Twilight Tundra's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Twilight Tundra heard the news while stirring her cauldron behind the old coffee stand. More sick than usual. Spreading fast. She lifted the pot from the fire and checked her vegetables. The soup would help one person, maybe two. But word from the townspeople said dozens were falling ill across Storyland Canada. She walked toward the sound of coughing and found the field hospital first. Canvas walls flapped in the wind, red crosses painted on every side. Inside, people lay on cots with blankets pulled to their chins. She counted fourteen. More stumbled in while she stood there. Her cauldron suddenly felt small in her hands. Twilight set the pot down outside the hospital tent and stared at it. The metal gleamed even in the weak winter light, but the dent near the base told the truth. She'd carried it for weeks without stopping. One batch fed two people. Fourteen needed forty batches. The numbers didn't work. She would need something bigger, something that could feed everyone at once. She picked up her cauldron and turned back toward town. The sick would keep coming whether she had enough soup or not. But now she knew what the work required. One pot wasn't enough anymore.