8 The old woman

Around Luna was a nice scent of something familiar. She could not figure out what exactly it was, but was sure it was some kind of meat and smoke.

Still with her eyes closed, she tried to turn around, but her whole body felt heavy. She gently opened her eyes, and could see the back of a person.

Luna sat up abruptly, but quickly came to mind what he'd happened the night before. She calmed down and observed the woman sitting by a fire. Her clothes looked very low-key and simple. She had medium length grey hair, with a little bit of waves in.

Luna thought it was relaxing to look at the woman who tended to the fire. She began to relax, so she brought her knees up to her chest, and took her arms around her knees. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that there was something on her arms, when she looked she could see that it was also on her legs. It looked like some kind of leaf wrap. She began to poke at it, and could feel that there was something underneath with a creamy consistency.

Luna was about to take it off when the woman exclaimed, "You should preferably not touch it, because it should have peace and time to work properly on your injuries". Luna looked at the woman, and could see that she herself had the same stuff on her face, on the scratches she had seen the night before.

The woman turned to the fire again, "Come and sit down and get the heat over here by the fire, I have fried some fresh rabbit meat, which is ready in a little while". It had not dawned on Luna that she froze, so she got up and went to the fire. The woman looked at her while Luna sat down.

"Thank you so much for finding me and giving me shelter for the night" the woman said with gratitude in her voice. She reached for a spear with meat on it, which stood by the fire, and handed it over to Luna. She looked at it, and suddenly her stomach began to rumble. The woman handed it over now more insistently. Luna accepted it, and began to blow on the hot meat.

It tasted heavenly, and was many times better than the berries she had been getting lately.

They sat and ate in silence. It was Luna who broke the silence "How did you get hold of the rabbit meat?" the woman stopped chewing and answered. "I caught it while you slept, it is not that hard if you know the technique" she looked at Luna, with a secretive smile.

The silence sank again. Luna wanted to ask for more, but found it a little difficult to get the courage to do it.

This time it was the woman who took the initiative. "By the way, my name is Florence. And you are…?" Luna looked down at the ground , unable to figure out what to say. She had to make an important choice without having much time to think. She had to make the right choice to survive. "Luna" she said. I have to find out what happened to Selene and her family before I can decide what role I want to take on, she thought.

"I can only remember my name. I woke up in the woods a few days ago, full of wounds and rifts, but I do not know how or why I was there" Florence looked at her with compassion. Luna had to change the subject so that Florence would not inquire into her situation.

"What kind of thing have you smeared on my arms and legs?" one could see in Florence that she understood that Luna would no longer talk about her situation, and began to explain.

"It is a mixture of different things. First I made an extract of marigold, then I mixed powdered yarrow flowers in, and finally, to give it a spreadable consistency, I added honey. When you slept it was easy enough to smear it on your arms and legs, but I think you probably also have some wounds on the rest of your body. Will you allow me to look at them?"

Luna thought it could not hurt as she knew there would be wounds on her back. She turned her back on Florence, and Florence lifted up the dress to be able to see. She touched Luna's back, surprisingly it did not hurt much. "It looks really nice around here, your scars are still pink, so I still want to apply the herbs as it can help them not get so ugly".

How is it possible, they can not already be scars in such a short time. It had not been small superficial wounds, Luna thought with horror.