After an uneventful dinner, Lena looked for a small cave to reside in for the time being. She found a nice one near the Thundering Falls. Once there, she built a latrine out back; when she was finished, she grabbed some supplies to build a fishing pole so she can catch fish. The herd was fine with her eating the small fish out of ponds as long as she just sticks with that; she also has a backpack filled with enough rations for a week.
Nightfall was soon upon them; however, Lena seemed to be having trouble sleeping. She was having flashbacks of seeing her dad choke to death on his dinner during the dinner to celebrate her and her brother's sixteenth birthday. Even though she performed the heimlich maneuver and CPR, it was too late. Her dad was already gone; at the end of the dream, she shot straight up.
Then, she sat with her feet underneath her and bowed her head and covered her face and started to cry. Even though she was crying softly, dinosaurs have better sense of hearing than humans do. she thought that since it was nighttime, everyone would be fast asleep, but, she was wrong. Topsy was wandering around for a late night snack of sweet bubbles when he heard Lena crying. He wandered over to her cave and knocked on the outside of it with his paw. Lena heard the knocking and crawled over to the entrance.
"What seems to be the problem, kid?" Topsy asked.
"Bad dream," was all Lena managed to say.
"Wanna talk about it?" Topsy wondered.
Lena simply shook her head.
"You don't have to talk about it right now; but, from what I learned as a youngster, keeping things bottled up is unhealthy; it can also lead to serious mental and physical problems; however, my father taught me that emotions were for females and gay males; now that I think about it as a grown up, that was just a bunch of nonsense; just be thankful you had a dad who loved you; and as long as you remember him, he's not really gone; he lives in you," Topsy explained.
Lena nodded.
"I appreciate your sympathy; thanks," Lena commented.
"Lets make this perfectly clear; if we could just not tell any of the blowhards we had this conversation; especially Kosh, he'd never let me live it down and will blab to everyone that I've gone soft," Topsy pleaded.
Lena managed to chuckle.
"Your secret is safe with me; as far as I'm concerned, you're still tough even if you have a caring side," Lena assured him.
"Thanks," Topsy stated.
Lena nodded. Soon enough, she went back to her sleeping spot and Topsy went over to a bush and grabbed a mouthful of sweet bubbles before heading back to his nest.
The next morning, Lena seemed to be in a better mood. In fact, she was smiling; the herd members liked seeing her in a good mood rather than being grouchy.
"How about after breakfast, we play Toss the Seed," Ducky suggested.
"All right; although, I don't know how it's played," Lena stated.
"Do not worry, we will show you," Ducky claimed.
Just then, Petrie flew over and perched himself onto Lena's shoulder.
"Me like that idea; then, maybe we go for swim later," Petrie added.
Ducky clapped her hands an giggled at that suggestion.
"That sounds fun," Lena replied.
After a nice big breakfast, Lena and the youngsters ran off to go play.