Growing Up

The Barbics, Glens and any other Disney characters are copyrighted to Disney and we claim no ownership. However, any new characters are copyrighted to Ulisa, Silver Fox and Cheetah the Furry. This plot is a collaboration of Ulisa, Silver Fox, and Cheetah the Furry.

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Grammi gave a nod in reply. She and Gruffi had given up the prospect of approaching any of the Barbics on the aspect of their past. All they knew was that the lives these Barbics had lived through had been less than blessed. But, being the stubborn hard heads they were, there was no way they were going to unveil anything about their past, not to a Glen in any event.

After much searching through books, Grammi decided to check the absent Barbics' rooms. It was risky but they needed answers. Grammi noted that almost no one she had seen entered Ursa's room, probably because the Barbic leader made it clear that her room was her territory so to speak. In fact, in the few months that the Glens had been in Ursalia, Grammi had only seen two people simply barge in: Buddi and Gritty.

Shaking that out of her mind, the Glen made her way through the halls until she was up to Ursa's room again. She made sure no Barbics were around and then entered, closing the door behind her. Even if she found nothing on tradition, perhaps she would find something on why Barbics acted as they did. According to what Zummi had found, the Barbics in the past had been distrustful of humans, but these Barbics were full of hate towards them. There had to be an explanation behind that, besides the end of Barbic Woods.

Grammi opened the same drawer she had before and after smiling a bit at Ursa's mementos of Buddi's younger years, she gently removed them, searching for anything. She was about to close the drawer when a gleam caught her attention. She reached for it and found a stack of old papers, which were singed around the edges, proof that they had barely escaped Barbic Woods' smoky death. Baffled, she removed them and noted the dates. They were old…these were the equivalent of diary entries. Grammi had never thought of Ursa as a diary keeper. But then, the grandmother glen supposed that she had many feelings in her that she must express at some point. And who knew what she had been like when she was younger…

A date practically caught the Glen's attention because it was scribbled harshly as if in anger. And there were misspellings throughout it. Checking the date, Grammi realized why.

"Day 16 of Suder, 1343."

Doing some quick math, Grammi came to the conclusion that that would have made the Barbic leader merely six to eight. Curious, she read on,

"Grubbi says I gotta keep records for history. Fine! Why can't he write them?" Grammi smiled at the girl's spitfire attitude, even back then. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she read on, "I don't care. I wanna learn to fight. I'm only six, but I'm almost seven. Close enough. I want, I dunno. I just know that I wanna make him pay! He, whoever he is. He didn't have a right! They say I'll have my time to fight. I wanna fight now! Mommy's dead! Daddy's dead! And he killed them, right in front of me. Mommy's blood splashed on my face, that's how close…why doesn't Grubbi go after them? Or let me go after them? They need to pay! It's not fair! It's not fair! Only Gritty gets it! He's the only one that knows…I won't…I wanna fight! Mommy died fighting! Daddy died fighting! By Gum…I won't!"

Grammi stopped, stunned dumb. That was why…death of her parents, by a human hand no doubt. But at six years…well, Grammi could understand her anger. And for such a young cub that could have a lasting impact. Since Barbics did not share their feelings…

Grammi noted that the dates were years apart. Apparently, Barbics only noted significant events. There were about five other documents, the latest one being:

"Day 15 of Midce, 1372."

Grammi grabbed them and slipped out of the room, fearing that she would be caught if she spent any longer in here. It was nearing eleven at night already. She was about to head towards her own chambers when she heard shouting, in Barbic. Cautiously, she followed it to its source.

It was Ryo and another Barbic that Grammi recognized. The two looked like opposites.

Ryo had always been tall, not as tall as Ursa but a bit taller than Gritty. He had dark brown hair, nearly black and he kept his long, as did a few Barbics. But Ryo left it loose and flowing, to his shoulders. He was not bulky but carried meat on his bones, notably about the shoulders. Never one for the typical Barbic attire, Ryo preferred dark colors to the light tan of most tunics. He was wearing a black tunic at the moment, with his sword forever on his belt. His dark brown fur was bristled in anger.

Lundi, the other Barbic, was short, not too short but about Gritty's height. He had light fur, almost tan but still a bit too dark. He wore light green tunics as a general rule and he kept his light tan hair short. He spoke solemnly.

"You can't just-"

"Ursa is gone, Grubbi's gone, Gritty's gone. I'm the next one up."

"Doesn't matter," Lundi argued as Ryo walked away, not willing to talk anymore. The Barbic called after him, his eyes narrowed,

"What we think doesn't matter! Abandoning ones we promised to defend violates the Barbic Code!"

Gritty watched Sunni and Cubbi sleep. They hadn't caught anything but they were exhausted and honestly gritty was not surprised at their failure to catch anything. Exhaustion often weakened tracking and hunting skills and the Barbic doubted that they had much of any training in those areas.

He supposed he was being unfair in a way, but he could not buffer a haiana, for any reason.

It was not fair in many ways but one thing no Barbic ever broke was the Code of Barbic. Generally, the code was usually only mentioned during wartime and battles but it truly did apply to their every day lives. It was a moral code mainly but did have a few rules that applied to all things.

Gritty knew there were lots of unmentioned rules but ten that rang clear: Never strike down unarmed opponents, never yield to the enemy, never dishonor the Barbic name, never relinquish Barbic ways, never forget those lost before, train to fight if need be but don't allow it to consume lives, never abandon your own, never strike at another in anger, never unleash your anger upon a child, and never abandon those you swore to shield.

Ursa was about to burst by the time Grubbi tore through the tree branches. She saw Buddi and ran over, holding her arms out.

Grubbi didn't even try to protest. He knew she would merely yank the cub from him if he did. He handed the child over and in a split second, Ursa had taken the cloak from Grubbi and the one from her own back and wrapped them around the cub, cradling him into her chest, all the while saying,

"What in Gum's name happened? Where are his clothes? Where was he?"

"His clothes were gone, I don't know what happened and he was unconscious about a mile from here."

Ursa looked at Grubbi and said, "see if there is anything even remotely dry enough for a fire. I'm gonna see if I can warm him up."

Grubbi would have suggested the same thing so he nodded. Ursa ran into the tent as Grubbi called, "try and get some food in him, anyway you can."

Ursa didn't make a reply but Grubbi knew she heard him. She vanished into the tent and the Barbic healer swiftly began to hunt. He knew that not surface wood or ash would be dry enough. His best bet would be to look under the surface wood, down near the ground but not on the ground. Any on the ground would be too moist.

Grubbi found that the search was all but hopeless. They would have to wait for the sun to dry some of the wood. In the meantime, he knew Ursa would do all she could. Any mother would have. Grubbi had done everything he could at the scene but he didn't have a lot of herbs. The majority of the bleeding had already stopped and it was merely the loss of so much blood that was the issue.

Grubbi was at a loss as to how the child had ended up as he had. He had not only had a pained look to his face but a look in his eyes that Grubbi could not quite place. He swore it was guilt but that made no sense. He shook his head in confusion and settled onto the ground, taking out a piece of jerky and chewing on it.

Then, there was the whole issue with Lady Bane. Grubbi didn't know where she was but he had seen the dead Troggels and knew that Lady Bane was known for being ruthless. But what did she want? He wished that he had managed to get more information from the child than he had. Had Buddi been in slightly better condition, they would have investigated but Buddi was their top priority. And he knew that Ursa would not leave until she was certain her baby was out of danger.

"C'mon Buddi, please."

Ursa had taken out their fur quilt and wrapped it around Buddi, forming something of a cocoon. The cub kept still but his terrible trembling had ceased and that was some comfort to Ursa. Yet he still had not regained consciousness. His eyes were vacant when she peeled his lids back. That disturbed her.

Ursa looked every bit a mother at the moment. She had Buddi seated into her lap, although she was cradling him more than he was sitting. She kept him as close to her body as she could and moved a lot, in an attempt to warm him up. She breathed close him but it didn't seem to make any difference in his condition. Blood loss was the main problem and the main way to help that was to get his body as strong as she could.

Reaching into her sack, which she had set in a corner of the tent, she removed a small breakfast cake and tore it into bite sized pieces. She wished for a reaction but the cub made no remark to the food when his lips were prodded and it was held under his nose.

Reaching back into long forgotten memories, Ursa pinched the cub's cheeks tightly but gently, forcing a small opening to form in his lips. She pushed some cake into his mouth, back to the opening to his belly. The cub's body swallowed to keep from gagging and the Barbic leader repeated the motion until the cake was gone. Knowing that too much food would be better in the present condition than too little, she removed a second cake and began to repeat the motions.

Buddi was lost. He felt sadness tearing him apart. Everything was dark yet he felt an odd warmth. Everything spun and everything ached. He heard voices that he couldn't comprehend. He closed his eyes, curled up into a small ball. He wanted to go to sleep. He was warm. He had been cold when he first got to where ever he was but now he was warm, comfortable. He felt safe, like he had been…

He remembered odd things. Ursa, when he had been but a few weeks old, tossing him up, to catch him and blow on his belly. He had giggled, as she had tickled him. He was never afraid. Ursa made everything all right. That gentle smell…he could-

No, he could smell it! Ursa…Ursa was near. He felt it. As he concentrated on that one smell, he swore everything became more clear, he heard her voice…

"C'mon, eat, Buddi. Wake up, little one."

The cub had curled into her chest which was some progress but he had yet to open his eyes. He was breathing steadily which comforted her but she wanted to see his eyes. He did not open them, so she tightened her grip, trying to warm up his cold form.

Ursa sighed deeply. She should have gone. Sweet Gum, if she had only…

"'Sa…"

Ursa immediately jerked her attention to the small voice which had tried to speak her name. It was slurred but gradually gaining strength. She looked at the tiny cub she had cradled in her arms…such a fragile and weak little thing. He was pressed in close to her chest, his cheek in between her breasts. She stroked his hair, which still had cold droplets of water in them. She asked, almost as if afraid of a terrible reply,

"Buddi?"

The cub's eyes opened very slowly and he shifted them up to look at her. He spoke two words,

"I'm scared."

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