A small family of woodland mice stood outside of their newly finished home. It wasn't of master craft, but it was roomy and had a homely feel to it. Arin Advole clapped his hands at the job well done that he and his two sons, Grandon and Brandon, did.
"Well, that was quite an adventure wouldn't you say so my sons?" Arin asked, slapping his tired paws on the smaller mice's backs.
They too looked at the finished project with great accomplishment. "Yes, father. It's like nothing I had ever seen before in my life."
It was of simple construction with large wooden branches stood crooked upright, dug into the ground for support. Smaller branches were nailed to them with wooden nails carved by Arin. A leaves and grass roof was plastered on the top with mud. Mud was used to fill in any gaps to keep the elements out and to keep the warmth the family needed inside. Twigs lashed with string in a cross shape were fitted into the square-like holes to make windows that smaller animals wouldn't be able to crawl on inside. A door carved from the trunk of a fallen tree hung in the doorway, not even connected to the rest of the rest of the building, but that'll be something to work on when they have the time.
But things are just beginning. A house first, and field of fresh food second. Life was just going to be getting better and better, no doubt about it.
Candice wobbled up behind the males to look at their hard work. "Oh my, it's quite… um… lovely, yes, very lovely." She patted the tops of her son's heads. "You boys did a great job, great job indeed. I just can't wait to see it fall… I mean, I can't wait to see inside." She rubbed her large heavy belly. "Well, let's see."
"Don't work too hard mam. Can't let you run yourself ragged." He easily picked her up in his arms and kissed her with their sons hiding their horrified faces behind their paws. "You're not the only one here. Gotta keep your strength up."
Candice laughed at her husband's antics. "Oh Arin, you ol' worry wart, you. I'll be fine. It's not like I wasn't pregnant before."
The whole family walked into their new home.
Jezibelle Raulmonwinkle the Fifteenth was an exceptionally klutzy hare. She just couldn't seem to do anything right. Just this morning, she lit Friar Manserve's apron on fire trying to turn on the oven. He ran all over the kitchen and destroyed the food he was preparing for breakfast. That just made her hungry when he sent her out with no breakfast, her stomach grumbled in its pure agony at missing such an important meal, next to lunch and dinner, and any snack in between.
Later in the day, while grumbling over her missed meal, she tripped over a rock in the grounds and fell right into Mother Merf's spring flower garden. She now knows the true fear of an angry badger.
Now she was hiding up in a tree and keeping very still and very quiet. Hares aren't even supposed to climb trees anyway, it was official, Jezibelle was not a normal hare.
"Now where has the loathsome hare gotten to. If I ever catch her, she'll become the first bald if I have anything to say about it." Merf stomped across the abbey courtyard and around the tree Jezibelle trembled in, trying to keep her teeth from chattering together. She was not about to lose her hair. A hare without hair? No, that wasn't good at all.
Abbess Gernam quietly looked on the strange scene of the normally calm and collected badger mother in such a fuming rage. She decided it was best to just let her cool down. The gatehouse was the place to be at this time of the day. Francis has been always such a peach when he's laying about and telling the stories of the long past of his many years.
Jezibelle silently whimpered as she watched the Abbess walk away from her predicament, not even able to signal for help. "Oh bothersome, wot." She swore and looked down as Merf rounded the abbey corner and disappeared from sight. This was as good of a chance as any.
Skimming down the tree, Jezibelle bobbed and weaved where there was no grass to bob and weave, but it made her feel better that she felt she was doing something for her survival. Shoving the abbey door open, she leapt into the coolness of Great Hall, and slammed the door shut behind her.
Hopping inside, she groaned. "Oh feather wreaths, I should've plum shut the ol' door a lot quieter. Mother Merf surely heard it." And to answer her thoughts, the Great Hall doors opened and the badger stood there silhouetted by the sunlight outside. Jezibelle scooted across the stone floor and underneath one of the great tables.
"All right, you slithering little bug, I know you're in here." Merf's voice echoed against the stone walls.
This gave Jezibelle a grand idea. "Quite right, quite right. I am jolly well in here. Good show, good following ol' gal." The echoing made her voice sound like it was coming from all directions.
Merf's heavy pawsteps thundered and resonated everywhere. "Not that hard. I knew you was in that tree the whole time. You know badgers can't climb trees. I was hoping to get the drop on you, but you proved to be faster than I expected."
"Yes, well. We seem to be at a bloody impasse. Not what I like in my book, I should say. How bout we let bygones be bygones and forget this little excursion ever happened. What do you say, dear ol' Merf?"
Hear pawsteps still continued as she spoke. "Oh yes. Bygones be bygones, what a grand idea. You get your dinner and I would get a planter full of crushed gorse flowers. How absolutely lovely."
Jezibelle gulped. "Well, that would make such an idea ludacris. Oh, look at the time, I must be going."
She shot out from under the table intent on running up into the dormitories, but Mother Merf was ready for her with open paws. With no time to react, Jezibelle crashed right into the badger who soon held her against her chest. The hare was caught.
Merf spoke in a half-baked accent of the hare. "Oh deary me, what do we have her? A jolly ol' beatle in need to be outside? Well, goodness me, I'll have to see to that, wot?" Jezibelle could hear the badger's laugh rumble in her chest.
"I don't suppose we could talk about this?" She asked hopefully.
The abbey doors opened and the pair marched out into Merf's garden, where she stopped the hare at the devastated flower bed. All the gorse flowers were torn up or squashed like a pancake. Like a pancake she had missed at breakfast. "We'll talk about it alright. We'll talk about how you're going to be helping me with fixing this mess." The badger placed her paws on her hips, which looked quite threatening when it could be.
"Yes, i suppose we bloody well might. Let's see here. I could clean up the garden, pull the weeds, plant new flowers, take the bugs out, all jolly well good, wot?"
"I could have you do that, if I had any seed left. I'm all out."
"Then I'll head out into Mossflower and find you some. There's bound to be countless gorse flowers out there at this time of year."
The mother's gaze grew sterner. "There are also a lot of thieves out there when the weather gets hot. I can't allow you to go out there alone. I'll just have you miss out on dinner tonight."
Jezibelle's ears stood straight up in such a horrible thought. "What!? Oh no, no, no, good madam. I just can't miss out on two meals in the span of a single day! I'll surely starve!"
"Then maybe that'll teach you to watch where you step…"
"No, absolutely not! That is a tragedy! I'll brave the bandits out there and find your bloomin' seeds and flowers! I'll set out tomorrow."
Merf shook her head in ever wonder and puzzlement. "If you wish. But I can't allow you to go out there on your own. I'll find a good Redwaller who would be kind enough to head out with you."
"Mother, why did that sound evil?"
It was a cold, clear, quiet night in Mossflower. The sounds of the forest seemed to head off to sleep as Gandon and Brandon had done the same. Arin and Candice sat out next to the heat of a glowing red fire, and just took in their surroundings now the sun had gone down.
"Life should get a whole lot better now. We won't have to worry about the King ever again." Arin's optimism didn't do much good in calming Candice.
"I'm just worried that his guard would find us. You remember what he said, no one leaves except in a plywood box on the surf. Makes me feel so unsafe here now that the thoughts have returned." Candice's worries were not her own. Arin was an optimist, but he didn't forget the dangers that his family were facing now they had left.
"I'm ever certain that life would get easier from now on." Arin felt like he lied to his wife.