Jia's predicament was very odd.

It was as if there was some sort of figurative magnifying glass over all of her emotions. Every feeling hit her in the gut like her arrows pierced enemy flesh, each one intensified one hundred fold.

Jia suspected it was some sort of mild revenge on FeiFei's part, a sort of dig saying "this is the price for wanting to be a human again."

And yes, sometimes in the dark of night FeiFei would whisper to Jia. "Emotions will turn you human once more Jiaaaaaa," her voice was light, it sounded like leaves blowing on the wind. "You have regained your humanity, but I have no need for a human soldier; humans blunder and dieeeeee."

These feelings were more of a curse than a blessing. When Jia was happy or content (chiefly when she was with her newfound friend, Mir) it was like she was high as a kite. But similarly when she saw the wary, apprehensive looks from the villagers loneliness crippled her to racking sobs and seemingly endless tears.

There was no one in the village she could call a friend (apart from maybe Qian), and the loneliness was destroying her from the inside out. Jia tended to start to only let her figurative armour down whenever she was with Mir. Mir was the only one who could make her laugh, he was the one who could chase away the dark shadows of loneliness for a brief while.

Jia knew she shouldn't trust Mir. Despite his unbroken promises of meeting her alone, and how he treated her wounds he was still a Wolf, part of the enemy pack. Jia knew she was wary, but her strengthened emotions deal was making her trust him somewhat unwillingly.

As the only one who could make her smile willingly, she began to tell him more about herself, and he in turn would tell her about his life.

Jia didn't want to trust him, for all she knew he could be preparing some sort of trap for her. But she couldn't help it. She told herself that this “love” wasn’t real, it was her imagination. She tried to bury any feelings for him, with little effect.

One night, she heard the Wolves howling as they ran into town. Credit where due, these Wolves were determined not to give up. They had tried every night to take the main square, which Jia always defended. They were obstinate, and it seemed their pride depended on defeating her at that square.

Jia stood alone as mothers ushered their children into houses and locked doors. Slowly, her armour came down. Fear slid in through the chinks of her bravery, and doubt and terror settled in her stomach. Determination was what made Jia string her bow instead of turning and running away. Every night on the verge of battle, Jia would take down her armour and welcome the feelings of fear and despair; she was given a desperate desire to live and that desire made her fight all the harder. And after her small victories she would be triumphant, and would wallow in her victory for a few moments before putting up her armour once more.

Jia focused on the main road into the square, her bow raised and the bowstring taut. She could feel the eyes of the fearful villagers on her, and she took in a deep breath.

Footsteps - running footsteps - could be heard approaching and Jia aimed her first arrow towards where she guessed the first Wolf would be sighted.

The first was tall, and wore a large metal helm. He ran quickly snarling and drawing a cruel curved sword. Jia could see more following, and she loosed the bowstring. The arrow sung threw the air, hitting the Wolf on his metal helm - intentionally. Jia's arrows always hit their mark.
Because of the protection of the helm, the first Wolf didn't take an arrow to the skull, or brain. However the force of the sudden hit made him stumble and fall back, taking down the Wolf behind him.

Jia allowed herself a smile.

Before loosing any more arrows she made sure to look out for Mir. She did not want to hit him by accident.

Unbeknownst to Jia, one particularly muscular Wolf didn’t come into the town square. He crept around the square, hiding in the side street. One of his companions in the square launched himself at Jia and he took that as a signal to move. As Jia dodged the first Wolf by side stepping and giving a sharp kick to the crotch, the other Wolf ran across the square, hurtling into Jia. His full weight hit her, causing them both to tumble to the ground. The bow fell from her grasp, but Jia lashed out with her hand, her nails scraping the Wolf’s face in attempt to claw out his eye. The Wolf could see the fear in Jia’s eye. He hastily stood up, but before Jia could reach her dagger or scramble away, he placed a heavy, booted foot on her chest, pinning her to the ground.

Mir always tried hanging in the bag during the nightly raids of Huang Shi. As one of the top fighters, he had an important (yet boring) role. His skill with a battle axe was famous throughout the pack, so he always had to attend the raids. Yet, he felt a growing affection for Jia. Unlike so many of his kin, she listened to him, and he found delight in making her smile and laugh. It made him feel special that she reserved her feelings for him. Mir knew they shouldn’t be friends; on a nightly basis his kin attacked her, and she hurt or killed some of his kin. If Seungho or Joon found out, he would be in huge trouble. Mir didn’t want any harm to come to Jia, so he always tried to stay in the back.

Mir saw Joon tackle Jia from behind. As quick and nimble as she was, Jia hadn’t the strength to free herself from a guy of Joon’s strength. Seeing Joon raise his katana, Mir panicked. Jia was powerless in her current state, and Joon would kill her without mercy. But if he moved against Joon, the pack would turn against him.

He needed to make a distraction.

Mir’s eyes fell on one of Jia’s arrows. It had hit Sanghyun on his thick, iron helm and bounced harmlessly off. It wasn’t broken or anything, it was still intact. Without thinking, Mir raced over to where it lay, picked it up and plunged it into his own arm.

The pain was as bad as being stabbed Mir thought, and he let out a low moan as he sunk to his knees. Blood was flowing freely from the new wound. Sanghyun, who had been relatively near, cursed in surprise. “Hey Seungho! The must have got Mir a while back!”

Startled, eyes turned to Mir. He was one of the best fighters, and if he should die, it would be a grievous loss for the pack.

Joon frowned, his attention taken off Jia for a moment. In that moment of distraction, the pressure he was placing on Jia lessened for half a second.

It was all the time Jia needed.

Jia kicked up wildly with her right leg. It barely made contact with the Wolf, but it broke his balance. Jia lashed out wildly with her limbs, and managed to relieve the pressure from the Wolf’s foot. She rolled out from under him, and scrambled to her feet.

“Joon, leave her! Mir’s hurt, we need to get him back!”

Jia’s eyes widened.

What happened to Mir? She looked over to where she had last seen him. Two other wolves were supporting him. He hand one of …her arrows deep in between his shoulder and chest. Jia realized what had happened; Mir had injured himself to give her a chance to get away.

The Wolf in front of her snarled.

“Listen, girl. Mark my words, I’ll kill you. No matter what happens, I won’t stop until your blood is on my hands and your body is at my feet.”

The warning chilled Jia, she was scared. A mixture of concern for Mir, fear and guilt brought tears to her eyes.