No author's note to start this one. I'll have some words to share at the end. My faithful readers, I wish to present a story for you almost four years in the making. What follows is a prompt response to the GoF prompt challenge for March 2017, a challenge issued by Rhombus to write a Sharptooth narrative from the perspective of one of the non-mainstream Sharpteeth. Let's dive into this...
Guardian
The lone cry of a migrating Flyer echoed forth over a wide expanse of blue-green, a cove surrounded on three sides (though the locals often said it was more like two and a half) by sand and stone. The night was clear and quiet, save for the sound of some distant creature breaching the water's surface or the rhythmic, calming rush of water over sand. In the trees on one side of the cove, a herd of Spiketails finished their grazing before turning in for the night. A shoal of Scaly Swimmers rushed through the shallows, pursued by some unknown dark shape. Gentle waves lapped at the shores, smoothing the sand down so that the Night Circle's light reflected off of it in a brilliant white sheen when viewed from the proper angle. With the tides came debris- shells, carrion, driftwood- and that debris in turn was consumed either by the scavengers that skirted the beaches at night, or the waves that rushed in, just as eager to take what they had given.
But the cove wasn't entirely beach. Its longest side was a long, thick wall of stone, its true height a mystery to any surface-dweller as its walls faded quickly into the dark blue waters. From the top, no one really knew the true scale of it, this tongue of land that supported no less than a lush forest, several streams, and many varieties of life, including the Spiketails. However, deep down, below the surface of the waves, someone did. Someone knew what lay below the verdant strip of paradise, and the truth of it saddened her..
She cruised with all the grace and silence of a passing cloud, her sleek form barely perceptible amidst the dark stone. In her element, she traversed relatively unseen, her four large flippers giving her powerful yet quiet propulsion, while her long, elegant neck served to dampen the pressure waves produced by her large body. This cove was her domain, though neither she nor anyone else ever fought or laid claim to the title. She had earned it simply because, in the perpetual struggle for life and death beneath the waves, she swam through unscathed. No one bothered her, and she bothered no one, aside from the Scaly Swimmers she pursued on a daily basis. Thus, she had free reign of the cove, and the freedom to go wherever she pleased. Elsie was her name.
Today, like most days, that freedom took her to the stone wall, or what looked to anyone on the surface like a wall. In truth, its shape was much different to one who had the ability to see its submerged side. The vertical wall of rock only extended down a few landstrider-lengths, but from there it caved in, almost as if scooped out by some great force. Below that, in the shadow the great stone shelf cast, the long-necked Swimmer made her home. It was a quiet place. Very little vegetation grew without the touch of the Bright Circle from above, so few creatures were attracted to it. It was for this reason that the great Swimmer made this her home. It was a place of peace, one of silent reflection and pondering, and as she got on in her years, she found it to be more and more welcoming to her, especially after the great migration.
There had been others like her in the cove once, but when the earthshakes began, they started to leave one by one. The earthshakes didn't trouble Elsie all that much, to her the tranquility and vibrance of the cove was enough to warrant her own stay, but the others feared them, said that eventually they would change the shape of the cove, and possibly put them in harm's way. So they left.
And here, by the rock shelf, Elsie understood their fear. With every earthshake the rock weakened, pieces of it cracking off day after day. By now, it was only a matter of time. One more big earthshake, and, paradise or not, the whole thing would fall into the sea.
Those who lived on the land above her sensed it. In her younger days she'd come up to the land sometimes to watch them. They would graze, frolick, talk to one another; their mannerisms were strange, and their appearance even stranger, but seeing them kept her amused, and even after the others of her kind left, watching the landstriders made her feel just a bit less lonely.
But it seemed the landstriders, too, had some idea of what was to come. Nowadays they stuck to the opposite side of the forest, where a shallow beach prevented her from getting close. She didn't see them very often anymore, and the few that did come wandering over to her side didn't stay for long. Below the surface wasn't much better. Due to her size, most other Swimmers were intimidated by her, and they kept their distance. So these days, she swam alone, patrolling the rock shelf, waiting for the day when the next big earthshake finally sent it down to its watery resting place. What would she do then? It was a question she often ruminated on, and to date she had no answer. The open water was where most of her kind had gone, but she was getting old. Competing for food out there when such a plentiful source existed close by sounded dangerous and unappealing. Staying would be conditional on whether the eventual collapse drove the food away or not, but even if it did not, the collapsed shelf would bring a terribly dreary feel to the place. Perhaps she would wander, leaving the cove in the hopes of finding another one like it. The sea (the landstriders called it the Big Water, much to her amusement) was a large place, after all, and as far as she knew, the shore stretched on for forever.
Elsie angled her streamlined body up and started a slow ascent, chasing the Night Circle all the way to the surface. When her head breached, she breathed in a long, sweet draught of the night air. Her gaze fell upon the shelf and its bountiful forest, as it always did, and like every other time in recent memory, she felt a lump form in her throat. She was about to duck back down, to return to her grotto beneath the shelf, when something new caught her eye moving up the beach, two shapes that were quite unfamiliar to her. Intrigued, Elsie turned towards them and began to move in their direction, her head barely above the water's surface. To them, she probably appeared only to be an odd-shaped piece of driftwood, but to Elsie, the two-legged newcomers were a strange and wondrous sight, one she wanted to familiarize herself with as soon as possible, and who could blame her? After all, she had never seen a family of two-clawed Sharpteeth before.
…
When Dun saw the wide swath of green trees ahead as he, his mate, Rysa, and their son, Chomper crested what felt like the hundredth dune that day, he had to convince himself he wasn't sleepwalking. Together, they had scoured the Mysterious Beyond for weeks without finding a place to stay, and by now it was becoming hopeless.
Originally, he and his family had stayed near the walls of the Great Valley, hoping to make use of the bountiful hunting grounds there. Unfortunately for them, hunting by the Great Wall wasn't all that easy anymore. With an organized group of Leaf Eaters in the Valley, patrols were more common, Threehorns, Clubtails, Spiketails, any and all manner of intimidating foes roamed the lands outside the Valley from time to time in close groups. Attacking them, even for a Twoclaw like himself, would have been suicide, so he and his family had decided to seek hunting grounds elsewhere, rather than risk their lives hunting seasoned prey.
There was, of course, another reason though he and Rysa rarely spoke about it, and that was the circumstances surrounding their son. The only survivor of a particularly bad nesting season, Chomper had been taken from them before he was hatched by a pair of Egg Stealers into the Great Valley. Miraculously, they'd found a way into the Valley shortly afterwards, and were able to follow his scent. Not so miraculously, he was already in the care of several of the Valley's children when they found him. Worst of all, he seemed to be friends with them. Already more than a little miffed that theirs had not been the faces their son saw upon hatching, he and Rysa had chosen to relocate Chomper. Growing up with Leaf Eater friends had the potential to breed some bad habits, and the last thing they needed was for someone who relied on eating other dinosaurs to survive locking up on a hunt because his friends looked like his dinner. Eating the children was another solution they had considered, but it was far too troublesome to go through with. The adults of the Valley were formidable, and while annoying, the children hadn't really harmed Chomper at all. In fact, if not for them, the Egg Stealers might have devoured him. There was that to consider, too.
It was part of the reason they had allowed their son to keep his name, given to him by the Leaf Eaters. It wasn't the name they would have picked, but it had the advantage of being a shared Leaf Eater and Sharptooth word, and besides- it certainly suited him. It was about the only form of gratitude two natural predators could show their prey without overstepping their bounds. They kept the name, and then retreated. Both agreed that it was better than sticking around and trying to thank the ones who had saved him, or even accidentally hunting them one day.
But after wandering dry, barren wastes for so long, both Dun and Rysa found themselves wishing they'd chosen to stick to their old hunting grounds. That was, until today.
"Green?" Dun exclaimed, so pleasantly baffled that he couldn't even put an entire sentence together. His mate chuckled.
"Green, Dun. Yes, that's green. Does this mean what I think it means?"
Dun swept his eyes over the long spike of land protruding out into the Big Water. At its end, it grew wide, creating what might well have been an island, had it not been connected to the land by a wide stretch of forest. It was an island big enough to support all sorts of prey, and the stretch between it and the land would make a perfect place to set up a nest, equidistant between their new hunting grounds and the mainland. They could scavenge from the beach, hunt whenever they wanted to, and he had no doubt they'd be able to find a source of fresh water nearby. It wasn't just passable. It was perfect. Already as the smell of a herd of Domeheads reached his nose, he found himself salivating.
"It means exactly what you think it means," he said, letting the tension fall from his frame as he sighed in relief, taking in the absolutely gorgeous view of the cove before them. He looked down at Chomper, whose wide eyes glinted with wonder at the sparkling water and bright green foliage, and gave his son a reassuring smile.
"It means we're finally home."
…
When the three dinosaurs finally entered the shelter of the trees, Elsie sank back down underwater, practically shaking with excitement. There were new dinosaurs, Sharpteeth from the look of them, moving into her cove, and that was truly an exciting prospect. She'd seen Sharptooth on the beach from a distance. Sometimes smaller ones came to the waterside to eat the sea's dead that washed ashore, but rarely had she been gifted the chance to see one up close. These three were moving onto the shelf, and with its deep water nearby, she might finally have the chance to see new faces again. Maybe, perhaps, she'd even try talking to them one day.
And then a terrible thought crossed her mind: what if that day never came? The Sharpteeth were newcomers, moving in onto the slowly collapsing stone shelf. When the next earthshake came, and it would come, they would be in danger. Even if they were smart enough to get out of harm's way in time, where would that leave her? Right back where she started, more than likely.
Elsie began a slow descent, letting herself fall gently towards the sea floor. She spied a passing shoal of Scaly Swimmers and darted forward, catching one between her teeth almost on instinct. Even the act of hunting was losing its luster these days.
She couldn't get involved. Not with the Sharpteeth, not with anyone on the surface. To make friends, only to have them taken away from her in an instant- that was worse than never making friends at all. At her age, she wasn't sure she was ready for another heartbreak like that. Losing one's companions tended to have that sort of effect.
No, the best course ahead would be to isolate herself, she decided as she retreated to her dark grotto beneath the shelf. It would be lonesome, but she'd dealt with lonesome before. Heartache? That was a different story entirely. The Sharpteeth were just a few more forgettable faces in a doomed paradise, nothing more.
Yet, as she came to rest on a soft bed of sand between a ring of stones, she knew that that was a lie. If it was true, then why could she remember their faces in such vivid detail? She groaned inwardly. Making big problems out of little things- she scoffed at the absurdity of it- how typical for someone in her place on the Circle of Life.
…
Exhausted, Rysa deposited the carcass of the Crestsinger she'd been carrying all morning in front of the sleeping forms of her mate and Chomper. Since both of the males in the family had apparently been too tuckered out to get up with the Bright Circle and hunt, she'd taken it upon herself to bring home the kill today. It had been easy, almost laughably so. The rest of the Crestsingers had been so surprised by her ambush that she wondered if they'd ever seen a Sharptooth in their lives at all.
Stranger still, the scent of fear was lingering in the air long before she made her presence known to them. It was as if the Leaf Eaters were expecting something, and Rya wasn't certain it was her they'd been waiting for.
But those questions were big questions, reserved for a time when she and her mate could discuss them alone. Right now, she had mouths to feed.
"Okay boys," she roared, planting her foot down with enough force to shake the leaves from nearby trees, "up and at 'em! Breakfast is here!"
Chomper was immediately alert, hopping up onto his feet and shaking his little tail rapidly from side to side, barely able to contain his excitement. Beside him, Dun barely moved.
"Whuzzat," he muttered, blinking as he cracked his eyes open.
"Breakfast, Dun. I have breakfast. Now come on and get up. The day's almost half over already!"
Dun groaned and rolled over onto his other side, a move that earned him a sour glare from his mate. Chomper, in turn, fell over in a fit of giggles at his father's antics.
"Dun, get up. I mean it. If you don't get up and eat your Crestsinger, I'm letting Chomper have your portions!"
"You wouldn't," came the muffled response. Rysa groaned. For all his strength, his hunting prowess, and his charm, she wondered if Dun had ever really grown up. Right now, looking down at the dark green, lazy lump in front of her, she was teetering on the side of "not." She shook her head, hiding her bemused grin as she turned to her son.
"Chomper? That Crestsinger is all yours.
"For me?!" the little hatchling squeaked in excited disbelief. He didn't quite have the hang of complete sentences down yet, but Dun and Rysa had taught him a usable amount of the Sharptooth language. Now that they were potentially settled down, they both looked forward to teaching him more.
Giving him an affirmative nod, Rysa watched as her son sped off towards the carcass, almost tripping over his own feet. The pitter patter of his feet upon the forest floor grabbed Dun's attention immediately, and he realized his mate wasn't kidding.
That did it. The large Sharptooth rolled onto his legs, rocking himself into a standing position before his eyes were even fully open. Rysa grinned to herself. He could put off waking up all he wanted, but after a long day's walk, the promise of food was too strong for even the most stoic of Sharpteeth to resist.
Dun let out a loud, long yawn and stumbled over towards the carcass where Chomper was already digging in. On the way, he gave his mate an apologetic wink.
"Morning, dear. Sorry about all that."
She laughed and shrugged him off, "don't worry about it, Dun. I just couldn't bear seeing the two most important males in my life waste a perfectly good day."
In spite of the light assaulting his eyes and the soreness and exhaustion left over in his bones from the previous day's hike, Dun couldn't help but nod. She had done well to wake them, and looking around he was glad to have woken while the Bright Circle was still rising. Last night, the forest had seemed spectacular enough, but in the light of day it took on a whole new appearance. Golden light broke through the thick tree canopy in shafts, making the sand scattered here and there glisten. In the distance he could hear the calls of herds, probably coming from the larger landmass farther out towards the Big Water, and then there was the smell. Any Leaf Eater would probably have found the smell of the Big Water to be unpleasant, but to a Sharptooth it was inviting. Even if the herds should become scarce, he realized, the Big Water itself was a source of food too, in a way. He wondered what sort of new tastes he might discover walking the beach, and made sure to tuck the idea away where he could come back to it later. Perhaps he and Rysa could enjoy a beach walk together sometime soon. Now they had all the time in the world.
As Dun tucked into the Crestsinger's flank alongside her, Rysa felt a wave of warmth course through her body, stronger than that of the Bright Circle's own heat. It was still difficult to believe that their travels were finally over, and this place seemed too good to be true. Had she discovered the place on her own, she wondered if she would have even believed it to be real, but here, with Chomper and Dun beside her, she knew that she wasn't seeing things anymore. Their home would be a paradise. It was far better than what they deserved, but she was willing to take it.
"This Crestsinger is delicious," Dun muttered through a mouthful of flank muscle, "I trust the hunting was good then? No trouble bringing it down?"
Rysa considered bringing up the Leaf Eaters' strange behavior, but thought better of it. It wasn't a particularly troubling observation, just an unusual one, and Dun would probably figure it out once he started hunting. She simply nodded as she worked on the dinosaur's ribs, swallowing her food before answering him.
"Nope, pretty easy hunting and there's a lot of food for such a small area. Didn't smell any other Sharpteeth, either."
"Hm," Dun went back to his meal, deep in thought. "That's good. Means Chomper should have a fairly large and safe area to play in. He'll have a lot of running room, more than he'd ever have back by the Valley."
Rysa nodded her agreement. It would do their son wonders to have him grow up in a place where every day wouldn't be a struggle for survival. Kids his age were prime targets for smaller Sharpteeth like Fast Biters and the like. Even Egg Stealers were known to try their luck from time to time, though as she recalled Chomper's own experience with the blundering duo not long ago, she figured that probably wouldn't be an issue for him. She snorted as she recalled that memory. That was her Chomper, always vigilant, never one to underestimate. He'd make a fine adult one day.
"And speaking of which," Dun went on, "why don't we let him go play for the day? I've been hoping for a chance to walk the beach, get a feel for the new territory, spread a few marks, that sort of thing."
Rysa thought it over, purring softly to herself. It was a tic of hers, one that Dun was especially fond of, and it only really presented itself when she was deep in thought. Chomper would be safe, of that she was sure, but it would feel strange leaving him alone after keeping him so close for their journey. Seeing her contemplation, Dun added: "we'll have to let him roam free eventually. Might as well start now."
"He's barely older than a hatchling," she pointed out, "and we both know he's got an eye for trouble."
"So we don't go far."
Sighing, Rya turned to Chomper, who was just finishing up his meal.
"Chomper, your father and I will be going for a short walk. You're free to play while we're gone-"
"Yay!" the young Sharptooth cheered, licking his chops to clean them.
"-but you need to stay close enough that you can still smell us, okay?"
Chomper nodded eagerly.
"Alright, then. Run along, Chomper. We'll be back soon."
The little blue and purple Sharptooth scurried off before either of them could get another word out. Dun looked to his mate, shook his head, and then the two of them shared a long laugh.
"At least we know where he gets his scatterbrained side from," Rysa joked, bumping up against Dun playfully. He, in turn, shoved back.
"I can guess. Probably not from the same side he got his handsome features from, though."
"Oh please," Rysa scoffed, wheeling around and flicking her tail in her mate's face, "we both know he's got my eyes. Now, let's go see this beach of yours before we accidentally start a turf war, eh?"
"Good idea," Dun said, and he followed the lightly-colored female out of the clearing, his mind already abuzz with the possibilities of new sights, smells, and (most importantly) tastes that might lie in wait for them. Chomper's scent was strong in the air, the Bright Circle was shining, and he could hear the waves of the Big Water calling to him. Day one in paradise had begun. One of many, many more to come.
…
Elsie uttered a long, heavy sigh as she looked towards the gently swaying trees ahead of her. This was one of her favorite surface spots- a rocky ledge just next to a small beach with a sharp, sandy drop-off. Just deep enough for her to get right up to the edge of the water, but with a nice, clear view of the land above as well.
She'd tried to convince herself not to come up here today, that perhaps the other side of the cove was worth exploring instead (she knew from previous experience that it was not), but despite the nagging voices in her head telling her not to, she'd come up today anyway in the hopes of at least seeing the Sharpteeth up close. No attachments, she'd assured herself, just observation. Observation purely for the purpose of gathering information. Nothing more.
So far, however, the Sharpteeth had yet to show, and that was a bit of a relief for her. It took the pressure off trying to avoid talking to them. But a trip to the surface wasn't something to be wasted, so she waited, floating idle in the water as she took in the fresh, sharp scent of the forest and the Bright Circle's warm light as she basked.
Elsie lay her head on the smooth rock beside the beach and closed her eyes, thinking of the times she and her friends had spent cavorting around in the cove. Her reminiscence brought a smile to her face as she imagined- no, recalled dozens of long, slender necks breaking the surface of the water, calling to one another in their unique voices, sounds that would have been strange to any landstrider. She remembered how they would hunt, sweeping through the water grass and through the shelf's nooks and crannies in pursuit of Scaly Swimmers. They had been good at it, too. Most of the time their prey never saw them coming. They had truly been the masters of their domain. She yearned for those days.
So lost in thought was she that Elsie did not notice a small blue and purple form come skipping out of the trees in pursuit of a runaway Snapper. He tried to follow it, doing his best to copy its sudden, rapid movements, but the snapper's zigzag patterns were too difficult to replicate and he ended up stumbling, tumbling flat onto his face. He got up slowly, spitting sand from his mouth…
And then he saw Elsie.
Elsie was too busy daydreaming to notice him as the young Sharptooth approached, but if she had, she would have noticed his suddenly concerned expression. It was not one of concern for his own safety, but rather that he had noticed Elsie's own sadness. As Dun and Rysa often said, he was a very considerate child. Probably had something to do with hatching beside Leaf Eaters.
He left his Snapper and approached her, timidly taking only a few small steps in her direction.
"H- hello?"
Elsie snapped out of her daydream quickly, her eyes flying wide open as she recoiled from the rock. The sudden splashing frightened the Sharptooth child, and he jumped back, squeaking nervously. She had to dive now, Elsie told herself, dive before he spoke to her again. No connections. Associating with him now was just going to bring about more sadness later.
But she didn't dive. Try as she might, she simply couldn't. She was transfixed by the young Sharptooth's bright, reddish eyes as they looked up at her with a mixture of fear and curiosity. He probably hadn't seen anything like her before.
She knew she was going to regret this encounter, that was more certain now than ever, but at the same time, it wasn't as if she had to worry about avoiding the landstriders anymore, was it? That, at least, was a load off her mind. She had lost the battle against her own will, but losing it was strangely liberating. In defeat, she let herself relax, fixing the child with a distant gaze and a wan smile.
"Hello there, sweet thing," she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper, "what brings you to my beach today?"
The young Sharptooth kept his distance, but he seemed to relax a little as well, lowering his tail slightly and ceasing his rapid, distressed hopping.
"You… sad!" he said, pausing mid-answer as if trying to find the right word to end with. Elsie realized he was probably doing just that. She was no expert on Sharpteeth, but the little guy looked like it hadn't even been a year since he hatched. Nevertheless, she was surprised at how spot-on his observation had been. She was sad, she just hadn't realized how obvious that was to anyone else.
"Yes, well…" she sniffed, blinking back a stray tear that she hadn't realized was there. It was impossible to tell when she was crying underwater, but up on land her feelings were quite a bit more obvious. She hid her face from the Sharptooth while she shook the tears from her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was to make him sad, too, and the little spark in the Sharptooth's eyes was one she did not want to see extinguished by her own moping. The thought of fleeing surfaced one more time in her mind before she squashed it for good. She owed this curious newcomer a conversation, her own feelings be damned. It was simply the polite thing to do.
"I guess you could say I am sad, young one. Or I was, at least, until you came along. Tell me, what is your name?"
"I Chomper!" he replied, grinning and showing off the teeth that were clearly his namesake. Elsie chuckled. He was proud of his name, then. That was good. Chomper was a good name for a fellow hunter. A good, strong name.
"Well, Chomper, it is truly a pleasure to speak with a landstrider such as yourself. My name is Elsie…"
…
Dun's and Rysa's beach walk had been both enlightening and fulfilling for the two of them. Neither had actually seen the Big Water before, though they'd heard mention of it from the Sharptooth Flyers that came from it every now and then, and to actually see it up close was a wondrous experience. They had always imagined it would be big, of course, but as inland predators, they'd never really been able to wrap their minds around the concept of something this big. The water stretched to the horizon, and it didn't seem to stop there. One could only wonder what sort of strange and wonderful sights lurked in its depths, and at one point, Dun had expressed his wish that one day he might grow fins and see for himself what was down there. This had earned him a hearty tail-slap from his mate, and the nickname "dork" for the rest of the walk from that point onward.
They spread marks and picked from the Big Water's carrion, establishing their territory while trying what new food their home had to offer. The tastes were strange, but not unpleasant. Of particular note was a strange-looking Swimmer that had washed ashore with a slender, pointed nose and a strange finned tail. Rysa had especially enjoyed that one, and the two of them hoped hoped that they would see more of those in the future.
When their curiosity was sated they returned home, only to find their son was waiting for them, eagerly bouncing up and down as if he had something to say.
"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Rysa quipped as she gathered a few soft ferns and placed them in a corner of their clearing, a temporary nest for Chomper, "how was your day, Chomper?"
"El Zee!" he squeaked, jumping up and down excitedly, "I meet El Zee! El Zee my friend!"
Dun raised an eyebrow. "El Zee? Who is El Zee, Chomper?"
"El Zee friend! She sad, but nice."
The dark green Sharptooth sniffed at the air, trying to mask his concern as he did so. He hadn't expected Chomper would meet someone else while they were away. If there were other Sharpteeth here after all…
But he detected nothing, no strange scents on his son. Just the ever-present smell of the Big Water. He frowned, confusion furrowing his brow. Rysa smelled it too, but unlike her mate she had an answer.
"Ah, so you've finally found an imaginary friend, have you Chomper?"
"El Zee real!" he protested, putting his foot down hard and pouting. Rysa bit back a smirk. It was cute the way he tried to mimic his father's "angry" gestures. She doubted his stomp would be enough to move even the tiniest of flowers.
"Of course she's real," she said, licking her son gently as she nudged him toward the nest," I had a friend just like El Zee once, you know."
"You did?"
"Oh yes. We went on many adventures together. I bet you and El Zee will have quite a few adventures of your own in this place Just you wait and see."
Chomper closed his eyes, curling up among the ferns as his mother's soft tongue caressed him to sleep. Rysa had no doubt that El Zee, whoever she was, was probably dancing and laughing with him just beneath those eyelids. She smiled as she gave him one more good lick, and then turned up to see Dun staring quizzically at her.
"What? You've never had an imaginary friend before?"
"No…" he stuttered, "should I have?"
"Well how'd a Sharptooth like you pass the time when you were a kid?"
Dun clicked his tiny forearms together, embarrassed. He mumbled something and Rysa drew closer.
"What was that?"
"I said I talked to rocks."
Dumbfounded, Rysa only stared at him before bursting out in peals of guffawing laughter. On the other side of the forest, a herd of Lightfeet took cover at the sound. Chomper snored on, oblivious, and Dun looked positively pathetic.
"Hey, it's not that much different than a friend that isn't there, is it?" he retorted, trying to stand up for himself. Rysa shook her head as her laughter died down, brushing up tenderly against her mate.
"Don't worry about it, Dun. If that sort of thing bothered me, we would have never gotten together in the first place. Besides, I find it endearing." She brushed her tail tip beneath Dun's snout, tickling his sensitive sniffer as she passed by.
"Care for one more stroll along the beach before we settle in for the night?"
"Another one? But we just-"
"A stroll under the Night Circle? Just the two of us? To celebrate our new home?"
Dun looked just as confused as ever. Rysa frowned.
"And maybe, perhaps, we can find a nice, quiet place and…"
"Oh!" The realization of what his mate was implying hit Dun with the force of a Longneck's tailstrike. He grinned sheepishly. "I see. Yes, well… I think I could oblige."
"My my, you are scatterbrained today, aren't you?" Rysa mused as her mate joined her near the edge of the clearing.
"I guess it's just because I'm so glad we're finally here," he answered, "sometimes it all seems a little too good to be true, you know?" He looked down at the sleeping form of his son and decided to ask her one more question.
"But… you think he'll be safe here alone, right?"
Rysa was already disappearing into the trees when her answer came floating back to him, "Sheesh, Dun! This morning it was you that had to convince me to leave him alone! Yes, he'll be fine! We won't go far, and besides- he's got El Zee to protect him. Now let's go before I get bored."
El Zee. Right. Dun snorted, thinking about his son's new "friend." Imaginary or otherwise, he mused, following the fast-disappearing tail of his mate, he still felt a little disappointed that his son hadn't personified a boulder somewhere instead.
"There's nothing weird about that," he muttered to himself, "nothing wrong at all about being friends with rocks. At least they're real…"
…
As Elsie returned to her grotto beneath the watchful eye of the Night Circle, she did so a very different creature from the one that had surfaced earlier that day. Her thoughts were of Chomper, the first landstrider she had ever had the pleasure of speaking to. The cute little Sharptooth had been surprisingly polite to her, and she'd already learned so much about the dry world he lived in despite his childish speech. Perhaps next time, she supposed, she could teach him a little bit about her own world.
A soft, muted thud pulsed through the water and Elsie looked up toward the shelf. A shower of stone cascaded down towards the sea floor, and then everything was still once more. She found her old fears returning, and was faced once more with the fact that this meeting, however wonderful, was going to be brief.
She had to warn him somehow. He and his family were in danger the longer they stayed up there. The shelf was on the verge of collapse now, liable to come down at any moment. The little Sharptooth seemed to trust her. Maybe there was a way to get him to spread the word…
Elsie rested her head on the soft sand, her thoughts like a swirling shoal of Scaly Swimmers. If she warned the Sharpteeth, and they took that warning to heart, they would leave. That was a guarantee. But she had to do it. She knew she'd never be able to live with herself otherwise.
…
Following the next morning's breakfast, Chomper immediately asked his parents to be excused for the day. More tired than usual, they granted his wish immediately, consoling each other with the notion that he was probably going off to play with El Zee before, exhausted, they both collapsed by the carcass of the Crestsinger from the day before, asleep.
When Elsie saw the little Sharptooth come running up the shore towards her, her face split into a huge grin. It felt good to smile again.
"Good morning, Chomper!" she addressed her friend with an enthusiastic wave of her flipper.
"Goo' morning!" Chomper replied, jumping in place as he did when he was excited. Elsie laughed.
"Well, little Chomper, you've taught me so much about your world. I wonder- would you like to experience mine?"
The little Sharptooth's eyes went wide as he looked out towards the water.
"I go in Big Waddah?" he asked, shivering a little.
"Those of us who live here call it the sea," Elsie explained, "and no, you don't actually have to go into it. I've got a plan!"
Raising her neck high, Elsie brought her head down to rest on a stony ledge by the beach. The strain was immense- Swimming Longnecks had different necks than their land-based counterparts, and keeping her head above water was exhausting, but she didn't mind. It'd give the little guy a chance to see something he hadn't seen before.
"Hop on!" she grunted.
Chomper took a few tentative steps towards her, but jumped back just before setting foot on her head.
"Now now, I won't bite. I promise. I'm just an old softy. Come on, little one!"
Had Chomper's parents been on the scene, Elsie would never have made it back into the water alive, but they weren't. The two older Sharpteeth were far away, pleasantly snoozing the day away, leaving Chomper to climb carefully up onto the head of his far from imaginary friend, any self-respecting parent's worst nightmare.
Elsie winced as Chomper's claws dug into her neck, followed shortly by her back, but the little pricks were equally comforting to her. It meant that he had a firm hold, and that he was in no danger of falling off
"Hold on now!" she called back, a little unnecessarily as he was currently latched onto the ridge of her back. He gave her a huge smile and a nod. And then, taking care not to submerge herself fully, Elsie pushed off from the ledge and out into the sea.
She stuck to the shallows as a precautionary measure. The young Sharptooth had a painfully good grip, but if that grip should falter, she wanted to be in a place where he'd be in the least danger should he fall. This did not, however, limit the experience for Chomper in the slightest. She cruised over brightly colored reefs, pointing out the myriad of strange and beautiful creatures below them, Scaly Swimmers, striped Scuttlers, the occasional Smoothtooth… he soaked it all in.
"Whassat!" he squeaked as a silvery winged form erupted from the water beside them, coasting through the air for a short distance before plunging back into the sea. Elsie watched it go, remembering her own reaction the first time she'd seen one of those. She had been just as awestruck, and rightfully so. No one ever expected Scaly Swimmers to fly.
"That, little Chomper, is a Scaly Swimmer, but it has special fins that allow it to fly, too. Quite magnificent, isn't it?"
"Uh huh!" the little Sharptooth nodded. Just then Elsie noticed the approach of an oncoming wave. It was too late to do anything to avoid it, so she called back to her young companion.
"Hold on tight, Chomper! It's going to get a bit wet!"
Elsie flattened herself out, lying still on the surface of the water as the wave hit them. The brunt of it carried them up and over, but some of the water still hit her, splashing over her back and into Chomper. She felt the claws hold on tighter and the breath caught in her throat as she waited for the moment she feared: the instant they relinquished her grip.
But that moment did not come. Instead Chomper held on through all of it, coughing as the wave passed them by, crashing harmlessly on the shore, but grinning like a lunatic. Relieved, Elsie beamed back at him.
"My, that was quite a ride, wasn't it? Shall we get you back to shore then?"
Despite his enthusiasm, the little Sharptooth bobbed his head back at her. She could hardly blame him. The poor kid was waterlogged and exhausted, but she had to respect his courage. She doubted many other landstriders his age would be up for the same challenge.
Slowly she swam back to the ledge, taking care to make the ride as smooth as possible. When she reached it, she extended her neck again, and Chomper happily climbed its length, landing back on soft grass and sand again. Once he was there, he spun around for a moment before falling flat on his tail. Elsie stifled a chuckle.
"Well, you'll have to work on those sea legs, I suppose," she confessed.
"Thank you El Zee!" Chomper said from his crash spot on the ground, "I ha' fun!"
"Yes, it was fun, wasn't it?" Elsie's voice grew distant as she remembered what she had seen the previous night. The rocks breaking free of the shelf, the rumbles… she had not come up here today to give Chomper a ride. She knew that. But that didn't make what she was about to say any easier, especially after the fun the two had enjoyed together.
"Erm… Chomper? Would you spare Aunt Elsie a moment of your time?"
Getting to his feet, the young Sharptooth looked at her, cocking his head in a perplexed fashion.
"Oh, forgive me, I don't mean to use such big words. I guess what I mean to say is- could you please listen to what I have to say before we part ways today?"
The word "part" stung Elsie. Chomper probably believed she meant it as a temporary thing, that tomorrow the two of them would see one another again and everything would be sunshine and smiles as always, but that was not the case. As much as Elsie wanted it to be, it was selfish to shield them from the truth of their crumbling home. She had to go on.
"I listen," Chomper said, sitting down on his haunches as if waiting for a story.
"Chomper, I need you to listen to me very carefully. As long as you and your family stay in this place, you are in danger."
The little Sharptooth's eyes grew in size, and she could see him shaking. She wanted to comfort him, but she knew that would be unwise. The situation was very serious and demanded a serious response. Besides, in the end, that was the responsibility of his parents, not her.
"Danger how?"
"One day very soon, maybe even tomorrow, this whole shelf of land will drop into the sea. There will be an earthshake, and then the ground will begin to give way. Have you seen an earthshake before, Chomper?"
He nodded.
"Good. Then you know what to watch out for. When the earthshakes come, this entire place will collapse… uh, go underwater, I guess. You and your family need to leave this place before that happens if you want to stay safe. Do you understand?"
"El Zee come wif?"
His question hit Elsie right where it hurt, and she actually drew back a little. She hadn't anticipated this response, especially not from someone she'd only met a day ago, and it caught her completely off guard. She looked down at the little Sharptooth, hoping he wouldn't cry. She wasn't sure if she could stand it if he did.
"Well… no, Chomper. I can't come with you. I am a Swimmer. My home is the sea. You have a family up there with you on the land, and they want to take care of you. I want them to be safe, but for that to happen, you will all have to go as far away from here as you can-"
"But I don't wanna!" Chomper protested, kicking at the grass with his little clawed feet, "you friend!"
"I know," Elsie said, giving him a playful nuzzle with her snout, "but life is full of hellos and goodbyes. Sometimes we have to say goodbye, even to our friends, if it means a chance at something better. I know that may not make much sense to you now, but in time it will."
She remembered her own big goodbye, then- the last time she'd seen her friends as they left for waters unknown. She'd been older than Chomper was now, significantly so, but the pain was still real to this day. Parting was a necessity, but that didn't mean it was without its share of scars. It didn't matter. She could bear those scars. At his young age, Chomper would probably forget in a few years anyway as he grew up safe and sound with his family in some nice inland forest while she returned to her waters, alone as usual. It wasn't the ideal future, but it was the best outcome, and it was the one she wanted for him and his family.
"Chomper," she added, sinking lower into the water, "I want you to know that our time together- I'll never forget it. You helped cheer up an old Swimmer like me for a few days, and that's something you should be happy about. I'll always remember you, Chomper. And I want to thank you for being a good friend."
As she began to fall back into the water, Chomper realized what she was doing and leaned over the edge of the ledge, desperately calling out to his long-necked friend.
"El Zee! Don' go! Stay wif me!"
"Goodbye, Chomper," Elsie whispered, only her head above the water's surface now, "go find your family and tell them to leave this place for good. Tell them that they are in danger. And Chomper?"
The young Sharptooth was on the verge of tears, but he stopped his sniffling to listen for a just a brief moment.
"Once you've done that, don't come back to this beach. I won't be here. Just forget about me and get yourselves to safety."
"El Zee!"
"It was a pleasure, little Chomper," she said, and dropped back beneath the waves.
Just in time to hide the single tear that fell from her eye, mingling with the briny water and fading into the wider expanse around it.
She barely even noticed the distant rumbling, and the fresh shower of stone that fell and continued to fall from the shelf.
…
When Chomper returned to the nest just as the Night Circle began to show over the horizon, it was obvious that something was wrong. His eyes were red from crying, and he was soaking wet. At first, Rysa had wondered if he'd fallen into the Big Water, but he didn't make any mention of it, instead mumbling something about "El Zee."
"This again?" Dun said, approaching his mate who was down on her haunches, consoling their sniffling son. Rysa shot him a scathing glare and then gave Chomper a quick lick.
"Go lie down," she told him, "Daddy and I need to talk."
"No!" Chomper shouted, stamping his feet, "El Zee talk to me! Say thing for you!"
"This El Zee thing is getting out of claw," Dun muttered, taking his place by his mate's side. "Chomper, you need to calm down. El Zee is-"
He stopped as Rysa narrowed her eyes, choosing his next words carefully.
"El Zee doesn't always know best, Chomper. You need to listen to your Mommy and I first. Always. And-"
"El Zee say we in danger!" he blurted out, "whole island go unnawaddah!"
"Hush, Chomper, that's a silly thing to say," Rysa whispered, continuing to lick her son in a futile attempt to calm him down, "Land does not sink. I think El Zee might have been trying to trick you, don't you think so?"
"No!" he whined, snarling at his mother, a gesture which earned him a reproving look. He went on anyway, respecting the Swimmer's final request.
"El Zee say we go! We in danger!"
"And this El Zee," Dun chimed in suddenly, "what did she look like?"
"Dun-"
"No," he shook his mate off, pressing the question, "Chomper, have you ever even seen this friend of yours?"
The little Sharptooth nodded.
"And what does she look like?"
"El Zee waddah Lonnek!"
He shared a glance with his mate. No accusations, nor support was exchanged in that brief moment of contact, but for the sake of his distraught son, Dun knew what he had to do, and Rysa decided that stopping him would probably only make things worse at this point.
"Chomper, listen very carefully to me. We are not in danger here, do you understand? Back there-" he pointed with his short forearms towards the Drylands behind them, "back in the Mysterious Beyond, that's where we were in danger every day, from starvation to sickness to other Sharpteeth. There is nothing to be afraid of here-"
"But El Zee-"
"El Zee is not real!" he roared, putting his foot down hard enough to shake bone. Far away, the ground seemed rumble, and Rysa wondered if her mate's actions had really been powerful enough to cause such a tremor. She had no way of knowing that the two actions were far from related.
A hushed silence fell over the clearing as the echoes of Dun's roar died away, traveling over the wide open waves of the Big Water to fade off wherever such things went. A cloud covered the Night Circle as if it too had hid itself from his terrible voice. But Chomper did not cower. Instead he glared defiantly up at his father, the one who refused to believe.
"El Zee real," he whispered.
"Go to your nest and go to sleep, Chomper. There's no such thing as a Water Longneck."
"El Zee real," he insisted, "and I show you!"
And he was gone, taking off faster than either of the adults could blink as he scurried off into the dark foliage. For a moment, the two adults just stood in awe of their son's act of defiance, but it was just a passing moment. Dun snorted, pawing at the ground with his foot.
"No breakfast for him tomorrow," he grunted, "when I catch him-"
"When we catch him, dear," Rysa said, standing beside her mate, "I fed this El Zee story. This is just as much my mess to clean up as it is yours. And besides- two sniffers are better than one. Our son is a slippery one."
"I suppose so," Dun said quietly, sniffing at the air and locking onto his son's scent.
And without another word, he led the charge as the two adult Sharpteeth plunged into the forest hot on the trail of their son.
…
Elsie did not return to the grotto after saying her goodbyes to Chomper. The way she felt, she wasn't sure she could bear to be alone with herself just yet. The memories were too fresh, and the old scars were open again.
It was the great migration all over again, the sudden realization that, for the rest of her life, she was going to be alone. This time, when the shelf collapsed, she would be alone for good. No one would come by to keep her company, and no one would bother coming to the beach except, perhaps, for the odd, disinterested scavenging Sharptooth.
She tried to quell her feelings of loneliness by patrolling her hunting grounds, chasing down shoals of Scaly Swimmers in the fading light. There was no challenge in it for her, and there hadn't been for many years. Every time she was able to sneak up, completely undetected, and grab herself another suddenly unappetizing meal. Eventually she quit altogether and just swam around in the tall water grass, her thoughts hanging over her like a low Skywater cloud.
And then she felt it- a minor disturbance in the water. Were it not for the faint rumbling sound, she might have dismissed it as a pressure wave, but she knew better. This sound was a very familiar one, one that filled her with an impending sense of dread from snout to tail tip.
The earthshakes were beginning again.
And she had not warned the Sharpteeth in time.
…
The ground beneath Dun's feet shook as he pushed his way through the dense foliage, struggling to stay on Chomper's trail. Behind him, his mate wasn't faring any better. In this forest, their son had the advantage. He was smaller, and could work his way around the vines, branches, and bushes that tangled them up. He seemed to be leading them somewhere, and Dun could only guess as to why. El Zee. Had to be. Maybe once they caught up he could resolve the whole thing, but even so, his son was due for a stern talking-to. He'd let Rysa handle that one; she was the one he'd snarled at, after all.
To his surprise, however, the ground continued to shake when they stopped to reacquire Chomper's scent, a steady tremor that seemed to reverberate through his very core. Both he and his mate shared a worried glance.
"Earthshake," Rysa whispered, and Dun nodded.
"We need to move. Now."
They started off again, faster than before, pushing through whatever stood in their way. Leaves whipped at Dun's eyes, branches scratched at his scales, but he pressed on, smashing through smaller trees and tearing vines from their branches.
The earthshake was growing, its sound rising to a dull roar, and now both he and Rysa could feel it even as they ran, their feet shaking with the ground every time they touched down.
Dun's world erupted in a shower of sparks dancing before his eyes as he ran headlong into a sturdy tree. He fell back, dazed, just as a sudden gust blew past him as Rysa ran by.
"Come on, Dun!" she roared, "we have to find him!"
Find Chomper. Right. He shook his head, clearing the ringing from his ears, and fell back into a run, charging through the dark forest with Rysa's tail as his only guide, all while the ground itself roared back at him. Something that Chomper had said stuck with him in that moment.
"El Zee say we in danger! Whole island go unnawaddah!"
Was that sort of thing even possible? He didn't know. He hadn't heard of anything like that happening before, but then again- he'd lived on dry land all his life, hadn't he? All he knew for certain was that once they caught up to Chomper, they'd be spending the night on the mainland. Just in case.
"El Zee! Where are you?"
The voice was faint, barely audible above the roar of trembling, grating stone, but it was there: Chomper's voice. It came from dead ahead. Rysa looked back at him, relief in her eyes, and then surged forward with the last reserves of her strength. The trees opened up ahead and they could see a beach before them, a beach that lay beside a lone, rocky ledge overlooking the Big Water. And on that ledge…
"Chomper!" he cried out, recognizing the little blue dinosaur perched on the very edge of the cliff.
But Chomper either didn't hear them or didn't care as he teetered precariously out over the Big Water, yelling down into it, "El Zee come back! El Zee!"
"Chomper!" Rysa roared, "we're here! Come back here with us! We're leaving!'
Chomper turned towards them hesitantly, standing perfectly motionless despite the shuddering, quaking ground beneath his feet. His eyes were blurred by tears and he stood hunched, saddened,all traces of his anger from before.
"El Zee not come," he sobbed, taking just one step towards his parents.
And then the ledge collapsed, sending the Sharptooth hurtling down towards the dark abyss below.
"Chomper!" the two adult Sharpteeth roared, surging forward. They thundered out of the trees, heading straight for the crumbling ledge even though they knew it was too late. They heard the splash, saw the white, churning waves where he went under, and froze.
"He can't swim!" Rysa cried out, scratching at the ground with her feet.
"I know, I know!" Dun was in shock, trying and failing to think of something, anything they could do to get their son back. The water was such a churned-up mess with falling debris and lashing waves that they couldn't see anything. Dun began to back up, mentally marking where Chomper fell. There was a wild gleam in his eyes. He didn't care now that the ground was crumbling beneath him. His son was down there somewhere, and if he had to swim to get him, then so be it. He started to run.
It was then that Rysa realized what he was going to do. She acted quickly, throwing herself in front of his path, and Dun came skidding to a halt.
"Let me go!" he growled, "stand aside, Rysa! Our son is down there!"
"And if I let you go now, then you will be too! We can't fall apart now, Dun!"
Dun stared blankly at her. His mouth hung open as he panted, and after a moment, his eyes fell. Suddenly he found it hard to even meet her gaze.
"We have to move on, Dun. We have to get out of here. Chomper is gone- you forget, he's my son, too- but if we stay, we'll die too."
Looking up, Dun could see that his mate's face was streaked with tears, but her expression was stoic, composed. She would not lose another of her family so soon after the loss of their firstborn. They had to survive.
"Let's go," he managed to choke just before the remainder of the ledge began to crumble beneath Rysa's feet. Dun lunged forward, setting his massive head against her flank and pushing her forward onto solid ground just as the rest of the stone ledge crumbled away. They stood side by side, gasping as they caught their breath, realizing now how close they too had come to meeting a sudden and watery demise.
As for Chomper, there would be time for grieving later. Both Sharpteeth sealed their pain away as they set their sights down the beach. They had to make it out alive. If nothing else, than for him. Neither saw the strange-looking head poke up above the water farther out in the cove. Even if they had, they would probably have dismissed it as just a piece of funny-looking driftwood.
…
"El Zee! Where are you?"
As Elsie came closer to the ledge, the one place she had hoped the Sharpteeth would have gathered, she heard Chomper's voice, muffled but noticeable amidst the chaos of the earthshake. She started to surface, rushing up towards him as she prepared to breach.
Then everything went wrong. She saw the ledge crumble. Chunks of dirt and stone rained down on the sea below, and among it all she saw a familiar blue and purple shape hit the water. As he hit, he began to flail, but his flailing was cut short when a clod of dirt from the ledge fell, smashing into his shoulder. The Sharptooth spun around in the water, now fully submerged, and lay still.
No. Chomper, hold on!
Elsie thrust her fins up and around in the cyclical swim pattern of her kind, churning the water around her into a turbulent froth as she sped upward, juking and spinning to the left and right to avoid the falling pieces of debris in the water. To her side she could see the rest of the shelf underwater. The entire structure was shaking itself to pieces. More chunks of stone came down in showers; the grotto was covered by a cloud of churned-up sand from where several large rocks had fallen. But none of that mattered anymore. The only thing that mattered was the little blue Sharptooth turning over slowly in the water above her. She reached out with her neck, extending it as straight as she could while opening her jaws.
She didn't see the stone that hit her side, glancing off as it tore a gash in her soft skin, but she felt the shooting pain as it radiated out from the wound, numbing her entire right side. Elsie closed her eyes, her body locking up. Now her only thoughts were of retreat and quelling her pain.
Oh no you don't, Elsie. The only friend you've got up there is still depending on you.
Her eyes snapped open and Elsie readjusted her course, doing her best to block out the tearing agony behind her front flipper. She could still see Chomper, and while she'd deviated a little after the impact, she was still on course to the surface. She moved her tail, yawing herself towards the young dinosaur again, and once more opened her mouth.
Come on, almost there!
She closed her mouth together, feeling something soft between her teeth. She had him! Immediately she wrenched herself away from the disintegrating ledge, shooting out towards open water. Elsie breached quickly, tossing Chomper onto her back. He hit close to her wound, an ugly red tear that she dared not look at, and lay still.
"Come on, Chomper! Get up! A little water never hurt anyone!"
She nudged him with her snout, pushing him repeatedly, but the young Sharptooth didn't budge.
"Chomper, please! Wake up now! Wake up for your Aunt Elsie! A lot of folks are counting on you right now!"
He looked pale, the Night Circle's cold, unfeeling light glinting off of his soft, white belly. He was on the cusp of death, but Elsie refused to let herself believe it. Not him. Not her little friend.
"You are my best friend, Chomper," she said, her mouth quivering as she bent her neck down to him, "please come back to me. I don't want to be alone again."
Then she heard it- a tiny little gurgle coming from the Sharptooth's throat. Suddenly Chomper's chest compressed and he coughed, several small drops of water flecking Elsie's snout. Her eyes opened wide and she let her jaw drop in disbelief, stammering silent, meaningless words as the little Sharptooth began to shake, coughing as he purged the water from his lungs. His breath came in rasps, and he looked dazed, but when his eyes met hers he smiled.
"Chomper, you're back!" Elsie squealed, nuzzling him with her snout. The Sharptooth giggled, falling over onto her back. When he saw her wound, he turned up to her, concerned.
"El Zee, you hurt!"
"It's nothing," she said, grimacing, "I've been hurt before. It'll heal in time. Right now, we've got to get you back to…" she trailed off before she could finish, suddenly realizing that there were two more Sharpteeth left to save. This wasn't over yet.
"Chomper," she said, lying down flat in the water, "I need you to climb up onto my head and hang on tight. Can you find your parents from there?"
Chomper looked nervously at the thin neck in front of him, surrounded on both sides by thrashing waves. Down below was a dark, wide abyss, a yawning, watery pit that he could not see the bottom of. He'd narrowly avoided becoming its next victim just a moment ago, and now Elsie could see the fear in his eyes again.
"Your parents are in danger, Chomper. We need to tell them where to go, okay? They're counting on us!"
Taking a deep breath, Chomper paced backwards before running at full speed up the length of Elsie's neck. Water crashed against her, but Elsie held her neck rigid, not even flinching as Chomper's sharp claws dug into her skin. She felt his foot slip when he reached her head, but he held on, quickly regaining his footing.
"Good little Sharptooth. Now I'm going to head closer to shore. When I say hang on, this time I really mean it!"
She had no argument from her new lookout. Instead she felt the claws dig in tighter. The pain paled in comparison to her rock-wound, but she used both sources, channeling them into energy, ripping through the water like a vicious Whitebelly in pursuit of its prey. The land loomed large ahead of her, still above water for the time being. Closer to the shore, however, things weren't looking good. Large chunks of the peninsula were already breaking off, and the entire structure was beginning to fall apart. If the two Sharpteeth hadn't made it to the mainland now, they weren't going to. Unless…
Her eyes flicked back towards the island, standing solid and resolute amidst the roaring chaos. It wasn't much, but in this situation, it certainly beat drowning as an alternative solution.
"I see!" Chomper yelled out, shouting above the thundering and scraping of rock and stone, "Mommy, Daddy! I see!"
Elsie followed his pointing claws towards the two large, two-legged forms treading up the beach toward the mainland. They'd never make it in time. Gritting her teeth, she cycled her flippers harder, and Chomper had to renew his grip to avoid slipping off. Getting as close as she could manage, Elsie lifted her head up slightly, elevating Chomper above the waves as the two of them called to Dun and Rysa.
…
Rysa forced herself to keep going, holding back the immeasurable pain of loss as she tried to cope with the very real pain of exhaustion. She and her mate had expended more energy in their last, fruitless attempt to save Chomper than they would have in three hunts back to back, and now it was taking its toll on them. Their breathing was harsh and ragged, their feet dragged through the wet sand, but they kept going, spurred on by the need to survive, to avoid becoming lost themselves in the dark blue void below. They were silent. They had to be, in order to best conserve their energy. Now, thankfully, she was beginning to get some of her breath back, but her legs were still shaky, her vision blurred by tears and fatigue.
"Mommy! Daddy!"
Her head shot up, alert. Dun, evidently had heard it too. There was no mistaking that voice. It had to be…
But where? Where was it coming from? Another one joined it, this one unfamiliar to either one of them.
"Run for the island! It's your only chance!"
Rysa tried to locate the source, but the sound seemed to be coming from the Big Water. That couldn't be right. It had to be her mind playing tricks on her. Cruel tricks, perhaps, but tricks nonetheless. She couldn't let herself be distracted.
But Dun heard it too.
She turned to her mate. "Did you hear that just now?"
Dun shook his head, but not to say no. His expression was one of disbelief. "I thought I was going crazy. I heard it too. It said to… head for the island?"
Rysa nodded. "That's what I heard." Suddenly, Dun froze, his eyes locking onto something in front of them, his face losing all color.
"What is-" Rysa followed his gaze, and her jaw dropped when she saw what her mate had seen.
Everything in front of them, the path they had taken from the mainland to get here, was disappearing, and disappearing fast, swallowed up the churning waves and dark depths of the Big Water. The ground trembled and the roar grew to a deafening level. She turned quickly to her mate as the collapse advanced towards them.
"Go to the island? I say we trust the voice!"
Driven on by the fast-disappearing ground behind them, both Sharpteeth fell back into as much of a sprint as they could muster, sticking only to the beach as they ran. Trees would only slow down now. The island stood at the end of their path, far away. They had to reach it, reach it or die. Failure was not an option, and so they raced. They raced the sinking, submerging sands under their feet, raced the beaches and rocky shores dissolving right beside them as they passed by, and when a herd Lightfeet emerged from the trees ahead of them, they ran together, predator and prey beside one another, outrunning the most destructive force of all: nature.
They ran on and on, even as it felt their sides would split apart they kept going, looking back every now and then only to see even more of what had only that morning been their home swallowed up the Big Water.
Neither of them saw the tiny Sharptooth cheering for them as he sped ahead, cruising atop his very real imaginary friend.
…
Elsie didn't stop until she reached the island, and when she finally arrived, she was on the verge of unconsciousness. Between the pain and her own exhaustion, she was about ready to give it all up, but it was the barely noticeable weight atop her head that had kept her going. Knowing that he had a family to reach was the one thing that gave her purpose now. She would not let this day be marred by a parting that was never meant to be.
Coming to a stop in the island's shallows, she lowered her head down to the beach just beside the rock path where she knew Chomper's parents would come from. The shelf out here was much thinner, more of a land bridge than anything else, but it was at least sturdy. The earthshakes were fainter here, not strong enough to do any damage, and as Chomper stepped off of her head and into the shallow waters with a splash that tickled her face, Elsie finally exhaled, letting all the tension and fear flow from her. He was finally safe.
Elsie turned back towards the rest of the shelf. What little of it remained was sliding off into the sea, leaving behind only a thin, stony land bridge. The cove would never look the same again, but the shelf wasn't gone; at least, not entirely. The stone that still stood formed a neat land bridge, one just wide enough for a Sharptooth or a few to cross. It was low- she doubted it'd even reach above the surface at high tide- but it was better than nothing. Most importantly, it meant that Chomper and his family wouldn't be trapped. They would be free to come and go as they pleased, and unlike the shelf, the island was firmly rooted in the sea floor. She couldn't think of anything capable of moving it. It probably wasn't the home Chomper and his family had expected to have, but all things considered, it was still a nice consolation gift.
She could see the other two Sharpteeth approaching from the land bridge, and Elsie turned back to Chomper, smiling down at him. The pain in her side had faded to a dull throb. The wound wasn't bleeding anymore and, all things considered, it probably hadn't been life-threatening in the first place. The biggest threat to her life was the two approaching parents, who would no doubt be suspicious of any large creature hovering uncomfortably close to their son. A son who, for all intents and purposes, they saw drown. She had to get going, and soon, but she had a few last words to share with the little Sharptooth.
"Well, that was a wild ride, Chomper, but now it's really best that I get going."
Again, Chomper's face was downcast, but he held back his tears.
"El Z- E- Elsie stay?"
It was the first time he'd pronounced her name correctly, and Elsie felt a surge of pride as she gave him an approving nod.
"That's right, little Chomper. Your Aunt Elsie is staying. I've got no reason to move on, and I like this cove just fine the way it is. Even if it's a little… tacky" she winced as she thought about her old grotto, probably buried under mounds of rubble by now, but what did that matter anymore? There were tons of new places to explore, parts of the cove she had always wanted to see but hadn't spared the time for. What was stopping her now? Nothing.
"Anyway, I think I'll get along just fine now that you three are safe. Oh, and Chomper-"
He looked up, his little tail swishing from side to side as he grinned.
"Should you ever find yourself lonesome on this island of yours, don't hesitate to call for me. I'll always be here if you need me, okay?"
"Okay," Chomper replied, bouncing in place. Elsie blinked back a tear, but this was one of joy, not sorrow. Despite everything working against her and the Sharpteeth, somehow they'd all pulled through. For once in her life, she had won. She turned herself around, facing back out towards the open waters of the cove. Angling her neck back for one more look at Chomper, she winked at him.
"See you around, Sharptooth. Tell your folks I said hi!"
And then she was gone, sliding out into the deep waters as smoothly and as quietly as a Flyer soaring through the air.
…
Dun and Rysa stopped their sprint just a few Longneck-lengths away from the island. As ambush predators, the whole "endurance running" concept was foreign to them, and as they sank down to the hard stone of the land bridge, the rubble of their old life behind them and the sounds and shaking of the earthshake beginning to fade, they finally let themselves breathe again.
Their emotions poured out, fear, sadness, pain, all compressed in their flight for freedom was let free at once, and they cried together, huddled against one another under the Night Circle, prone in the shadow of the island that had saved them.
"Oh Chomper," Rysa whispered, racked with shuddering sobs. One of the Lightfeet they had run with stopped to look curious, but backed away and bolted off quickly, unsure of what to make of the strange sight of a crying Sharptooth.
"Our son…" Dun echoed, unable to say anything more as he groaned, overcome by a wave of crippling grief. They were safe, yes, but with Chomper gone, it felt as if someone had reached up and plucked the Bright Circle from their sky. They would have other children, maybe even soon, but none of them would be their first. To them, Chomper would always hold a place of-
"Mommy! Daddy!"
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
Dun looked up, tearing himself away from his grief for just a moment to see who had called him. A moment, as it turned out, was all he needed.
"Chomper!" he roared, his thunderous voice shaking the ground as he caught sight of the tiny blue Sharptooth sprinting towards them, "Chomper, it's… you're alive!"
At the sound of her son's name, Rysa too glanced up only to see none other than her son, alive and well, running up the land bridge toward them. She felt as if time stopped in that instant, preserved in one perfect moment of surprise, relief, and familial love as their eyes met.
Forgetting all about his pain, Dun ran forward, nuzzling his son so hard that he knocked him off of his feet. Chomper laughed all the way, rolling around, kicking and smiling as his father's tears fell on him, tickling him. Not to be left behind, Rysa joined in the family scuffle, purring and rubbing her own snout up against Chomper's tiny face. Not one of them held back their tears, but none of the family cared they they were all sobbing, wet messes. The power of their reunion was something far greater, something truly wondrous, and as they embraced beneath the Night Circle, all three silently agreed that they could not have hoped for a better end to their struggles. When they finally broke apart, Dun was the first to state what was on his and Rysa's minds.
"Chomper, we're so glad you're safe, but… how? We saw you fall, saw you hit the water… how did you get out, and how did you manage to get here before us, too?"
Something behind Dun, out in the Big Water seemed to catch Chomper's attention, and he diverted his gaze away from his father, his mouth curving up in a huge grin.
"Elsie," he said, "Elsie friend." He waved at whatever he was looking at, and both Rysa and Dun whirled around just in time to catch what seemed to be a long, gracefully-curved neck and a single green fin waving happily at them from the middle of the cove before whatever it was plunged back down beneath the waves. He and Rysa looked to one another, down to Chomper, and then back out towards the cove.
"Elsie…" he said, echoing his son's words.
"El Zee," Rysa added, beginning to put the pieces together.
"Elsie friend," they both said at the same time, and looked at each other, reality beginning to dawn on them.
"Could it be?" Dun asked, remembering the sleek creature breaching out in the middle of the cove. His mate shrugged.
"At this point, I don't see why not. Anything is possible." Rysa stretched, her mouth opening wide in a gaping yawn. "Anyway, come on you two. Let's go get some sleep."
But Dun lingered just a little longer, watching the now silent cove, hoping for one last glimpse. There was no doubt in his mind now who or what had rescued his son. He wanted desperately to see her, to thank him herself, but the cove's surface stood unbroken, as smooth as it had been when he and his family first arrived.
Elsie friend indeed, he thought to himself, turning away to join his mate and Chomper as they made their way up towards the island's inviting green forest. Yet his eyes still wandered, watching, waiting, looking for any sign of proof, any visual evidence that what he'd seen out there was indeed the creature that saved Chomper's life..
Yes, he decided, El Zee, or Elsie was indeed a very real friend, but she was even more, more than just a friend now. She was a guardian, Chomper's guardian. Perhaps, he thought as he turned his attention back to his family and away from the cove for the last time that night, that was the only proof he needed.
Ever had a time where a character you saw on screen as a kid just instantly clicked with you, but you couldn't explain why? I did. Back when I was still in the first grade, the night I saw Land Before Time V for the first time, I was immediately drawn to the character of Elsie, the first Plesiosaur (Elasmosaurus if you want to get technical) to ever be featured in the series. At the time, I was obsessed with water-dwelling prehistoric creatures, of which Elasmo ranked pretty much at the top of my list, so Elsie stuck with me long after the VCR tape was returned to the Air Force Base's video rental store. Perhaps it was her slightly quirky way of speaking, her old-fashioned kindness that really sealed the deal; who can say? The only person who can is me, and I have no friggin' clue. All I know is that, when I started writing Land Before Fanfiction nearly a decade later, I knew I had to do an Elsie story at some point. Eventually I had to return to that character that captured my interest so many years ago.
So I cameoed her, giving her a small role in my coming-of-age fic, "Where Paths Diverge," but even then I knew that wouldn't be enough. The old Swimmer had a story, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I wanted to write something about her life, but eventually the project was scrapped as my life moved on.
Fast forward four years. I started to talk to my friends about the idea again, working out once more how such a story might unfold, and more importantly, where to set it in the Land Before Time timeline. When Rhombus's prompt for March 2017 came around, I saw my chance. Hinging the entire thing on a technicality (Elsie is indeed a carnivore, even if she doesn't act like one), I finally wrote my Elsie fic.
And dammit, I'm proud of it. It feels like I've hit a milestone here, checked another item off of my Land Before Time to-do list. Elsie's finally got the badass cred she deserves, and I've finally put my Elsie fic to paper. Perhaps one day I'll come back and expand upon her story even further, but for now, this story is closed. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Have a good one, everybody.
Nimbus, out.