1858
"Buddi!"
The now grown Buddi, who was very near becoming five hundred, turned. His mate, Sunni, ran up to him and sighed deeply,
"You should go back to Ursalia Buddi."
"What's wrong?"
Sunni bit her lower lip,
"It's Ursa."
"I don't want to hear it! You and Ulisa and now even Jacki have been telling me over and over again! Enough!"
Sunni grabbed him gently and looked him in the eyes. She sighed deeply and said softly,
"Buddi, we remind you because you're in denial. She's your mother and you believe her to be indestructible. So did I. But my own 'mother', Grammi died. Time is an enemy Ursa can't beat and you know it. She's old."
Buddi started to shake.
"Sunni, Gritty died more than two decades ago. Grubbi died not long after Jacki became an adult. The other Barbics, the ones I grew up with, died one by one over the years. Ursa's all I have left."
Sunni looked at him,
"Ali became a healer after she grew up Buddi. She's the eldest of the healers we have right now. Even she knows that as strong as Ursa is, her body's old, her heart's tired. Go to her, Buddi."
Buddi thought to his 'mother.' She'd been ill for some time but being the stubborn Barbic she was, insisted that she was fine. Until one day when she had just collapsed. She had been confined to bed ever since. Buddi didn't want to believe what Sunni was saying. Ursa was stronger, stronger than Grammi, stronger than Gritty.
Buddi shook inwardly. But his logic dictated that she wasn't indestructible and he knew that for a fact.
Sunni looked at Buddi with bright eyes.
Buddi nodded, kissed his mate once and walked back towards the city, his heart heavy in his chest.
Present"Any luck?"
Zummi turned to Gruffi and smiled for the first time in weeks.
"I think I may have an idea."
"Great!"
"I think I have the time he's in, eighteen-fifty-eight."
Gruffi whistled. "How did you do that?"
Zummi took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt. "The spell is on one page of the Great book. Like when we first opened the book and there were words from our ancestor on it, the time he's in is supposed to appear on the page. But when I…goofed the spell it could not tell where he was. My guess is that since the spell is sosing its length uh, losing its strength then the Book can detect it easier, probably by the lack of power in a supposedly powerful spell."
Gruffi spoke, "You're saying that if we could not undo it then it would eventually lose contact with that medallion of yours and just strand the kid in some distant time?"
"Essentially."
Gruffi sighed deeply; magic was confusing. And perilous. No wonder he never heard of the Ancients using that spell, it was too dangerous. Zummi took a breath and went on.
"But I can't bring him back unless I know exactly where he is. I can send another rafter him and keep track of them. Then when they find Buddi, I should be able to betect them toth…uh detect them both."
Gruffi nodded.
Zummi took a breath. "I just need a volunteer. I would say Ursa-"
"No, she's too weak."
Zummi nodded,
"That's what I thought."
"I'll go."
Zummi looked up stunned.
"You? You hate my spells."
"But if I hadn't…"
Gruffi shook his head and walked off,
"Just have it ready in an hour."
1858
"Stay down, Nana."
Ursa glared at her great granddaughter. Ali was a great grandmother herself but Ali was also a healer. She was medic at the moment not Ursa's descendant. Ursa fought her way to sitting position.
"Young lady, I may be five hundred and twenty one but I'm still leader of this clan."
Ali sighed. "But Nana, I'm…"
"Let me talk to her, Ali."
The healer turned, her hair flowing into her deep eyes. She smiled.
"Grandpa."
Buddi smiled, greeted his granddaughter and then faced his 'mother.' Ursa smiled at him to try and reassure him but Buddi could see the exhaustion in her eyes. Ali left, kissing her Nana and then her grandfather. Buddi turned to Ursa.
"How are you Ursa?"
She smiled and gestured Buddi to sit by her,
"Buddi, I'm almost five hundred and twenty-two."
"I know."
"Buddi, I'm old, baby."
"You…you were just telling Ali…"
"Buddi, she expects me to be that way. I'm not going to soften up just because I'm…"
"Ursa!" Buddi grabbed her, although gently. "Ursa, please…no."
"Baby," Ursa smiled at the other Barbic gently, "I'm tough but I can't beat time."
"Ursa, please, don't say…"
"I'm dying, Baby and you know it."
Tears filled the younger adult's eyes. "No, please Ursa. You…you're all I have left."
"Nonsense. You have your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren and onward. You and Sunni insured our clan's survival. You have dozens."
"They aren't you." He pouted. "They'll never be you!"
Ursa touched the Barbic's cheek and lifted her eyes to meet his.
"Buddi, you know I wouldn't be around forever."
"But…"
"Hey," she smiled, fighting the solemn atmosphere, and slapped his cheek gently. "I'm not gone yet. Tell ya what, I want you to get us some lunch and I'll talk to you some more, since Ali isn't letting me up."
Buddi nodded and walked off. Ali had confined her to bed. But this was unlike Ursa. She…was she really too weak to get up? Buddi voiced his concerns.
"Ursa…she's actually obeying orders?"
* * *
Buddi groaned and sat up. His head was swimming and he felt weak. He hadn't eaten for about a day and a half now. With the loss of any nutrients when he'd gotten sick, he was especially weak.
"Buddi?"
The cub looked up and saw an adult, who was obviously old but not too old. She was brown furred and had a patch on one of her eyes. She had light blond hair, which fell only to her chin; it was cut very short. She wore a light green dress, with no shoes. Around her waist, she had a leather belt with a golden bear's face as the clasp.
Buddi wiped his eyes. He must have been in the future again. Enough, already! He wished that he could have stayed in the last time a little longer! His mother and father…he still knew so little about them!
"Buddi, I'm Ulisa. You're still lost in time?"
Buddi nodded with a sob. He was beginning to believe he would always be tossed back and forth in the timeline.
"Daddy!"
Buddi turned to see whom she called to. An older gummi with dulling and graying hair turned. He had a patch on one of his eyes and a hood on his head. The gummi spied him and gasped.
"Ulisa! DON'T tell him the year!"
Then he took off at a sprint. Buddi stood, stunned. He turned to Ulisa,
"What was that about?"
* * *
Buddi ran upstairs at a dead sprint. His older body should have rejected but Barbics stayed in great shape until almost the very end. He slammed the door open and cried,
"Ursa!"
The Barbic leader forced her eyes open. Buddi remembered…he'd heard when he was in this time. It was what traumatized him.
"Ursa?"
Ursa smiled faintly and gestured over. He sat by her side and she grasped his hands. Buddi felt a weakness in her that unnerved him. Tears filled his eyes and Ursa forced herself up to a sitting position. She would have gotten to her feet but she wasn't a fool. She spoke, in a voice that was barley loud enough to be above a whisper.
"Buddi, bring me my sword."
Buddi did so, picking up the ancient blade from a chair across the room. Ursa took it, barely able to hold it. Buddi tried to help her but she glared at him and said,
"I'm perfectly capable. Let go."
Buddi did so, although reluctantly. Ursa smiled at him and said, as she fought her way to sit higher,
"Buddi, my life's almost spent and you know it."
Buddi nodded and let tears make tracks down his cheeks. Ursa put her hand to his cheek.
"Oh Buddi, don't cry. No mushy goodbyes. I've lived a good life; I'm not afraid of death."
"You were never afraid of anything."
Ursa chuckled. "I had my fears, just never expressed them. Only a fool's fearless Buddi."
Buddi nodded. Ursa spoke,
"Buddi, I want you to take over for me."
Buddi looked up,
"What?"
Ursa handed her sword to Buddi. She drew his own from the sheath and laid it on the side table. Her now silver hair, draped into her eyes.
"You've always had a strategic mind."
Buddi stared at her sword, the symbol of the leader, engraved on its hilt. A circle with the gummi insignia.
"Ursa…"
"You'll lead them well without me."
Buddi's voice choked as tears slid down his cheeks and he looked at Ursa with a child's eyes.
"But, I don't know how,"
Ursa pushed back her silver hair and put a palm to Buddi's face. She smiled, despite how weak she felt.
"I think you do. You're just scared."
Buddi took her hand and kissed it faintly, begging,
"Don't leave me alone."
Ursa fought her own sorrow and soothed,
"It'll be okay, baby. Time will ease it. You'll be all right. I raised you that way."
"Ursa, you always said not to give up. Why are you giving up now?"
Ursa sighed deeply,
"Baby, I wish more than anything I could stay. I don't give up. But I'm also not a fool. I'll fight this as long as I can but I can't fight it much longer. I know my limits."
Buddi nodded and slid her sword into his sheath. He looked at her. She had closed her eyes and was breathing shallowly. Buddi knew that she must have hated the fact that she was restricted to bed. But she was, as she had said, not a fool.
"Mama."
Ursa opened her eyes and smiled faintly. She forced herself to sit all the way up. The effect nearly made her pass out but she opened her arms and Buddi fell into them. He started to cry, begging,
"Don't leave me alone, Ursa!"
Ursa put her hand into the other's hair and smiled.
"Oh Baby."
Ursa kissed his cheek lightly and said,
"Buddi, I want you to go on and be happy. Can you do that for me?"
Buddi nodded, "I'll…I'll try."
"Good boy," she praised him gently. Her voice grew even softer. She felt her body weaken more than it already was. Buddi grew alarmed and drew away so he could look her in the eye/
"Ursa, not yet. Please. Tell me…what do I do? You need Ali?"
Ursa lifted his head and said with a shaky and weak voice,
"Take care of our clan."
Buddi stared at her as she slowly laid herself back down, too weak to sit up anymore.
"No, Mama, please, no."
Ursa looked at him and drew his face to her, kissing his forehead as she said,
"Goodbye, Angel."
Then Ursa fell limp and breathed her last breath.
"Ursa, Ursa! Ursa!"
Buddi laid his face onto her chest and wept. He begged,
"No, Ursa. Come back. Mama Ursa, come back. No…"
But Ursa, Leader of the Barbics, had died.
* * *
Buddi sat in the kitchen, sipping a warm mug of tea. He wanted to see Ursa. If he was in the future, then Ursa knew who he was. He had just seen his parents. He felt confused, lost, but most of all, homesick. He wanted someone to comfort him. Although Ursa did not do it as a general rule, if she saw him this way…
The door opened. Ali came in, her eyes red.
"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Ulisa walked over to her daughter. The girl wiped her eyes.
"Nana…"
Ulisa did not have to hear the rest. She opened her arms and the two females cried. Buddi stared and got up. He laid his head against Ulisa's waist in an attempt at comfort. But inwardly, he wanted comfort from Ursa. He was trying to figure out where she was.
"Ulisa, I don't wanna get in the way. Uh, do you know where Ursa is?"
Ulisa's throat blocked and she knelt to sit in front of her father's past self.
"Buddi?"
"Yeah?" Buddi swallowed. He didn't like this. Why didn't she just say? What was wrong?
Buddi wanted Ursa. The more Ulisa delayed, the more he longed for her. Ursa did not usually comfort but if she saw him this way, maybe he could calm down.
"Buddi, Ursa is…was my grandmother."
"W..was?"
"She died Buddi."
"NO!"
Buddi started to hit her and kick, screaming,
"YOU LIE!"
Tears fell from Buddi's face and tore out, screaming,
"NO! She can't be dead!"
Present"Just do it!"
Zummi nodded and looked around.
Ursa was desperate. It took all Gritty's pleading to let her let Gruffi go and not go herself. Although Gritty knew that Buddi would have responded better to one of them, Ursa wasn't completely fine and if she listened to any of them it would be him.
They had summoned every gummi so that there would be no more interruptions. The last thing they needed was someone else lost in time.
Gruffi turned to Zummi.
"Do it!"
Zummi didn't argue.
1858
Buddi crawled away from everyone else and laid his face into his hands and cried.
He didn't care what happened to him anymore. If he died, fine. If he lived, fine. But he had no hope anymore. He felt like his heart had been ripped out. First he met his mother and barely knew her. Now, his surrogate mother, the person he had gone to over his past eleven years, was dead.
"Buddi!"
The cub heard someone scream his name. But he didn't care. He just let the tears come over and over. If they found him, fine. He didn't care.
Gruffi looked around. He was in Ursalia. As far as he could tell, Zummi's spell had worked. But now he had to find Buddi. He ran through the city, looking for the small cub. He had to get him back before Ursa went insane. And Gum only knew what Buddi had gone through.
Gruffi inwardly had never regretted something so much in his life. If he could have undone that simple statement, he'd screamed…
His sharp ears picked up crying. He made his way through the city. It was teeming with gummies. Any other time he would have stopped to meet them but his thoughts were just on one cub.
He finally spied the cub by the old horn tower, in the darkness beneath it. He was crying.
"Buddi!"
The cub lifted his head and wiped his eyes.
"Gr..Gruffi?"
Relief flowed through Gruffi's heart. Alive, the cub was all right. But at closer glance, Gruffi wondered how all right he was. Gruffi had not seen such sadness, such fear and loneliness. He walked towards the cub and resisted an urge to grab the cub in a tight embrace, just of relief that Buddi was alive.
"In the fur, kid. Come on, I came to take you back."
Gruffi helped the cub to his feet. Buddi rejected,
"Stop feeding me false hope."
Gruffi restrained the cub. Buddi let out a yelp and hissed,
"Stop with the lies! I'll never get home! Stop feeding me rumors to get my hopes up!"
Gruffi was horrified. Tears were streaming down the cub's face and his deep eyes were hysterical. He knew that Buddi wanted to get home, he knew the cub wanted Ursa but whatever he had gone through had destroyed any faith he had.
Yet what scared Gruffi the most was that he knew that he was lucky Buddi was only like this. He would have hated to see him worse. If Zummi could get the spell to reverse soon, the better it would be. The spell kept track of Gruffi, when he reached Buddi it was supposed to react. He only hoped that for once Zummi got a spell right.
Buddi grabbed Gruffi after he was restrained. If he was going to restrain him then Buddi would draw comfort from anything, anyone. Gruffi was closest to Ursa in personality anyway. It was some comfort. But the thought of Ursa made tears run free again.
"Mama Ursa…Mama URSA! I want MAMA URSA!"
Gruffi watched the cub with horror. What had happened? Buddi was sweaty, sobbing and shaking. Gruffi smoothed the cub's sweat drenched hair and whispered,
"Hurry Zummi."
PresentZummi stood, waiting, pleading to Gum that the spell had worked. Why had he done something so stupid? Gruffi wasn't the only one who felt grief. Zummi's was immense. If he had just obeyed his instinct that magic was serious and not a game then maybe this would never have happened. Maybe…maybe Gruffi was right. What right did he have to play around with something so dangerous?
Zummi looked at Ursa. Her eyes were piercing, feverish but burning with a desperate hope. Zummi shuddered. He had to fix this. For Ursa and Gritty, for their whole clan. And for himself.
A glow appeared in the center of the room. Ursa ran as close as she dared, her feverish eyes shimmering.
Slowly Gruffi and then Buddi appeared. Gruffi had Buddi in his arms.
Buddi opened his eyes and looked around.
"Now when am I?"
"Home, Zummi brought you back," Gruffi tried.
Buddi was shaking; he wanted to believe it, oh Gum if only it was true. But he couldn't be home…there was no way…
"Buddi!"
The cub looked up. Ursa, with long blond hair was looming over him, her arms out. Buddi stared for a minute before saying,
"Home? Really?"
Ursa nodded and said,
"Baby, you're home, you're home."
Buddi saw the truth, the relief in her eyes and voice. He tore from Gruffi with tears pouring from his face and leapt into Ursa's arms, screaming,
"MAMA URSA!"