Fiction: The Fighting Lodge

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by David M. Gascoigne and is hosted at Elephant's Child's blog over here. An additional prompt from Charlotte (MotherOwl) is bright red orange. This week's prompts are: decent, necklace, ecosystem, money, ground and/or armed, way, lodge, willing, guardians.

Fiction: The Fighting Lodge

Everyone was armed or it seemed but Eva didn't see the need but then again, her weapons weren't the kind you kept in holsters or pockets. Fighting wasn't her way as she came from a long line of natural pacifist or so her grandmother used to remind her. Generations of their families were against all forms of violence but that didn't mean she should stand still and let herself get hurt.
    The lodge used to be a haven for visitors and tourists but now it was a place for fights and misdemeanors. Of course if you named the place The Fighting Lodge, who wouldn't feel the need to fight? Everyone — tourists, visitors, regulars, locals — was willing to defend themselves even for the most trivial matters. This, of course, go against Eva's family's stand on violence but then her grandmother was the one who renamed the lodge to The Fighting Lodge.
    As the lodge owner, Eva often acted as guardian for the guests who didn't have a clue why other guests and locals were fighting. Decent folks like these were rare on Second Haven Island but Eva knew there was always one or two.
    On this Wednesday evening in the lodge's dinning hall, everyone was behaving pleasantly. As Eva refilled a guest's coffee, a gold necklace was dropped rather loudly onto the wooden floor. There was a brief silence and then all kinds of fights broke out. Eva gathered the family of three and moved them toward the back where the fight could not reach them as easily. Her employees, Daniel and Daisy, were busy hiding under tables as per Eva's instructions. Injured employees often could not work.
    Fights like these were most evening's last course but Eva dearly wished they would at least have some breaks in between days. Yesterday's fight had two serious injuries and most of her dishes were broken. But this was a kind of ecosystem around here - people fought, apologized to each other, paid the lodge for any damages and not a word was spoken about it later and it started all over again.
    Besides owning the lodge, Eva was also a healer and often, she was the one doing the mending when a doctor could not be found. Eva longed to retired. Fifties wasn't like her thirties, she didn't have the same amount of energy. But she had no apprentice nor children. Her only son was killed in a plane crash trying to leave the island.
    A man was falling backward toward the family but Eva flicked a finger at him. The man froze, turned around, fell forward on the other fella and their lips met. They split, wiped their mouths and cursed each other. Eva laughed quietly. She glanced back at the family. The father had his arms around his young daughter and wife. The little girl was looking up at Eva. She had a wide-eyed, surprised but joyful look on her face. Eva simply smiled at her and the girl tucked her head back under her father's arm. It was a good thing the family was checking out tomorrow. They really ought not to stay too long here.
    Eva flicked her finger again on the other side where a plate was flying toward her. It stopped and dropped to the floor in pieces. There were more objects being thrown here and there but Eva kept them away from the family. The necklace that had started the fights was being kicked back and forth on the floor. Eva almost laughed. Why couldn't they find a better excuse to fight?
    The ground shook and everyone paused. Eva instructed the family to get down and hold onto something if they could. The quake lasted about two minutes and some seconds.
    Everyone was a bit shaken up so the fights didn't continue. Some went home, some returned to their rooms and others returned to whatever work they had to do but before they did that, they helped cleaned up. This was Second Haven where the locals were famous for being feisty but kind and mini earthquakes happened like clockwork. But only Eva knew why there were quakes. Her large pal below the island must had felt the fight going on above him. Certain noises caused him to shift and the island shifted with him.
    After she closed and locked up the diner, Eva sat out in the back of the lodge and watched the sky. The moon was a bright red orange. Her grandmother had said such moons meant there was too much energy going around the world and so the moon soaked up what the earth wasn't able to dissipate but Eva wasn't sure if it wasn't all nonsense.
    Tomorrow, Eva would write up the damages and start another new day. Life went on whether you're happy, sad, angry or tired but at least, no one got seriously hurt today.