Chapter nine: A budding warrior

"C'mon guys, let's go outside!"

It was a beautiful summer afternoon in Noonvale. An extremely pretty but young mousemaid ran out of a tent. "Hurry up, Jorell, the others are probably waiting for us!"

A younger male mouse ran out of a different tent and gasped for breath as he tried to keep up with the mousemaid. "Wait up, Chrysanthemum, don't run so fast, gimme a break."

Chrysanthemum snorted and kept on, though at a slower pace. "What took you so long?"

Jorell walked to match Chrysanthemum's pace. "My mum Gauchee kept telling me to stay out of trouble. I'm glad that my dad Brome isn't like that. He just stays in the main part of the Village, cuz he's a healer."

Chrysanthemum slowed to a walk. "My mum always tells me to stay out of trouble and to keep my temper. I don't know what she means by that though. I wish I could remember what my dad was like, from my mom's description, he sounds like the nicest dad anybeast could ever have."

Jorell, son of Brome and Gauchee, had his doubts. "A warrior, right? I don't think I'd want to be a warrior, too much death and depression."

His cousin was about to argue back when a voice interrupted them. "I'll say, my father told me about war an' I don't think I'd want to be a warrior!"

Chrysanthemum peered behind a tree. "Dallum, is that you?"

"Burr aye, so 'tis, an' Bungo be's 'ere too!"

Jorell ran to meet them. "Hey there Dallum and Bungo, I was wondering where you'd gotten too, is Dammy and Nytestripe with you?"

Dallum replied, "Nope, haven't seen them all morning, but I suspect they're off arguing somewhere. I'm glad I'm not Dammy, Nytestripe may be little like us, but she's still very strong!"

Chrysanthemum nodded. "Of course she's strong, she's a badger, Dallum." Her sentence was cut off by yelling by the pond in the middle of the vale. "Yowch, stoppit stoppit, you're pullin' me blinkin' ears off, wot!"

Bungo shook his furry black head sadly. "That'll be Demmee an' Noitestoipe argooin', ne'er get 'long well."

Chrysanthemum and Jorell crept to the pond to see the fight. A young male hare was practically drowning in the pond, with a small but fierce-looking female badger pulling his ears. "Don't ever wake me up like that again, or I'll make you into a pie!"

Jorell stifled a giggle. "That wouldn't be hard to do, cuz his real name is Damson, but he told us t'call him Dammy instead."

Dammy spotted Jorell and Chrysanthemum watching from the bush and shouted for help. "I say, get over here an' help a poor chap, Santhe old gel, this blinkin' badger has me ears nearly ripped from my jolly ole head!"

Jorell started to walk away. "Oh, stop that you two, you'll get yourselves in trouble again. You wouldn't want your mother gettin' mad at you, Nytestripe."

"Rowanoak is not my mother! I've been in Noonvale all my life, and she just saw me when she came here and wanted to adopt me. I don't look anything like her anyway. My headstripe is a really dark brown color, and hers is light brown."

Chrysanthemum interrupted. "C'mon, let's just find somewhere to play. Find a long stick, everybeast. I want to play 'Marshank' again."

She ignored the audible groans from her friends as she tried to find a suitable stick.