Chapter 3: Blanchette

Eve couldn't believe what her mother just said. "A wolf?" The wide-eyed little girl asked, her voice full of awe.

"Mhmm." Her mother replied with a smile as she continued to sift through her basket of herbs.

"But-"

Eve looked at her busy mother and back at the unconscious creature that she had been petting for the whole day without knowing what it was. When they had reached back yesterday, Meredith had put the creature in the barn, saying that it would be safe there.

Not that their only cow agreed with the sentiment. The poor thing hadn't once sat down since they put the beast in the small run-down shack. Rather than protesting loudly, the cow had been staying behind the tall stack of hay, trying to make her presence as minimal as possible.

Nonetheless, when she woke up in the morning, the cow was still alive, just like her mother had assured. If something had happened to it, her father would have burned both her and her mother alive, she thought, straining her neck to see the scared herbivore.

As she did, she unconsciously pressed onto the beast's furry paw. The creature let out a pained huff making the little girl's eyes widen once again. Eve gasped, retreating her hand quickly, and murmured an apology to the sleeping beast.

Were all wolves then as big as a cow? The little girl wondered, placing her hand gently on the creature's shiny fur. It made sense since only a wolf this big could disguise as little red riding hood's granny, she thought, nodding to herself.

Hearing the crunch of hay, Eve looked towards her right. Her mother had a bowl in her hand. It seems that she was finally done preparing the medicine for the poor animal. She had never seen her mother so excited ever before.

Meredith had sneaked out again to the forest in the morning after her father had gone to work at the Tarleton's mansion. Her mother had put her in charge of guarding the barn while she was away. For some reason, her grandmother had also been asleep the whole day after taking her breakfast.

Eve didn't mind the chore. It was not like she had anything better to do. Taking her little book of stories that Meredith gifted her on her last birthday, she sat in the barn with her back comfortably placed against the beast's tummy and her little legs up on the haystack that she snatched from the cow.

But she was curious about this new side of her mom. She had never seen her dark green eyes sparkling like that before, Eve thought, watching Meredith lowering herself to her knees while taking much care not to spill the contents of the bowl.

"What do you have in there, mommy?" She asked, crinkling her nose in protest. "It smells bitter."

The mother smiled, placing the bowl gently down on the hay. "Yarrow leaves and wolfsbane." She replied.

Eve looked at the thick green concoction with suspicion. Wolfsbane? Wasn't that meant to repel wolves? She wondered, thinking back to the conversation she overheard between the villagers in the market the day before. Apparently, the local priest had led some of them to plant a lot of the plant on the edge of the forest for god only knows what.

Her little mind wandered from one thing to the other as her gaze landed back on her mother, who was busy cutting off the patch of cloth she had wound around the creature's chest the previous night. As it unraveled, she could see that the cloth was almost entirely stained with blood and medicine.

But what shocked her was something else. The wound was almost completely healed, which was a far cry from how it had been the previous night.

"Woah! Mommy!" Eve exclaimed, sitting upright in an instant. "Look! Its wound is almost fully healed!" She said, pointing to the dried wound in awe.

Meredith chuckled, patting her little girl on her head lovingly. Eve's eyes were glued to the creature's chest. She couldn't believe it. How could anything heal with such speed? Her heart swelled with pride. She couldn't believe that her mother was such a good doctor.

"Here, why don't you try putting the medicine for him?" Meredith asked, extending the bowl towards the little one.

The corners of Eve's lips dragged down at the comment. Her brows scrunched and her little eyes narrowed at her mother.

"No mommy. It's a she." She said, taking the bowl off of her hands. Turning back to the creature, Eve beamed. "I will call her Blanchette."

Meredith stared at her daughter in shock for a second before bursting out laughing. Eve raised her brows, glancing at her mother in confusion. Why was her mother laughing? It was a beautiful name, just like the name of the girl who was called little red riding hood.

Seeing her confused expression, her mother patted her cheeks, slowly calming herself down. "Okay, but be gentle." She said, her voice still a bit shaky from all the laughter.

Eve shook her head, turning back to the wolf. Her mother had been acting quite differently since yesterday. She was more unrestrained, and so was her laughter, she thought as she dipped her little hands in the bowl and took out a handful of the bitter-smelling substance, this time resisting the urge to crinkle her nose.

Without any hesitation, Eve slapped the medicine onto the beast's wound. The wolf shuddered as a reaction, whining in its sleep in discomfort. Its breath grew ragged and looked like it was stirring awake. A wide-eyed Eve looked towards her mother for help.

Luckily, Meredith knew what she was doing. She was quick to place a hand on the creature's head and patted on it reassuringly. Eve watched the wolf's breathing slowly grow steadier by the minute. Her mother turned to her with a reassuring smile.

"Now try again." She said, nodding towards the sleeping creature encouragingly. "This time, be gentler."