Chasing Hummingbirds ((Cicero, open))

[Bracken]

"Oh, Crux . . ." Brackenfur Streammouse stumbled through the woods, staff in paw, dark eyes searching for his little brother. "Last time I'll believe you're jus' takin' a nap, ya little scamp." He slid haphazardly down an incline, stopping himself with his staff. Looking down, he noticed a large patch of matted heather, and prints in the loamy earth shaped distinctively like those of a young vole. Humphing once, Bracken proceeded in that direction, listening for Crux.

"Crux! This ain't funny anymore," he called, re-shouldering his rucksack. He heard some kind of soft buzzing as he made his way further into the underbrush. That might be the hummingbird Crux was chasing. The younger vole's attention span, or lack thereof, was going to get them both in serious trouble one day. "Crux, I mean it! C'mon out! Ya got us lost, y'know."

The sound of giggling revealed Cruxpaw's location. The ten-year-old vole was lying on his back beneath a bush, pawing at the air as a tiny hummingbird whizzed around above him. Bracken sniffed away a smile at the adorable sight. Shoving the branches of the bush aside, he yelled, "Crux!" With a squeak, the younger vole shot to his feet, ready to bolt. Bracken laughed, and the sound calmed his brother.

With a lopsided grin, Crux rushed up to hug his big brother. "Hi, Bracken!" he exclaimed. "Ya found me! I caught up widda hummin'bird!" He grinned triumphantly up at Bracken, who raised an eyebrow.

"I'm so proud," the older vole said. "But now we're lost, thanks t'you." Crux's grin grew wider and very sheepish. Bracken wondered if it was time to invest in a compass of some sort. Though he had a pretty good sense of direction, constantly chasing Crux all over the woods easily got him turned around.

"Sorry," Crux mumbled, hugging his brother tighter. "But m'tired, now. C'n we make camp?" Bracken smiled, nodding. He tried to pry Crux off, but the little vole giggled and held on with an iron grip. Bracken snorted playfully, pulling harder. Cruxpaw started to laugh at the failed attempts to dislodge him.

"Wow, Crux, you're gettin' strong," Bracken chuckled breathlessly. He got an idea. Instead of pulling, he started tickling the little vole mercilessly. Cruxpaw squealed with giggles, letting go of Bracken to cover his ticklish spots. Bracken scooped him up, groaning a little with the effort. "Alright, y'rascal. Let's find a place t--" He froze at the sound of rustling. Rustling that neither he nor Crux had caused. Crux noticed this and kept quiet; the little vole possessed enough sense to guess why his brother had suddenly stopped speaking.

Setting his little brother on the ground, Bracken held out his staff in a fighting stance. Crux retreated behind the older vole, and moved slowly with him as Bracken cautiously moved through the underbrush. Emerging on the other side of the heather, the brothers noticed creatures a little ways off, down another incline that led to a stream. Quietly exhaling with relief when he saw no murderous vermin gangs about, Bracken relaxed slightly, and edged out of the heather a little more, keeping himself between Crux and the other beasts.

"Hi!" Cruxpaw called to the strangers, noticing how his brother seemed to calm down. "Who's you?" Bracken inwardly cringed. Oh, Crux . . .

[del]

It was early evening with still a bit of sunlight to spare, but the two traveling otters were weary and were considering ending their journeying for the day. The sound of trickling water nearby and the discovery of a small stream made the decision for them. Setting about their belongings, one otter, a male a bit past middle-aged, set to work making a fire. The other, a teenaged female, started to unpack some of the food and went down to the bank of the stream to clean some fruits and vegetables.

Walking back up with her paws full of the cleaned food, she set them in a small basket and helped start the fire. “The water is so cold! We must be really far north, uncle.”

The older otter chuckled a bit, blowing softly on the sparks in the dry brush. “Not as far yet as y’might think, little one.” The ottermaid, Cicero, was the youngest member of their family, and, although almost full-grown, had long since given up trying to get her uncle to stop referring to her as ‘little one.’ Getting a spark to catch, he fed a dried branch to the fledgling fire. “We ain’t even reached Mossflower yet. It’s just getting’ late in the year. Water an’ air are gettin’ cold an’ the days are gettin’ shorter.”

Cicero sighed, idly touching the ring she wore on a chain about her neck. “I never thought it would take this long. Everything is so much… farther than I thought. There’s so much of… everything,” she said blankly. Until several weeks ago, her entire world had only been the lush southern cove where she was born and raised. She’d heard stories about all the places north of her homeland, but she never imagined they could be so very far away.

Vale, her uncle, withdrew a small dagger from his belt, turning to hand it to the young ottermaid to start slicing up the food and preparing a meal. Stoking the fire, he smiled. “We’ll find ‘im, little one. Until then, y’need to enjoy the journey. You’ve seen nought outside yore little cove. You’ve seen more in the past few weeks than you have the whole rest o’ your life.”

As she cut up an apple, Cicero smiled and nodded. “You’re right. I guess I’m just tired.” The crackling fire masked the rustling of footsteps nearby. It wasn’t until a voice nearby hailed them that either of even realized there were beasts nearby.

”Hi”…”Who’s you?”

Vale immediately got to his feet, grabbing his staff and standing protectively before Cicero. “Who’s there, wot’s yore business?”

“Oh, uncle!” Cicero exclaimed, popping up to her feet. She placed both paws gently on the other otter’s arm. “It’s only a pair of voles! I’m sure they mean no harm. Look, one’s only a youngster!”

Cicero moved around Vale and immediately marched herself up to the vole brothers, already brimming over with smiles. She smoothed out her green dress and gave a quick wave. The novelty of meeting new beasts – especially creatures other than otters – hadn’t quite worn off yet. “Hi! My name’s Cicero and this is my uncle, Vale. You’re welcome to join us for supper.”

[Bracken]

“Who’s there, wot’s yore business?”

Brackenfur immediately bristled, gripping his own staff that much tighter. Crux took no notice of the older otter's harsh tones, since he was too busy waving to the pretty maid coming up the incline. Bracken kept his staff up, but even he couldn't help the smile that tugged at one corner of his mouth.

“Hi! My name’s Cicero and this is my uncle, Vale. You’re welcome to join us for supper.”

"I'm Cruxpaw," the younger vole replied happily. "An' this is my big brother Brackenfur." Bracken gave a startled noise, looking from the otter to his brother. His round ears flattened, and he suddenly felt shy. Averting his gaze, he grasped his little brother's paw protectively.

"Uh, th-thank ya, Miss," the older vole said. "But, uh, we rilly should be goin'. 'Tis gettin' awful late, an' all . . ." Crux didn't like that plan. His lower lip pouted, and his big eyes seemed to get even bigger.

"M'ungry, Bracken," he whined. "Can't we jus' stay wid 'em? They're rilly nice 'nd stuff." Well, the smiling maid was, anyway. Crux liked her. He wasn't too sure about Vale, though. The older otter seemed more on edge than his brother!

"Well, uh," Bracken was suddenly reminded of the lightness of the rucksack. They didn't have much in the way of provisions. And this Cicero did seem really nice. Not to mention the fact that Crux was going to bug him about turning down an offer for dinner when they themselves had no food. He rubbed his neck and let out a short exhale, finally returning his eyes to the ottermaid. "I don' wanna impose, but, uh, we rilly don' have much food, so . . We'll be happy t'join ya. Thanks."

"Yay!" Crux wrenched free of Bracken's grip, much to the older vole's dismay, and bounded down the hill, depositing himself before the fire. "Hi, Mr. Vale! I'm Crux!" Bracken hurried after his brother, nearly tumbling down the incline himself. He chuckled nervously when he found himself standing before Vale, and the vole quickly shed his rucksack and set down his staff.

"Evenin'," he greeted quietly. Sheesh, only Crux was ever that clumsy going down a hill.

[del]

The smile never left the ottermaid’s face as she looked between the vole brothers. She was practically bobbing on the balls of her feet in anticipation, hoping they would stay. “It’s wonderful to meet you Cruxpaw and Brackenfur.” As the younger brother campaigned to stay for dinner, Cicero nodded at him, winking playfully at Brackenfur. “You should listen to that little brother of yours; he sounds like an awful smart sort of beast.”

When he saw there was no immediate danger from their visitors, Vale went back to tending the fire. He also rifled through their supplies, preparing to feed a couple more mouths. Cicero had developed a habit of inviting strangers on the road to sup with them. She was too nice for a traveller but the pair of otters had proven quite savvy at living off the land, so he supposed there was no real harm done.

"I don' wanna impose, but, uh, we rilly don' have much food, so . . We'll be happy t'join ya. Thanks."

Cicero clapped her paws together happily. “Oh, wonderful! We don’t have much variety, but we have plenty enough for everybeast.”

Vale glanced up as the younger vole deposited himself in front him. “H’lo there, lad. We got some vegetables boilin’ for a stew here. Found some watercress t’flavor it up a bit. We’ll go easy on the hotroot pepper tonight for you though,” he said amicably. He nodded at the basket of fruit Cicero had sliced up. “Help yoreself there, Crux.”

His gaze shifted a bit as he heard the rustling of the older vole nearly tumbling down. Vale chuckled a bit. “Watch yore step, mate.”

Cicero put her paws over her mouth, stifling a giggle. “Oh, are you all right? It’s okay, it is a rather steep incline, isn’t it? And if you’re half as tired as we are…” She made her way quickly down the incline, back to the small fire. She sat down in the soft loam, inviting Bracken to do the same. “So do you two live around here? I wondered because you said you should be going because it was late. But then I was confused because you said you didn’t have any food, so does that mean you’re travelers? Oh I suppose you just th-“

“Calm down, little one,” the older otter chuckled, shaking his head. “Need t’learn to take a breath between sentences there, my dear.”

“Oh!” Cicero put her paws over her mouth, her pale blue eyes wide. “Sorry,” she whispered.

[Bracken]

“H’lothere, lad. We got some vegetables boilin’ for a stew here. Found some watercress t’flavor it up a bit. We’ll go easy on the hotroot pepper tonight for you though,” he said amicably. He nodded at the basket of fruit Cicero had sliced up. “Help yoreself there, Crux.”

Crux did. With a will, the little vole tucked in to the delicious fruit, grinning as sticky juice dribbled down his chin. He giggled through his food as Bracken came stumbling down. The older vole hoped he wasn't blushing in embarrassment. He nodded to Vale's comment, taking a seat by the fire.

Cruxpaw giggled again as Cicero proceeded to talk their ears off. Bracken opened his mouth to reply to all her questions, but he wasn't able to get a word in edgewise until her uncle stopped her. He chuckled softly. And he thought Crux was bad.

“Oh!” Cicero put her paws over her mouth, her pale blue eyes wide. “Sorry,” she whispered.

Bracken held up a paw. "No, don' be," he replied politely. "Uh, we don' rilly live 'round 'ere. We're travelers, of sorts, I s'pose. We were actu'lly jus' about t'make camp win we saw ya. I didn't wanna put ya outta sorts, so's I jus' t'ought it'd be better t'say we was, uh, needin' t'go." His tone was quiet and shy, but his ears were ever vigilant to the otters' voices. He could gauge that Cicero was a gentle sort of beast. And maybe a singer, from the way her words flowed so nicely.

Crux covered a burp with his paw, smiling ruefully and excusing himself. "Izza soup reddy yet?" he asked eagerly.