Gifts and Sacrifices

Gifts and Sacrifices

Return of the Great Gummies

Part One: Gummadoom

Chapter One: Feelings

            Buddi stared at Sunni.

            "Wh…what?"

            "I said, I think I'm falling in love with you." She repeated. Buddi swallowed.

            "Sunni…I…I…can I think some before we see each other again? I need to sort through some stuff myself."

            She nodded and ran off. Buddi stood there a moment, stunned. Gum's sake, this couldn't be real! He was a Barbic. She was a Glen. Ursa would tie him up before she allowed any relationship beyond friends. If she found out what had just happened, she would flip her lid.

            Buddi felt fear and confusion. Gum's sake, he liked Sunni, he did. But he didn't know how deep it went. That was the part he could not figure out. He wanted to know, he was thirsty for that knowledge. But that was the one type of knowledge that he didn't have.

            Buddi slowly walked back towards the huts.

            "Hey, Buddi, why the long face?"

            The cub looked up. Gritty leapt down and landed in front of the child. Buddi met his eyes, his own confused and they looked tired.

            "You alright, kiddo?" Gritty asked the cub. Buddi sighed deeply,

            "I'm alright, honest." He added as Gritty put the back of his wrist to the child's forehead. Gritty shrugged.

            "Well, you don't feel feverish. But what's with the downfall in the mood?"

            Buddi shrugged and made no answer. He grabbed a vine and swung upward. Gritty watched him. He shook his head but then went back to the training he'd been doing when he'd decided to look up on Buddi.

            Buddi meanwhile swung up and up until he broke the surface of the trees. He knew he'd get in trouble but for once he didn't care. He needed the air. Air was fragranced with the trees' flowers and the fresh spring here. He inhaled deeply. It calmed his nerves a little but he still didn't feel great.

            Buddi stayed there a bit.  Finally as the sun began to sink he swung down to land by the swimming hole. He didn't swim, just sat with his feet in the water. He needed to think. He did care about Sunni. He did. He knew in his heart that it was love. He knew it.

            He'd first felt it before they met Alina when she'd come and they'd played. When she looked at him….

            "Buddi!"

            Buddi turned. The adults were calling his name. He looked at the sky. It was late. Already dark, his growling stomach told the cub he'd missed supper. And when Ursa found him, she'd tell him that he was at fault and he'd go to bed hungry. She didn't do that a lot just when he worried her. He knew if she'd sent the others to look for him that he'd been out too long.

            He slowly got up and walked over to the trees. He wasn't ready to go back yet. He grabbed a vine and swung up into the trees. He stopped near the top.

            Here was what the Barbics called the Nila Te Nila. Or the Forest in a Forest. It consisted of a tunnel made of leaves that formed a path in the canopy of leaves and branches. The cub walked among the tunnel until it emerged into an open space in the trees' branches, it was an open area filled with birds and different types of animals. The child emerged and laid down in the floor that was made of leaves.

            Soon he sat up and saw something that looked like a dog with scales crawl over him. The cub smiled and scratched the creature behind its ears. Its tongue hung out and it started to pat Buddi's chest with its front legs. Buddi smiled and rubbed its head.

            The creature then bared its teeth and licked its lips. It sprung back and leapt towards the cub.

            A blade sailed through the air and sliced the creature's neck.

            Two hands grabbed Buddi around the waist and lifted him up, flinging him over his shoulder. It was Ryo.

            "Kid, you really should be more careful."

            Buddi looked at the adult from his position on his shoulder.

            "But it was cute. Didn't look dangerous."

            Ryo sighed, "Kid, don't judge things by appearance. That thing uses its appearance to lure things close. Then, it strikes, using it salvia. It's poison, kid."

            "It didn't bite me."

            Ryo nodded. "But you touched it and the skin emits the same poison. Grubbi needs to give you the antidote."

            "I'm not hurt though."

            Ryo rolled his eyes. "Kid, you'll get sick if you don't."

            Buddi normally would agree but he was tense about his feelings and argued. But as they neared the huts, Ryo felt the cub start to lose his grip. Ryo, for all his sarcasm, truly did care about the others. He took out his water canteen and handed it to Buddi. He knew the first symptom was dehydration.

            "Here Kiddo, drink."

            Buddi accepted. He knew about that creature. He knew it was dangerous but in the moment, he'd forgotten.

            "Why?" he said to himself. "Why did the feelings have to risen in us? We can't be together and we know it."

            Aloud, he whispered,

            "Damn you, Fate."

            Ryo heard language a child shouldn't say and smacked the cub's rear. Buddi drank and lost himself in his thoughts.

            "Why me? Why?"