The village was a quiet place, even with such loud activities that took place within it. It was a sort of hush that was not so much heard as felt. Maybe it was the mountain air, or maybe it was the people themselves, but why it was that way was a mystery. Still, there was something notably ominous about the woven huts so close together, yet not a sound was heard. 

       As Eunji walked past the quiet buildings, those were the thoughts that flew through her mind, and she felt goosebumps rise on her skin. It was almost sundown, yet the fifteen year-old girl had been sent to deliver the evening meal to the elder that lived on the periphery of the village. He was widely respected, and the village women took turns on providing him with meals.

       He was a rather strange old man. For starters, he lived in a hut of sculpted mud and stacked straw, yet he had constructed a small porch out of branches bound with rope where he hung furs of animals and flowers he had picked from just outside the wall to dry. He was as blind as a bat, which was blatant to the observer through his white eyes- there was no pupil or iris to be seen in the blank white orbs that sat, unseeing, in his skull. His white hair hung in one braid down his back, upon which he had fixed strange glass beads and ornaments to ward off evil, and his spine was bent so much that he had to prop himself up with a cane. No one in the village could recall his age, and no one asked.

       Eunji resented her mother for sending her to visit the elder. Maybe that was why she found herself eyeing the small patch of freshly sprouted thistles that were just outside the village wall. The young girl set down the basket and made her way outside of the gate to crouch down in front of the flowers. The tough, thorny flowers weren't particularly pretty, nor were they very unusual to find on the mountain, but Eunji was surprised to see the flowers were still alive after such a heavy blizzard. After a particularly bad snow, the village men shoveled paths through the village and a little ways up the mountain. During their labor, they must have uncovered the thistles, as well.

       The thing about thistles is that they are covered in thorns. Hence, the moment the girl reached down to pull one up, much to her surprise and displeasure, Eun