Sorry it took so long to get this up; school's started and I've been really busy, and I had to come up with some new ideas. Anyway, I hope you like it. (I don't own Redwall!)
Juniper paced the abbey floor, anxious about staying in one place for so long. When would the storm be over with? Yes, she found satisfaction in staying dry and warm when usually during a thundershower she became saturated, but this was just too much.
"Juniper?" The squirrel maid turned her head in the direction from which the small voice had come from. She glimpsed a small puff of fur peering at her from around a wall, and she walked towards it. She came across a small band of dibbuns, all donned with small blankets for capes and small wooden bowls for helmets.
"And just what do we have here?" Juniper asked seriously. "What are you four up to?"
The small band, the mouse Dweemo, the mole Posie, and the two otters Toolie and Bando nervously shifted about, poking each other and whispering. Finally, Dweemo, clearly the leader, spoke out.
"We's going to go witcha on yore adventure!"
"I beg your pardon?" Juniper asked, bending down to their eye-level.
"Burr, whoi's you goin', miz?" asked Posie. "Whoi can't we come too?"
"Who told you about me goin' on an adventure?"
"Miss Poppleleaf told us, Miss Juniper," Bando said. "We want to come with!"
Juniper's jaw clenched. How could that gossipy squirrel tell every beast about the mission that was supposed to be confidential? Juniper flew off down the corridor, skillfully running, dodging, ducking, flying up staircases until she reached the room of her grandparents.
"Abbess!" Juniper shouted, pounding on the door. "Let me in!" The door was quickly opened and Juniper bounded in, yelling, "My mission was supposed to be kept secret! Why did some beast tell that dimwit of a squirrel?" She continued to rant and rave, using words that would make a grown male vermin cringe. Finally, Song placed a paw on Juniper's shoulder.
"Juniper," she said firmly, "there are few secrets in the abbey. Mainly, it's because the business of one is the care of another. We all look out for each other here, Juniper, and you must learn to live with that. It is not like where you are from where it was every beast for themselves. You need to know that we are a family, though misunderstandings can be made. Your aunt did not know that you wanted to keep this a secret, so you will have to learn to forgive her. Also, I don't know how my son raised you to speak in such a way, but here, we do not speak like such. Mind your tongue, missy, for there are those of tender ear and heart about. If you can not abide by such rules, you shall have to leave Redwall."
Juniper stared at her grandmother, unchanged by the reprimand. "Then perhaps I shall just have to leave."
She strode out of the room, leaving in her wake a saddened grandmother, and Juniper continued until she was to the abbey door. The storm was over, and it now was safe to travel outside. However, she was waylaid from leaving quite so early.
The door swung open and nine burly otters came bounding in. They laughed and shouted, causing quite a ruckus, but in the chaos, one of them noticed the squirrel in the green jerkin with a quiver on her back.
"Juniper?" he asked. The squirrel stared up at the otter, and a small smile appeared on her face.
"Rudtail!" She ran over and pounded her good friend on the back, laughing. "It's been ages, you old waterdog! Where have you been?"
"Out to the coast with my otter crew," the otter answered. He paused for a moment as a thought struck him. "And just why are you here? I thought you'd never come to Redwall."
"I'm here on business," she answered shortly. "Why are you here?"
"I'm Skipper here," he answered. "I'm in charge of all the otters in the abbey. Just a moment, isn't Abbess Song your gr-"
"She is," answered Song, who had come up behind Juniper. "Skipper, there is much that must be told."
After the main introductions and Skipper had been told of Juniper's return, Glendor's death, and the vision of Martin, all of the beasts in the abbess's now crowded room were silent in thought. Skipper sat next to his otter wife, Bankley, who had also returned from the coast and was a seasoned warrior herself. She was the first to make a suggestion.
"I imagine it would be best for you to stay here, Juniper, until you know who shall travel with you?"
"Yes," she answered.
"I just can't imagine Glendor dead," Skipper confessed. "He was a good pal of mine, whenever he was around long enough to spend time with him."
"Thank you, Skipper," said Dann. "It is hard for us, too, to imagine his death."
"Do you know what vermin did this?" asked Bankley to Juniper. Juniper shrugged her shoulders.
"I have a few suspicions, but half of them are nonsense. I'm sure, for the most part, that it was Vandar."
Only Skipper and Bankley seemed alarmed; the Regubas didn't know what Juniper talked about.
"Who is Vandar?" asked Hollyhock.
"A fox," Juniper answered. "I've heard about how he is ruthless and vile, worse than any other warlord. However, he does not scare me. The thought of how he murdered my kin only boils my blood and raises my desire to kill him."
"We have seen him a few times," Skipper said. "Never once, though, have we seen him intimidated by our otter forces. He even…" Skipper dropped off as the door to the room was knocked upon. All were rather alarmed, for there had been strict instructions for them to not be disturbed. Bankley rose from her chair and opened the door.
In the doorway stood an ashen-faced female mouse. Her voice trembled as she tried to speak, though the words came as unclear gibberish. Finally, though, she calmed down and was led inside by the otter wife, and she sat down on a free chair.
"Abbess," she murmured through tears, "it's about the dibbun Dweemo. He's been killed!"