Peaches's struggles to win the affections of Ethan, but is the right one standing beside her already? And Diego and Shira have their first argument – is this a sign of worse things to come?
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Sometimes it was hard to sit by and watch his crush have fun without him. She seemed to enjoy the companionship of other mammoths rather than one of hedgehog, and it made him hate himself. Why did he have to be the one to fall for an animal of a different species? One that could crush him easily beneath her foot? But no matter how hard he tried, he could not turn his feelings off for her. He sat behind the log and watched the Peaches talk to a tree, roleplaying various scenarios with Ethan.
"So Ethan, I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with my herd later on?" She said aloud, using her trunk to flip back her hair. "Oh, that sounds stupid. I'm sure he'd be more than thrilled to hang out with my weird extended family," she muttered, stamping her feet into the ground. Ethan was a mammoth with a big ego; he wouldn't want to hang out with a bunch of freaks.
She tried again, batting her eyelashes at the tree. "Hey Ethan, dad said I could hang out with you. Maybe we could..." As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she had made a mistake. "Great, even better Peaches. Mention your father giving you time to play." She rolled her eyes. "That totally makes me seem like an independent female mammoth." A frustrated sigh escaped her throat, and she dropped down onto the ground. "How am I going to earn his attention?" she wondered aloud. "He's always surrounded by those other females..." Jealously wasn't something that ran through her blood, but the other mammoths were far more stylish than she was.
Watching Peaches struggle was difficult for Louis, but he could relate to her situation. It was difficult finding the right words to speak in front of a crush without looking like a desperate fool or a needy mammal. There were many times he wanted to ask Peaches on a fun date as well, but feared he would be teased mercilessly by the other mammals for crushing on a mammoth more than twice his size. Ah, the woes of being in love.
He wished he was Ethan then he could be the one receiving Peaches's attention. He wanted to be the object of her desires. He couldn't quite understand why Ethan never reciprocated with his own love; it was obvious there was a spark between the two. Perhaps he was far too vain to admit it aloud especially in front of other females. Couldn't he see Peaches was a stunning mammoth with a golden heart? Then he cursed himself for being selfish. He should be happy for Peaches – not criticizing the mammoth that captured her heart.
He heaved a sigh and continued to admire Peaches from afar.
"No, no, no! I will not allow the cubs to go hunting!" Shira shouted, as she forced Diego out of the den.
Diego's ears lay flat against his head as he took several cautious steps back from the angry mother. "But... but they need to go hunting! They're old enough to walk now and they are almost passed the weaning stage," Diego argued as four tiny heads popped out of the den.
Shira shook her head. "Old enough to walk perhaps, but are they fast enough to sprint away from danger?"
"Surely, it won't come to that. I'll be there to protect them."
"From an angry herd of nursing mothers?"
Diego lowered his head. Damn Shira and her solid arguments. Still, he wasn't about to call it quits yet. "Do you want our cubs to be incapable of hunting?"
"It's too dangerous. Their teeth haven't yet come through fully, and they haven't passed the meowing stage yet. I'm sure their prey will tremble in fear," she muttered, rolling her eyes.
"They can sharpen their skills."
"What, by attacking a blade of grass?"
Diego shook his head. "They can learn the importance of hiding from prey and sneaking up behind them when the time is right. They can learn the importance of patience." For a moment, Shira looked to be considering the idea, but then she too shook her head. "Oh, come on, is it really that bad? They'll be safe!" Diego pleaded. The honeymoon stage in their relationship was over now. The cubs were growing fast and in a year they would no longer need their parents. What would happen then? Would Shira ditch him?
Shira's eyes softened. "I just don't want our cubs sustaining any form of injury, that's all. I don't want our first attempt at parenting to go sour." The four cubs threw their little bodies at their mother's legs, but she was not bothered. Currently, they were incapable of even harming a butterfly, let alone harming a fully grown female sabre.
"But I want to do something useful," Diego replied. Since the cubs had been born about six weeks ago, he had done nothing but hunt for himself and Shira. He had little interaction with the cubs because he was so busy hunting most of the day. This was the first time in weeks since he had even seen them. "Can't I spend time with our cubs?"
Again, Shira contemplated his plea. Diego was a good mate, a little soft, but he had her best interests in mind. He kept her safe from harm and fed her well without ever going overboard. Perhaps she could let him take responsibility of the cubs for the day? At least it would give her a chance to catch up on the local gossip from the herd. "Oh, all right. The cubs are yours for the day." She bent down her head and pushed the cubs forward towards their father. "Run along now, your father is going to take you on a hunting trip."
The four cubs exchanged excited looks and ran through the snow towards Diego.
With her eyes closed, and trunk wrapped around her body, Peaches's mind drifted into a world she created. She was a happy mammoth and leader of them all, and her mate Ethan stood beside her. Two smaller mammoths stood in between them; a female which shared Peaches's appearance and a male which resembled a mini Ethan. All was good and the world was safe. The dream soon changed and she found herself approaching Ethan, a nervous expression on her face.
Ethan was busy entertaining the female mammoths with a funny story about some weird hedgehog who loved a mammoth. How obscure, Peaches thought, but she found it oddly cute at the same time. As she approached Ethan, her nerves continued to grow. Questions raced through her mind; would you like to come to the waterhole with me? Did you know you have really pretty eyes? – as she tried to calm her nerves. Ethan was incredibly handsome it made her sigh just thinking of him. She wanted to lock tusks with him once again so she could gaze into those eyes...
Then, the dream stopped.
"Did you have a nice dream?" a female voice said, snapping Peaches out of her trance.
Peaches turned around and noticed Shira walking towards her. "Hi, Shira."
"Judging by the happy smile on your face I take it you were dreaming about... boys?" Shira said, the corners of her mouth curving into a grin.
Peaches felt her face flush. "I... uh... so what if I was?"
Shira laughed. "Don't worry all females go through that phase."
"Even sabres?"
"Yes, even sabres."
Peaches gave the sabre a calculating look. "It's hard to imagine you fantasizing about a male sabre." She was a tough rugged sabre. Was Shira honestly admitting she too had funny dreams about the impossible? "What did... did you have any relationships when you were younger?"
Shira shook her head. "Well, there was this one sabre I thought I was in love with but of course he didn't notice me... or tried not to. He was the strongest male in his pack and was sought after by many females. I was a young teenager at the time, same age as you actually. I used to think he and I would get together and do all the things couples in love do... but I was wrong. I found out he was playing with the hearts of many female sabres and thanked myself for never going there," she confided, watching Peaches's face morph into a look of lost hope. "But you never know, yours might become a reality but you'll never know unless you take a chance."
"Like how you took a chance with Diego by leaving your life on ship?"
"I guess you could say that. Just be yourself, Peaches. If it doesn't work out... it was never meant to be. Perhaps you're looking for companionship in all the wrong places, maybe the one you want has been with you the entire time but you've never realized it?"
Peaches frowned. "You mean Louis?"
Shira shrugged. "Think about it Peaches. I'll be here anytime you need to talk." With that said Shira turned her back and returned to the den site. Knowing Diego and his hunting ability he would be back soon. Peaches watched the sabre retreat and wondered what she could have possibly meant.
Diego led the cubs to his favourite hunting ground where vast herds of herbivores gathered to eat the fresh grass. The grass here was long making it the perfect place to plant an ambush and strike unexpectedly. Of course, it took great caution and skill. Camouflage didn't work here. "Okay, watch carefully. Us sabres aren't known for sprinting over great distances; we need to strike hard and fast within a hundred metres."
The sole male of the litter nodded. "But dada, what if they see us hiding?"
"Usually the wind blows in the opposite direction ensuring our prey can't detect our scent. If the wind blows towards us we need to hide and wait until it's blowing the other way. When it does, we slowly creep up behind our prey until we're within sprinting distance," he said speaking in a hushed tone. "Our prey might not have claws and teeth like us, but they have sensitive hearing and sharp hooves. A well aimed kick can severely hurt a sabre."
The four cabs gasped and exchanged worried looks. "Hunting is dangerous."
"And that's why we need to be careful when hunting. Now, all of you lay flat down in the grass. I'm going to get us something to eat. Do not move until I call for you, all right?" The cubs nodded and pressed their bellies flat against the snow. Pleased, Diego moved his attention away from the cubs and focused on a young male calf chasing his shadow around in circles. Easy pickings, Diego thought as he slowly made his way towards the calf.
He edged closer... closer... and closer until he was within range when one of the cubs darted forward. The calf stopped playing chase, turned its head around and spotted Diego with the four cubs. He didn't need another warning to bolt. Diego growled, and jerked his head at the cubs. "I told you to stay down!" he snapped. "Now our dinner has run away."
"Hunting isn't fun," a female muttered, rubbing her face with her paw.
Her light grey sister nodded. "It's not fun when food runs away."
"Why can't we be vegetarians like the rest of the herd?" the male whined.
"Ew, vegetables are yuck!"
"Yeah, you don't want to turn into that weird sloth!"
The first sister started to cry. "I want mama!"
Diego was beginning to think Shira had been correct about not taking the cubs hunting. But still, despite messing up the plan, Diego couldn't be angry at them for too long. They were young, and it was their first time away from the den play site. Mistakes were going to be made. "In the future, you need to learn to control your excitement until you've made the kill. You can celebrate afterwards."
The crying female stopped her tears when a strange flying insect with colourful wings flew by. "Oh, look a funny flying thing!" she shouted. The cubs turned away from Diego and embarked on a chase after the weird insect. A butterfly. Diego grinned, laughing at the sight of his cubs falling over each other as they attempted to hit the insect. It didn't take long until the butterfly was well out of their reach. "What was that?"
"That," Diego started, trotting towards the cubs, "is a butterfly. We don't eat butterflies." Once again, the attention of cubs was short lived. As Diego continued to explain why butterflies weren't for eating, the male cub decided he hated lectures and wanted adventure instead. He sniffed the air and caught the scent of water. Excitement filled him, and before Diego could react, he made a charge towards the water.
"Water!" the sisters cried as they ran through the long blades of grass.
It didn't take them long to find the pool of water surrounded by a wall of mud. The male cub led the way into the water, throwing himself over the wall and plunging headfirst into the cool liquid. The sisters followed, tripping and slipping in the mud in the process. "You can't swim!" Diego shouted, sprinting towards the pool.
As he ran to rescue them, he too slipped in the mud. He continued to slide across the ground until he reached the tiny wall. He stepped over it and rushed into the water to find the cubs. For a fully grown sabre, the surface only reached the back of his hind legs, but for a tiny cub it was like the ocean. "Dada!"
One cub. Diego picked up the first thrashing female cub and picked her up by the scruff of the neck. He dropped her over the wall then rushed back in to locate the other three. Soon, after minutes of searching, all four cubs were safe on dry land. Four tiny fuzz balls covered in mud peered up at him. "Never do that again," Diego scolded, trying to shake the mud off his fur. But the mud remained. If he didn't find a clear pool of water soon, the mud would dry and it would be difficult to get it off. "Let's find some water before your mother finds out."
Talking with Shira had helped Peaches clear her mind from all these confusing thoughts. Going after Ethan seemed risky now; he did have far too many female friends for comfort. Would he remain committed to her if she wanted to take things further? Probably not. "Louis?" she said aloud, scanning her surroundings searching for her favourite mole hog.
Upon hearing his name, Louis exited his hiding spot and walked over to Peaches. He glanced up at her with curious eyes. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Shira and I want you to know, I'll support you no matter what you choose to do." He took in a deep breath and continued. "If you really like Ethan I suggest you go for it. I'll always be your friend," he added.
A wide smile broke out on Peaches' face. "Oh, Louis! You're the best!" She lowered her trunk and patted him on the head. "I don't need Ethan – you are the best friend a female mammoth can have."
"And I'm the luckiest mole hog in the world," he replied grinning. Although they were animals of different species and incapable of venturing past the barrier of friendship, at least Louis was pleased to know Peaches would never neglect their friendship.
"So, is this what you call hunting?" a female demanded. Diego froze in place, almost afraid to glance over. He knew that voice all too well. Even the cubs were quiet and scared stiff. "You took the cubs out to play in the mud," Shira said, giving her partner a menacing look.
"It's not what it looks look, honest!"
The intensity and displeasure on Shira's face never faded. Diego's ears flattened; this was it. He was done for this time. "I think it looks like a failed hunting trip. Perhaps I should be the one to take the cubs on hunting trips until you learn to be more mature," she said, shaking her head in distaste at the five muddy sabres. "Honestly... I leave you alone for less than an hour and I find you all covered in mud."
"The cubs wanted to play rather than hunt," Diego protested.
An awkward silence followed until a smile crossed her face. Joyous laughter filled the air shortly afterwards breaking the silence. "You really are soft, aren't you? I guess the discipline will be up to me." She trotted over to him and started licking the mud of his face. "We need to get you all washed up. Prey will be able to smell you from miles away."
Diego grinned. "Okay, you were right. The cubs are too young to go hunting, but you can't say they didn't have fun. We'll leave them with Sid I guess, while you and I hunt?" he offered.
"Sounds good to me, maybe the cubs can use Sid as target practice?" Her comment earned a chuckle from Diego and she smiled in return. Diego couldn't help but think he was the luckiest sabre on the planet. How many female sabres would forgive their partner for endangering the lives of the cubs? She licked him again, and Diego returned her gesture with an affectionate lick on the nose. Both sabres giggled and led the cubs back home to clean up.