CHAPTER SIX: "Ben and Adah"

Ben waited for Adah at their little resting spot. The location for the day was a small cove of rock shadowed by a small tree planted right above. Ben found it utterly boring and wished he was able to hunt with Adah, but she always made him stay behind. He tried to find ways of entertainment such as stalking small bugs and animals or attempt to climb the flimsy excuse for a tree. After a time, he huffed and plodded down, resting in the shade the tree offered.

He missed their pack. He missed his mother and father and all the faces he had grown so accustomed to. They had lost their pack a week back before the glacial walls cracked open. That natural disaster only made things worse for their part. The rushing water washed away tracks or scents, if there were any, for them to find. They both decided to head north in search of two things; one was their actual pack, the second was another pack which was led by his uncle.

Ben hadn't seen his uncle since he was a very small cub, but he knew the two brothers long agreed upon offering welcome to any tigers from one another's pack should one lose their own. He remembered his mother telling him should he lose his way, go and find his uncle's. If he found his uncle's pack there was a very possible chance he would know the whereabouts of his family. Ben even dared to hope that his father was waiting for him at this very moment.

His mood perked up as he spotted Adah returning. Ben hopped to his feet and ran to meet her. Adah placed his meal on the ground, and rubbed her head against his in greeting.

"Sorry I took so long, Ben." she smiled apologetically. "Catching breakfast this morning didn't go as well as I'd hope."

"It's fine, Adah. Thank you!" Ben snatched his breakfast and headed back under the shade to enjoy the meal she had caught for him. Adah smiled and walked after the smaller tiger to join him in the shade. The heat tired her out and she noted that it took longer than usual to catch something for Ben. The morning was already slipping into Mid-day. Adah would have to get something for herself eventually, but Ben came first. She figured she could catch something while they continued their trek north.

"Adah, do you think we'll find the others soon?" the cub asked. Her ears lowered, not sure what sort of answer she could give to him. The longer it took for them to find their pack the more she doubted they ever would.

"I'm not sure, Ben."

"What if dad was waiting for us up North already?" Ben grinned. He pushed aside his meal and was getting into a pounce position to tackle Adah. "All we'd have to do is get there!"

She allowed Ben to pounce on her and they wrestled around a bit. He yanked at her ear, and Adah rolled over to the side, squishing the cub against the ground. Adah laughed and moved off him, lightly batting at him with her paw. He laughed too and rolled around for good measure. As he distracted himself, Adah found her smile slowly fading as she watched Ben. There were so many things he was still naive about; A tiger's life wasn't always happy, and surrounded with family. It was rare for one to live their entire lives within the pack they were born into.

She couldn't lie to him or avoid the question forever. It was time to tell Ben the truth.

"Ben." she said. He stopped his rolling and rolled back onto his belly and rose to his feet.

"Yeah, Adah?"

"Ben, you know, this whole search for the pack..." She started, hesitating as Ben watched her curiously. She looked at him for a moment, feeling horribly guilty knowing it would dash his hopes. With a deep breath she continued. "...Well, its been so long since we got separated, and with the recent flood, AND the storm it might be possible we may neve-"

"Hey look at that!" he jumped past her. Startled, she looked back and watched him head towards the small cliff on the other side of the tree. Adah sighed in relief taking this as a sign not to tell Ben what she thought of just yet. She followed him and sat beside him.

"What are we looking at, Ben?" she asked. His eyes were fixed on one spot up ahead and Adah tried to follow his line of sight. Down below in the distance she spotted several figures, and instantly she knew it was a herd. Instincts told her this could be the chance opportunity to get something for herself, but then a closer look told her this wasn't a herd she was familiar with. It didn't have the same look of unison other herds had. She saw two large figures, and two smaller figures which were different shapes in themselves. Adah made a face, confused and not really sure what to make of it.

Ben knew however, or at least knew one who was among them. "It's Diego!"

Adah snapped out of it and looked at Ben. "What?"

"That's Diego's herd," he said, as if the concept wasn't strange to him. "All of those guys are his friends. I forgot to tell you about that."

"Clearly, Ben." she turned her head to watch the herd again. Further in the distance she spotted a watering hole, and it seemed like the group was heading there. Adah repressed the urge to sigh, she was annoyed now. Water was their next stop, but the last thing she wanted was to run into that odd herd, especially when she now knew that blasted tiger was traveling with them. She was still miffed over their previous encounter.

There was nothing else to do other than wait until the herd left before they made their way down to water for a drink. Adah looked at Ben, his full attention on the herd in the distance. She decided to take this chance to head out and find something for herself to eat. Ben would be fine on his own for a few moments. The female turned and walked away which shook Ben out of his trance.

"Are we going now?" he asked hopefully.

"No, we're going to wait for a while. In the meantime I'm going to hunt something for myself. Can you behave while I'm gone?"

"Maybe," he said slyly. She quirked an eyebrow and looked at him. He grinned and nodded. "Okay, okay! I'll behave."

She smiled back and nodded before heading out, leaving Ben alone again. He sighed and walked back to the cliff to watch the herd once more. The cub found it so weird and so cool how Diego traveled with mammoths, and he remembered the female mammoth was especially nice to him. As he sat there, his ears swiveled to and fro; his mind was thinking up something he knew Adah would be against. He wanted to go down to the watering hole for a chance to meet them again.

She wouldn't have to know. Ben thought. I could run down there and run back before she returns.

He was eager to talk to Diego and get a closer look at the group he traveled with. He had never seen such a sight before and curiosity engulfed the cub's senses, urging him to find out why they traveled together. It was not only that; Ben was also happy to see another tiger around the area considering they haven't seen one for several days. His instincts told him it was dangerous for him to be around mammoths, especially without a pack. He wasn't hunting though, and he knew Ellie was nice, although he wasn't really sure about Manny. They couldn't possibly consider him dangerous, he was only a cub!

Something still nagged him at the back of his mind. He remembered his mother, even Adah, scolding him about meddling in things he shouldn't be meddling in.

Curiosity killed the cat... Was the morbid mantra mothers would tell their cubs. However, Ben had his own motto, and he followed it religiously. Perhaps this is why he got himself into so much trouble.

...but satisfaction brought him back. He thought as he left their spot and headed after the herd.

Despite the Meltdown, water never looked so inviting, especially when it was hot and one was thirsty. Eddie and Crash slid down Ellie's trunk and raced for the shoreline of the lake. Crash jumped on top of his brother's head and made a belly-flop in the water. Eddie winced followed by a chuckle before joining his brother, splashing about in the shallow end. Their sister trodded behind them also walking into the shallow waters. She sucked up a trunkful of water and sprayed it onto her brothers who danced and splashed around in delight.

Manny came up behind them and watched. He enjoyed watching Ellie play with her brothers, their liveliness was something he was growing accustomed to. As long as the possums avoided throwing unpleasant things at him like mud or dung then he was okay with their antics. Most of the time.

He jerked back suddenly as a spray of water came upon him. He blinked and stared at Ellie in shock who feigned innocence and pointed at Crash and Eddie with her trunk. His expression changed into a mischievous looking smirk as he casually made his way beside Ellie. He sucked up water with his trunk and sprayed it back at her, also getting Crash and Eddie in the process.

"Get him, Ellie! Get him!" Crash scrambled up to her head. Eddie popped up behind him and pointed forth dramatically.

"To war!"

"Two can play at this game!" Ellie laughed dropping her trunk into the water. Manny did the same, playfully shoving his shoulder against hers.

"You started it, I'll finish it." came his reply.

Diego found a shady spot to rest under while watching the ongoing water war between the mammoths and possums. He found himself smiling the more he watched them. It was nice to see moody Manny having some fun. He really had to hand it to Ellie. Ever since she joined the group during their escape from the oncoming flood, he could see his friend's tough exterior melt away whenever he was around her. Manny of course was still Manny but with Ellie around there was a side neither he or Sid saw before. And Diego would never demean his friend by saying it was a weakness. It took the mammoth a lot of guts to let go of the past that had haunted him so.

He spotted Sid making his way towards the lake after he wandered off to find a snack. The sloth tossed the remains of a dandelion he finished munching on and brushed his claws off.

"I wouldn't go over there right now, Sid." Diego warned. "You're a target screaming to be hit."

"It's okay, Ellie and Manny stopped their water fight!" and off he went. The tiger shook his head and grinned slightly, knowing what would happen to the sloth.

Sid greeted Ellie and Manny as he joined them by the shoreline for a drink. As he bent over he felt something wet hit him in the face. At first he thought it was Ellie or even Manny spraying water again, but then he realized the wet stuff had a shape. And color. It slowly slopped off his face and Sid feared it was what he thought it was. Mostly, he wondered whom it belonged to.

"It's just MUD, ya sissy!" Eddie called.

The sloth didn't mind letting out a huge sigh of relief which earned a chuckle from the possum brothers. Sid stood up, wiping the rest of the mud off his face. He saw the two possums sitting in the muddy sections of the shoreline, mucking about like two starts. The mud made a sucking noise as Eddie hefted up a large heap of it. He looked at his brother and nodded then both stared at Sid with wicked looking grins.

SPLAT! SPLASH!

"Awesome!" Crash high-fived his brother. "That was like a double-whammy!"

Sid was hit full in the face with mud which sent him flying back into the water. He came up sputtering and splashing about. Ellie smiled, finding it amusing but also feeling sympathetic to Sid. Her trunk reached down and the sloth clung to it as she yanked him out and placed him onto the shore.

"Very funny you guys." Sid said while shaking his leg and then turned to wring out his tail.

"We can't help it, pal." Eddie smiled and shrugged innocently. "You're this target that screams 'HIT ME!'"

Sid stood up. De ja vu. He could have sworn someone had said that to him, but he shrugged it off and continued to groom himself, as best as a sloth could.

"Why don't we take a walk so you can dry off." Ellie said. She leaned down closer to Sid, her trunk covering the side of her mouth as she whispered. "I spotted a field of dandelions on the other side of the lake."

"Okay!"

"Hey! Can't we come?" Eddie whined. Ellie rubbed her head with her trunk pretending to be in deep thought.

"Well..." she began. Her two brothers hopped on her trunk and gave her their best bambi-eyed impression.

"PLEASE?"

"If you promise to be good!" she nodded. They nodded in return, crossing their fingers behind their backs. Ellie's trunk came up behind them and poked at them. "Don't think you got the sneak up on me!"

She tickled them and they both laughed and scurried to the top of her head. Ellie looked at Sid who grinned, eager for those dandelions she had mentioned. The shemmoth turned to Manny and motioned towards Sid.

"We're going to take a walk around the lake, is that okay, Manny?"

He nodded. "Sure. Though I gotta warn you, wet-sloth is not the most pleasant smell in the world. So if you decide to come back without him, I'll understand."

"Manny!" she tried not to laugh.

"You just don't appreciate good grooming!" he stuck his tongue out to Manny then turned his head to look at the possums. "You know the fungus in my fur makes me turn brown when I dry!"

"Really?" they said in unison. "We gotta see that!"

"Sid, the term 'good grooming' doesn't fit in the same sentence with you." Manny replied.

"Manny!" Ellie tried to sound reprimanding, but she couldn't fight back her chuckle.

"Alright then." Manny shrugged, acting casual. "Don't say I didn't warn ya."

The shemmoth shook her head, still smiling. She then turned and walked off following the shore of the watering hole. Sid waved to Manny and waddled off after Ellie with the possum brothers in tow.

Sid was in sloth heaven. In a dream-like state, he pranced around the small patch of dandelions before flopping down to munch on them. Ellie giggled and turned to watch what her brothers were up to. Further ahead they hopped in and out of the tall grass growing in the area. Crash ran out while Eddie ran in, then they would both run in. Playing some sort of combo between hide-in-seek and tag. They hopped up all over the place, and Ellie caught glimpses of their small heads peeking out of the tall grass as they did so. She laughed more and headed to them in hopes to join in their little game.

"AHHHH! ELLIE!" she heard one of them shout. She halted abruptly and Sid jumped up from the dandelion patch. Mammoth and sloth both ran to the tall grass and the possums ran out and under the safety of their sister's big limbs.

"Whoa! Whats wrong?" she tried comforting them, patting their heads with her trunk. Eddie shivered and pointed back into the tall grass.

"Something else is in there!"

Immediately Sid dove for cover under Ellie's large form. Ellie found herself gulping, also afraid, wanting Manny by her side. Slowly, she moved towards the tall grass hearing her brothers beckoning her to stay back. With her trunk, she pushed the grass aside looking for what scared her brothers, and at the same time hoping it ran off. She felt her heartbeat quicken as her trunk brushed over something small and fuzzy. The fuzzy thing looked up, it's expression matching hers, and Ellie's fears were laid to rest once she knew who it was.

"Hey, isn't he that little guy we found in the tree?" Crash inquired. Sid walked up beside Ellie to get a look and smiled.

"It's Ben!"

A/N: RUN BEN! RUN! Just kidding. :B

I'd like to thank everyone for their kindreviews, messages and tips, and fav-ing this story! It makes me feel more confident about my writing and knowing people do like my story! YAY! Just so you know I do have a plot outlined, but I'm going to take this much slower from now on. I'm several chapters ahead already but I don't want to upload them all at once. Besides, Adah and Ben aren't the only animals that will be making an appearance! So I hope people will look forward to that

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and that you all have a safe weekend. Also, enjoy the upcoming 4th of July to the peeps who celebrate it! Later taters!