Somewhere at the far end of the orchard a Squirrelmaid leaped out from behind a tree right in front of the dubbin whom she had been quietly pursuing. The molebabe had just picked up a shiny red apple from the basket he had in his lap, and jumped when he saw her. "Ha, I found you, Ruggle, you apple pincher," the Squirrelmaid said playfully to the molebabe in front of her called Ruggle. "But mizzus Blozzum, oi wazz only eat'n 'til lunch iz zerved!" The little dubbin protested. Skyblossum or Blossm as all who knew her called her, sat down with Ruggle and took an apple from the basket herself. "Okay, Ruggle, I'm a little hungry too," she said. "It's nice t' get out of the sun and sit in the shade...though it is a bit cold." She shivered as took another bite from her apple. "Aye, want t' go zeez ifn lunch iz rurdy?" Ruggle asked soon after he had thrown his apple core away. "Sure," Blossum replied. "As long as you give that basket to me." Reluctantly, Ruggle handed over the basket of apples. They got up and walked to the middle of the orchard where all the Redwaller's had gathered to eat lunch. It was a simple lunch, warm blueberry scones with honey, summer salad, cheese and mushroom pasties, and October ale to wash it down. Ruggle went to join his sister and the other Dubbins, as Blossum put the basket of apples down, and sat with Abbess Miael. The Abbess was a tall, old mouse who had been born and raised in Redwall Abbey. She had been through a war against a horde of searats, and though had not been Abbess at the time, she was chosen as the Abbess soon after since the previous one had died from a war wound. This had all happened before Blossum had been born though, and is a whole different tale. "Hello, Blossum," Abbess Miael addressed her. "Been busy today?" "Yes, but more catching Dubbins than picking apples, Ruggle stole my basket while I was up in a tree. He was supposed to be catching them as I threw them down." Blossum reported. The Abbess chuckled when she looked over to the group of dubbins, and saw Ruggle pull a shiny red apple out of his habit pocket. He showed it to the rest of the Dubbins sitting around him. Now a young hedgehog maid spoke, "I'm glad that I was pick'n apples with you, those dubbins wouldn't even think of stealn' apples around you." "They better not, Isbel," Abbess Miael told the hedge hog maid. Astra the badgermother of Redwall, apparently decided that the Dubbins had had enough apple pinching for one day as Thurry, the squirrelbabe withdrew a bright green apple from his habit pocket as well. "Come on you youngn's. Lets go swim in the pond for a while." "But missus Ast'a wats wong with pick'n apples?" asked Thurry. "Don' ask why," whispered a little mousemaid, named Sandy who had a ridiculous amount of honey on her scone. "They barley eve' lettus do that!" With that the Dubbins followed Astra towards the lake. The Abbess watched the them till they were at the pond, splashing happily among the shallows. Then she looked at the other creatures of Redwall Abbey. Her eyes wandered from the young ones like Blossum and Isbel, to the elders who sat in the shade talking quietly, to animals of every age in-between. She spotted a hedgehog, who looked like he had seen many hard seasons, and had arrived at the Abbey not very long ago with Isbel. He was her father. He had immediately taken up a job in the cellars, but suddenly the Abbess remembered the news he had brought with him. She brought up a new topic, "Blossum," Abbess started. "You see that hedgehog, talking with Frair?" "Yes, isn't he Isbel's dad?" Blossum said. "Yes, Berrmur Spike, everyone calls him Berr," Abbess Miael told them. "Isbel, would you mind telling Blossum why you came?" "No," Isbel answered quietly, though she did not want to retell her past to everyone in Redwall Abbey. However, she had become good friends with Blossum, and knew the squirrelmaid would stay calm for the telling of her story. "We lived with my mother not far down the great south river, and dad had been out picking pears from trees that grew not far from our home. I was home with my mom. I am not that many seasons older than a Dubbin, and my father said I was strong and a good helper. However, he still refused to let me go pickn' with him. 'You stay home and help your mother collect raspberries,' he said. Now while Berr was pickin' pears he saw a boat coming down the river. It was too far away for him to see what kind of creatures were inside, but I saw since it was near our house. I saw It was full of vermin, stoats, weasels, rats, all of em'. I screamed to my mom to hide, and ran off into the woods." She stopped telling her tale and looked at the Abbess. She nodded and instead the Abbess continued on with the tale, "Berr decided to investigate. Before he could reach the boat, a stoat with a friendly, but sly grin on his face approached him. Now being the friendly soul Berr is, and not being around vermin much before, he carefully asked if the stoat was lost or needed some food? The stoat shook his head and suddenly picked a large stone off the ground and threw it straight at Berr. Berr tried to dodge, but as he turned around the rock hit him square in the back of the head. He is not a warrior, and was not prepared for attack. "It was near dusk when Berr woke, he ran to his home to find his wife with the same fate, but unfortunately the force of the rock thrown at her had taken her life. There was no sign of Isbel." Now Isbel decided to pick up the story again, "I had been scared and never should have run, but I thought my mother wo'ld follow me. I's a good thing that I had hidden in the woods, because I saw the weasel who killed my mother search everywhere in the house. He mumbled something like 'The boss won't be too happy about me comin' back with notin'.' Then I think he went back the boat, because even though I couldn't see it, I heard some paddles splashing the water. I stayed where I was, but came out when I heard my father callin. He thought it would be better for both of us if we go to the Redwall Abbey that is told of so much." After she had finished speaking, she noticed that the telling had attracted many Redwallers of her and Blossum's age. Astra the Badgermum was also sitting in crowd. Blossum was silent for awhile . Finally, she spoke, "So, you think that the vermin may be heading twords Redwall to take somesort of loot?" The Abbess nodded. "The worst thing is that there is no current champion. Sure a few of the elders and myself were alive when the searat battles took place, but we are all old and frail now. As a matter of fact none of us save Astra even played much of a part in the actual fighting. We are lucky to have a few warriors currently dwelling in Redwall, but none are very familiar with Mossflower wood." Astra now spoke up, "Well, with this news, we should be more alert, especially with the dubbins. No one should be wandering into Mossflower with vermin around. This is no reason though to feel down, now the Harvest Feast is in two days, is there anyone planning to help me prepare?" With that the young redwallers got up, and asked Astra how they could be of assistance. However one young mousemaid, named Clover walked up to Abbess Miael before picking flowers as she had been assigned. Clover was a sweet mouse and a good helper, but for a maid, she had a strange interest in weapons, fighting skills, and the tapestry of Martin the warrior. She never hurt anyone, but had scared many parents. Many believed she would become a warriormaid, following in the footsteps of her father, whom had left the Abbey soon after Berr had arrived. She spoke to the Abbess, "Is that the reason my father left? To watch the vermin in case they intend on attacking Redwall." "Yes, your father is one of the few warriors who are in Redwall or the Mossflower Wood." "Will he be back in time for the Harvest Feast?" Clover inquired. "I hope so. If we are lucky the vermin will pass us by, though the minds of most weasels and rats are greedy and stupid, I fear that another Redwall battle will come soon." As the Abbess finished, Clover nodded her head thinking of her father, and hoping he wouldn't have to use his warrior skills. Abbess Miael broke the brief silence that followed her words. "You better get pickin' flowers before Astra sees you." "Yes, Mother Abbess, I should be off." With a small curtsy, Clover walked off to fetch a basket and collect flowers for the tables.

In the Orchards, a young, a strong, gray squirrel, was in an apple tree helping pick the remaining ripe apples. Foremole was beneath the tree helping catch the apples as they were thrown down. "What do you think of the news that vermin are 'round?" The squirrel called down to his friend. "'tis 'orrid creetures vermints ares, yurr zurr, but don' yom wurry, thee gurt redwallers'll defeat thee nasty villyuns." "Aye," he said. "Though I hope that they will pass us by, and blood will not have to be shed." "Io agree, zurr zurr!" However, as much as the squirrel hoped a war would not start, he knew that more likely than not the vermin would try to overcome Redwall. From tales of the past he learned that vermin are traitorous beasts, who don't easily loose a battle. He also knew that the Redwall spirit is stronger than any vermin horde.

Sorry this chapter was kinda short, this is my first fanfic that I've posted on fanfiction.net. Please R&R!