, but I'm not given you wheat to just stand there and get heartbroken. Next time, okay?

Getting the cows home was a big accomplishment. In time, I'd have a decent sized herd that could give me plenty of food. Unfortunately, the stars were coming out now, and so were the monsters. A skeleton and zombie decided that they wanted to keep Sigrid and me from getting inside. That was their last mistake. Sigrid quickly sent the archer running while a cut down the zombie. It managed to land a scratch on me, which stung, but I had plenty of food to heal that minor injury. The problem was that the same couldn't be said about my tools. I could see the chinks and cracks in my sword and axe. They would need to be replaced soon, which meant either going back to stone tools or going mining again.

I didn't want to do either.

The stone tools were heavier, making them slower at their respective tasks. Plus they were more fragile and wouldn't last nearly as long. The iron tools were all around better.

On the other hand, the iron meant going back into the earth, and after my trip to Morkmun, I dreaded doing that with every fiber of my being. Still, I had to make a choice.

As we got inside the tunnel, my gaze drifted to the gaping mouth in the ground just outside my yard. A chill ran down my spine as the memories of explosions and arrows surfaced in my mind. They were immediately followed by thoughts of my most precious and useful resource; iron. Why did it have to be down there?