A/N: Sorry you guys, I'm not done with the cute.

The Lost Froglet

Heket led her froglets into a clearing in one of the mushroom forests in her domain. She took a quick head count, coming up with nine, and sighed. That meant three were missing. "Wait here, my children," she told the rest and retraced her steps, calling out to the lost froglets. After a few minutes of walking and calling, the rustling of tall grass heralded the arrival of one of her missing children. She stumbled out of the undergrowth with a cry of "Mother!" and hugged Heket's leg.

Heket patted her head. "There you are, Adela."

She stepped back and bowed her head apology. "I'm sorry, Mother, I just wanted to look at a pretty bug. I thought if I was quick, but… when I looked back you'd all gone…"

"If there is something you wish to look at, then ask," she replied. "You must not simply wander off."

"I'm sorry, Mother, it won't happen again."

She saw no reason to admonish her further, so she nodded. "Very well. Two more of you are still missing."

So they kept walking, with Adela sticking close by. The next missing froglet was again heard before she was seen, this time as distant calls of "Mamaa! Mamaa!"

"Kuri!" They called back.

Kuri's calls became louder and louder until she shot out of the undergrowth with a cry of "Mamaa!" and threw herself into Heket's cloak.

Heket patted her head. "There you are, Kuri."

She looked up with watery eyes. "I'm s-sorry, Mama, I d-didn't mean to get l-lost," she stammered.

"I know," she sighed. "But you must stay close to me from now on, understand?"

Kuri wiped away her tears. "I w-will, Mama, I p-promise."

That just left Tobias, so they kept walking and calling. Eventually Heket stopped and frowned. This was taking too long. Had he really got so far behind? "Did either of you see or hear Tobias before you saw me?" She asked, but they both shook their heads and her frown deepened. "I see…" She paused for consideration and spoke her thoughts aloud. "Perhaps… we passed him somehow…" She turned back to her daughters. "We will go back. If he is not with the rest of your siblings, then I will have to return to my temple to dispatch my followers to look for him." They both nodded in understanding, but looked troubled at the same time. She drew them close and they clutched at her cloak as they all sank into a pool of darkness.

The frightened faces of nine froglets stared back as they emerged from the other end, faces that swiftly turned to recognition and relief. "Mother!" They chorused, and Heket was swarmed by the rest of her children.

She did another quick head count and sighed in disappointment. "Has Tobias not returned?" They shook their heads and she frowned. "Then I will have to return to my temple to dispatch my followers to look for him. Wait here," she instructed, and then disappeared into another pool of darkness.

She did another quick head count upon her return, but the number had not changed and she frowned again. What in Anura had become of Tobias? "My children, do you wish to continue?"

The froglets exchanged looks. "Mother," Adela stepped forward. "If you take us home, will that mean you'll be able to look for Toby?"

"Yes," she replied simply.

They formed a group huddle as they conferred amongst themselves. "Then please take us home, Mother," was their conclusion.

"Very well." She held out her arms. "Then gather around me." They did as they were told and clutched at her cloak – or each other – as she warped them back to her temple. There she left them in the care of one of her most trusted followers, before leaving to join the search party.

Heket looked up at the darkening sky and sighed. They had been searching for hours now and there was still no sign of him, so she could only conclude that he had been lost to the dangers of her domain. What a pity. What a waste. But that was the way of things in Anura. So she called off the search party, and returned to her temple. The froglets had been waiting up past their bedtime to learn of his fate and burst into tears once informed. "Hush now, my children. This is what happens when you stray from my side," she told them simply. It was no comfort, but it was the truth.

A week later, Heket was in her study writing a letter. The door was thrown open so suddenly – and so violently – that it actually made her jump and draw a line of ink through her writing. She turned her head, her teeth baring in a displeased snarl to locate the source of this disruption. A follower was on their knees in the doorway, panting from exertion, but before she could even think to demand what the meaning of this was, the follower was speaking. "Lady Heket," he gasped out. "Tobias… has been found!"

Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates and the quill fell from her hand. Tobias? Her son? He was alive? She rose from her seat, one hand clutching the back of her chair. "Where?!"

"Th-the entrance hall." He scooched aside to allow her to pass as she swept from the room.

Heket gripped the edges of her cloak as she strode through the halls, and as her emotions whirled around inside her. She still couldn't believe it; Tobias? Alive? After all this time? She had resigned him to death, had accepted his fate as inevitable, as the way of things. But now that he was back, she was… relieved… and impressed; To have survived on his own in her domain for a whole week was no small achievement.

She arrived in the entrance hall and looked around in confusion. Tobias was not here. "The throne room," said one of her followers, but he was not there either. When she was directed to another part of the temple to no avail again, she bared her teeth in frustration. "Where is my son?!" If this was some kind of prank, then heads were going to start rolling. She was directed to yet another part of the temple, and as she stalked down the hall, a noise coming from further ahead resolved itself into wails of distress and the pattering of little feet. Tobias!

Tobias was running away from her in his continued search through the temple, still wearing his cloak. It was filthy and had been ripped in places. "Mamaa! Mamaa!" He sobbed, tears waterfalling down his face and blurring his vision so he kept tripping and falling as he ran, but each time he would pick himself up and keep going. "Mamaa!"

Her heart clenched at the sight of him. "Tobias…" She started forward. "Tobias!"

He stopped in his tracks, sucking in a breath and turned to face her. "M…" His face creased in anguish and relief, and fresh tears gushed from his eyes. "Mama… Mama!" He started running. "Mamaaa!" She quickened her step in turn and scooped him up into a tight hug as they met. He clung to her like a lifeline, seizing tiny fistfuls of and burying his face into her cloak and was crying so hard his sobs shook his whole body. She hummed to him as she held him and eventually his tears died down to whimpering and sniffles and hiccups and she pulled away. "M-Mama…"

"Hush now, no more tears. You are home now, you are safe." He sniffled and scrubbed his eyes and face with his little hands. "Now, tell me what happened."

Through sniffles and hiccups he told her his story. He had climbed a mushroom and fell. The fall had "put him to sleep", but when he woke up he had felt "funny", and had also forgotten where he was and why he was there, so he'd wandered away from the area. Eventually he'd stopped feeling "funny" and remembered, and tried to go back to where he'd last seen her, but as he had been wandering aimlessly, he'd obviously had no idea which way that was. She sighed at this; It was no wonder neither she nor her followers had been able to find him that day. So how did he survive until now? Running as fast as his little legs could carry him from danger, and being small enough to fit into most small hiding places; Such places were where he slept during the nights. He followed his nose to water, and ate things he recognised, though often he would go hungry. This came to an end when at last he spotted and followed the light of a campfire and wandered into a camp of her followers, who had brought him home.

"I see." She smiled and kissed his forehead fondly. "You survived because you were smart." And also lucky, though she did not speak that last thought aloud; The campfire for one could've very easily belonged to another, unfriendly party.

He sniffled. "… Mother?"

"Yes, Tobias?"

"Can I… can I stay with you tonight?"

She paused in consideration and then relented with a sigh. "Very well. But just for tonight, understand?" He nodded and sniffled and buried his face in her cloak. "Are you hungry?" She felt him nod. "Then I will make you something to eat."

She spent that night cradling him in her arms, and singing him back to sleep everytime he awoke in a panic, thinking he was still lost in her domain. The following morning his siblings literally fell out of bed to tearfully welcome him back, burying him under a pile of froglets.

And from that day forward, he would never leave her side again.

A/N: Tobias, Adela and Kuri's names come from telmatobius and adelophryne and kurixalus.

Also I would normally post something of this length separately, but given that it follows on from Picnic in terms of concept, it didn't seem right. :p