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Ursa pulled back her light blond hair and went into the room across from her own. She smiled and gently picked up the cub who looked up at her with inquisitive eyes. She smiled down at the small two year old. She was almost twenty-five and yet was a mother. Not by blood but a mother nonetheless.
The child greeted her with a
"Mama 'Sa!"
She smiled. "Hey Baby. Ready to get up and play?"
The cub nodded. She held him on her hip and said,
"I think you need a fresh diaper first then you can play."
The cub pouted but made no other reply. She laid the cub down on the changing table and then smiled as Gritty came in. He winked at her.
"Off to an early start?"
"Cubs don't know the meaning of late start." She responded although there was not a trace of anger in her voice. She changed the cub's diaper swiftly, as she was an expert at it by now and motioned for gritty to get her some of his clothes. He did so and then said,
"So Fearless Leader, what's on the agenda today?"
Ursa swallowed. She'd only been leader for about two years, becoming one the night Buddi was born. She still wasn't sure how she was doing but so far no one had criticized her, which was always a good thing.
She shrugged, "well since I don't have anything specific planned, the usual."
Gritty chuckled. "You're gonna be playing with Buddi."
She nodded. Buddi looked at her with wide shimmering eyes. She smiled. Turning to gritty, she said,
"Tell Grubbi we'll be along for breakfast in a few minutes okay?"
Gritty nodded and exited. As he walked out over the platform, a light caught his attention. He grabbed hold of a vine and swung down to locate the source. He found it as a small brown cub, clinging to one of the branches. The boy gathered his balance and swung up to sit on one of the branches.
Gritty swung nearer. The cub was a Barbic child, perhaps eleven or ten years of age. But there was a familiarity about him that the warrior knew was there but could not pinpoint. Not wanting to frighten the cub, he called,
"Hey!"
Buddi turned. He recognized that voice. Gritty! He stood and then gasped. Gritty was younger and was gazing at him curiously with two shining eyes. Two eyes…
"G..gritty?"
The Barbic tumbled back; stunned the small child knew his name. His eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
Buddi swallowed. He couldn't give his real name. He backed up, trembling. Every inch of him wanted to leap into the adult's arms especially after not seeing anyone he knew for the last seven days. That last time had been agonizing.
Gritty looked at the cub with questioning eyes. The child was looking at him like he knew him. But the child made no reply just kept looking at the black Barbic. Gritty finally said,
"Are you going to answer?"
Buddi finally found his voice. It was strange…Gritty had been without one eye as long as Buddi could remember. He spoke and said,
"I…I'm…Timba." He finally decided,
using his middle name. Something he'd learned about lying, as infrequently as
he did it, was that those lies that are based in truth are generally the most
believable.
Gritty looked at him and said,
"Well, maybe you should meet our leader." He had a feeling the cub was lying but he didn't seem dangerous. Besides, they only had one cub and that was little baby Buddi. Finding another was worth the risk. He walked over the branches, calling to the preteen cub,
"Come on."
Buddi nodded and followed the adult into the nearest hut.
"Hey Ursa!'
Buddi gasped. Ursa was so much younger but that wasn't the shock. She turned from a high chair. A brown furred cub sat in it, face smeared with food. He reached for her but Ursa held a hand up, to say she'll be right back. The cub snarled but did not make another reply.
She spied the child by Gritty's left leg. Kneeling, she said with a smile,
"Well, who's this?"
Buddi stared at her. Every piece of his body screamed to leap into her arms. But he held himself back. Her younger self didn't know he was. She certainly was not one to reveal feelings to even those she held dear, let alone to a child she, in this time anyway, had never met. So while he was in pain from loneliness he remained where he was.
Gritty answered, "He said his name's Timba."
Ursa could tell from Gritty's tone that he didn't believe the child. Still such a small cub was not likely to be much of a threat.
"Mama 'Sa!"
Ursa turned and saw Buddi was beating on his tray, and then held his arms up, his sign that he wanted up. She walked over and lifted the small child into her arms. He leaned deep into her chest and glared at the new child.
Buddi stared at his younger self. He was a slob. Buddi did some quick math in his head. The cub in Ursa's arms looked about two. That would mean the year was in the early thirteen sixties.
Ursa walked back over to the other child. "Well, Timba, where did you come from?"
"Leave!" Buddi hissed, swiping at his older self. Ursa rebuked the cub in her arms.
"Buddi!"
The toddler ignored her and squirmed from her arms. He stormed over to the older cub, snarling,
"Out! Go 'Way!"
Ursa hissed, "Buddi Barbic! You stop that right now!" she knelt and grabbed the toddler's arm. Buddi swatted her arm away and spat, "No!"
He turned back to the preteen child and kicked his shin. It didn't really hurt but was enough to cause some discomfort. Buddi rubbed his leg and looked at his younger self. The toddler hissed,
"Go 'WAY!" then the child took off from the room. Ursa followed, shouting,
"Buddi Barbic!"
Buddi stared after the cub, awestruck. He…he was a brat!
Gritty put a hand on the cub's shoulder.
"Buddi's going through his Terrible Twos right now. He's pretty possessive of Ursa."
The preteen nodded and rubbed his shin one more time. He shook his head. What a little twerp he'd been!
Ursa came back in, carrying a squirming child in her arms. The cub was howling his head off. Gritty and Buddi winced but Ursa had no reaction. She glared at the two year old and hissed,
"Say you're sorry."
"No!"
"Buddi!"
"No! Don't gotta!"
"You're trying my patience."
"No!"
Ursa finally said,
"Fine then you can sit in your room until you decide to."
"NO!"
He kicked and screamed the whole way. After she had left him in the room and shut the door, she could still hear him. Buddi winced. Gum Above, what had been his problem? Gritty said he was pretty possessive of Ursa. Ursa and Gritty often teased him in his present time about how he'd been as a baby. Buddi would always blush and leave when they started to do that. He told them over and over he hated to hear about it. Now he smiled. Maybe that was there way of getting revenge. He certainly deserved it.
"-mba?"
Buddi jerked to attention when Ursa called his middle name. To her it was just his name but he had trained his ears to jump to attention whenever she said his middle name. It usually meant he was in trouble or that she was getting impatient.
"Yes?"
Ursa smiled and knelt by him. "You never answered me. Where did you come from?"
"I was born in Barbic Woods. But we had to leave for a while, now I'm just back for a bit."
Every bit of that was true. He had to leave Barbic woods when it fell. Now he was back but he had no notion of how long or short it would be. If he had an idea, he could easily have invented a better excuse but he didn't. That one would have to do.
Ursa exchanged a glance with Gritty. He nodded, his way of saying that the cub seemed all right. Ursa smiled.
"Well Timba, I'm going to have to stay with Buddi for most of the day but after I put him down for a nap, I'd like to get to know you better. How's that?"
Buddi only nodded. She smiled at him and he saw faint dimples in her cheeks. He never noticed before because she rarely smiled. His body still wanted her. He wanted to hug her, fling his arms around her neck and cry into her shoulder. He was lonely. He only had the other Barbics left after Barbic Woods was destroyed; Ursa more than any other, even Gritty. Gritty was pretty close to him as was Grubbi but nothing compared to Ursa. She was a mother, his mother.
Buddi choked down a sob. He wanted them so badly. He'd never realized how much Ursa's presence meant to him. She was always there for him to go to. When he was sick, she would help him and when he got hurt even though she scolded, she'd always heal it. She was a strong wall he leaned to.
"Timba?'
Buddi looked up. Ursa looked at him with confused eyes.
"I hafta go now and try to calm Buddi down. Why don't you-"
"Can I play in the trees?" his voice had a desperate plea to it. Ursa smiled,
"Sure. Just be careful."
Buddi ran outside and gazed around. Maybe this spell wasn't just to torment him. Maybe, just maybe it was to help him heal. He'd lost his home a little over five months ago. Seeing it again…
Buddi ran out to the edge of the hut's balcony, snatched a vine and swung off, for the first time since the journey, thanking Gum he'd asked Zummi to cast it.
PresentUrsa was anything but happy. It had almost been two months…Buddi's birthday was approaching and yet Zummi was no closer than when he'd begun. It made Ursa's heart burn. She missed Buddi. She'd have given anything to have him back in her arms.
"Ursa?"
The Barbic turned, and sighed, "Hello Grammi."
The adult Glen looked the other female over. She was very thin and her face had paleness to it. Those shining eyes had since lost their shimmer and now were just vacant dots. She looked miserable. She had scanned the Great Book from cover to cover, looking for anything to help. She'd come up empty.
Grammi spoke, "Ursa, please, dear, get something to eat."
Ursa sighed, "No Grammi. I can't eat."
Grammi sighed, "Ursa you're dropping weight."
Ursa shook her head, "I am not. I'm just fine."
Grammi almost said more but knew nothing she said would make any difference. She was stubborn but Ursa was worse.
Ursa walked off into the distance. She felt terrible. Her Buddi…her poor cub. He was too young to have to deal with this. He wasn't meant to be lost in time. He should have been outside playing. He should have been getting into trouble. He should have been anywhere but where he was.
"Ursa?"
The Barbic Leader turned. Gritty was coming up behind her, his eyes piercing. He put a hand on her shoulder. She had not even realized she began to wobble. But her pride told her that was a weakness. Her eyes narrowed.
"Stop worrying about me!" her voice was coarse but she made no reaction to that. Rather she took a swallow of air and hissed, "I'm not the concern factor! Buddi is who you should be worried about!"
Gritty looked at her, concern in his eyes. She looked terrible. He couldn't even believe she had the ability to stand, let alone rave as she was. But her thoughts were not on her health or well-being. They remained on Buddi and on Buddi alone.
"Ursa," gritty held her steady and looked at her firmly. "Ursa, you're not going to find Buddi if keep acting like this."
"Gritty! Buddi's our future! He's the only future our clan has!" she trailed off and her eyes looked beaten, worn, tired. "And…and he's my cub! Has been since he was born. It doesn't matter I didn't give birth to him. He's my cub. Do you know what I'm going through?"
Gritty bit his lower lip. This wasn't like his friend. This wasn't the strong warrioress he was used to. This was a broken spirit. She took a breath and demanded, her eyes blazing.
"Do you know what it's like not to know where he is? To not know if he's scared, hurt, or sick?" she yanked Gritty to her by his left arm, rather roughly. Her grip made Gritty's muscles protest; it was so tight.
"Gritty we have to get him back. We…I…I.. have to…"
She collapsed in front of him, as her eyes rolled backward. Gritty caught her easily. She was light. But he was worried; this scared him.
"Ursa? Ursa?"
1361
"You mine!"
Ursa sighed deeply. "Buddi, you'll always be first. But don't you wanna know who this cub is?"
"No! You mine!"
Ursa looked at Buddi as he locked his arms around her neck. Ursa sighed deeply. Buddi was so close to her. Grubbi assured her that it was a phrase and that he'd outgrow it. She hoped so. Being that close couldn't be healthy.
Ursa sat down in the rocking chair and started to sway back and forth. The cub in her arms calmed and snuggled close into her chest, sucking on his fingers. She started to hum a gentle tune, one she used to make him fall asleep. He usually didn't have to be rocked to bed anymore but with the way he had been throughout the day; she figured he'd need it.
Buddi watched from the door. He didn't remember her ever doing that. But then he was probably wasn't old enough to. Still…
He gazed in again. He felt his eyes burn with tears unshed and his vision turned cloudy. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He missed Ursa. She never did that with him and honestly he was glad, as he was too old for that! But she did come in every night to tell him goodnight, which was something she didn't have to do. Buddi remembered that for a good week after Barbic Woods had been lost, he'd fallen to sleep with tears streaming down his cheeks. The door would always open then and Ursa would come in and talk to him. She didn't scold, which was surprising, but told him to be brave.
Buddi's throat clogged as he thought of the way she would wrap her arms around his chest and then hold him for a bit. As time went by, Buddi'd gotten more accepting but she would still come. He missed her.
Ursa rose and laid the sleeping toddler in his crib. Buddi watched her as she gazed down on his younger self. She traced one of the child's cheeks. Buddi watched with envy. He wished for Ursa with all his heart, praying that maybe he would wake up and find out this whole thing was a nightmare.
He didn't. Turning from the scene, the cub ran out into the night, leapt over the balcony's railing, caught a hanging vine and scrambled up into the canopy. He didn't know where he was going and quite honestly, he didn't care.
The cub stopped by one of the tree trunks near the top. He leaned his cheek against the rough bark and let the tears come. They were silent but steady. He sank to his knees, trembling as sobs burst from his body. Being alone, accompanied with the fact he had to figure things out on his own and he was unable to, and being home when he had just begun to heal, combined and his heart broke. He just cried and cried.
"Timba?"
The cub turned. Gritty looked at him.
'Oh, Gritty…"
"What's wrong?"
The cub sighed. "Nothing, just miss my mom." He figured that was a decent answer.
"Who is your mom?"
Buddi swallowed but answered truthfully, "Ola."
Gritty's eyes narrowed. "Ola only has one cub! And she died. Don't give that!"
Buddi backed up. Gritty looked at him angrily. Buddi looked around, not focusing on the adult's face. He could feel Gritty's eyes on him. But he didn't say anything. Gritty said nothing more but left.
Buddi sighed. Gritty probably figured he'd been making fun of Ola's death. He hadn't. He was just sick and tired of having to tell lies. For once he wanted to be truthful.
The cub glanced upward into the trees. Now Ursa would probably not welcome him. They now had proof that he was a liar, at least by their present information. He didn't want to see those untrusting faces. He slumped down and buried his face into his arms.
"Someone, help me. I wanna go home! Ursa, I want you! Help me! Mama Ursa…"
He felt that familiar tingle rush through him as he began to fade away. He sighed,
"Now when are we going? What time am I gonna wind up in now?"
When this had begun, he had been hopeful, wondering if perhaps Zummi would have him back in about a week or two. Now it had been almost…he shook his head. It had been too long; he'd lost count.
His hope was dead. The cub sat and said softly,
"Just take me wherever you want. I don't care. I give up."
No one saw him vanish.