Chapter Four

The next day, Brother Dellan brought up the concern that the kits would notice the packing for the quest and figure that something was up. So Stella volunteered to keep the kits occupied with stories, if somebeast would pack a haversack of food for her. She led the kits up to the library in the attics and began looking for some interesting records. She had just pulled out some regarding Martin the Warrior and Gonff the mousethief when Task knocked over a stack of papers and books. "Oh no! Tasquer, come her and don't touch anything else! Alliana, put down that book! Cyan, don't play with that ink bottle."

Penny removed it from Cyan's paws and asked, "How does ink get made, Sister Stella?"

"Cyan, don't go to the desk. You'll leave inky pawprints. Penny, ink is made from soot, oak gall, and vinegar or water. Sometimes burnt wool is added. For colored inks, we mix in things like crushed berries or flower petals."

Stella gathered the kits in front of her her and began reading from the records, skipping the boring parts. She was gifted with being able to bring a story to life and the kits were entralled with the stories. Penny listened intently, particularly to the parts involving Gonff the Mousethief. She was fascinated at how good he was at pinching food.

When Stella was done with the stories, she found some records regarding Matthais, his search for Martin's sword, the defeat of Cluny the Scourage. She began telling the stories and concluded with, "When the Joseph Bell fell on Cluny, it broke into two pieces. The pieces were later recast into two smaller bells and renamed the Matthais and Methuselah Bells."

"Why was it named the Joseph Bell?" asked Task.

"Because the bellmaker who made it was named Joseph," answered Stella. Allie begged her to tell the story about it, so Stella ended up telling about the adventures Jospeh, Mariel, and Dandin had as well in freeing the good beasts from the Foxwolf and how the bell came to Redwall. Halfway through her stories, Sister Marigold and Brother Tobias came upstairs with lunch.

When Stella was done telling about Mariel, Dandin, and Joseph, she said in a croaky voice, "That's enough stories for one day. My voice is starting to give out. You kits go outside and play with the other Dibbuns."

Once the kits were gone, she straightened the library, then went to her room to pack the things she would need for the quest, besides food. During dinner, Stella looked at Penny intently. She'd noticed that the fox kit was very quiet, seemed clever, and was more serious than Cyan and Allie, though not as quite as serious as Task. Penny had also listened very intently to the stories and didn't laugh like the others did over Gonff's antics. She'd instead had frowned and seemed to have filed the information away for later use.

Stella wondered if Penny would be the kit that would sneak out and join the quest. However, nobeast had told the kit about it, so Penny couldn't know. Then Stella was hit with a suspicion. What if the kit had been listening at the door during yesterday's meeting? That otterbabe Windred and her two friends had been caught listening at a meeting a week ago and had found out about the feast. Stella debated what to do. If she confronted Penny about it, the fox kit would naturally deny knowing about the quest. If she wasn't lying, then she would learn about the quest, which none of the elders wanted.

Stella thought and long and hard and came to the conclusion that what Martin said was best. If Penny was the one meant to join the quest, she was not going to stop the kit. Prehaps she would give Penny some general advice later in the form of stories. If Penny was as smart as she seemed, she would figure the stories out and use the advice given. With that settled, Stella was able to finish her dinner in peace.

Author's Note: I am sorry that this chapter is short, but this is just a filler. The next chapter will involve the feast and Penny's sneaking out the Abbey.