November 10, 2001
Dapple's thoughts of their recently deceased tribe mates, flying over to make a new friend for her adventures.
Part 1
A soft breeze played with the leaves at the tops of the trees. The daystar tried to break through the branches; it was a warm and sunny day. Most of the elves were sleeping at this very moment.
But a few didn't. Lionheart sighed; he sat on one of the lower branches from the tree he used to live in with his mother. Sadly, he watched the entrance, as if he was hoping to see his mother coming out of there, saying everything was okay and there was nothing to worry about.
But she didn't.
Far above him, but still in sight, sat Dapple. With a thoughtful look in her eyes she looked down at the now motherless cub. He had a very hard time now, they all knew. Dapple knew that when he felt sad, he went to Snowbird. Almost all the cubs did that. But not only the cubs. She herself had also visited the gentle birdtalker a couple of times, When she had had an argument with one of the others and felt lonely or sad, Snowbird had always cheered her up.
A bird flew towards her and landed on one of the branches nearby. Dapple smiled softly. "Hello, little bird," she whispered, "How are you, today?"
The bird made a slow, almost sad sound, as if it would say that it missed the birdtalker as well. "So the elves aren't the only ones who are missing Snowbird," Dapple muttered.
The bird flew away, downwards, and landed besides Lionheart. He smiled a bit sad, and tried to pet the bird but it flew away.
Snowbird. Birdtalker, cubsitter. She had had a lot of friends. In fact, nobody had disliked her. Dapple had heard of the big giant sort of birds, which seemed to be near the Holt. How useful the birdtalker should have been at this very moment! The little bird who sat here a few minutes ago, could have told her so much about them.
She, Dapple, would love to discover what the strange beasts wanted, and above all, if the stories were true. She always wanted to see everything with her own eyes. But when she told it to Tendril, her soul sister disagreed with her plans to investigate the forest. The gentle plantshaper wouldn't want to come with her if she truly wanted to go, and had even tried to get the idea out of her mind. But that wasn't that simple. When Dapple wanted something, she would do everything to get it. And she truly wanted to find things out. That was a part of her adventuring nature. When Wildstar and the other hunters left to see if the beasts were truly there, she felt hurt that she wasn't asked to come with them. Why couldn't she? Because she didn't have any Hunt blood? She didn't want to go alone. Even she saw the danger in doing that.
Her thoughts flew back to Snowbird.
She had also been a cubsitter. A lot of elves took care of the cubs, they were family of whole the tribe. Almost everybody loved them. But most of the time, when they had problems, the youngest tribe members went to the gentle birdtalker. Her calm nature seemed to attrack them. But now, she was gone. Just like Clearheart.
She heard a deep sigh, and looked downwards. Lionheart slowly stood up, and hesitated for a moment, then headed for what it seemed was the river.
At that very moment, Dapple got an idea she thought was brilliant. She could catch two things in one if she went after Lionheart now. She wanted to ask him if he would come with her adventuring. Then she wouldn't be alone at her travelling, and he could forget his troubles for a moment.
As fast and silently as she could, she climbed out of the tree and sneaked away after the cub. He lifted his head as soon as she saw him. She felt caught.
"High Ones," she muttered, "How did you hear me?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Hey," she continued, also deciding to sit down for a moment. "Have you already heard of the giant birdlike creatures?" He nodded.
Dapple smiled at him. "What would you think of the idea that you and I are going after them, see if it is just a story for the little cubs or if it is for real?" She spoke the word "little" as if she meant that all the cubs under Lionheart were little. "Of course we'll take our wolves with us. Well, what do you think?" Patience never was one of her skills.
Lionheart's eyes flickered for a moment. An adult, who wanted him to go with her, exploring and adventuring? "When do we go?" he asked her with a smile.
Dapple grinned. "Now, if you want! Come on, get your stuff and we'll leave this place. We'll let those hunters see that we are as good as any of them!"
The boy ran away and Dapple followed him. She instantly went to her den and collected some things that could become handy. **Dreamsong,** she sent with a smile, **Come, it's time for adventuring again!**
Lionheart was already waiting with Trolltracker. Dapple and Dreamsong joined them and they went off. "Let's go that way," she pointed out. Lionheart nodded and soon the two elves and their wolves were out of sight.
Part 2
Lionheart and Dapple rode quickly through the thick forest. They had already travelled for a few turns of the daystar and Dapple wanted to hurry because they could still smell the scent of the hunting party. A few times they stopped to give the wolves some rest, but not very long. Dapple did not want to lose the trail. It was obvious that Dreamberry knew which way they had to go. She also had immediately noticed that they would follow the Rushwater River for a long time.
**I wonder to where this trail leads,** she shared her thoughts with the young Wolfrider.
He nodded. **So do I. Have you ever been to the place where the Rushwater River begins?**
Dapple shook her head. **No.** She smiled softly. **But if we're lucky we will find that out within a few days, I think. We are moving upstream.** She would like to see the beginning of the river. It provided them with a lot, like fish and of course fresh water they could drink.
She knew this part of the forest, she and Dreamsong had been here a few times. Thus when it became dark, she decided to sleep with her wolf. "I prefer to stay with Dreamsong," she said, smiling. "She will warn us immediately when something's wrong. But if you want, you can climb into a tree."
Lionheart shook his head so roughly, Dapple almost got afraid that it would fell off. "No, I'm not afraid," he said firmly. He was not going to show any fear in front of an adult!
Dapple grinned. It hadn't been her intention to proclaim that he was afraid. "Good," she smiled, and yawned. **Take a good rest, friend,** she sent, **For we will travel a long way tomorrow.**
Lionheart beamed, and lay down. **I will,** he smiled with little lights in his eyes. Trolltracker sat down next to his elfbond, and with a heavy sigh he laid his head on Lionhearts head. The boy quickly fell asleep, his wolf-friend watching over him.
Dapple smiled softly. He was exhausted; she could see that. She stroke gently through his blonde hair. 'You're a good partner, Lionheart,' she thought. She was glad that he could forget his mother and Snowbird's deaths for a moment.
She closed her eyes with a sigh. It was good to be out again, she hadn't been adventuring for a few turns of the moon, mostly because of Tendril. She loved her soul sister but Dapple thought she sometimes was too soft. Her thoughts flew to Wildstar. She was definitely sure that the Chieftess would not be pleased when they heard of this, or perhaps even found out what they were doing. Dapple decided to be careful when they came nearer the other group. She certainly did not want to be discovered. That would give some nasty follows, she was sure of that.
She fell asleep slowly, forgetting all the things she had to and shouldn't do.
"Dapple! Come on, Dapple."
"Hmm?" She opened one eye. "What's up, Lionheart?"
"Come on. We have to go! It's already light!" The impatient look on his face was almost funny. Dapple smiled slightly. "It's just becoming light, Lionheart," she replied with a loud yawn. "You have to make sure you take enough rest."
"I did!"
Grinning, Dapple stood up. "Uh huh. We will see that halfway through the day. Come, we have to find us something to eat. Let's catch some fish, okay?"
"Yeah." Lionheart didn't like the idea of staying a bit longer. He wanted to go further! "But what if we lose their trail, Dapple? Then we'll never be able to follow them, will we?"
Dapple only smiled when she stepped into the river.
"Well, will we?"
"Be patient, Lionheart," Dapple said, while she searched for a fish big enough for them. "You still have to learn a lot, friend. Want to help me?"
He nodded after a slight hesitation.
"I've seen big tuftcats do this," she muttered, "so why can't I?" The tuftcats usually sort of grabbed a fish and then threw it on the riverbank. It was worth a try…
"Well, am I supposed to help, or am I not?" After a few tries, Lionheart got impatient again.
Dapple sighed heavily. "Can you bring me my sword?"
Lionheart almost jumped away and hastily picked up the sword she asked for. "Here," he said, and watched her further tries.
After a few moments she had caught a few fish, and with some triumph she threw them towards the boy. "Catch!" With eyes full of confusion he saw the fish coming nearer, but he wasn't able to react that quickly; the fish hit him in the face and he fell backwards.
For a moment, Dapple looked worried, but when he raised his head again, she began to smile. "Are you alright?" she asked with a grinning voice.
"Yes," he snapped. He didn't like being humiliated.
"Don't take this too personal, my friend," she laughed, "it wasn't the intention to do so. You wanted to help, right? Eat it, then we can go." She tried to ignore the look of anger at his face, and with twinkling eyes she got out of the water.
Lionheart stayed a little angry the rest of the day, but he also discovered that Dapple had been right. It was a long day, and he felt his muscles more and more when they took a rest. He yawned a lot, but he tried to hide them as well as he could. He thought it was far too early to go to sleep when Dapple announced that. She frowned at his refusal.
**Lionheart, tomorrow we'll probably reach the beginning of Rushwater River. We have to be prepared to see everything that you cannot understand. Who knows what kind of beast this will be?** She watched the face of the boy. **I think you would be happy if you could run away as fast as you could when the beast appears to be hostile. Right?**
He hesitated for a moment, still in doubt. But he saw the truth in her sendings. You couldn't lie when sending. He nodded slowly. "I guess you're right," he muttered. He didn't like it at all, but if she was right… if the beast was evil… Yeah, he would run as fast as he could. **So where do we sleep now? In the trees?**
Dapple smiled. **A quick learner, you are. Yes. We don't know these surroundings that well, so we will sleep in the trees. The animals living on the ground will not reach us there.**
Lionheart instantly turned around and found a big tree. He was not waiting for an answer, but he climbed on the branches as fast as he could, which was pretty fast, Dapple noticed. Excellent. She followed him with a smile and sought a branch near Lionheart. **Sleep well. Have a good rest, Lionheart. Maybe we will find that beast tomorrow.** He nodded, and yawned loudly.
They soon fell asleep.