Warning: heavy amounts of snark ahead.
As Tormod, Aylene, and Littlefoot continued on their journey, the temperatures rose along with the sun.
Tormod noticed Aylene drinking water from one of her water bottles, and giving Littlefoot some water from another one of her bottles. Okay. Aylene and Littlefoot didn't seem to have as much stamina as him anyways. Tormod himself wasn't sweating yet, but even then, he knew that he needed to keep himself hydrated just like any other human in order to survive. Of course, he had some water of his own to deal with this fact.
While Tormod was leading them onwards, to pass the time, Aylene and Littlefoot began having casual conversations. Tormod didn't interrupt, but he still listened in, providing his silent mental commentary. He guessed that Littlefoot had been asking Aylene a lot of questions previously, and still had many more to ask.
"So, what are your arrows made of?"
"Well, the stick, which is called the "shaft", is made of wood. The arrowhead is made of stone, and the flippers on the end, which are called fletchlings, are made of arrows. My grandfather taught me how to make my own arrows."
Good for Aylene. She knew how to make her own arrows. If Tormod had remembered his bow and arrows, which he had, unfortunately, forgot this time around, he would have also shown Littlefoot his bow and his arrows, for he had actually made all of his arrows by himself.
"That's pretty neat."
"Yeah, although I'm not sure how much damage an arrow could do to a T-Rex."
Come on, Aylene, an arrow can do plenty of damage to a T-Rex. Tormod himself took down many carnivorous dinosaurs, T-Rexes included, with them.
"T-Rex?"
"Short for Tyrannosaurus Rex. That's what we call a dinosaur like Sharptooth."
Now they were talking about human names for dinosaur species. How random.
"We also have names for dinosaurs like you, too."
"Really?"
"Yeah, long-necked dinosaurs as a whole would be classified as sauropods. The type of sauropod that you are is an Apatosaurus. Cera, the threehorn we met yesterday, is a Triceratops because she has three horns."
Well, duh, the word "Triceratops" means "three-horned face" in greek.
"Or rather, she will have three horns on her head when she's an adult."
You met another hatchling besides Littlefoot yesterday? How interesting.
"Adult?"
"Grown-up."
Get used to people referring to fully-grown dinosaurs as "adults", Littlefoot. You'll need to around Tormod and Aylene.
"Wow, you certainly know a lot about dinosaurs."
"Yeah, that's how I got the nickname "Dino Nerd" back in my world."
No wonder. She's practically a walking encyclopedia about dinosaurs.
But then came the most awkward question that a dinosaur could ever ask a human, courtesy of Littlefoot.
"So, do you have dinosaurs back where you come from?"
This caused Tormod to turn around to look at Littlefoot with a startled expression, just in time for him to see Aylene do a spit take with the water in her mouth, coughing for a moment when the reaction almost caused her to choke. When she got her breathing under control again, she looked at Littlefoot with the same expression as Tormod.
"Uhm, what was the question again?" Aylene asked the young Apatosaurus nervously, still clearing her throat back out.
"I asked if you had dinosaurs back in your world." Littlefoot repeated his question.
As Tormod expected, Aylene was at a lost for words. Tormod couldn't blame her. How could any sane individual tell this young dinosaur that all of the dinosaurs from their world were extinct? Seriously, how?
To prevent Aylene from having to answer that question, Tormod cut in.
"Littlefoot, could you PLEASE take what you're named after back out of your mouth for a second?" Tormod asked him.
"What, is it a bad question to ask?" Littlefoot asked back, clearly disturbed by Tormod's reaction.
"Oui, it is." Tormod answered. "You REALLY do not want to know the answer to that question."
"Umm...okay." Littlefoot slowly responded. Then, he decided that his time of asking questions was over. "Uh, let's just focus on getting to the valley?"
"We could do that." Tormod replied.
So the 3 of them did just that, continuing on their journey to the valley.
But they soon encountered another distraction about a minute later. When Littlefoot, who had been looking towards the ground as he was walking, then looked up, he saw something on the same side of the ravine as he was about 20 yards away.
"CERA!" Littlefoot shouted in apparent recognition of someone.
"Mon dieu, no need to be so loud, Littlefoot." Tormod quietly said to himself, wincing at how LOUD Littlefoot was.
Littlefoot began racing towards the young Triceratops, with Aylene following him closely behind, and Tormod walking after them, not feeling like running after them.
However, this little Triceratops, who was apparently the "Cera" that Aylene had described to Tormod, didn't exactly share Littlefoot and Aylene's sentiments, for when Littlefoot approached her, she gave him a sourpuss face and grunted at him "What do you want?".
"Uh, n-nothing." Littlefoot backed away about a step or two, sensing Cera's very foul mood. "Where are you going?"
"I'M going to find my OWN kind." Cera snorted, sticking her horn up in the air. "They're on the other side."
That's when Tormod finally caught up to them.
"Aylene and Littlefoot, next time you two go running off after something, S'IL-TE-PLAIT, try to watch where you're going." Tormod told his fellow human and the young Apatosaurus with a rather exasperated tone. "You two almost ran me right over."
Aylene and Littlefoot looked down a little at this, disappointed with themselves about their not paying attention.
Then, Tormod walked over to Cera, unimpressed with the young triceratops' attitude.
"And who's this little threehorn boy giving Littlefoot and Aylene trouble this morning?" Tormod asked her sarcastically, getting a dinosaur hatchling's gender wrong for the second time, although this time, considering how she was acting, he couldn't have cared less. "You do realize that I have little time for this, right?"
"My name's Cera, and I'm a GIRL, thank you very much!" Cera practically shouted at him, irritated.
"Well, excuuuuuuuse me, princess." Tormod replied to her, sarcastic once again. "It's hard to tell."
Tormod then looked at the massive ledge, and then back at an annoyed Cera.
"So you're intending to climb that." Tormod said flatly. "Tough luck, Cera. Can't do that. Your paws aren't made for climbing. And besides, not even I can climb that massive rock face."
"Maybe YOU can't." Cera snorted again, attempting to get in Tormod's face in an attempt to intimidate him and make him back off.
However, it didn't work because one, Cera only came up to a little past Tormod's waist, and two, Tormod wasn't frightened at all. In fact, he was even MORE unimpressed.
"Oh, so you're trying to scare me?" Tormod asked her dryly. "How cute." Tormod then drew his Claymore out of the sheath on his back, startling Cera as he did so, and once he had drawn it, put the tip to Cera's forehead. "THIS is how you intimidate someone."
Cera, realizing that Tormod had something large, heavy, and sharp at his disposal, backed away from Tormod, visibly frightened by him. When she backed far enough away that she was out of the Claymore's range, Tormod then sheathed it again.
"Know your place, Cera." Tormod told her as he sheathed his blade.
Once Tormod sheathed his blade, and once she heard what Tormod said, Cera's face when from frightened back to pouty.
After a few moments, she turned around and jumped down to a small ledge that was only a foot down from the ledge where Tormod was standing.
"Just to let know you, Cera," Tormod made an offer, "I'm taking these two to the Great Valley with me, and I know the exact way there. So I'll ask you this: would you like to come with us and save yourself the trouble of trying to find it yourself? Your call, little threehorn."
As Tormod expected her to do due to her apparent massive ego, Cera scowled at the idea.
"A threehorn does not need help from a human OR a longneck!" Cera replied snobbishly, and, as Tormod knew, foolishly.
Cera stuck her horn in the air again and attempted to kick dirt at Tormod. However, the dirt didn't reach him, and this act of hers blew up in her face, as it made her lose her footing and slide down the ramp into the darker pit below.
"Pride before a fall." Tormod quietly said to himself in a dry tone as he watched Cera nearly disappear into the blackness of the cavern below him, first hearing her screaming (an admittedly painful sound to listen to), and then a loud thud as she apparently hit the bottom, followed by her groaning from the impact.
"We'll, at least we wouldn't be alone!" Littlefoot, who had moved up to the canyon besides Tormod, called out to Cera. Aylene, as usual, wouldn't even try getting THAT close to the canyon.
"Well, when I find my family I won't BE alone!" Cera snapped at him. "So go away!"
Cera raised her horn and tail high in the air, much like a very dominant dog, and began to pompously walk through the bottom of the ravine as he continued her little "superiority" speech, which made Tormod roll his eyes.
"Threehorns can be very dangerous. And they only TALK with others threehorns. And the only TRAVEL with other THREEHORNS!"
Tormod sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose at the young threehorn's flawed logic and clear ignorance of reality. Some people and dinosaurs just couldn't be helped.
Beside him, Littlefoot hung his head at the fate that Cera likely faced. That's when he decided to indulge in some dry wit himself.
"Why does Cera seem to think that she can dig her way to her family?" Littlefoot asked himself sardonically.
What Tormod said internally was "Perhaps she doesn't realize that she's about to dig her own grave". But knowing that Littlefoot wouldn't know what a grave was, nor would he want to know, what Tormod said externally was "Perhaps she doesn't realize that she IS about to reunite with her family...but not in the way that she may want to.".
Then, Tormod knelt down next to Littlefoot, putting an arm around the young Apatosaurus.
"I know, Littlefoot, some just never learn the easy way, and always have to learn the hard way." Tormod told him. Cera's just one of them."
Littlefoot nodded at this. He definitely understood what Tormod meant.
Then, the two of them stood and turned to Aylene, who was waiting for them away from the ravine's edge.
"Are you two done?" Aylene asked them, a little unnerved by what Tormod had said and implied about Cera's fate.
"Yes." Tormod answered with one word.
And with that, without any more words being said, Tormod began leading the way to the valley once again, with Aylene and Littlefoot following him.
...
As the 3 continued onward, Tormod looked behind him again to check on Aylene and Littlefoot like he had been doing. But this time, he noticed that Aylene...wasn't looking like she was doing so well. She looked exhausted, and she was barely keeping up with Littlefoot. The poor girl needed some rest.
Though Aylene was clearly trying to hide her struggles, she could only do so for so long, and when they came to a large boulder, she finally stopped and leaned against it.
"Aylene?" Littlefoot's tongue slipped when he saw her stop.
The teenage girl slid down the rock and sat down at the bottom, clearly worn out. Tormod could also hear her stomach growling.
"Aylene, are you okay?" Littlefoot ask as he lowered his head to her level, filled with concern for her. Nearby, Tormod also walked back over to where Aylene was.
"I'm fine." Aylene lied to them to not make them worry about her. "Just needed to sit down for a second. Let's keep moving."
Aylene then tried to use the rock to stand back up. She managed to get to her feet, but when she tried to walk, her legs gave out from under her, and Tormod and Littlefoot, using their arms and neck respectively, had to catch her.
"Sorry..." Aylene groaned, "I hate being weak."
But Tormod was not about to have any of Aylene depreciating herself.
"Aylene, you're not weak." Tormod told her as he held her like a bride. "It's just that, right now, you're exhausted, and I don't want you dying from exhaustion. How about Littlefoot carries you so that you can save your energy?"
"Okay, fine." Aylene reluctantly agreed.
So Tormod walked to Littlefoot, who was waiting for them and was ready to carry Aylene on her back. Tormod then bent down to the level of Littlefoot's back, and he carefully set Aylene down on it.
With that, the three of them continued across the wasteland towards a small clump of trees on the horizon. Tormod knew that, here, they could get some food, and also, more importantly, at least for Tormod and Aylene, water.
Just now noticed that I completely forgot about the tree star that Littlefoot carried with him in the original movie and the original version of TLBT Retold. Oh well, guess I can't do much about it now.
Also, if you had any doubts about whether Tormod had a dry sense of humor or not, they should be gone now.