4. Happy Birthday
"More to the left, please. Okay, that's perfect."
Gentle Heart nervously sat upon Brave Heart's shoulders as she had the task of hanging up a banner from one tree to another. However, the first step was to get on one of the trees. This would normally have been Lotsa-Heart's job if he wasn't already working on turning the lights on strings that hung from tree to tree. Plus, Gentle Heart was the second lightest cousin and Carebear… Swift Heart was on a caring mission. She pulled herself unto the light pink tree, leaving the support of Brave Heart's shoulders. The lion looked up at her. "You got it?"
She nodded, glued to the tree by her own fear of falling back down. Brave Heart then handed her the other side of the banner than hung from the other tree but wasn't connected to the one she was on. The lion looked up at her uncertainly, wondering if he really should give her the hammer and nails to keep the banner in place. She breathed in shakily, reaching to Brave Heart with her free paw. "Okay. I'm ready…"
"If you think so," Brave Heart shrugged and handed her first nail.
Soon, the banner hung proudly from one tree to another. Brave Heart helped her down from the tree and they both stepped back to admire their work. In only a few hours the party would begin. There was a gigantic table of food, games, music (the majority of them provided by Harmony Bear and Treat Heart), a bonfire pit and tons of presents all piled beneath a particularly large tree. Sitting at the large lake's edge was what looked to be a small power boat made of clouds, a boat that was the result of Bright Heart's tinkering with both cloud cars and boats. Gentle Heart put her paws on her hips, feeling very proud of herself. She managed to do a lot of work on getting the party started the day after last, yesterday where she volunteered the entire day, and now she had done a good amount of work. Plus, she managed to finish two very long chapters in the magic book. So far, she had a fairly good understanding of the three main types of magic; dark, light and neutral. But now, she had other things to concentrate on.
"Hey, I have an idea!" Friend Bear said, who was gazing around at the Forest of Feelings. "Everyone knows that True Heart likes tulips. Do any grow in the Forest of Feelings?"
"Sure they do," Brave Heart proudly responded. "All flowers grow in our forest! In fact, there's a patch of them close by."
Gentle Heart lightly cleared her throat, and it was enough to get their attention. "I can go get them… I memorized how to get there from any place in the forest. True Heart will like them, wouldn't she?"
"You bet!" Brave Heart answered, slapping a paw against her back much more roughly than he intended, "You've been doing a lot today. How about after the flowers you take a break?"
She nodded and produced a basket with her tummy symbol, heading into the Forest of Feelings. She closed her eyes as she walked, feeling the sun's warm rays against her pale green wool. The sky was nearly cloudless, and was the perfect day for a birthday party. The noise of her family talking and setting up the last stages of the party were soon replaced by chirping birds and the hum of insect and hummingbird wings. She sighed, enjoying the soft noises of the Forest of Feelings. Honestly, she couldn't understand how the Carebears managed to live in Care-A lot. It was always so quiet and it was looking at the same thing over and over again. But here, not a single feature could be expected. She passed by a particularly large purple and green pine tree, noting that it only meant her destination wasn't far away. In fact, when she cupped her paw over her eyes she could almost see the field beyond a line of trees far away. In only a moment, she reached the final line of trees and was greeted by a bright field.
Now in the open, a light breeze ruffled her wool. Gentle Heart closed her eye and sighed warmly. This had to be one of the most comforting moments of the week…. perhaps even month. Everything was too hectic lately, with her having to make so many decisions and do the right things along with working for a birthday party. But now she couldn't help but feel she made all of the right choices. Gentle Heart walked forward, eyes scanning the brightly colored field of pink, yellow, orange and blue. Finally, she saw a very small patch of white and carefully walked through the field, sure of not stepping on any flowers or harming any plants. She finally reached the white patch where individual tulips swayed in the breezes that passed by. Gentle Heart dropped down onto her knees, making sure not to harm the plants, and then began to pick the tulips as gently as she could. She really didn't like disturbing flowers too much, but this was for a good reason.
With the task completed, she stood up just as carefully and began walking back to the party area... she needed water for the flowers fairly quick. A gentle hum reached her earss, and she blocked the sun from her eyes with a paw, looking up into the sky to see a cloud car. Whoever was in the drivers seat directed the cloud car in her direction, and soon it hovered just above the surface of the wave of flowers. Playful Heart leaned over. "Hi!"
"Hi, Playful," Gentle Heart softly greeted.
The monkey cousin looked at her basket. "What're those for? The party?"
She nodded, and Playful Heart accidentally elbowed the steering wheel, causing the car to dip down before he regained control of it. He grinned. "Need a ride?"
Gentle Heart looked to the line of trees. "It's not that far away."
Flicking his tail, Playful Heart followed her gaze. "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all," she answered much more softly than she had before.
Playful Heart nodded and leapt from the cloud car, managing not to land on any flowers. The car vaporized behind him as the two began walking through the field. A blue bird flitted overhead, chirping as it went. The two both looked after it for a moment before Gentle Heart resumed her stare at the ground. It was a fairly silent walk to the party area until Noble Heart saw the two just arriving, his left paw slightly bandaged on the thumb from his cut two days ago. "Good to see that you made it, Playful. I heard you'd be arriving with those, Gentle Heart."
"What can I do?" Playful Heart asked.
Noble Heart shook his head. "Actually, we're going to start very soon. The others should be arriving, also. When they're here, I'll go get True Heart."
Gentle Heart was soon handed a vase filled with lake water, the freshest water one could find in all the Kingdom of Caring, and placed the vase with the tulips on the long table containing many plates and altogether pounds of True Heart's favorite foods. She stepped backwards to look at the entire party once again. She inhaled deeply. Her birthday was only in another month or so… would hers be this big and special?
"Where are we?"
"Just keep you're eyes closed," Noble Heart said, leading True Heart by the paw over to the birthday party, "We're almost here."
The white bear smiled, having a good idea of what the meaning of closing her eyes was, but not a very well grasp of where she was. Noble Heart got behind her and put his paws around her wrists. "Ready?"
The entire Carebear family stood assembled in front of them, not even breathing and equipped with party hats, horns and confetti. Everyone tensed as Noble Heart winked at the crowd, signaling them to prepare. "Open!"
It was amazing how much noise could come from such small creatures as everyone screamed 'happy birthday,' along with Lotsa-Heart trumpeting as loud as possible, which was loud enough as it was. True Heart grinned, even she herself not expecting this much of a party. She was nudged over to the crowd by Noble Heart as Gentle Heart adjusted her party hat. The string that she had to put her around her head kept getting tangled in her wool, and after some time, it was growing both painful and a bit frustrating. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Playful Heart walk over with a grin. "Need any help?"
"No thanks," she blushed.
Playful Heart laughed. "Something tells me you aren't telling the truth. Here, let me…"
With that said, he carefully untangled the string and let her hold on to it. She finally heard music playing over all of the noise, and recognized it as the 70's band 'Cheap Trick' and the song 'Clock Strikes Ten.' Everyone seemed to scatter, still somewhat of a crowd talking to True Heart. As she finally took the hat off altogether, Playful Heart grabbed his paw, causing her to drop the hat. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving!"
"But lunch just passed," she stated.
Playful Heart shrugged, leading her to the table. He grabbed a plate piling it high with anything that contained truckloads of sugar. Gentle Heart simply went to the incredibly large punch bowl and filled two cups; one for her and the other for Playful Heart. The two soon had a seat on fold-out chairs to the side. Gentle Heart watched as True Heart hugged Noble Heart in thanks and along with anyone within a five meter radius. A smile tugged up on her lips as Playful Heart flicked his tail. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," she answered. "Just thinking about the family."
Playful Heart chugged down his cup of punch within seconds and wiped his mouth off with his arm. "Remember Good Luck Bear's birthday party? I think it was the one before last."
She smiled. "Yes."
What had started out to be a simple game of tag somehow managed to form into a complete all-out brawl of a food fight. No one was spared, everyone being hit by some sort of food. A lot of people left a bit early to take showers and come back, but it still had to be one of the best memories the family member could have despite the result of the food fight. Gentle Heart vividly remembered having nachos and cheese sauce nearly stuck in her wool. It took days to get it all out, and it was a good thing she waited, because Take Care suggested that cutting her wool would be the easiest way to get it all out. Then she suddenly seemed to remember Playful Heart having ice cream smeared completely into his fur so hard he smelled like strawberries for a week after. She looked up to see Wish Bear and Champ walking over. The turquoise bear rose an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're just going to sit all there all day."
"Nope!" Playful Heart said, and then looked over at Gentle Heart, "That is if you wanna do something different."
She stood. "It's okay."
The two followed Wish and Champ, who soon went into another crowd of Care Bears and cousins. Gentle Heart tagged along, somehow feeling out of place and everyone talked about how long it took to get the party ready and related things. Staring at the ground, she didn't pay any attention to what the others were saying. Truthfully, all she wanted to do right now was just go back to her own house and read more about magic. It was the only pass-time she had lately. Plus, it was something intriguing.
The day gradually morphed into nighttime. The forest was alive with hums of night insects and the occasional chirp of a nocturnal bird or two. Music still played over the stereo, which had gone from Cheap Trick, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and now Lynyrd Skynyrd played softly. Gentle Heart was sitting off to the side with Proud Heart when she heard Noble Heart's voice over the collected voices of the family. True Heart was finally opening her many presents and cutting the cake. She and Proud Heart rose up and joined the others, sitting down into the soft grass before True Heart and the many stacks of presents. Playful Heart bounced over, sitting down next to her and balancing a plate on his tail. He grin, offering the plate to her. "Cupcake?"
"No thanks," she responded, "She's gonna cut the cake soon."
Playful Heart shrugged, wolfing it down instead. "I can't wait until there are gonna be rides on the jet skis. Are you going to try it?"
She looked over at the cloud jet ski which floated gently in the enormous lake. She could already imagine herself getting on it and falling backwards right away. She winced. "I don't think so."
"Aw, why not?" Playful Heart prodded, "It'll be fun!"
She was going to answer when Noble Heart handed her the first present. Usually presents weren't signed so there wouldn't be any hard feelings if something she said was offending to the others. True Heart unwrapped the purple paper agonizingly slowly, careful not to harm the paper. Gentle Heart drew her knees up to her chest, watching silently.
"First I have to say thanks for all of your work just to make my birthday fun," True Heart said as she unwrapped the present, trying not to be distracted. "I think I must be luckiest bear to be a part of this family."
There was an 'aw' from the family all at once as though they were all deeply flattered. She finally had gotten all of the wrapping paper off and then opened the box that it was covering. She pulled out what looked to be a simple chain necklace with her tummy symbol on the front. "Oh my stars… it's beautiful. Thank you."
Noble Heart helped her put it on as she continued to unwrap the many presents. There were all sorts of presents, all which she seemed to appreciate equally. There were all sorts of simple jewelry, handmade crafts, books (including a jokes book which had to be from Playful Heart), and many more things. By the time she was finished, she was covered head to toe in all of her presents that could be worn. The founder of Care-A lot stood, smiling. "Thank you all so much. This is the best birthday one could ever get from their family."
This single sentence seemed to trigger the motive in everyone's head to nearly tackle her to the hugs in giant bear hugs, no pun intended. Swift Heart was the first to reach the white bear, unsurprisingly, and almost managed to knock True Heart off of her feet. The rabbit poked her cheek. "You're such a drama queen!"
Then the rabbit quirked an ear, seeing a massive wave of Carebears and cousins rising over them both. She luckily jumped out of the way, unlike True Heart, as the wave came crashing upon her. Gentle Heart managed to become stuck between Brave Heart and Grumpy Bear. When everyone got back to their feet, the lamb suddenly seemed to be much more fond of life knowing she just came out of the tidal wave of Carebears without being crushed to death by her family. She looked up to see Playful Heart offering her a paw, grinning. "You got on the bottom?"
She nodded, and took his paw. Pulled up, a paper plate was shoved into her hand and soon she was standing in line for the cutting of the cake. In minutes, the entire family had a piece. Now, the real fun was beginning. Bright Heart climbed into the cloud boat. It rocked gently with the new weight change, and a crowd of Carebears waited anxiously, Gentle Heart one of them. Bright Heart strapped himself in then flipped a few switches. The raccoon set a key with a heart-tip into a keyhole and turned. It hummed to life, for it ran off of caring crystals and didn't even need an engine. Bright Heart smiled. "Who's first?"
Cheer Bear was the first to jump forward. Gentle Heart watched silently as Bright Heart instructed her to strap herself into skis and secure bindings and whatnot. The lamb curiously looked on at the two. Though she herself found it very odd, Gentle Heart realized that Cheer Bear was looking at the raccoon very oddly… was she intentionally batting her eyelashes and smiling that sweetly? The lamb sighed. First, she thought it might have been unintentional, but now she realized that the pink bear was flirting. What Love-A-Lot Bear and Proud Heart had sad must have gotten to a few bear's heads. Looking around, she finally spotted Love-A-Lot. And no surprise, she and Tender Heart were playing 'Twister,' only a portion of the tangled mess of other Carebears. Her attention turned back to Bright Heart and Cheer and the raccoon accelerated into the lake. The result was Cheer Bear falling into the water, which gained a few laughs from the Carebears as Bright Heart shouted that she'd be up and skiing once things got faster.
"Are you sure you don't wanna do this?" Playful Heart questioned.
Gentle Heart nodded, watching as Cheer had great difficultly standing up while skiing. "I can deal without it."
The monkey cousin shrugged. "If you say so."
She took a step back, and once again saw Proud Heart standing by the punch bowel with Harmony Bear. She walked over, joining the two.
"What's wrong?" Harmony Bear asked in a sing-song voice, "You look sad."
"I'm not," Gentle Heart responded, being truthful. She wasn't sad, she was just surprisingly bored.
Proud Heart handed the lamb a cup of punch, and sighed, sitting down in one of the many fold-out chairs. "It's been hours since I last brushed my fur. I better not start matting…."
There was a sudden loud splash as Cheer Bear finally fell into the water and let go of the handle that was attached to the rope connecting her to the back of the boat. All heads turned instinctively, but didn't expect to see Bright Heart turning the boat around. She blinked. "What's happening?"
"I don't know. But Cozy Heart's already halfway to Cheer… wow, she can swim," Proud Heart commented.
Gentle Heart looked over to see Noble Heart, Champ Bear, Tender Heart and Brave Heart running to the edge of the lake. She then saw what was the cause of all the commotion as the four Carebears began a countdown. She set her cup down, as both Proud Heart and Harmony Bear gave her confused stares. "What's the matter?"
"Shadows," she answered.
The two looked over towards the lake, and the red eyes of the shadows could be seen through the darkness. The three walked to the edge of the water also, ready to stare. Gentle Heart looked to Brave Heart. "What do they want?"
The lion growled. "I don't know, but I'm not gonna let those shadows crash the party!"
The lamb looked at the ground. Why was No Heart doing this? He should know that she wouldn't be so trusting of him if he decided to harm her family. Cozy Heart and Cheer finally swam back to the shore, Cheer shivering. Bright Heart rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry I couldn't get you… if those shadows distracted my driving, someone at the shore could get hurt."
Still remaining her usual self, Cheer managed to grin despite the fact her teeth were chattering insanely. "It's… okay. J-Just do me f-f-favor and make them go away…"
"Right!" Noble Heart nodded, "We won't let them. Cousins, call!"
True Heart joined him, standing to his side. "Carebears, stare!"
Just at that moment, more shadows appeared directly behind them and instead of hurting the Carebears, they simply began trashing the party. Brave Heart was the first to react, and with a roar, fired his first cousins call. It hit a shadow, and with a hiss, it retreated back into the darkness. Gentle Heart felt herself become surrounded by Carebears and cousins, stuck in the middle of a ring before being pushed back into the ring, finding herself standing next to Tender Heart. The red-brown bear looked at her uncertainly. "Gentle Heart? Are you sure you want to do this?"
Was he doubting her ability to be like any other Carebear and stick up for the family? The lamb softly nodded, though she herself wasn't exactly sure. She quickly ran over all of the things she learned during tummy symbol practice, and tensed. Her tummy symbol glowed bright pink in response. The shadows paused, hissing to themselves in the shadows, then moving as one, floated forward. Noble Heart clenched his paws into fists. "We've got to separate! Staying as one will only give us a bigger chance of being picked off by them."
True Heart bear nodded in agreement. "On the my count! Three…two…one… go!"
Gentle Heart began to separate from the ring like everyone else, not even knowing where she was going. The lamb cousin skidded to a halt, nearly running into two shadows. She didn't hesitate to fire the stare that she had been waiting for and sent both of them away before they even moved or glanced in her direction. She smiled. She wasn't so bad after all! Then the lamb noticed more eyes approaching from the forest and inwardly groaned. Without warning, she felt something grab her shoulder and turned, expecting for it to be a shadow. Instead, she found herself staring into the eyes of Playful Heart. The monkey cousin let go of her shoulder. "Follow me!"
Gentle Heart nodded, not bothering to ask for an explanation. Playful Heart darted to the woods that were farthest from where the shadows were coming from, Gentle Heart following. He suddenly turned and grabbed her paw, gently guiding her to behind a fallen log. The lamb ducked with him, out of view of what was happening at the party scene. She lowered her voice so they wouldn't be heard by any shadows nearby. "What is it?"
"It looked like you were having trouble," Playful Heart answered in the same tone, "I don't think the shadows will find you here."
Gentle Heart once again felt her heart seem to fall in disappointment. Somehow, it was like what Tender Heart had said, only ten times worse. "You think I couldn't do it?"
Playful Heart flicked his tail, not expecting that as an answer. "I don't think any Carebear could. There were dozens of shadows around you."
"Oh," She answered softly.
He blinked. "What's wrong?"
There was a rustle to their left, and they turned to see two shadows float over, having been hit by stares. Then they both suddenly looked at the two as if hearing something. Their red eyes narrowed in anger, and then they began to float past all of the pink and green trees that now looked black and gray in the darkness, for the wire supporting all of the lights around the party had snapped at some point. Gentle Heart gasped, realizing that it was much too late to even run or conjure up a stare. Or at least in her case. On the other hand, Playful Heart jumped to his feet and blocked Gentle Heart.
"Get away from my friend," Playful Heart demanded in his most brave voice he could muster.
The shadows merely stopped for a moment, then with a hiss that sounded more like a snicker of amusement, continued floating their way. Playful Heart gulped, also realizing even he couldn't come up with a stare so quickly. One of the shadows suddenly darted forward, just stopped short of Playful Heart and snarled very loudly, causing him to jump, exposing Gentle Heart. Both shadows laid eyes on her, then an odd expression crawled unto their gargoyle features. She blinked, not understanding their sudden change of intention. The shadows stared only a second longer, exchanged glances, and as if realizing something, slunk once more back into the woods. Playful Heart watched them go along with Gentle Heart and grinned. "I sure showed them!"
The lamb didn't have the same idea as him. She knew that the shadows recognized her and then stopped. Playful Heart helped her to her feet as she concluded No Heart must have warned his shadows not to harm her. She sighed. He said that he wouldn't hurt her… but it must be okay to hurt her family in his eyes. Playful Heart noted her thinking expression. "Something troubling you?"
"Shadows have attacked my family's birthday party," she answered softly.
Playful Heart looked toward the scene. The last group of shadows floated away into the skies to retreat to the castle from which they came. He smiled. "It's not that bad. It'll only take a few minutes to get everything back to itself. The snack table wasn't even touched!"
Gentle Heart found that he was right. The only real harm done was that the lights came undone from the wires and games were scattered across the floor. Even the music still continued to played. All that needed to be done was pick up the games and then make the bonfire to light things back up again. She looked down, realizing he was still holding her paw from helping her up. Not wanting to be rude, she simply cleared her throat. This alone somehow seemed to remind him, and he quickly moved his paw back to his side with a weak laugh. "Whoops. I guess we better help."
They entered the party scene just in time to see Brave Heart produce a flashlight with his tummy symbol, growling. "Just leave it to No Heart to ruin our fun! He really makes my blood boil!"
True Heart, always the optimist, made a kerosene lantern and began picking up the Twister map. "I still think it was fun… you have to admit, your face was a little funny when you first saw those shadows."
Playful poked Brave Heart in the face with his famous obnoxious laugh. "Our maybe he was scared for his darling Cheer Bear!"
The lion growled, swatting at Playful Heart, and headed elsewhere with his flashlight. "I'm starting the bonfire…"
Gentle Heart also concentrated, and created a flashlight with her tummy symbol. Everyone else seemed to be following suit as they either helped fix the damage or help with the bonfire. She began picking up bits of the torn banner so birds in the forest wouldn't think they were something edible. In only minutes, everything was already back to its normal place, and what garbage that could be burned was used for fuel for the bonfire. Soon, everyone was seated around the large bonfire. Sitting between Playful Heart and a sleeping Bedtime Bear, Gentle Heart allowed herself to finally relax, feeling as though she hadn't had it in an eternity. To complete the bonfire tradition, Harmony Bear produced her acoustic guitar which she was teaching herself to play and beganshowing Good Luck Bear a few chords. Gentle Heart sat silently, growing more and more tried with every passing second though there was still very much going through her head. She slowly blinked. Maybe that's why she was growing so tired… having to think so much lately. She let herself fall on to the nearest pillow, not even caring who or what it was and watched the flames of the fire hypnotically until sleep finally caught up with her.