Otters and Hedgehogs
Late fall. Warm sunlight. Brown, green, yellow, red leaves. Silence. Stillness. Peace.
Peace broken. A small shape whizzes past. It is a hedgehog, spiky and brown. It pauses to sniff the air. Finding what it is looking for, it runs off in the direction it has scented.
The otter was on an outcropping of rocks on the side of the pond. His eyes searched high and low. The hedgehog scurried up to the edge of the pond. A deer had been found drowned at the bottom of the pond. It was their responsibility to find out why.
The otter focused on the pond. Suddenly he darted in and came back out with a fish. He threw it at the hedgehog's feet and sauntered over. The otter then started several minutes of intense investigation of the fish. The hedgehog made a confused sound and tried to peer deeper into the pond's murky bottom.
The owl flapping his wings startled them both. The hedgehog squeaked and ran behind the otter. The owl landed on a tree branch nearby and seemed to examine them. The otter growled at the owl. The otter had seen owls try to take his hedgehog before and he had always protected him.
But the owl just kept looking. By now the hedgehog was whimpering. The owl not doing anything was more terrifying than him attacking straight away. He began to edge away without coming from behind the otter. The otter backed away with him.
Then the otter noticed things about the owl. His feather color was a dark and light brown mix. The fish he caught had a dark brown feather and pieces of deer meat in its stomach. Many of the owls in this area were a white and grey mixture. This owl had put the deer in the pond.
The otter wanted to tell the seal that he had solved the case he had been set on. But the hedgehog behind him was still terrified. So for the first time ever the otter picked the hedgehog over work. He turned away from the owl and gently pushed the hedgehog towards home. He decided to deal with the owl later.
The owl watched them go. He knew they would meet again.
The hedgehog stumbled through the forest almost blindly. The otter followed behind him and nudged him in the right direction. Their holt was underneath a half fallen tree. It was filled with leaves on the bottom. The sun flitted in and out from between the trees as it set.
They shambled through the opening of their holt. The hedgehog buried himself in a pile of leaves to try and shake off the last of the anxiety. The otter slowed down and awkwardly shuffled around. The hedgehog looked at him with pleading eyes. The otter huffed, made his way over, and curled around the hedgehog.