Chapter Six - Act 1 - Planned Out Estimation
As with many mornings that come after a return trip, a discussion over the next trip was to take place. Ben knew that there was going to be differences on this particular day, mostly because of his previous run-in with Buck. It did have him thinking how everyone else would respond - he knew Arlie approved of it - but whether Henry or Ida would agree was something he was unsure about, and he didn't want to let them know prior in case Buck has wanted to tell it as a surprise sorta thing. Should've asked him when I had the chance, Ben thought as he saw his friends starting to gather.
Under a time limit, Ben searched around for any of Buck's parents, hoping to catch at least one of them before everyone was ready. Being the fastest had its perks, as he soon found Ida casually approaching the homesteads. He didn't want to be an inconvenience, but he still needed someone else's approval, and to be frank he knew if Ida would agree then things would be much better. "I'm sorry for being in the way ma'am, but I need to speak to you regarding this meeting." Ben managed to stop Ida about halfway up the last field of corn, one of the original ones as well.
Looking behind he could see that almost everyone was ready, meaning he'd have to explain the situation quickly. Ida and Ben moved to a spot that wasn't in a direct line of sight from the meeting place, "Okay I know this was sudden, but I needed to tell you that Buck-"
"Oh don't worry Ben, Henry already told me." Ben lost his train of thought as he scrambled to make sense of the response. "You- wait, how did Henry know about this?"
A warm smile came from the apatosaur as she explained. "Apparently Jess had told him about it last night, while he told me earlier this morning. Not sure who Jess heard it from, but it doesn't really matter if over half of us know about it at this point. Besides, I think it'll be a bit of a relief not to hear them bicker." Ben let out a puff of air as of holding back a small laugh. While Buck and Libby were much better around each other most of the time, there was still the rare argument that someone else needed to resolve. He didn't mind those most of the time, unless of course he was the one that had to resolve said arguments.
Being the last two to arrive, it wasn't long for the meeting to start once Ben felt comfortable. During an event like this, one would start with a list of names to go on the trip and give their reasoning, before everyone else gave input on anything that should happen until most were satisfied. With almost half of everyone aware of the potential changes this time around, to say Ben was interested in this particular meeting was an understatement. This time around, it was Henry that would give the initial names, meaning things were going to get to the point very quickly.
"Now that everyone is here, I believe we can start with the starting names. They are in no particular order; Ramsey, Arlie, Ben, and Buck..." Henry paused, allowing one half of the homesteaders to see the surprised looks on the other half. Ben was amused that even Buck was surprised, given that Buck had no knowledge of how many approved of his interests. After a good moment Henry continued, "now this list is rather short, I'm well aware of that, not to mention some of these names being unorthodox. However it is my belief that we should change things up for once. We know that Jess with the Critters make for an efficient trip, but at the same time this means that others aren't given the opportunity. Given how nearly half of us are aware of Buck's desire to participate in these trips, I see no better opportunity for him to take this endeavor."
Everyone was quiet, with exception to Jess who was just finishing translating everything to Spot and his family - collectively known as the Critters. Even afterwards, for a small moment no one had said anything, to which Ben felt the need to relieve the stillness. "Well, I say we can give it a go. It's riskier, but who knows, maybe Buck is secretly better than all of us here." it was enough to receive a laugh from the group. This seemed to have made things easier, as one-by-one everyone else approved. "Then I guess it's settled," Henry concluded, though Ben knew he had more to say. "there is however, another reason why the list is shorter than usual. After some further discussion, I have come to the conclusion that it may be sensible to go eastward, beyond those hills."
On queue, the level of noise from everyone increased, only to end when Butch spoke up. "If I may recall, that direction follows where that riddle goes, does it not?"
Henry looked upwards and nodded. "That's kind of the point actually. It's been a while, but I still think this may still be of at least some interest to us." Once more did the loudness continue, though even louder than before. After some time, Jess had been the one to make things quiet. "While I am still unsure of what may follow from this, I can at least agree with Henry that we should at least take this riddle more seriously. It's been one and a half years, who knows if that stranger is even expecting us. My point is, there's enough of us to do both trips at the same time. If Henry, me, Spot, Nash and... Arlo, go out on this little expedition, that still leaves quite a few of us to maintain the farm while we're all gone, right?"
After finishing, Ben was left at a loss. He hadn't expected the possibility of a secondary trip taking place, especially not one to find out what the significance of a riddle told more than a year ago was. The sudden interest in this riddle had Ben confused, though perhaps it wasn't as sudden as he initially thought. Perhaps, there was a growing interest for some time, and only now has it gotten to the point where it had to be discussed. While splitting the entire group into three felt risky, even more so than having just one small team sent out, he eventually concluded that things would be better in the long term. With Ida, Libby, Butch, Chris, Mike and the rest of the Critters still maintaining the basin, it would still be manageable.
A small cough to his right brought Ben out of his thoughts, realising that everyone else had already made up their minds. "I'm sorry what happened?"
"It's up to you to break the tie." Arlie answered. Ben was once more confused, in the midst of his reasoning the decision had come to a tie, and he was now the only one left to verbally say anything about it. "I... I say we should do it, after all, better have it over and done with after leaving it for so long."
Silence remained, though everyone knew what the newfound decision meant. Ida started to organise for the planned trips "I guess that settles it, we can start preparing for the-"
Nash raised a hand to speak, and was quickly allowed. "We seem to have a storm approaching from the mountains." With the meeting now over, everyone was free to get up and observe what the tyrannosaur had seen. It soon came clear that this thunderstorm was going to be a nasty one, and so everyone scattered to set up everything needed in preparation for storms like these. Ben swiftly grabbed a bundle of vines and used them to tie the silo down. With most of everything pinned down, everyone went into their respective homesteads and anticipated what was to come.
"Looks like those plans will have to be moved to this evening. I guess that isn't too much of a problem." Ben muttered to himself as the first drops of rain landed. "Why did you agree for that expedition anyways?" Arlie approached Ben, the latter not focusing on any particular thing. "I guess with how many we have here, might as well do it so we don't have to think about it afterwards. Besides, it's not like we have anything else to do really." Sitting down on the dirt ground he and his friends could only watch as the sky grew dark, the wind began to pick up, and the thunder getting ever louder with the rain.
With the sun casting its rays through the forestry, Jack steadily awoken to the beams of light that made it through the tree canopy. He knew he wasn't the first, as Mary was no where to be found next to the others. Seeing Spinos Jr. with them had made him flinch a little, still getting used to the new member's presence as well as how big he was. Even when resting on the ground, Spinos Jr's sail towered over everyone else, and even a little stir from the spinosaur meant a significant change in the sail's angle. Heading away from the group, it didn't take long for Jack to find where Mary was; at the edge of the forest. While there were still many trees ahead of the clearing, it was possible to see those fabled mountains off in the distance.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Mary Alice had already sensed his presence it seemed, allowing him to walk further out of the forest to meet up with his friend. Those peaks were at least twice the height of the trees in the distance from their perspective, they would be there in less than an hour if they were heading for a direct route. Instead he knew that they were going to come from the hills facing the homestead with the mountains behind, it was always their vantage point and so today wouldn't be any different in his opinion.
"Yep. They sure are, unmistakable those mountains are." In light of the new day, he knew what would be happening later on, though that didn't stop any doubts about the plan. Surely there was something they were missing or weren't going to be prepared for, or maybe they would be stalled right before they even made it to the homestead. He soon did his best to clear those thoughts, mostly because they weren't exactly his worries, rather they had been voiced by Clay several times even before they even met Spinos Jr. or Zerxes. Clay had that tendency to over think things on occasion, and they would be there to calm him down, but he knew how important going to the homestead meant to the sauropod.
"Look, Mary I..." Jack began, but stopped to give what he was about to say some thought. While he wasn't thinking of Clay's woes, one particular doubt of his own had surfaced, and so he hesitated as to whether or not to share his thoughts to the stegosaur. "I don't know how much we can trust Spinos Jr." In retrospect he should've probably spoken a bit louder, but instinct had warned him of anyone else that could've been listening.
Mary on the other hand merely looked puzzled at Jack, before relaxing her expression. "I guess I know where you're coming from Jack. It's still crazy to me how Clay was friends of him, and from the looks of things Spinos Jr. was friends with Clay before Zerxes. I think it might be best if we talk to him, either with or away from Clay."
Jack took time to process what Mary was referring to. At first he couldn't reason what she wanted to talk to Spinos Jr. about, but it soon clicked that there were a few questions he - and by extension Mary and possibly Will - wanted to ask. There was something physically odd about the spinosaur when Jack had flinched back in the forest, but didn't have enough time to know for sure exactly. How Clay and Spinos Jr. lost each other was another big unknown, one that he knew all three of them were willing to talk about. However asking a barrage of questions to a spinosaur that wasn't in the most neutral of friendships with them was something that probably wouldn't end well. One question was probably all they would be given, so what ever question they needed an answer for, it had to be worth it.
"I'll tell you what Mary. If things get too awkward heading to our vantage point, I say we ask him about-"
"His dislocated jaw?" Mary interrupted, and it took a good minute for Jack to complete his sentence. "I was going to say we should ask him about how he and Clay lost sight of each other, but it seems you beat me to it." In hindsight, what Mary had said was probably what Jack had thought was off, and knew he wasn't going to ignore it if he saw it.
Before he could say anymore, Mary had begun to respond. "Nah, your question is better, it would be very rude to-"
"Rude to what exactly?" Both Mary and Jack flinched at the new but familiar sound, as Spinos Jr. had come out from the tree line. No one else was behind him, implying that Will and Clay were still resting and Zerxes being who-knows-where. That just left the three to each other within the forest clearing. With Spinos Jr. walking ever closer without a word, Jack had little idea of what to do. Fortunately, his friend managed to help out.
There was still a certain amount of distance between them when Mary spoke, and by extension when Spinos Jr. stopped walking closer. "Me and Jack were just talking, and truth be told there's really not much about you we know..." Jack zoned out the conversation to have a proper look at the spinosaur, immediately noticing the crooked jaw from some unknown injury, and there was something around the neck that he couldn't quite make out with the glare of the sun in the way. Knowing best to actually listen, he focused back before anyone else realised he wasn't paying attention. "...and then we thought it would be best not to ask you too many questions given how rude it would be. And that's when you arrived."
Jack could piece what Mary was going on about, merely summarising their conversation prior to Spinos Jr. finding them. No discernible expression could be seen on the spinosaur until the moment he began to talk. "Tell you what, when the others wake up I can tell you a bit about how I ended up here. That sound good?" Jack skipped a beat, having to play back what Spinos Jr. had said. The fact that they hadn't spoken didn't go unnoticed by Spinos Jr. as he continued. "We really did have a bad start didn't we? Look, you're friends with Clay, and while you were a bit rude listening into our conversation, I guess I can see why you would. It's not like I'm going to just leave Clay behind once we're all done with the homestead, so we might as well get along together."
A disturbance in the treeline behind them was all they needed to know that their current conversation was over. While no one said anything as Clay and Will emerged, Jack made sure to give a noticeable nod to Spinos Jr. to communicate their appreciation. To see a smile from the spinosaur affirmed their new friendship. Will was the first to arrive, and had asked Mary what had happened earlier in the morning. While no straight answer was heard, he knew that she would fill Will in on the situation.
It was quite a while before any actual conversation started, almost half way to the homestead by the time anyone said anything. "So how'd you end up near the Clawtooths, Spinos?" Will asked, finally breaking the silence. Jack had noticed both Clay and Spinos Jr. halting, ready to turn around to face the trio.
"Will that's very-" Clay started, his tone making it clear that some sort of boundary may have been crossed. Jack soon realised that Clay had not been informed by anyone, leaving Spinos Jr. to interrupt the apatosaur. "Don't worry, it's only fair they know some stuff. I would like to correct one thing though before I say anything else; Spinos is... was my father's name, hence the 'Jr.' part of my name."
As the trio looked at each other in a confused manner, it became clear that more information was needed, something that Spinos Jr. picked up on. Once more allowing the group to continue walking, Spinos Jr. started to explain. "As a child my parents were there for me, and everything was so much simpler. One day when I was still very young I accidentally strayed a little too far and happened to meet Clay, from then on we would spend every day finding each other and having such a wonderful time together, especially around a large crater that was nearby. After almost half a year however, Clay just stopped showing up, not even a warning or anything. I thought something had happened to him, so I searched a little beyond where I would normally find him, and eventually found him by a small home..."
Spinos Jr. momentarily stopped for a second, and Jack could tell there was more to come. "except it wasn't him. Apparently I confused this child of a different family with Clay, but before I could apologise I think one of their parents came over and struck my jaw with their tail. Hence why my jaw is now like this. Nothing's been the same since then, my mother died years later when someone else had triggered a landslide and she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. My father died about a year and a half ago on the day of the eclipse, after being sent over a waterfall... and landed on his back... or I should say sail..."
It was becoming more obvious that the spinosaur was having difficulty continuing on, Clay came around to comfort. "Junior, it's going to be okay. You have us now, and once we're done talking to the homesteaders we can put the past behind us." While Spinos Jr. was recovering, Jack felt that the wording Clay had used didn't seem quite right, mainly regarding of looking away from the past after interacting with those from the Clawtooths. He could only guess that at least one of the homesteaders had something to do with their past, though what that was specifically remained under the knowledge between Spinos Jr. and Clay. No other questions came from Will or Mary, possibly because they were satisfied in terms of their questions being answered.
For Jack however it felt bittersweet, sure the amount of questions they had were reduced by a significant amount, but they hadn't known how it would affect Spinos Jr. and as such the response had felt forced. He respected the spinosaur for being so open about his past, but at the same time he almost wished he hadn't told them about it if it meant Spinos Jr. feeling more comfortable. While he wanted to further comfort Spinos Jr., the motivation was lost when they emerged from the final tree line, with the frontal view of the Clawtooth basin filling every corner of their vision. The actual developed land could be seen from the distance they were at, with the herd of longhorns doubling the apparent size. They had reached their common vantage point where on numerous occasions they would get to, and never get closer.
Every time they had come to that spot, there was always something to stop them, and today had been no exception. Only from where they were could they see a storm from behind the mountains reaching ever closer, threatening both their day as well as their plans. "It won't be good talking to them while that is in the sky, we'll be drenched before we even arrived yet alone attempted a conversation. We can wait it out here or even under the tree canopy, at least there we'll be sheltered until the storm passes by." Clay reasoned, and it was a fair way of looking at it. Yes they weren't immediately going down there, but a temporary pause was easy to wait out. And though the storm looked intense, it was still morning, giving good time for opportunity.
A/N: Just one more chapter left for act 1. I never said this act was going to be too long, but at the same time I wanted this act to set up most of the characters as well as their motivations. Since this act has done that for the most part, I feel like it's only appropriate that the act should end on a little change in events.
Next Chapter: Gifts From Above