The fire in the stove crackled, occasionally shooting out tiny sparks like fireflies in the middle of a winter night. Ewan pulled a small stick of firewood from the stove and began to draw on the dirt floor.
"This is our house." He scribbled a few symbolic lines. "This is the small plot of land that I wanted to reclaim for an experimental wet rice paddy before winter arrived, do you remember?"
Seeing the Alpha nod, Ewan continued, "How about we plant here first next spring?"
"We are not going to plant out in the fields?"
"Too risky." Ewan clicked his tongue. "What if it is not successful? I would die of embarrassment, those people would definitely point fingers and gossip. Let us just try planting it inside our house, ready to dedicate a season to growing beans and a few small plants to revive the soil. You left it fallow for several seasons, suddenly growing wet rice is also difficult."
