Chapter 7: The Great Gummies
"Sunni, will you hold still?" Grammi scolded. "I can't get your dress finished if you keep moving around like that!"
The day before had been hectic for the Gummies. After the message they have received all they had done was clean the streets, prepare food, find and repair their best clothes. Grammi had spent most of that day preparing formal clothes for Sunni and Cubbi, and was now putting the final touches on Sunni's new dress.
"Sorry, Grammi," Sunni said. She was standing on a stool in her room. "But I can't help it. The Great Gummies are coming today and I'm just too excited to stand still!"
"But you want your dress finished in time for the welcome home party, don't you?" Grammi asked sharply. This made Sunni stiffen at once. "We have to hurry. I still have to finish cooking for the party. Before the termite attacked, I've found some interesting new recipes in the Great Book I've been meaning to try."
Sunni forced herself not to respond, and did her best to hide the dread from what Grammi's new recipes could be. For several more minutes both of them were silent as Grammi finished sewing the hem of Sunni's dress.
"There, all done," Grammi beamed, proud of herself. "Go take a look."
Sunni practically jumped off the stool and ran to the full length mirror by the wall. She gasped with delight. "Wow, Grammi, it's beautiful!" The dress was made of light pink material with a lacy skirt and bodice that were trimmed with silver thread. "I feel just like a princess!" She raced back to Grammi and gave her a big hug.
"You look great," Grammi smiled, patting her on the back.
The moment was soon interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in," Sunni called, breaking free from Grammi.
The door opened and Buddi walked in.
"Hi Buddi!" Sunni beamed at him.
"Hi Sunni," he announced, then stopped dead at the sight of her. "Wow! You look…"
He couldn't finish. He wasn't sure why, but seeing Sunni in such a dress made him suddenly feel hot and flushed. Not only because it was so beautiful, but also because unlike Sunni's old clothes, this dress was a little more low-cut than usual, just showing off the early signs of her maturing body. (Sunni wanted to show more, but Grammi put her foot down).
"It's nice to see you too, Buddi," Grammi tried to awaken him to her presence.
"Huh? Oh, hi, Grammi," Buddi said quickly. Why was he suddenly so shy? He had seen Sunni before many times. Why should such minor changes in her make a difference to him?
Sunni barely noticed Buddi's embarrassment, and signaled Grammi with her eyes to leave the room.
"I think I'll get started on the food," Grammi smiled, taking the hint. "I promised Grubbi he can help. I hope he can find his way around my kitchen."
Once she left, Sunni turned back to Buddi. "Like my dress? Grammi made it for me for the party."
"It looks awesome," Buddi told her, relieved he had managed to find his voice this time. "I was wondering if you'd like to practice playing some music with me for the party."
"I'd love to," Sunni told him. "But what about Ursa? I thought she doesn't like it when you play."
"She likes my music, she just doesn't like it when the others know I'm playing it," Buddi explained. "She thinks it's not fitting for Barbics." He added the last words in a perfect imitation of Ursa's pompous tone, that it made Sunni giggle.
"But she won't stop me from playing in front of the Great Gummies, she won't want them thinking… no, knowing she's so pushy," he said, and Sunni laughed again.
"Okay, I'll just change and we can practice some songs," Sunni said. "But not too many, I want to dance at this party too."
"Dance?" Buddi asked. "But we already dance when we play…"
"That's not what I mean," Sunni explained "I mean in pairs, with other Gummies. There could be a lot of new Gummies our age, and I want to get to know them."
"Me too," Buddi suddenly felt a little nervous. "But dancing together… isn't that a little old fashioned?"
"No, Grammi says that's something that never changes in parties. I can't wait to try."
"Yeah… I guess," Buddi felt flushed again. "Uh, I think I'll wait for you outside."
With that he almost hastened out of Sunni's room. Sunni stared after him for a moment, puzzled. Why was Buddi acting so strange about dancing? She knew he could dance reasonably well, and had no trouble making knew friends. Making a mental note to ask Grammi about this, she changed to her green dress, and took her tambourine from her drawer (her flute was destroyed by the termite), and left to join Buddi.
"Gusto! You call that eyesore a decoration?" Gruffi scolded, annoyed.
"Ah, c'mon, Gruffamundo, this is the best creation I've ever made for a party," Gusto replied.
"This is the only creation you've made for a party," Gruffi rolled his eyes.
The controversial decorations were made of long blocks of paper folded like a fan, with every other side painted in bright warm colors, and every side in between painted in bright cold colors, so that the whole picture seemed to change when observed from different angles. It featured small figurines of Gummi knights on unicorn ponies, Gummi magicians casting spells into the sky and fields of gummiberry bushes in the background.
"I'm telling you, the Great Gummies will love it!" Gusto insisted. "It just screams brilliance!"
"In what language?" Gruffi asked sarcastically. "I already showed you the art styles the ancient Gummies appreciated, and I'm telling you, that's what they'll enjoy seeing."
"That was five hundred years ago," Gusto insisted. "They'll be happy to see we've modernized. But if you're so sure you're right, I guess we should just get other opinions again."
"Fine," Gruffi told him. "It worked last time."
Gusto ignored this and looked around for someone available. "Yo! Tummer! Cubster! Get over here a moment!"
"What's up?" Cubbi asked when he and Tummi arrived. They had been hanging banners at the other side of the yard where the fountain that hid Ursalia's library stood at the center.
"Tell Gusto we can't show this ridiculous whatever-it-is to the Great Gummies!" Gruffi ordered.
"No, tell Gruffo that this masterpiece is the best way to welcome the Great Gummies!" Gusto insisted. "It'll send them straight to the moon!"
"But we want them here," Tummi was confused.
"Urgh, yeah, I didn't think of that," Gusto muttered, trying to keep a straight face. "So, what's the verdict?"
"I like it," Cubbi told him.
"Me too," Tummi said, trying to avoid Gruffi's eyes.
"Ha!" Gusto exclaimed. "Guess we're even now, Gruffamundo."
"Fine," Gruffi grumbled, recognizing defeat. "Just don't come crying to me when the Great Gummies make fun of you."
"At least I'll have something to talk to them about that won't bore them to death," Gusto mumbled under his breath, but Tummi and Cubbi were sure Gruffi heard him.
"Let's go see if Grammi's made lunch yet," Tummi whispered to Cubbi.
"Yeah, I'm with you," Cubbi answered, and the two of them rushed to the kitchen.
Unfortunately, the kitchen was not free of fights either. Tummi and Cubbi had opened the kitchen door just in time to hear Grammi yell at Grubbi at the top of her lungs.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? WE CAN'T SERVE THAT AT THE PARTY!"
"Barbics have always served this punch at holiday feasts, and it's never harmed anyone!" Grubbi shot back at her. "A little alcohol doesn't kill!"
"THERE ARE GOING TO BE CUBS THERE!" Grammi hollered.
"So? They have the right to a little fun!"
"Maybe we should come back later?" Cubbi suggested to Tummi.
"Yeah, I don't think Grammi's ready to serve lunch now," Tummi agreed, carefully shutting the door behind them.
Meanwhile, in Ursalia's library, Zummi was on edge. He had spent most of the previous day unpacking his books and repairing what he could, and rearranging them on the shelves, which he was now dusting for longer than was necessary just for something to do. When he could no longer find dust to clean, he looked around.
This library was much larger than Gummi Glen's was, yet it felt far less friendly to Zummi. So many shelves stood empty. It was small comfort he had donated some old books to Ursalia's library when the Glens fixed up the city, and that Artie had retrieved some of the books from the wreckage in the Glen, yet it was not enough to return that sense of peace and serenity Zummi used to get from being surrounded by the ancient Gummies' knowledge.
It then occurred to the elderly wizard that he had not been near the Great Book of Gummi since the move to Ursalia had begun. Perhaps reading some of it now would help calm his nerves. He approached the stand in the corner where the book was laid, and pressed his medallion to the lock. The book opened instantly on the last page Zummi remembered reading. It contained the levitating spell he had used to fly on the book to warn the Great Gummies from sailing into a trap. Zummi was relieved to see the book's ink wasn't smeared from falling into the water. Apparently the magic bookmark Thornberry had given Gruffi worked to protect the Great Book from destruction.
Zummi turned the pages slowly to see if they were all intact, and was pleased to see that they were. He then landed on a page in his own writing, where he had documented the Gummies' most important achievements in the past three years. At the top of the page were the words Today we helped a young boy save his kingdom.
Zummi wished he had time to read the whole page. There was something soothing about recalling the times he had been proud to defend Dunwyn. But he was sure it was almost time to head for the ocean shore. The Gummies had decided to meet in front of the house and leave together at three thirty in case the Great Gummies arrived early, while Artie flew to the shore to keep a look out. Zummi glanced at the clock on the wall. Three thirty-two.
"Oh, I'm late!" Zummi cried, dashing outside and arriving out of breath.
The other Gummies waited for him, looking almost as nervous as he felt. Even the Barbics didn't look as sure of themselves as they usually did.
Gruffi paced several times around the garden, making sure everyone was present.
"Okay," he addressed the group. "Now that we're all here, there are some things we need to talk about before meeting the Great Gummies."
"This ought to be good," Ursa mumbled sarcastically to Gritty.
"First of all," Gruffi began, ignoring Ursa, "we don't know exactly why they are coming back now, so we've got to be careful about how we ask them."
"We know, Gruffi," Sunni replied. "Don't mention we have human friends until we see where they stand on peace."
"Exactly," Gruffi said. "Now, I hope they are not planning to fight humans, but just in case they are…"
The sentence was never finished, because at that very moment the bears heard a loud squawk, and looked up to see Artie fly towards them at top speed.
"Artie!" Gusto cried out. "It can't be time yet, can it?"
Artie gave him a quick nod. "AWK! There's a ship headed to shore right now."
The Gummies looked at each other excitedly for a moment, and then began scrambling towards the ocean shore as fast as they could. Only Zummi remained rooted to the spot a moment longer, his heart pounding. Though he had tried to mentally prepare for this moment for several days, he did not feel ready. He was just on the verge of hyperventilating again, when another loud squawk from Artie woke him from his thoughts.
"AWK! Are you going to go to shore already?" the toucan squawked impatiently. "Or are you waiting for the Gummi express?"
"No… I-I'm coming," Zummi answered. Gathering his strength, he ran after his friends.
At the shore, the Gummies waited anxiously for a few minutes, shading their eyes with their paws. They scanned the blue ocean line before them, and gasped in excitement. After hearing a fog horn toot, they spotted a vessel from a distance, which was approaching them slowly. Although it was still too far to dock, they were now able to make out the Gummi bears' symbol on the sail.
Zummi suddenly realized his medallion was emitting a warm, bright glow. The ship must have been somehow magically protected. Apparently the Great Gummies were prepared for the possibility of another attack by humans. Zummi hoped this was a good sign, but he could not help but notice only one Gummi ship was arriving, when last time there had been three.
The following moments seemed to be the longest the Gummies had ever experienced. Whatever happened next, they all knew that as soon as the vessel approaching them lowered its anchor, their lives would never be the same.
Finally, the moment came where the Great Gummies' ship was near enough to dock. Until then, many of the Gummies on shore were not aware they had been holding their breath. Ursa unconsciously rested her paw on her abdomen, but instantly removed it when she caught Gritty watching her. Thornberry wrapped one arm each around Gruffi and Grammi, hoisting himself a bit higher to get a better look, ignoring their annoyed glares. Zummi moved several paces behind the others, clutching his medallion as though he were withdrawing strength from it. He was so overcome with emotion that his eyes started to water.
The fog horn tooted again, signaling the Gummies to stand clear as the ship's ramp was being lowered to shore.
"This is it, this is it!" Cubbi whispered excitedly to Sunni, who signaled him to be quiet.
The first Gummi bear was now disembarking. He was a Gummi knight, dressed in a suit of armor, and was leading a unicorn pony with him, like the kind the Glens had seen in Gummadoon. The knight stopped in the middle of the way, apparently scanning the terrain with his eyes, finally deciding it was safe to move forward. He mounted his steed, and road to shore, followed by an army of Gummi knights, also on unicorns. Cubbi practically squealed with delight at the sight of them, but his voice was drowned out when more Gummies followed the knights.
Gusto elbowed Tummi excitedly as the two caught sight of several Gummi girls around their age, particularly drawn to one attractive bear with light reddish-brown fur and dark, curly red hair that fell down to her waist. She smiled brightly at the boys and waved, causing Tummi to turn a little red.
More Gummies continued to disembark, including a few families with cubs. Unlike the Glen cubs who were beaming at them and waving their paws in a friendly manner, these cubs seemed rather intimidated by the excitement. The smaller ones were clinging to their mothers, while the older ones kept to themselves and only gave small nods at Sunni and Buddi's direction.
Soon, only five Gummi bears remained on deck. The knight who had reached the shore first motioned to the others to stand straight as the last five made their way down. At that moment it became clear to the other Gummies the Great Gummi council was approaching.
The first councilor to arrive was a rather young female bear with hot pink fur and hair, which was half pinned back, letting the rest fall loose down her back. She wore a dark red velvet dress with a violet sash tied around her waist. She beamed at the Gummies around her as she made room for the other councilors to follow.
The next councilor was an overweight red bear in late middle age, dressed in an orange and yellow tunic with a matching hat. Like the first councilor, he seemed to be friendly and cheerful, though his manner was not quite as dignified as hers had been. He nearly stumbled as his feet touched the sand, and as soon as he took his place beside the first councilor he pulled a large golden bottle from his belt and took a large swig.
The third councilor was a panda like bear that looked quite old, and had a slight twitch. He was dressed in a cyan kimono not unlike the ones the Glens had received in the Far East, and he was carrying a wooden abacus with him for some reason, and was constantly fiddling with the beads as he looked around at the others. He tilted his flat cyan hat at the other Gummies and stood beside the red councilor, elbowing him hard in the ribs to make him put down his drink.
The fourth councilor was an old bearded bear with gray fur who wore a dark green velvet robe and matching boots, and a round monocle rested on his right eye. At the sight of this Gummi, the rest had stiffened a little, perhaps because he seemed more intimidating than the others had been so far. He barely smiled as he gave a curt nod to the others and looked a little cross as he studied the bears around him. He raised one eyebrow suspiciously as he spotted the Barbics' wild look, but did not comment. He stood at the far right side of the councilors, and the panda-like bear moved closer to him to make room in the middle of the line for the last councilor.
The last councilor was an elderly female bear. She had silver-white fur, and was dressed in dark blue silk, with a matching pointy hat that had a blue veil attached to it. She was not exactly beautiful, but she was elegant. Though her expression was kind, her appearance was almost as intimidating as the previous councilor's had been, perhaps due to the fact that she was the chief councilor. As soon as she had reached her place among the other councilors, she held out her arms as though embracing the Gummies around her.
"Greetings, fellow Gummies," she began. She was quite soft spoken, but still clearly audible. "It is a great honor to be back among friends who had worked so hard to preserve our old homes."
At the back of the crowd, Zummi fidgeted nervously. These words were not making things easier, but he knew the sooner he spoke to the councilors, the better. He moved forward slightly, trying to avoid the other Gummies' eyes. His head was hurting again, but he tried to ignore it.
The chief councilor went on. "I am councilor Mysti. We apologize for the long delay in our reply to your message, and for the short notice of our arrival, but in light of the attack the other day we had to use extreme caution in planning our voyage. Furthermore, some of you may have noticed only one of our ships has arrived."
The Glen Gummies tensed slightly, exchanging nervous looks.
"You see," Mysti continued. "There has been some dispute among us in New Gumbria, regarding the possibility of our return. Some officials do not believe the time is right for us to come out of hiding and make peace with humans." She paused for a moment, shooting a sideways glance at her fellow councilors. "For this reason, we've formed this delegation to Ursalia to examine our options. If conditions turn out to be favorable, we hope more New Gumbrians will be able to join us in the near future."
These words were greeted by a mixture of reactions from the crowd. Some of the newcomers were cheering with Ursalia's Gummies (though the Barbics' cheers were somewhat hesitant), while other New Gumbrians looked doubtful. Zummi even thought he saw a few Gummies giving this councilor a hostile look, though with all the anxiety he was feeling he may have just imagined it.
Mysti went on. "I know many of our travelers are now waiting to find new homes for themselves. So if we could all make our way to…" She stopped suddenly, having just caught eye of Zummi in the crowd. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Zummi froze in his tracks, terrified. He hadn't spoken to the councilors yet, what reason could their chief possibly have for staring at him like that? He looked back at his friends, most of whom seemed puzzled. He saw Gruffi whisper something to Grammi, who nodded and the two signaled the other Glen Gummies to follow them towards Zummi.
Mysti approached him slowly, followed by the other councilors. They seemed as confused about their chief's behavior as the rest of the crowd was. When they drew near, however, they seemed to understand. The red councilor elbowed the pink one and winked, and they both beamed at Zummi.
Mysti held out her paw for Zummi to shake, which he did nervously. "Your name's Zummi, isn't it?" Mysti asked softly.
Zummi barely managed to nod yes. He could not even ask how the councilor knew his name.
Mysti beamed at him as though welcoming an old friend. "It's wonderful to finally meet you. We were so worried you might not have... after that attack…" She gave his paw a squeeze, rapidly regaining composure. "We are indebted to you. On behalf of all New Gumbrians, we thank you for saving our lives."
It took a moment for Zummi to take in what he had just heard. Before he could say anything, there was an explosion of cheers from the crowd. Several Gummies had approached him to shake his paw, and the red councilor even pulled him close to plant a kiss on each of Zummi's cheeks. All the bears around him seemed to want to thank him, but in the confusion Zummi couldn't make out a word they said. Soon he lost sight of councilor Mysti and of his friends. The entire shore seemed to be spinning around him. He tried to ask the Gummies around him to let him speak to a councilor, but his voice was too faint.
Several feet behind, the other Glen Gummies were also trying to squeeze through the crowd to reach Zummi. They called out to him several times, but their voices were lost in the din. Gruffi nearly fell over when another Gummi accidentally shoved him aside. Only Cubbi was small enough to get passed the other Gummies' legs, but even he could not get very far before tripping over a Gummi knight's foot.
The knight grabbed Cubbi's arm and helped him up. "Easy there, Sir Cubbi," he laughed. "You could get trampled on here."
Cubbi stood stunned for a moment. How in the world did this Gummi know who he was? He looked up nervously to see the knight lift his helmet and smile at him.
"Chummi!" Cubbi practically squealed in delight.
Councilor Mysti, meanwhile, stood a few feet away from the crowd, waiting for the noise to die down. She soon caught sight of the gray councilor, who also seemed to be avoiding the crowd, and was a little taken aback by the angry look he was giving her. She chose to ignore this, deciding it was time to rescue Zummi from the crowd's enthusiasm. The Gummies nearest to her moved back to let her pass, but before reaching Zummi she was pulled back for a moment by the panda councilor.
"Your honor?" The councilor asked.
"What is it, Priggy?" Mysti asked, trying to hide her annoyance.
Priggy held up the abacus in his paws. "I've added up the number of Gummies I could find here. I really don't think there are enough of us here to handle humans…"
"It's too soon to decide anything," Mysti told him. "We don't know the humans' strength in this land yet. We'll have to consult the Glen Gummies about that. Now come on, help me scatter the crowd."
Priggy nodded and moved away to the other end of the crowd, while Mysti continued forward on her own. Finally, she managed to catch sight of Zummi, but then froze in her tracks, startled. By this time, the crowd had quieted down, and was rapidly moving away from Zummi, who was panting heavily and clutching his head. His face was covered in cold sweat.
Mysti cautiously approached him. "Zummi? Are you all right?"
Zummi looked up at her, but this movement only made the dizziness worse. "I… I have to tell you something…" He just managed to whisper. He took a deep breath, and slowly released it. The dizziness passed. He now noticed his friends had finally managed to catch up to him. He quickly held up his paw at their direction, warning them not to interfere.
The other councilors now gathered around Mysti, waiting to find out what was going on. Zummi forced himself to stand up straight, trying to ignore the numerous eyes he was sure were staring at him. He particularly tried to avoid looking at the gray councilor, who was standing right next to Mysti and eying him suspiciously through his monocle.
Zummi swallowed hard. It took him all his strength not to lose his composure. "I… I really didn't deserve all those cheers… I mean, I'm glad I managed to warn you about the trap, but…" He forced himself to look straight into the chief councilor's eyes. "But the reason you were lured into that trap in the first place is because I… I made a terrible mistake… This also caused us to lose Gummi Glen."
The councilors stared at him with a mixture of shock and confusion. Restless murmurs could be heard coming from the surrounding bears. Mysti held up her paw to silence the crowd.
"Go on," She told Zummi.
Zummi trembled slightly. "I sent you the message to return home because I thought it was safe," he swallowed again. "But then, an old enemy came back after being gone a year… and because I dropped my guard he managed to somehow plant the termite on me… and the Glen was destroyed." His voice shook slightly on the last words.
An uncomfortable silence followed Zummi's confession. The councilors exchanged looks, seeming to consider what to do next. Zummi could not tell if they were angry or not. He wished one of them would finally speak. The uncertainty of his situation felt worse to him than anger.
Finally, Mysti spoke. "I think we need to hear more about this," she announced to the other councilors as well as Zummi. "Is there a place we can sit down to discuss the matter?"
Thornberry stepped out from the crowd and stood beside Zummi. "The Old Council-chamber is in the city's central square, your honor," he told Mysti.
"Thank you," Mysti replied. "Please lead the way, sir."
