"Now everything goes a little quieter." The mammoth mother sighed and wondered if all went well with the remaining saber-toothed tigers.
"You should be glad. If these attacks wouldn't have stopped we all had to go away from here or we could have ended as a snack." Yolanda nudged her friend with her elbow in the side.
"It's true. After the matter your 'friend' has provided he can stay away from here." Peaches had of course told her parents the incident with the male saber. Manny then has talked with his buddy and this apologized once more. Even though he still doesn't know what had gotten into him, so he assured that it will never happen again. Ellie saw that he was sorry and therefore they let the matter rest for now. In addition, no one got hurt. She couldn't imagine that Diego would freak out like that. But six animals were witnesses of the event. If it had only been her brothers she would have doubted it but there was no reason for others to invent this story.
"Lorene! He was in a pretty bad situation.." Tried the bright sloth to explain the whole thing but the mammoth laid the trunk on her shoulder to stop her.
"It's all right. Diego is a really good guy but he is also a saber-toothed tiger. I wouldn't hesitate to continue to trust him but you don't have that." The last sentence was more for the skunk and this wanted to say something else but Ellie came in between as she discovered her husband.
"Manny!" Caught this turned around at once and looked at his wife apologetically.
"Don't scare me like that. I was meditating." Even he knew that it was the worst excuse in the world but so fast nothing better came to him. He hasn't really expected the other mammoth now because he thought she was on a walk with the other women.
"Meditate? With one of my brothers in the trunk? Was that the meditations pose called 'throw the possum'?" The mammoth mother pushed her husband aside and then looked at that what Manfred previously had aimed for with the rodent. It was Peaches and her little friend. A little annoyed she turned back to the male mammoth. Let the two alone! For days you are running after her again. It seems to me that you have learned nothing lately. Why is it so hard for you to just let the two alone?" Then she noticed something and she grinned at her husband.
Don't tell me you're afraid to lose her to him? Do you see? You do trust that little one is capable of more."
"Honestly. She's grown up or not?" Lorene mixed into the conversation.
"Judging by her size she should be it." Yolanda compared the image she saw through the bush with the other two mammoths beside her.
"Louis maybe finally tells what he feels for her." Babbled the little skunk suddenly between.
"Really?" The mammoth mother found it very sweet and so she sat down to continue to look after the two behind the bush.
"Ruby, I hope you were all the time with Peaches?" The skunk mother inquired when she saw her daughter.
"Of course. But Uncle Eddie and I hid here in the bushes then because the two want..." But said possum kept quickly the mouth shut from the little one.
"Because the two have only eyes for each other." He answered quickly and laughed nervously.
"But you said that they.."
"..want to be alone." He finished her sentence and then tried to distract her by climbing on Ellie to have a better view.
"So now look at this. We can't miss anything." Eddie looked also forward but he felt Lorenes angry look in the neck. Crash had recovered from the throwing exercises and also came in between now.
"Louis could never do that. When it really matters he gets speechless or worse he stutters." Meanwhile, he had climbed from Manny's trunk on his sister's head to see more.
"Ellie what are you doing?" Her husband asks smirking now as she doesn't walk away from her place again.
"I don't watch them. I just want to make sure that everything goes well."
"Of course." Replied the other mammoth and sat down beside her.
"I think it's so very romantic." The bright sloth raved. Only the skunk mother rolled her eyes and found the whole thing a little childish. But she knew if she wants to move her daughter away from here now this would run away again because she isn't tired enough.
"What are you doing there?" Another voice wanted to know behind them and they all turned shortly. Curiously, Sid stood next to the mammoth to look through the bushes.
"Well, Ellie I didn't thought you would join Manny by his hobby." He then reproved firmly when he realized what everyone is watching here.
"This isn't my hobby!" The male mammoth complained quietly but emphatically.
"Of course not. How is it then that I catch you almost every day spying on Peaches? She is an adult mammoth and you should respect her privacy." They all looked a little ashamed to bottom after the words but on the other part they couldn't also believe that something like that would come from Sid. But this also doesn't push the leaves from the bush back.
"And why do you stay here then?" Inquired Lorene and the male sloth don't notice her and Yolanda until now because the mammoth covered the view from them.
"You too?" He distracted with a counter-question.
"Actually, I just wanted to see where you've ended up." The bright sloth not even has to use an excuse because that was the truth. Sid has hidden from her because he had stumbled into a stinky pond and doesn't get the stuff out of the fur.
"Pssst! Now it could be exciting." Announced Eddie and Manfred couldn't help but broke a branch off to throw this but Ellie noticed it and held his trunk.
"No. You will not do that." The male mammoth sighed and laid the wood down again. He was aware that his daughter can take care very good of herself and also that the small spined one is a great help whenever she need it.
But on the other side of the bushes had someone else it a little difficult.
"What are you doing?" Wanted Peaches to know amused as the molehog climbed on a tree. Well at least he tried.
"I just want..ouch!" Gave Louis out when he slid down from the bark to the ground again. The mammoth helped him with her trunk back on his feet.
"Your feet aren't made for climbing." She said then and lifted him up into the branches. At least she thought that he wanted to go there. The small one sighed a little depressed because he really wanted to do it alone.
"That's true, unfortunately."
"Hey, cheer up. As long as I'm around you can reach the high places." So she tried to cheer him up again and of course it worked. When he saw her smile he couldn't be grieving long.
"Hey where are the other two actually?" He wants to know then to not be disturbed again. Finally, nobody was here except the two of them. He has to take this chance.
"They play there in the bushes. I see how the leaves move. But we shouldn't stay here too long. After all I promised to take care of Ruby and you know how she is." He agreed with her and then quickly swallowed the lump in his throat he had.
"Peaches we're friends, right?" He asked boldly and she looks puzzled from bush to him.
"What are you talking about? Of course we are. The best friends even." With this sentence, she realized that he was exactly at eye level with her. She wondered if he wanted on this road to talk on equal terms with her.
The spined one however, thought it would be better to make his confession from here. Unfortunately it doesn't really enhance his situation. To say it straight out might also not be a good idea. But if he doesn't use this opportunity then he will always move it to later. That turns to tomorrow or the day after. Or in a few days. Maybe years.
No, he said mentally to himself. He had managed to look a dangerous saber-toothed in his eyes and he would do that also now.
"It's crazy that Crash is in love with Lorene, right?" Somehow he began simply so there isn't a long silence between them.
"Why? If he likes her and vice versa as well then it's okay." She wondered how he thought of this now but also noticed that he sat somehow tense on the branch.
"Do you think so?"
"Louis you seem somehow strained. Is there something else you want to tell me?" Although Peaches would like to deepen the theme she also saw more and more that something was wrong with him. She even wondered what she could do if he doesn't feel well.
"Maybe." Waiting, she looked at him and he knows that he only should one last time breath before telling everything.
"I like you." He couldn't even continue to look at her while he said this sentence because he was afraid of her reaction. The pounding in his chest must have already gotten through to her ears. At least it seemed very loudly to him.
"I like you too." Surprised, he looked at her and he thought she had misunderstood him now because she answered so easily. He just had to express it more clearly.
"No. I mean I like you more than... friends should like each other." So now it's out. He had finally said it. There was no turning back.
"Louis." His friend doesn't sound angry or otherwise irritated. Thus he dared to look in her direction again. But to his luck suddenly stood there not just one mammoth.
"Which one of you would have imagined that?" Even Peaches turned startled when she heard the voice of Steffie.
"I think we just a little unwelcome right now." Katie added and wanted to withdraw her friend already. But this doesn't want to disappear again.
"What do you mean? I find the spectacle here quite interesting. You don't see every day that a molehog makes a love confession to a mammoth." She jostled Peaches aside to talk to the little one. "Hey!" Complained the peachy mammoth because it was pushed away so easy but her cheeks were burning and she was glad that she had fur so that nobody could see it. To distract herself she looked over to the blonde one but she just shrugged with her shoulders clueless.
"I don't know if you noticed that but she's a mammoth." Then she wanted to pack Louis for no reasons but that doesn't work because of his spines. Thus, she only brought him to fall to the ground. The molehog doesn't really noticed the fall then he only had in mind that he had just made his friend laughable before the other mammoths. All the courage and the belief that she isn't angry with him had disappeared.
"Those things are pretty pointy. In any case you should look for someone in your size. You're not seriously thinking that it is normal what you do here. Is there no other molehog around here?"
"Steffie be quiet now!" Peaches had heard enough and shoved the other mammoth away from her friend.
"What do you yell at me like that?"
"You can't just interfere in others conversation!"
"I was doing a favor for you."
"For whom I have feelings is still my thing!"
"You're doing just so as if you also have a crush on him."
"If it is so, it is still not your business!" Peaches doesn't wanted to say it so loud but she also couldn't denied it. There was finally no reason to say no to Louis in front of the other mammoths. She still was a little confused because she never had expected that the spined one would tell her something like that.
"Good for you. Since you're going to ... Hey where is he?" When Steffie looked behind the other mammoth to talk to the spined one she noticed that he had disappeared. Peaches also turned immediately but Louis was actually gone.
"This is all your fault!" She wondered why of all animals in the valley just Steffie had to come by.
"I didn't know that he is so sensitive. Just go after him."
"Good Idea. If you tell me which way he is?" Steffie rolled his eyes at the snippy tone and then looked at the ground. Oddly enough, she saw nowhere churned earth.
"Since when can he run so fast?"
"If he don't want it that you follow him, he digs deeper so that the earth above is not loose." She sighed and hung her head to continue to yell at the other would bring her nothing. Louis had struggled through to say something like that to her and now he probably thought she wouldn't return these feelings. She never would have turned him down. She liked him, too but as he had uttered these words she finally realized how difficult it was for him to do so. The whole thing made her speechless for a moment. Steffie had completely ruined this then. Only by showing up. Otherwise it wouldn't have been bad to see the other mammoths but right now it doesn't suit her.
"You realize if that's just a little crush, then you should better leave him alone for a while." Katie came now to her to probably bring her mind off things than just look angry at Steffie.
"I do not think that it is only that. He must have carefully considered the confession." Peaches knew the mole hedgehog since childhood and something like that he would never just do so easy.
"I'm not talking about him but about you. If you don't really can return his feelings then you're only going to break his heart if you follow him now." She understood what the bright mammoth meant and suddenly it was clear what Louis wanted when he said they can no longer see each other for a while. Before she was kidnapped by the saber-toothed tigers he had probably planned to tell that he had such feelings for her. Was it really better to wait and think about what they could do without him? Until a nice mammoth came by that she liked. That could take a while and in time even Louis could get to know someone else. Someone who wasn't as big as her. Someone who is the small and cute and could embrace him if he wanted it.
No." She then said out loud her thoughts. It hurt to think about such things. She doesn't want to be without him. It had nothing to do with that they had got used to each other. She doesn't care that he wasn't a mammoth. He has proven more than once that he could be there for her. In addition, her heart beat got faster by his words earlier.
"I have to go... Ethan?" She was about to start running to try to find the molehog but the male mammoth was blocking her way. Not only that, he also had the disappeared one in the trunk. He held him by his feet because he probably doesn't know how he should touch him with the spines. Louis has crossed his arms upside down and was trying to not to look at any of them.
"I almost tripped about him." Told Ethan and because the girls were a little loud before he has heard something of the conversation. He could imagine what it was and as the spined one not even said something instructive to him but only stubbornly hung his head he had just picked him up. He was surprised that this doesn't run away so fast as usual.
"Ethan? If you're here now, are the other two alone?" Katie asked a little nervous in between. But her counterpart looked at her in confusion.
"If there three of us are here then of course there are two left." Steffie said it as if it were the easiest in the world to know something like that. But the bright animal wasn't concerned about that. But the two of their gang were the other among themselves. She just doesn't trusted Meghan with everything. That's why she let the others simply alone to look what Budy was doing.
Meanwhile, Peaches had taken the prickly one and put him on her back. She hoped thereby that he doesn't simply jump down to run away.
"The flowers look good on you." Said the male mammoth and she realized that she still had the wreath on her head. She also remembered why she actually wanted to have the flowers from the waterfall. That she got noticed among her species and now she doesn't care whether this happened.
"Yes it's good. Louis has braided the wreath."
"Yes very nice but.." Steffie couldn't even finish her sentence because the male mammoth interrupted her.
"Why are you running away without telling me something?" Asked Ethan of and she rolled her eyes.
First she should move and when she does it then that also likes no one. She ignored it and thought it was great that Ethan ran after her for a change.
"So you two are a couple?" Actually, it wasn't Peaches business but for the action which the other mammoth had just withdrawn she needs a bit of revenge.
"So well.." The male mammoth wanted to clarify the whole thing but then he doesn't know how to do it right.
"What's with the 'so well' here?! Are we one or are we not?"
"We must discuss in front of her now?"
"I can see that you should talk it out in private. So we see us perhaps later." Thus Peaches left them just stand there and is glad that she wasn't stopped. A little she felt sorry for Ethan but not enough to help him. Thus she ran swiftly in the direction in which the smaller animals were gone. Even though she knew that she should look out for Ruby, it was urgent to talk with the molehog.
"I'm sorry, Louis." She said then when they were both far enough away from the other mammoths. First she heard nothing and got afraid that he would no longer sit on her back but she still felt his weight. Even if that wasn't much. Then she heard a sigh but he moved no piece first.
"You have to feel sorry for nothing. I should have thought more over the whole thing." So the molehog jumped then off her.
"It was still mean from Steffie to talk you down like that. Have you hurt yourself when you fell off the branch because of her?" Peaches inquired immediately as that came to her mind again.
"No. But you have to admit that she's right."
"And can you tell me with what?"
"That's not normal what I've done. I .. Can't we just forget what happened?" It hurt her to see him so depressed. He doesn't even look at her as he spoke. She even wasn't angry or whatever he expected her to be.
"No."
"Oh. Then that means that we can't be friends anymore?" Peaches heard it not as a question but as a fact. She really wanted to know what was going on in his head right now.
"Hey, you don't really believe what she said?" She sat down close behind Louis to grab him in time if he should try to disappear through the earth again.
"Peaches I don't know what I was thinking about to tell you something like that. You're a mammoth."
"I don't even notice that." Apparently she angered him with it a little but finally he turned to face her.
"I'm serious! Something like that shouldn't.." But when he realized that she was so close to him and looked at him the same way as before as the sun hits them, he was out of words again. The large animal used this to stroke a few crumbs from the earth from his fur that got stuck there.
"Louis, since when do you listen to what others tell around? Of course it's not normal that a molehog has such feelings for a mammoth." He hung his head afterward again but she changed it by raising it back with her trunk. But his eyes were still on the side.
"Look at me. Is it normal for a mammoth to climb of trees or hang on a branch while sleeping?"
"That's something else. In addition, you know that I think that's pretty cool. It is.."
"Really?" She was surprised a little and thus let go of him again. But he actually meant his sentence how he expressed it and that made her happy because never told her anyone it so. Maybe she just wanted to hear from him but anyway it was great. She had already thought to quit it because she is no longer a child but now she had changed her mind.
"Of course. At first I thought that all mammoths can do this." He admitted and scratched his head because doesn't really know what to say further. He just tried to keep talking so that no awkward silence comes up.
"When we first met, you were so small and cute. Back then, I was always afraid to hurt you because you were so tiny." Now she was in memoirs and that found the spined one not so great because she talked about his size. She noticed it of course.
"Well yes, since then it hasn't changed much for me." He said and glanced down at himself.
"Oh yes. You have more and pointed spines on your back now."
"Yeah great. For fruit skewers is it very practical." But she doesn't let him bring her out of the concept.
"You're lot better in the digging than before."
"One does what one can."
"Besides, you really have grown a bit in all this time. When we first met you were a head shorter than uncle Crash and uncle Eddie."
"You sure?"
"Yes I'm sure."
"Well, if you say so then I probably have." She rolled her eyes because he made it so difficult to her.
"Then let me put it this way. Despite your size you impressed a mammoth." In their conversation, he noticed that they were still talking as before. It calmed him a little that it hasn't changed much between them. Well it made him uncomfortable that a part of mammoth gang saw his confession. He doesn't care if they were mocking him for this now but his friend hasn't earned it. Finally, it wasn't her fault. Yes it wasn't nice to hear from another mammoth that he has made a mistake but maybe he needed it to be shaken awake again. Still, he found the Peaches exaggerated a bit now because he had only done what he could to help her.
"Who? Meghan?" He tried to tease her a little and looked up at her carefully.
"Very funny." She said and was glad that Louis looked at her again. Also she doesn't know if her words were carefully considered but he has also dared to confess his feelings. So it shouldn't be a problem for her. Somehow she doesn't think that everything would go so fast but she couldn't simply leave this now.
"Maybe we should.." The spined one turned his gaze away from her and was about to suggest that they should look after the other two. But he broke off as a trunk brought him back to look up.
"Louis, I.."