Chapter 3: The Farmhouse

The next morning, the warm, rising sunshine roused Imala from her deep sleep. She had packed up her belongings, and began to move further out into the rocky desert.

She continued winding her way through the dusty orange maze, crawling through holes, hopping from pillar to pillar, inching across ledges.

As Imala landed on both her feet from a low ledge, her pointy ears detected the familiar sound of water flowing nearby. She peeked around a corner, spotting a flowing river up ahead.

Without hesitation, she ran towards the river's edge, crouching down on all fours to dull the knives stabbing at her parched, dry throat. Since she hadn't drunk any water for a few days, she was too immersed in the clear, refreshing water to focus on anything else.

"Ahh! Mmm...! Water-aah! Mmm! Ah! Aaah! Water...!" she cried in relief, trying to drink as much as she could.

Wiping the water from her lips, she looked up, catching sight of two figures approaching the riverbank, each of them carrying two buckets, and accompanied by a short, but strong grey donkey.

When they got closer, Imala could catch a clearer glimpse of the two figures. They were young men, with light skin, lacking pointy ears. They looked tall and tough, having been hardened by the harsh hot climate of the desert.

The first man, wearing a simple brown tunic, took a bucket and began to scoop water out of the river. He turned his head to face his brother and began to talk to him, though Imala was too far away to hear their conversation.

The second man, a cowboy shielding his face from the harsh heat, nodded, as if agreeing with something.

Imala did not move from her place. She was too enamored in the first man's face. His tough, heat hardened skin, with steady sky blue eyes, really stood out to her. He was quite a handsome fellow, unlike anyone she had ever encountered before. 

Suddenly, the smell of burnt cloth tickled her nose. Then she felt a tingling feeling coming from her bonnet. 

Realizing that her bonnet was strangely on fire, Imala shrieked in surprise and fear, quickly taking off the bonnet and dunking it into the river water to extinguish it.

Her screams caught the attention of the two young men, as she saw them rushing over to aid her.

"Are you alright?" the blue-eyed man asked.

Imala looked up to see that the man was looking down at her, his face showing concern.

"Is something wrong, miss?" the man asked her, snapping her out of her enamor.

"Imala!" she introduced herself, a little too quickly. "What's yours?"

"Mordecai," the young man said. "Are you alright, miss?"

"Ah, uh...yeah!" Imala stood up, checking her bonnet for damage. "My bonnet was on fire for some reason, that's all." She sighed annoying upon spotting a hole, where the fire had burned through.

"What's going on here?" the cowboy hat-wearing man asked, walking over to access the situation.

"Everything's fine now. Miss Imala here has just gotten her bonnet burned, that's all."

"Ah, thank you, Mister...um..."

"Menard." The second man introduced. He studied her, taking note of her greyish skin tone, her black eyes and her pointy ears. "Say, where are you from?"

"Moonville." Imala stood up, brushing the dust off her dress. "I'm lost. I'm looking for two people, but I haven't been able to make a lot of progress. I'm certain they're out here somewhere though." She wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"Who are you looking for?" Mordecai asked, picking up a pair of full water buckets.

"My two sisters," Imala said. "We were separated from each other. They sort of look like me. Except, one is shorter and wears glasses and the other is taller and plays a flute."

"Well, they shouldn't be too hard to track down," noted Menard as he attached the buckets to the donkey.

"Here, how about this? We can take you back to our house, and you can stay there until we find your sisters," Mordecai offered.

"That's a good idea. Um... thank you, Mr. Mordecai and Mr. Menard." Imala blushed as Mordecai helped her get on the donkey.

"No problem. But no need for formalities." Mordecai tugged on the rope, signaling for the donkey to walk.