Mender's Tale

by The Rhombus

Based upon a roleplay with Historian1912 and set in the Seven Hunters continuity. Mender has the reputation as being the best healer in the Mysterious Beyond, helping all who require it, but that was not always the case. Follow Mender as she recalls how a lowly fastbiter eventually found her place in life once she met a most unusual pack. This is Mender's Tale.

28. Chapter 23: A Tiny Problem

-v-

Author's note: This chapter finishes the 'past' story that Leap was telling the kids over the last few chapters. Due to the conclusion of the past story of Mender's first expedition ending up being over 17,500 words it was decided that it would be best to keep this past narrative separate from the continuation of the 'present' story. It goes to show you some of the difficulties that can arise when a roleplay is being adapted into part of a standalone story. The 'present' story will resume with Leap concluding his tale at the beginning of the next chapter. Nonetheless, despite the somewhat awkward partition, we hope that you enjoy the latest chapter.

A bonus chapter that is not part of the general narrative of this story (Tracker's scary story to the tiny biters) will be posted in the next few weeks. So be on the lookout for that in the near future. And without further commentary from me, I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

~Rhombus

---

Chapter 23: A tiny problem

"It has not escaped our attention that the Consortium has grown impatient for our report on the spread of medical knowledge and 'healer packs' on this planet. However for such a detailed account it is best to start at the beginning.

~ Officer Chronos, A Brief History of the Healers – from Mender to the Healer Packs

---

The past:

As the young fastbiter took in a deep breath all of the fragrances of the scene washed over her. The moisture of the distant stream carrying across the miles of grassy plain, the pungent scent of decomposing flesh from the nearby corpse of a swimmer who had seen better days, and the alluring hints of blooming plants that would have made her old self salivate at the potential feast. But another scent, more imposing and immediate, ended any daydreaming of what used to be.

The scent of blood. Her friend's blood.

Ducky and Leap had not been close as her other packmates, but she did know enough to respect him as an ally and a friend. Several years would pass before Leap and her would have the fateful prank that would turn into much more. At this moment in time, however, her main focus was on those who were still conscious and aware around her. All they could do for Leap at the moment was wait.

And sometimes waiting was the hardest part.

Ducky turned towards Violet and gave her a gentle nudge. "It will be okay."

"Did we take too long to get here?" Violet wondered aloud.

It was Thud's voice, and not Ducky's, who answered the open question. "You came here just in time. I only wish that we could say the same."

The verdant-feathered fastbiter could only frown at the depressed tone in the pack leader's voice, which came across as neither a growl or a hiss but something in-between. Something simultaneously uncertain and raw. It was a tone that had no word to describe it but which Ducky had heard before. She had heard it after the Battle for the Valley and after their first hunt after their change. It was the sound of barely constrained despair for what one could not change.

She tried to hide her annoyance at the reaction as she could not blame Thud for finally letting his defenses down. But it was the last thing that Violet needed at this moment.

Having noticed the same thing as Ducky, Tracker shifted awkwardly, wanting to say something but very aware that there was quite a gulf in rank between herself and Thud. Luckily for her, Ducky knew an opening when she saw one.

"How are you holding up, Tra-Staza?" Ducky asked suddenly before briefly giving Leap another sniff to make sure the life-scent was still there.

"Not really sure," Tracker admitted, "I'm glad we found them. I just wish it hadn't involved more trouble."

"Trouble have way of finding us," a squawking voice confirmed as it landed nearby, eying Dodger's vigilant form cautiously, "Luckily it look like Purple Tail not wanting to make new trouble."

"Did you find him?" Swift's voice hissed at anger for the big runner. The brief glare was a clear indication on what she considered the best remedy for their 'little problem'.

Petrie took the hint. "Me think he be knocked stupid. He running into forest and running into trees!"

"I'd prefer he run into something sharper," Dodger said without even looking in Petrie's direction.

Ducky could only snort at that. "I am sure the pack will help him get your wish if we ever find him again. Seeker is still mad that he tried to challenge us the last Cold Time. Path still wants to kill him; he does, he does."

"Um, Haven? Could you come over here?" Violet called, sounding slightly panicked.

Ducky practically jumped into position as she quickly inspected Leap's prone body. "Mender? What do you..." she hesitated when she noticed it. It was the slightest hesitation in his breathing.

Swift was at their side in a moment. "What is it?"

Ducky took a deep, calming breath. "This might be a good sign. When my brother knocked himself out he began to do this before he woke up."

"Anything we can do to help him wake up?" Violet asked, hoping Ducky was right.

"Well, when Finder woke up he was not happy; nope, nope, nope! He had a bad headache. So maybe we can use a few no-pain leaves when he wakes up."

"How many you have? Do you need Petrie to get more?" the flyer asked.

Ducky counted the leaves looped around her vine armor. "We have four each."

"I could help find some more."

Ducky looked back to see the bright orange form of Taunt in the background, intentionally avoiding being the center of attention in this most tense of moments. She hesitated to nod as he was meant to be their protection, but that was before they had an entire pack for backup. She finally agreed.

"You do that, Taunt. Spotter can help watch the skies. But make sure…"

Taunt dismissively waved an arm. "I know, I know. They are by the water, so make sure that I don't end up a bellydragger's snack."

"They already had tiny biter, so they might not be that hungry," Dodger suggested, "Whatever you do, try to make as little noise as possible."

Taunt opened his mouth as if to say one of his traditional retorts, but then merely nodded. "Understood."

Dodger glanced back at Leap. "I'll go with you," he finally said, "Keep you from doing anything stupid."

Ducky could only smile as she watched the two retreating forms. Everyone knew that Dodger wanted to do something useful. As the vigil continued, gathering no-pain leaves was as good of a task as any other.

---

A few moments later:

"See what we're looking for yet?" Dodger asked, glancing just about every direction but down. After surviving a big biter attack, he wasn't about to die by being surprised by anything smaller.

Taunt snorted as he noticed his counterpart's antics. He was beginning to piece together what it must have been like for Violet growing up. "We are in short grass, Verant; I don't think a giant-ass flyer is going to come around and gobble us up."

"I didn't think I would nearly be eaten by a gigantic fastrunner, but guess what happened?" Dodger retorted, "I'm not taking any chances."

Taunt shook his head with amusement before briefly peeking up into the sky. "There are two kinds of no-pain leaves and a no-pain rot-rock. I don't think they want the rot-rock, though. Not unless they want Leap to see a waking sleep story..." He sniffed the ground. "I smell the little bastards but I am not seeing them."

"Please tell me they're not..." Dodger groaned in frustration. If those tiny biters slow me down, I'm going to be presenting Staza a very large snack.

As if to emphasize his frustration Taunt reached down into the grass and raised up a single stalk with an annoyed hiss. "I thought tiny biters only ate meat! What the fuck is this?"

"Whatever it is, we should probably go kill ourselves some tiny biters," Dodger said.

---

A few moments earlier:

A soft groan emanated from the prone body in a brief spasm of movement before the rhythmic breathing resumed as if he had never been interrupted.

Swift nearly knocked over Ducky before being carefully blocked by Thud.

"Leap! Leap, can you hear me?"

I know I would be just as worried if it were Dodger that was hurt, but I'm starting to wonder whether Swift has never seen Leap hurt or seen him hurt too often, Tracker thought, She's never going to be able to calm down if she keeps going on like this.

"This is a good sign. This means that he is about to wake up…"

Vio... Mender, you're getting better at sounding confident, but you're not going to convince me just yet, Tracker thought, somewhat amused. The brief look Violet gave to Ducky, as if to ask 'right?' only confirmed her lack of certainty.

The nod that Ducky gave, however, made everyone release the breaths that they were not aware that they were holding.

Ducky smiled. "I think that he will be awake soon, but he might not be happy."

Thud finally smiled as well. "One usually does not find happiness in a headbutt."

There was a brief awkward pause as the two healers continued to watch over their patient. It was as if everyone was waiting on a humorous remark about Cera as soon as headbutting was mentioned, but Taunt was not here to do the honors.

That was when Violet suddenly turned her head at something in the distance. She held the gaze for a moment before shaking her head dismissively.

"Violet, did you hear some..." Tracker's head snapped towards where Violet had been looking a moment before. "I'll be right back."

Ducky didn't catch the tone. "Is everything okay? Should we…"

"Tiny biters," Violet noted with amusement as if that said it all.

Tracker moved silently towards the noise, almost giddy with anticipation. She loved hunting tiny biters. This time, she'd be doing more than having fun. She'd be making sure her friends had something to eat.

Wow, there sure are a lot of them, Tracker thought, noting how much noise was being made from walking and rather clumsy attempts at stealth, It seems like they're trying to stay low, but with how many it sounds like, all the grass they're brushing against is just plain noisy. I can even see the grass moving in some spots. And I thought the tiny biters my siblings and I hunted were dumb. This is going to be too easy. I could just pick them off, but where's the fun in that?

As if to further tempt her, the bushes next to Ducky began to sway upon the sudden addition of weight against its branches. Were the tiny biters snakes, one would be close enough to strike at the healers. It looked like she had her first victim.

Tracker shifted just a bit too much as she moved forward, alerting the tiny biters. Great... She lunged forward, coming just short of her target, her teeth brushing a tiny biter's tail.

"Screeeee!"

Tracker could hear Thud groan. "If they keep that up, then we all might need no-pain leaves for our heads."

"Run!" several tiny biters screamed at once.

"No!" a distinct voice protested as the grass appeared to part for the tiny biter's dark green form, "We have to help our helpers!"

I'm trying to figure out whether this makes them smarter or stupider, Tracker thought, looking around in confusion after abandoning her chase, Whichever it is, I don't think they thought this through very well.

Violet, however, was now perplexed. "Wait! Helpers?"

As if to answer her question the green fastbiter appeared beside Leap's prone form. "You not hurt em! They help us!"

It was at this point that Violet did what any other sensible fastbiter would do when confronted with a tiny carnivore making demands to a much larger predator. She stared at the strange being in confused silence, not quite sure if it was brave or stupid.

"Would you like to say something intelligent, or should I just eat you?" Tracker asked, walking up behind the tiny biter. Stupid or not, you could at least make some sense.

Behind Tracker, keeping their distance, the rest of the tiny biters peeked over the grass at the scene playing out in front of them.

The tiny biter shook with fear but stood his ground. "He." He pointed at Leap. "help us when the big-water-eaters come. So we help him! You do not hurt him like you hurt his friend!"

Violet groaned. "Are we actually talking to the food?"

Ducky shook her head at this. "You stupid biters, we are not hurting your friend. We are helping him."

"You can understand what we say, so how was that not obvious?" Tracker asked, somewhat stunned that tiny biters apparently couldn't figure out things that she could figure out as a young child.

The tiny biter looked around for a moment in confusion. "Oh… how can we help?"

Ducky took a deep breath as if to regain some sense of sanity, "Right now we are getting ready to use 'no-pain leaves' to help your friend. He is hurt. We are trying to un-hurt him." Ducky raised a leaf for emphasis. "They look like this. You can help us by giving us more of these. Do you understand?"

Being this dumb, I'm not sure whether or not I should feel guilty eating them, Tracker thought.

The tiny biter's face brightened as he jumped into the air. "We will help big biters help our friend!"

Before anyone had time to say anything or react in a meaningful way the tiny biters disappeared in a flurry of movement as the grass reverberated with the sound of the miniature stampede.

Nope. Don't feel guilty at all.

---

"We never should have helped these idiots," Dodger muttered.

This made Taunt stop in his tracks. Surely he had misheard.

"Wait! You helped the things?"

Taunt didn't mean to shout at his companion, but in the heat of the moment, with tiny shits taking all of the no-pain leaves, the question seemed to be a good one to broach. What were you thinking?

"Leap told them to run instead of stupidly staring at the bellydraggers that were fighting after eating a few of the tiny biters. I told him that was a bad idea, but he didn't listen," Dodger explained.

Taunt groaned as he sniffed the ground in annoyance. In the relatively tall grass the tiny biters had just enough cover to make this difficult. "So the little shits are rewarding us by eating all of the healing leaves? How does that make any sense?"

As if to mock his question the stalks of grass to his left began to shift unnaturally, against the direction of the wind. In a flurry of movement that Dodger had a hard time following Taunt pounced on the site of the anomaly and secured a claw to a tiny biter's neck, only prolonging the planned execution to rant for the sake of his sanity..

"What the fuck are you little shits doing?"

"Let it go, Taunt. It's too stupid to tell us anything," Dodger said, "and Staza won't let you hear the end of it for not killing it immediately."

Luckily for the trapped tiny biter, but not for the sanity of the duo, a lone voice answered in the distance.

"Helper! You help us; now we 'elp you!"

In a scene that made Taunt wonder if he had accidently consumed something hallucinogenic during the journey, a green tiny biter bounded through the grass like a jumping buzzer. It was as if he did not see his companion about to be disemboweled or simply did not care. It wasn't until the little biter had run to within a fastbiter-length of Dodger that Taunt turned his head towards his companion and let go of the tiny biter that he had been holding.

"A friend, I take it?" Taunt asked with a velvety tone that dripped with sarcasm.

"How are you helping us?" Dodger asked, ignoring Taunt, doing his best to remain calm.

Taunt decided to shift his focus to the brave tiny biter as his previous victim scampered off like a ground fuzzy in a burrow. The little biter looked like a normal tiny biter in everything but demeanor, he quickly determined. Small, unimposing, and generally ignorable. But there was something about the eyes that hinted at a higher intellect.

Relatively speaking.

"Other helper hurt! So we 'alk to other Big Ones! They tell us leaves to bring!"

Taunt sighed. "So you talked to Haven, Tracker, and Mendsy… and none of them ate you?"

The tiny biter shook his head as if that were the most normal question in the world. "It close, but we all live!"

"Okay, then. Can you show us what you found?" Dodger asked, wanting to get this over with quickly.

The tiny biter jumped up in the air with excitement as he made a high-pitched screech that surely alerted every predator in the area. "Helper wants to see good plants!"

The grass began to shift again, Taunt noticed, as the sounds of plant brushing against flesh rose above the threshold of the background wind. When the other tiny biters appeared it was obvious that they were going closer to "Helper" as opposed to him.

Not completely stupid then. Just mostly stupid.

What happened next then make Taunt gape in shock. One by one the small biters, each rising no taller than his knee, dropped their precious cargo in a disorganized heap. It only took a few moments before there was a pile of healing leaves that was far more substantial than what they could have found in a day. Taunt summed it up in his mind with a single sentence.

What they lack in smarts they make up for in numbers, I guess.

"That looks like enough for now," Dodger said, rather surprised by how many leaves the tiny biters had found, "Can you run this back to Mender?" He made a point of emphasizing the name for both Taunt and the tiny biters' benefit.

The tiny biter made a little bow as if he were being knocked down by a heavy weight, "Flinter obey Helper! I hope Mendsy is happy!"

And just like that he was gone, disappearing into the grass like a belly slider into its hole. The other tiny biters quickly evacuated, turning into a rampaging horde of mindless movement, trampling the grass under their miniscule weight.

Taunt offered his companion a slight tail-smile.

"Well, look on the bright side: at least they got her name right!"

"I'm going to hurt you," Dodger muttered as he stalked past Taunt.

Taunt read the tone for what it was and decided to keep his mouth shut for the journey back to the pack and their fallen friend. He still allowed himself a small internal smile for his victory. Not only was Leap going to get his healing leaves, but he had gotten the last word.

Though now part of him hoped that the tiny biters would quickly forget the whole 'Mendsy' thing.

---

"Mendsy! We get leaves!"

"Its Mender. Not Mendsey, Mender," Violet replied in an exasperated tone. This is Taunt's fault. It has to be. She forced herself to calm down. "Please put the leaves over by Leap," she said, gesturing in the direction of Leap's prone form.

One by one, in an odd mockery of strict order, each tiny lay their cargo down until there was a small heap the size of a fastbiter's tail. It was nearly enough leaves to tend to an entire pack of injuries. Then, in reverse order, the tiny biters returned to a line.

I guess that is their pack ranking… Mender thought to herself.

"Flinter hope it help Helper!" Flinter noted with enthusiasm, "Other helper say it might help!"

"Orange one mean, though!" another protested in the background.

"Sush, Vintor!" Flinter reprimanded, "Orange One might be helper's friend!"

"Why are you still here?" Violet thought aloud. You've helped. Now you can leave. Or get a little further away from here before Staza eats you.

Ducky and Tracker both looked at the tiny biters oddly as if curious about the answer to that question as well. Thud, meanwhile, looked on with concern.

Flinter looked confused as he looked around. "Helper tell us to follow 'em, so we did. He leader now."

It was then that Violet heard a deep inhale and a chuckle from behind her. "Oh, you are going to have such a surprise when you wake up, brother. You're a pack leader now."

Thud snorted. "This is why we have pack tests before letting people join."

I've got to do something about this mess, Violet thought. "Did Leap give any indication that he wanted to be your leader?" she asked the tiny biters.

The tiny biters looked at one another in confusion as muted muttering could be heard. The thirty or so bodies had gone from a silent line to a loud comphony of sound in a matter of seconds. But then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the group fell silent again as Flinter spoke for them all.

"Who Leap?'

"How stupid are you?" Violet blurted out. How do you... I really should just ask Staza to get rid of them.

"Leap is who is hurt right now," Ducky offered diplomatically, "He wanted you to follow him to be safe; not for him to be your leader."

Flinter blinked at this. "We not believe you! We follow Hel… Leap until he says not follow!"

"You didn't even know his name. Why would you think someone whose name you don't know and is much bigger than you would want to have anything to do with you?" Violet asked. I'm still wondering why anyone wants to hang around me. I definitely never assumed any of them would want to be my friend. For all the tiny biters could know, Leap might just want to eat them instead of something else. There's a reason I don't trust two-footers.

"Because he 'elp us!" another tiny biter said as the others began to mutter in agreement. As if to punctuate the point several of them sat down.

Violet was about to say something further when there was a commotion in the group of tiny biters. "It the Orange One!"

Great. They don't know Taunt is someone that shouldn't always be taken seriously, Violet thought with a sigh, At least Verant is back.

"Well… at least you all have the healing leaves now," Taunt muttered as he came into view. He kept on walking until both he and Dodger were beside Tracker.

"Any change?" Dodger asked finally.

"Nope. He's still out," Violet replied.

There was an audible sigh from Taunt which caused Violet to shift her gaze from the patient back to her packmate. The view that greeted her was a long glance between Taunt and Ducky. A glance that communicated volumes. They were growing very concerned.

I wish Leap would wake up. The longer he stays like this the more likely we'll lose him. Especially with that giant monster still out there. Violet shuddered. Swift's already not handling this too well. Then again, I didn't handle Dodger being hurt too well. If I lost him... Violet felt more than a little sick, the mere thought of her brother no longer being around making her start to panic. Though she could not detect that tell-tale scent others could.

However, only a tiny biter was stupid enough to alert her to this fact.

"Mendsy smell sad. She okay?"

"It's Mender!" Violet snapped in the tiny biter's direction, immediately broken out of her panic. In response the tiny biters moved en masse like a flock of flyers being disturbed by a loud noise. You can insult me but not my name.

Taunt coughed awkwardly as he felt the icy stare of Dodger from behind him. "I helped cause that… so I will try to fix it."

It's too late, Taunt, Violet thought with a bit of amusement as she watched Taunt try to get the tiny biters to say her name correctly, I don't think they can learn a name twice. If they keep following us, I'm going to trick them into thinking you are their leader. Okay, maybe that's too much, but... augh. At least it's only these stupid things and not the entire Mysterious Beyond.

"It's Mend-er. Mend-er."

"Mends-er. Mendser!"

"Sigh… well it's a start."

That might actually be worse, Violet thought, sighing.

"Urgh… too loud…"

"Leap!" Violet immediately spun around to check on the injured fastbiter.

That was when she her view of the injured fastbiter was quickly obscured by the body of another fastbiter.

"Brother, you're awake!"

Violet carefully moved herself so that she had a view of Leap and not of Swift's rear end. Within a split second both she and Ducky were on either side of the injured fastbiter as his eyes clenched shut in pain, as if forsaking the light of the fading day.

"Ugh… Swift?" he replied after a pause as he reluctantly opened his eyes, barely managing to keep them focused on his sister.

Swift nodded excitedly before hissing in a low voice to spare his ears, "We were all very concerned about you. You were asleep for a long time."

It was then that Ducky butted in, albeit carefully. "I need to check a few things, Leap. Can you look at me a moment?"

Leap's eyes fluttered about in confusion. "Haven?"

"We got sent to help," Violet explained, remembering how confused she was from her own head injuries, especially when she couldn't remember things, "How do you feel?"

Leap groaned. "Like I just slammed by head into a rock."

"Well, you hit Purple Tail with your head, so that is not far off," Dodger noted as he walked near the healing leaves, just waiting for the signal to be useful.

Ducky nodded as she looked into Leap's eyes. "Okay, Mender, do you remember about the eye test for head wounds?"

"You'd probably better do it," Violet said, "I was the one hurt the last time." I don't want to mess this up.

Ducky shook her head. "We will do this together. You need to see what it looks like when a head is injured."

The sudden appearance of fear scent from Swift was quite noticeable to everyone present, apart from Violet. What she did notice, however, was Thud carefully walking to Swift's side and laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Let's let the healers work, okay?"

Within a moment both healers were left with their patient as the others looked on from a short distance away.

So this is what I looked like, Violet thought, It's a good thing I couldn't see myself.

"Okay, Leap, I want you to follow my claw with your eyes," Ducky explained slowly in a calm voice. "Can you do that?"

Leap attempted to nod but stopped his attempt as soon as he saw Ducky shake her head. He finally gave an affirmative grunt.

Ducky moved her claw to the left and then the right several times, before she finally moved the claw up and down. It was then that Violet saw something that she had never seen when she had practiced this with Ducky on a healthy dinosaur. The pupils were beginning to uncontrollably jerk back and forth as he tried to follow the claw.

That's not good, Violet thought, Now that I know what that sign of head injury sickness looks like, I wish I didn't. It's kinda disturbing. "Don't move your head too quickly, Leap," she said, concerned Leap would hurt himself further.

Ducky nodded. "It is good that you are awake. That is a good sign, but you have the Shaken Head Sickness."

For his part, Leap closed his eyes and snorted with some amusement. "Well my head is pounding so I could have told you that."

"Keep your eyes open, Leap!" Violet suddenly hissed, which surprised nearly everyone present, most notably Leap, whose eyes widened.

Ducky nodded and raised a placating hand. "You need to keep your eyes open for awhile. No sleeping until it is the time to sleep, yep, yep, yep."

Silence reigned for several moments as Leap appeared to stare at something in the distance. When he finally did speak it was in an exhausted, small voice.

"Otherwise I might not wake up, right?"

Ducky placed a hand on his shoulder before speaking authoritatively, "If we have anything to do with it you will be fine."

"If I'm alright after more than one head injury, you'll definitely be fine." Well, I have forgotten quite a few things that I've only recently remembered, Violet thought. "Er, maybe I'm not the best example."

Leap could only smile at that. "Maybe if I am lucky I can forget Purple Tail."

You're not the only one, Violet thought, I'm going to have scary sleep stories for a long time thanks to that thing.

"Will 'elper Leap be okay?"

Leap's gaze appeared to stare off into the distance again, but this time it was attempting to focus on something that was most certainly there. Around thirty somethings, actually.

Taunt looked around as he noticed the awkward silence that followed. "Well, they didn't forget about you."

---

Seeker's territory:

"What?"

Petrie had expected this result as soon as he landed in the pack's meeting area. They had been prepared for many things, anything from a miraculous recovery of their former packmates to an unbearable tragedy, but the story he was forced to relay was almost too absurd to believe.

"I'm sorry, Spotter, but this confusing story confuses us," Ruby clarified as she rubbed her head, "So Leap and Dodger were okay and then Purple Tail hurt Leap?"

The flyer rubbed his talons against the branch awkwardly. "It hurt Purple Tail more, it sounds like! But Leap have the Head Injury Sickness," he quickly spoke up before the group could erupt into commotion again, "But he awake and they look at him now."

"Mender and Haven?" Littlefoot prompted for confirmation as he began to calm down with the news that the injury was being treated.

Petrie nodded and allowed himself a bit of levity. "Yeah, and a bunch of tiny biters too."

The rest of the pack shared a long look with varying degrees of confusion among them. Cera looked ready to strangle someone for the frustration and fear this entire situation had bestowed upon everyone. Breeze looked ready to sprint off in aid of their allies, whereas Spike looked ready to put the absurd spectacle behind him and take a nap. Littlefoot, meanwhile, merely looked at the flyer with a bemused expression.

"Perhaps you should start at the beginning, Spotter."

---

Thud's pack:

It had been several hours since Leap had finally been permitted to fall asleep, with Swift on one side and the healers on the other. Dodger fell asleep beside Tracker, though for reasons Dodger couldn't understand the entire pack of tiny biters decided to rest beside him.

Thud, meanwhile, opted to keep watch for the first part of the night. From his position he could notice the agitated shaking of the Violet's tail. I hope it is a pleasant sleep story, Mender.

As she continued to twitch during the night, he turned his head away from the stream. It was a clear, beautiful night.

"Look, here comes Worthless! I bet the only thing she can smell is her family's shame!"

Violet just cringed and tried to hide behind her siblings. She'd screwed up again; there was no denying that.

The black fastbiter who had loudly mocked Violet eagerly accepted the praise of his mother as he obtained a portion of the flyer corpse that he had tracked. It was a reward for success that Violet had never obtained.

"Alright!" a large adult female, one of the pack mothers, exclaimed, "That was a nice job from most of you! Now it is time to track a body that is not quite so ripe!"

She held out the tail of a small swimmer. "We have hidden ten of these in the forest, and it is up to each family to find them. The two with the highest totals get to eat five each."

"And what about the losers?" the black youngling asked, glaring at Violet and her siblings.

The female shrugged. "If you fail to find food in the Mysterious Beyond then you go hungry. The losing families will experience the same thing today." She then held up her hand, "Begin!"

Not able to actually smell anything, Violet followed her siblings as they tried to sniff out the swimmer tails.

"Ha! Got one!" the black fastbiter bragged as he let one of his siblings take his catch to the pack mother. It was obvious that he had run out of the woods merely to show off to the less lucky families. "Only nine to go!"

As he turned tail and ran, he left his competitors more than a bit dejected. His sniffer was the best in the pack.

Violet groaned in frustration.

"It's just one, Violet," Dodger said, not even turning around, "There are plenty more to find."

Chirps of happiness came from nearby as another family secured their own swimmer tail. It was obvious that only eight tails remained.

Violet did her best to not react. Already considering herself useless, the last things she wanted to do was turn herself into a distraction.

"Okay, everyone. We're splitting up. Violet's with me." The other three fastbiters quickly split off from Violet and Dodger. With him being the pack leader among the siblings they weren't about to question Dodger's orders. At least not out loud and in front of him.

"You okay, Violet?" Dodger asked once they were alone.

"I'm fine," Violet replied.

Dodger found neither his sister's tone nor her scent convincing, but he decided to let her be, at least until he wasn't pressed for time. He started back on the trail he had been following.

"I think I smell one. Come on," Dodger said before hurrying in the direction of the scent. Violet hurried after him, barely managing to close the gap her startled pause had created.

"Ha! Got it!" a rather familiar black fastbiter exclaimed as he climbed down the tree. It was only when he was halfway down that he noticed Violet but did not yet see Dodger. "Too slow, no-sniffer."

"You never did learn to mind your surroundings," Dodger said mockingly from slightly above and to the other fastbiter's left.

The black fastbiter was obviously startled but was too prideful to back down. "Amazing that I missed your stench. I must be catching whatever your sister has."

Dodger's only answer was to tackle the other fastbiter out of the tree, making a point to slash his claws across the other fastbiter's nose as he did so.

"Ahhh!"

The swimmer's tail tumbled to the ground at Violet's feet as the running feet of the black youngling's siblings could be heard in the distance.

"Grab it and go!" Dodger ordered before returning to the business of making sure that a certain fastbiter would think long and hard before insulting his sister again.

Violet grabbed the swimmer tail and ran. She didn't stop until she reached the adult supervising the practice.

"You got one?" she asked with barely concealed surprise, but that was when she caught the scent of Dodger and anger, "Where?"

Violet just pointed back the way she had come. It was practically a straight line, and a rather painful one. Going through branches rather than around them definitely hadn't been her best idea.

"A good pack member favors her pack over themselves," was all that she said as she realized what Violet had done, and then she sprinted full force into branches in the same way that Violet had done. It did not take long before the sound of raised voices could be heard.

"Stop where you are! Who are the two who started this?"

Violet had done her best to follow but was barely able to keep up. Once she got back to where she started she hid behind a tree and listened.

"I got that tail fairly, and Dodger tried to take it!"

"Then how did Violet get it, Nightshade?"

"Because Dodger gave it to his worthless…"

"Enough, Nightshade! Dodger, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I acted within the rules and did what was best for my pack," Dodger replied.

Violet bit her tongue to keep from laughing. He knows the rules almost as well as Dad, she thought, I'm not certain if he could actually break the rules if he wanted to, anyway...

"In a pack such battles are sometimes to the death. Both of you should think about that before trying to express dominance, or insulting another packmate…" She glanced at Nightshade. "Both of you are injured, so go back to your nests. That is your punishment. Everyone else, continue the game."

Dodger bowed, making a point to show respect to the adult. It hurt a bit, but he'd had worse during sparring practice.

"That includes you, Violet."

"Ma'am?" Violet replied, coming out from her hiding place. Much to her surprise everyone else was gone.

The adult tilted her head. "You chose a difficult path to reach me, and you will have a difficult path in life. Just see to it that when you try to hide next time that you hide downwind." She smiled. "Back to practice. Your family has one tail right now."

Violet smiled back before remembering to bow. Dodger would not be happy if I forgot that, she thought, Now how am I supposed to find my siblings? She turned and left uncertainly, unsure which way to go.

As the adult watched the small youngling struggle to find the right direction to go, she couldn't help but shake her head, "You may not know where to go, Violet, but I am sure you will go wherever you need."

---

"Tap!"

"Wha..?" Violet asked sleepily.

"Tap!"

"Taunt!" Violet snapped irritably, now much more awake.

"And that is exactly why I kept my distance," Taunt replied with some amusement before suddenly becoming more serious, "You wanted to be woken up when the Bright Circle rose."

"Oh. Thanks," Violet replied awkwardly, "Have you seen Haven?"

Taunt nodded as he gestured towards the horizon. "You know the Big Ground Sweets we found over in the bushes?"

Violet nodded.

"Well, we have to have some way to give Leap water, and she is not comfortable moving him so… she is trying to see if we can use those to carry water," Taunt clarified, "The rest of the pack is scouting for food and potential threats."

"Wha... okay. I'm going to..." Violet looked over at Leap, "I'm going to check on Leap."

Taunt watched as she walked over to the still snoring fastbiter. She walked with deliberate purpose for a few strides before noticing his peaceful demeanor and quickly sitting down again, her head slightly bowed as if indicating disappointment. It would do her no good to wake up a resting patient.

But if her odd behavior and hesitation did not tell him what he needed to know, her scent completed the puzzle. There was the acrid scent of guilt and a scent he was more acquainted with from his mate, frustration. It did not take a whole lot of extrapolation to determine that she was feeling guilty and useless because everyone else was busy helping while she had been left behind.

Good going, Taunt. You explained things so badly that Mender is full of doubt again. Now realizing his error, he decided to clarify things.

"They wanted to let you sleep in as you stayed up for first watch," Taunt spoke softly, "And on the journey here you did not get much sleep at all. Besides… I can wake people up if he needs help, but I am not a healer. You are."

"Not a good one, apparently," Violet muttered to herself.

Taunt sighed. Here we go again. "Good enough to help Haven with the mess Leap was in, and good enough to be trusted with him now. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"I just don't want to mess anything up," Violet said, "Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking volunteering to come out here on my own. If Haven hadn't come with us, I wouldn't have remembered what to do."

"Like how to treat water breathing sickness?" Taunt rattled off with a smirk, already knowing the result.

"Well, if that happened then we would need to keep him upright and allow any water to come out. Then…" Violet quickly went from a thoughtful expression to a surprised one once she realized what was happening.

"You remember more than you think," Taunt countered with a victorious strut as if confirming him 'winning' the conversation.

"So, what are you guys talking about?" Tracker asked, having approached from behind Taunt.

Taunt barely resisted the urge to leap upon hearing the voice behind him. Instead he allowed himself to give the intruder an exasperated response.

"I see you are trying to give Mender practice for how to treat a panic attack!"

"Actually, Staza's the expert on that," Violet admitted sheepishly.

"Vi-Mender," Tracker said with a sigh.

Not missing the obvious undertones Taunt decided to steer the conversation, as it was, into a more productive direction. "We were talking about how to heal different things. Mender seems to think she has a weaker memory for healing than she actually does."

"You seemed to remember things rather well when you were showing me how to fix a broken bone," Tracker told Mender, "I couldn't have kept track of all that."

"I guess that's why you aren't called Tracker anymore," Taunt joked with an exaggerate tail-smile before seeing Tracker's glare and quickly getting to the point, "That was the first healing that the rainbowfaces taught us. It is what saved me after Redclaw and Calin…"

Tracker noticeably cringed at the mention of that name.

"...but I could never make heads or tails of it," Taunt added, "I just considered it as one of those things that were crazy rainbowface crap."

"It's not that complicated. It's supposed to keep the bone from moving around," Violet said, "Otherwise the break gets worse, or, if the bone is already completely broken in two, you might get to see what your own bones look like."

Taunt cringed as memories of his own horrific injury came flooding back into his mind. "Remind me to never piss you off if you are my healer, Mender."

"Urgh… I'm not in trouble, am I?"

All three heads suddenly turned at Leap's muffled speech registered in their ears. With his eyes half-open and his tail twitching in a somewhat annoyed expression it did not take much interpretation to tell that their conversation had awakened him.

"Sorry, Leap," Violet said, "How are you feeling?"

Taunt stepped a bit closer so that he could look at his injured comrade. Several distinct scratches remained as a testament to the collision with Purple Tail. Which, in Taunt's mind, answered the age old question of what happened when pure stubbornness collided with pure stupidity. The only other sign of the trauma of the previous day was a curious daze in Leap's eyes, but it had noticeably cleared from the day prior. It was a very hopeful sign.

"Like a threehorn decided to dance on my head," Leap grumbled, "But… I think…"

He allowed himself to sit up. He blinked a few times before finishing his thoughts.

"...things don't seem as hazy as they were before."

"Can you tell how many claws I'm holding up?" Tracker asked, wanting to help.

Taunt watched as Leap tried to focus on Tracker's claws.

"Two."

"He's doing better than you did," Tracker said, slightly relieved.

"It's not my fault the world was still spinning," Violet retorted.

Leap tail-smiled weakly as he looked at Taunt, "So you're Thud, right?"

The response was as instinctive as it was foreseeable. Taunt quickly moved his right leg in an obscene gesture, aiming the sickle claw towards the ground.

Violet groaned in frustration. Tracker just glared at Taunt.

Leap's tail-smile widened. "I can tell you how many he is holding up!"

Taunt could only roll his eyes at the resulting response. Head injury or not, Leap seemed quite capable of getting a rise out of him.

"Well, he out 'Taunt'-ed me. I am not sure if that is a great sign or a worrisome one," Taunt retorted self-deprecatingly.

"I can give you a reason to be worried," Tracker said, still angry.

Taunt met the eyes of the female fastbiter but wisely held his tongue. It had not been the first time that a friendly bit of banter was seen as something else by those unfamiliar with Taunt's unique manner of expression.

"Could I have a no-pain leaf?"

Leap's request seem to evaporate the awkward tension in the air as soon as it had reared its ugly head. It was only when he looked at the injured fastbiter that he caught the slightest hint of a tail flick in his direction, the fastbiter equivalent of a wink. Taunt could only nod; he owed him one.

"I'll be right back," Violet said, moving towards the nearby pile of leaves, "Staza, could you give me a hand?"

"Sure," Tracker said, quickly following Violet.

Taunt tilted his head at this exchange, curiosity beginning to overtake him. He finally decided to stand watch as they worked so as to make himself useful, but he kept an eye on the goings on as the two females worked.

Or rather, as one female directed the other.

"He can eat this one, but I need to put this on the scratches. Can you hold his head for me?"

"Sure."

As if predicting what would happen before it came to pass, Leap quickly grinded the no-pain leaves in his mouth as his face contorted in disgust as the bitter taste. That was when Violet showed Tracker where to place her hands.

"You sure this works?" Tracker asked, having only ever associated fireweed with painful things to avoid.

Taunt took a step back. He knew very well what that plant was. His mother made sure that he never forgot after he had the bright idea of trying some as a child.

"It hurts, but it hurts the infection too. Or at least that is what Haven told me."

Leap blinked, not quite being comfortable with how constrained his head was between the claws of the two females. "What is it?"

"Fireweed," Violet replied, "It'll only hurt a bit."

And with that Violet worked with the efficiency of a fastrunner grabbing snapping shells. Before Leap could protest the offending leaves were embedded in the scratches on Leap's head. With a firm yet circular motion she rubbed the burning sap wherever the skin had been broken by the impact. For his part, after an initial jerk when the procedure began, Leap maintained an almost stoic paralysis during the treatment. A moment that seemed to stretch on for an eternity as Taunt watched, being fully aware of how brutal the sap could be.

Don't let anyone call you weak, Leap. He shook his head with a mixture of amusement and surprise, And if I ever get a cut I need to make sure that Mender never finds out.

And as soon as the procedure had begun it was already over. Violet quickly directed Tracker where to spit in order to rub off the offending sap with a few normal leaves. It did not take them long to remove the worst of it from the injured fastbiter's body.

"You're going to be fine, Leap," Violet said, "That's the last time you have to endure that. Unless you get hurt again, that is."

"That stuff is awful!" Leap exclaimed as he rubbed the afflicted area. It did not take him long to discover the benefit of the treatment, however. "The blood-suckers are gone!"

"That's the whole point, Leap," Violet said with a laugh.

"I was beginning to think the point was to punish me for using my head," Leap deadpanned as he continued to rub his aching head.

Taunt shook his head with amusement at the antics of the others as he turned back towards his vigilant watching. Despite all of the stress over the last two days, it looked like everyone was going to be alright. All they needed now was the agreement of Ducky that the treatment was effective and for Petrie to come back with Littlefoot's new orders and they could be ready to head back home.

"Got more healing leaves for Helpers!"

"Be careful, Swerve!"

Taunt closed his eyes for a moment. He could only hope that Petrie decided to leave this part of the situation out of his report. Though they had helped in getting healing leaves, the clinginess of the little biters tried both his instincts and his patience. There were multiple reasons why tiny biters were seen as food at best, or annoyances at worst, by larger fastbiters. But yet Leap seemed to have managed to earn their undying loyalty. Taunt only wished he had earned the loyalty of dinosaurs who understood the meaning of "We already have enough no-pain leaves to heal the entire Mysterious Beyond".

He chuckled as he saw the distant tiny biter leap above boulders, which were enormous for the little dinosaur, but would have only rose to Taunt's ankles. This idiot is going to get himself killed.

That was exactly when the tiny biter misjudged a leap, and his foot caught the top of the rock, sending him hurtling towards the ground.

Screeeeeeee!

"Is it dead?" Tracker asked, sounding a bit too happy at the prospect.

Taunt trotted out to the site of the injury which only took a few moments as he walked over the rocks that had been boulders to the tiny biters and peeked over the bushes to see the end result of the tiny biter's miscalculation.

The sight was not a pleasant one.

The tiny biter had collapsed in pain as its left forearm hung at an odd angle from its body. For a larger predator such an injury would mean a painful recovery and permanent disability at best, but for a kind with such limited options for prey… this was probably a death sentence. If not soon then later on.

The tiny biter shuddered as it screeched again. Looking around Taunt quickly ascertained that they had an audience as numerous small eyes could be seen in the grass, shining in the mid-morning Bright Circle.

You poor, stupid bastard, Taunt thought simply before another screech from the injured tiny biter made him feel more than a little guilty. It was not hard for him to remember that with a few details changed, such as him having a broken leg and not being a tiny idiot, this was him. He had nearly died painfully, and it was only the kindness of others that saved him.

Taunt sighed. "It has a broken arm. Maybe we can give it a no-pain leaf or something?"

"How bad?" Violet asked, rushing over.

Taunt stepped aside, gesturing at the screeching heap. "It looks pretty bad."

"Oh, this doesn't look good," Violet said, "Hold still, buddy. You'll hurt yourself more."

Taunt opened his mouth to speak but quickly decided better of it. Perhaps Violet was having the same thoughts that he was?

He hesitated. "How big of a pain leaf?"

"Maybe a stem?" Violet guessed.

Taunt quickly nodded before he trotted off to grab one of the infamous leaves. In the process he passed by a rather bemused Tracker. He barely was able to hear her assessment of the situation.

"We're really helping these guys?" Tracker wondered, "I'm surprised there are any tiny biters here at all. Too easy to die out here."

Taunt grimaced. He wanted to agree with his counterpart's assessment, but there was still the image from a time from not so long ago. A time when he was the one tasting dirt as his leg quivered in unresolvable pain. A time when he did not beg for an impossible healing, burt rather for a merciful end. But in the end it was a healer that he received.

And that made all the difference.

"I guess she wants to help," Taunt whispered back as he watched Violet work her magic.

"Help how?" Tracker responded, "My siblings and I used to hunt these guys when we were little. They're not exactly bright."

No shit. This guy tripped over a rock that was a big as he was! Taunt agreed mentally, but there was something that made any of his objections moot. "Leap decided to help them, and they helped Leap. This is a small honor debt to pay."

"How often have you been around tiny biters?" Tracker asked skeptically.

"A tiny bit," he deadpanned before the scene in front of him overtook their banter.

Violet secured the tiny biter's arm with both hands despite a screech of protest from her patient, as she snuggly placed both of her legs on either side of the tiny biter's body. As if on cue the tiny biter appeared to go limp, as if subdued by some mysterious force.

Violet sighed nervously. "I guess Haven is right about that working on younglings… maybe it works on all small things?"

Taunt stepped forward to assist but was swiftly interrupted by Violet's firm command.

"I need a stick the size of his arm, understand?"

The tiny biters stared at her as if mesmerized by an impossible scene. Their lack of movement was only transcended by the vacancy of their eyes.

"Now!" Taunt hissed. It was only then that the little audience scattered, no doubt sprinting to carry out the larger predator's directive.

---

I've seen Mender do a lot of strange things, but this is probably the strangest thing I've seen her do, Tracker thought as she watched her friend try to help the injured tiny biter.

"You really think he'll make it long enough for that arm to heal?" Tracker asked Violet, giving a meaningful look at the limp tiny biter.

"Here, I'm not sure. But I can't do nothing," Violet replied.

"I am sure you will do your best," Taunt's voice came from somewhere behind them before a clicking of sickle claws could be heard, "Um… here is half a stem of the no-pain leaf."

Tracker could only watch in bemusement as he handed a barely visible section of a no-pain leaf to the healer. The size of the dose only brought to the fore the full extent of the absurdity of the entire situation. Her friend was healing food.

"Thanks," Violet said before almost force-feeding it to the tiny biter.

Apparently Mender's little trick worked a bit too well, Tracker thought, Seriously, why are we helping these guys?

"We bring sticks!"

As if to punctuate her question several small bodies appeared once more from the tall grass, each carrying sticks of various sizes. Despite a few instance of tiny biters carrying sticks longer than their bodies, there were several of the requested size.

Violet quickly grabbed one of the sticks without preamble, nearly sending the tiny biter holding it sprawling to the ground. Then, with a quick movement of her claws she removed a bit of the vine that had been clasping some of her healing leaves to her body.

"Okay, tiny guy, what is your name?"

The tiny biter continued to quiver in pain despite being in a subdued position. However, upon hearing the larger biter he appeared to snap out of his trance.

"Sw-swerve."

Violet nodded kindly as she laid out two small strips of vine. "Okay, Swerve, I am going to have to keep your arm straight. Do you promise not to bite or scratch me while I do this?"

If you want him to hold still, I could threaten to bite his head off, Tracker thought, Not very nice, but that's probably all he'd understand.

Tracker could not tell if the tiny biter could see her or not, but she liked to believe that it had something to do with the biter's tiny nod.

"Give him this to bite on, just in case."

Taunt dropped a small stick beside Violet's feet. The suggestion was quickly implemented as Violet placed the stick in the tiny biter's mouth. The small predator bit down instinctually.

I guess Taunt does think about more than messing with everyone, Tracker thought, Not a bad idea, Taunt. Guess I would have had to bite this guy's head off without him having something else to bite.

What followed next fascinated her to no end. In one swift move she placed her body over the tiny biter, forcing away any opportunity to squirm or strike. Then, using both of her hands, she held the arm outstretched as if to replicate its original position. The only thing drowning out a deafening screech was the wood between her patient's teeth.

Yeesh. That's gotta hurt, Tracker thought.

Violet was not done as she held the stick close to the tiny biter's injured flesh. Using one arm to hold the stick and appendage steady, she used the other arm and her teeth in order to secure the stick with a vine. With equal speed and determination she did the same to the other end.

And then she scampered away from the patient. The procedure was done.

You've definitely learned a lot, Mender.

But that was when she noticed what had made Violet so concerned. There had been no recovery from the procedure. In fact, the tiny biter was not moving at all.

Okay, what's wrong with this guy? Tracker wondered, No wonder Mender's worried. I hope he gets up soon. She's never handled failure well.

Violet continued to stare at the prone tiny biter with steadily growing terror. Her expression and demeanor left nothing to the imagination. Nonetheless her scent provided further confirmation. She was petrified. This was more than her profession - this was her name.

Yep, we've got a big problem, Tracker thought, glancing at Taunt. She carefully walked over to her friend, Taunt soon joining her. "You okay, Mender?" she asked.

Violet was silent as she continued to stare at the prone tiny biter. A testament to her failure as a healer and a pack member. A final confirmation of…

"Ack!"

The tiny biter spat out the stick as his eyes opened widely onto the world around him. His arm still quivered in pain, but now it was oddly immobile.

"Swerve okay!"

"He has stick arm now!"

Like a rock dam being broken by a stream's overflowing waters, the other tiny biters quickly mobbed around their comrade. He was still injured, but now there was hope.

That was when the fire returned to Violet's eyes.

"Now you need to make sure that you do not use the arm for anything for an entire Night Circle cycle! Let the bone mend, and in two Night Circle cycles you can use it."

Swerve seemed oddly confused. "Night Circle cycle?"

Violet tail smiled slightly. "You know when the Night Circle is full like it is now?"

"It day now," one of their number responded.

Tracker closed her eyes. Ancestors give me strength.

Violet's tail twitched. "Yes. But tonight it will be full again. Wait for it to go from full Night Circle to small Night Circle to full Night circle again. That's a Night Circle cycle."

Swerve nodded slowly as he continued to grimace in some pain. "Oh. So I not use arm for while."

Violet nodded. "That's right. But it should get better with time." She looked at the others. "I am trusting all of you to keep an eye on him. Make sure that he follows those rules."

A chorus of affirmative chirps greet her ears as the tiny biters then received their injured comrade once more. Each being careful to not touch his 'stick arm', as they called it.

"You think they'll remember that tomorrow?" Tracker wondered aloud.

Taunt allowed himself a smirk. "We'll know if Mender has to get another stick tomorrow. It's a shame Mender can't fix minds."

Perhaps it was the fact that her barriers were down after seeing her work nearly fail in front of her eyes, but she responded in kind, "I'm sure if that worked then Haven would have tried it on you already."

Tracker noticed Violet's face shift from mirthful to afraid as she realized exactly what she had said.

"Ha! Well played," Taunt responded as if not detecting Violet's uncertainty.

Stop giving me reasons to give you credit, Taunt, Tracker thought, glad to see Violet's fears were unfounded, It makes it harder for me to glare at you when you're being a negative influence.

Violet finally seemed to relax for a second time as her tail sagged as if fatigued. It had been only an hour since she had awakened, but she had lived more than a day's worth of stress. And if Tracker knew anything, it was how Violet dealt with stress.

"Wish I'd known how to do that," Tracker said as she sat down by her friend.

Violet sat down as well, as if her friend had given her permission through her presence.

"You alright, Mender?" Tracker asked, noticing how tired her friend already looked.

Violet was silent for a few moments before her voice finally came out in a hushed tone that Tracker could barely hear. "I thought that I screwed up again. If I screwed this up, then I wouldn't even be worth my name."

"That's crap, and you know it," Tracker snapped reflexively.

Violet jerked reflexively as if she had been struck. "I mean… Haven should be the one here, not me. If it had only been me helping out Leap…" She allowed the sentence to fade before she expressed what was really on her mind. "If I screw up, someone dies."

"Sometimes, there's nothing that can be done to change things, Mender. You can do everything exactly right, and sometimes things still won't work out the way you want them to. I should know," Tracker said, "I lost a half-sibling to freezing to death once, and it wasn't because our parents weren't trying. There really wasn't anything to find. All you can do is your best, and, if you've done that, there's nothing to blame yourself over."

Violet nodded reluctantly as the truth of Tracker's words registered in her mind. "I've never been given responsibility like this before, Tr.. Staza. If I had when we were packmates, then…"

"Then you would have learned what you needed to do and tried your hardest to get it right," Tracker finished for her, cutting off what she knew her friend was going to say, "You don't have to do any of this alone. I might not know what to do, but I can listen. If you need some help or you just want to talk, I'm right here."

Violet took a deep breath. "And there are our packs. We came over here to help all of you, and we know you would do the same for us. I just don't want to let anyone down."

"You're not going to, little sister; you never have," Tracker replied, smiling encouragingly.

Violet replicated the smile as she basked in the companionship of her friend. She had missed this since Tracker's departure from the pack. Though she was technically part of a new pack family now, Tracker would always be in her thoughts.

"How's the tiny biter?"

Violet closed her eyes as the sound of Leap's voice registered in her ears. It was in that moment that both of the mutually-proclaimed sisters realized that a certain fastbiter had strayed from their thoughts and attention.

Tracker received an apologetic look before Violet spun around with such intensity that it made Leap stop in his tracks.

"I told you it was a bad idea, Leap!" Taunt's voice warned from a distance.

"You have a head injury, and Haven said no moving around!" Violet rebuked promptly as Leap looked at her with a stunned expression.

"Well, I feel good enough to walk," Leap affirmed as he gestured at where he came from, "I didn't run or anything."

Violet nodded. "And you aren't going to run or anything back over there. You are going to walk. Otherwise Haven will be at both of our throats."

Well, that's different, Tracker thought, slightly surprised at Violet's change in demeanor, Looks like she's perfectly confident when she's acting as a healer. When she's not... she's the same Mender I've always known.

"Swerve has stick arm now from Great Mender!"

"Can he use stick arm?"

"No, but she say it make his arm better if he keep stick arm."

Tracker shook her head as she turned towards the tiny biters in the distance. If it wasn't for the fact that it would upset her friends she would have gladly snapped a few with her jaws. The fact that they had survived this long without outside help was astonishing to her.

Well, you gave my sister her confidence… perhaps you earned me skipping my snack.

As she departed to join the others she did not hear the conclusion of the conversation behind her.

"If Mender fix a bad arm, then maybe she fix other things. Pack needs to move."

"We talk to Flinter. He's the thinker; he will know what to do."

---

Brilliant yellow eyes gleamed in the mid-morning sun like beacons of light against the gloomy rocks around the stream. Against their merciless focus the water appeared to surrender like an outmatched opponent, its ripples and waves dissipating to reveal the hidden treasures within its shallow depths. That was when the predator saw what he was looking for.

The sickle claw moved before any other part of his body could react. As soon as the grey rocks were splattered with the entrails of his prey he knew that he had again met success.

"Five fish now… tsk tsk tsk, you are getting slow, son."

For a brief moment he felt satisfied. As if a great wrong in the universe had been resolved, and order and tranquility could again reign.

He realized the error of his judgment as soon as the fish collided with his head.

"That's three, Dad! Not bad for someone who only started after the rest of you."

Thud looked over at Dodger with a jocular tail-smile. "Maybe we should have kept Haven and Swift here. They were better conversation."

"Better at catching fish, too," Dodger said, "Well, at least better than your son." He gave Taunt's fish a dismissive glance.

"I know who I'm aiming the next fish for!" came Taunt's playful response as Tracker and Violet both shifted as if to make a clear path between the two dinosaurs. Tracker wore a smirk on her features, whereas Violet seemed more focused on protecting her face from a fishy assault.

Oh, son, I wonder if you know they are making a path so that Dodger can more easily reach you. I guess old loyalties die hard. Despite the amusement of the situation, he could not overlook the severity of his pack's condition. One of their number was injured, and now they were forced to gather fish in shifts. While Swift, Ducky, and Leap ate it was the duty of the rest to ensure their own meals. Thud would stay behind in both shifts, however. A good pack leader never rested while any of his pack was hungry.

"Well," Thud interjected with a bit of a chuckle, "As we await that nonsense, how does Leap look this morning?"

"He'd be doing better if he'd stop getting up," Violet replied before grumbling to herself, "How many times do I have to tell him to rest and not hurt himself again?"

Thud examined the dinosaurs at his side carefully for a moment. Violet's demeanor indicated such truthfulness that not even a sniff was necessary to confirm its accuracy, while Tracker continued to focus on the prey beneath the depths. Taunt, on the other hand, looked more than a little surprised by his packmate's admission.

I don't think Violet is in the habit of hiding things from superiors, Taunt.

"So he is jumping at the hunt, is he?" Thud inquired with barely constrained amusement.

As he awaited an answer Thud watched Dodger's movements as he examined the stream carefully. Always focused on the task right in front of him but missing the periphery.

"Got another one," Tracker called out. Dodger slumped a bit in defeat.

Interesting… it looks like Staza is our pack fisher.

"So there are no complications that you can see?" Thud interrupted his own thoughts as he focused on Violet. This conversation had already happened once between all of them, but now that Swift was not with them, and thus did not have to be protected from bad news, he expected a full report.

"Other than being stuck out here for a little bit, I can't think of anything to worry about unless he hurts himself again. Haven would probably know better, though," Violet said, sounding less than confident.

Thud nodded with satisfaction. "I just wanted to make sure that there was nothing that perhaps you didn't want to share in front of everyone. Like Leap getting up and moving around, for example. Don't worry, I think we'll keep that a secret from Haven."

The resulting smirk that was sent Violet's way rivaled that of his son in a playful mood. He wanted to show her that this was not an interrogation.

Thud watched as Violet ever so slightly looked away at the pack leader's promise to keep Leap's misbehavior from Ducky. He had no idea how to take this response.

He coughed. "But besides making sure Leap is doing better… there was another reason I called all of you to take a turn at fishing."

Violet now looked a bit concerned. Noticing this, Dodger gave Thud an irritated look.

Yeah, I get it, Verant. Don't drag this out.

"I have already told this to Haven, but I wanted to thank both of you for coming out and helping us during this time." Thud stepped forward and walked towards his son and Violet. "You could have waited for others to volunteer, but you made the risky journey out here in order to help family and pack. For that you have my sincere thanks."

He bowed slightly in an appreciative gesture, which he held for several seconds. It was only when he finished that he allowed himself to look up again.

Violet was more than a bit surprised at this, practically freezing. She had no idea how she was supposed to respond.

Taunt gave his counterpart a slight nudge as he proceeded to bow slightly. Violet followed his lead.

Thud smiled at the display. It was the meaning that mattered, not the preciseness of ceremony.

"You really did a good job, Mender," Dodger said, tail-smiling.

Violet couldn't help but respond with the same gesture, her demeanor much more confident than it had been responding to Thud.

Thud gave his son a knowing look as the two siblings shared their moment. He very well could have said more to his son, but in this case no words were necessary. The appreciation was clearly there both as an allied pack member and as family. And, for once, he would agree to Taunt's unspoken request to avoid the mushy stuff.

Violet suddenly looked towards a point in the distance, listening intently. A few moments later, she relaxed a bit. "And they're back..."

Deep concern appeared on the elder fastbiter's features, for a moment thinking that Purple Tail might have returned to seek revenge. But that was when the soft chatter of the tiny biters became audible to him. Oh. Just those things.

Thud looked over at Dodger with a smirk on his features. "So, Verant, how are your followers doing? You and Leap aren't planning on leading a coup against me, are you? I don't know if I can kick that many tiny biters before my legs get tired," he added with a laugh.

"My followers? I don't want to have anything to do with those walking lunches," Dodger replied.

Thud raised a claw to his ear for emphasis. "Well, it sounds like they want something to do with you and Leap. First, they grabbed no-pain leaves and now…"

That was when he saw it: several tiny biters darting through the grass, including one with something looking like a spear attached to its arm.

"You come back, Swerve!"

Thud closed his eyes in exasperation. "Please tell me no one taught the things how to make pointed sticks."

"No one did," Violet reassured Thud, "One of them broke his arm, so I fixed it."

"Why am I surprised?" Dodger wondered aloud, shaking his head.

Thud rubbed his eyes. I don't blame you for your kindness, Mender, but I am sure the others could have fixed this in a more delicious manner. "So it is trying to break it again?" he finally said with more than a little amusement in his voice.

"Staza, could you get them to stop?" Violet asked.

"With or without eating any of them?" Tracker asked, not entirely joking.

This seemed to have finally have an effect on the advancing tiny biters as they nearly stumbled over their own feet in the attempt to stop their forward momentum. Only Swerve continued to run forward in something akin to a panic.

"Going somewhere?" Tracker asked, cutting the tiny biter off.

Swerve nearly collided with the, from his perspective, massive giant that now stood in front of him. Despite this otherwise terrifying situation, the little biter hid behind Tracker's massive claws.

"They want to take Swerve's bone stick!"

Thud took a deep breath as he willed himself forward, ignoring the voice in his head that told him this was too stupid to warrant his time. Ancestors give me strength.

"Which of you idiots is trying to mess up his arm again?" Violet shouted as she rushed over to the tiny biters.

One of the tiny biters unwisely tried to get away only to collide with Violet's leg. The other two simply cowered in fear.

"Please no kill them, Mendsy!" came a panicked voice as another tiny biter began to rush through the grass, "They want look at stick, not take stick!"

"And why would you want to do that?" Violet asked, barely keeping her temper in check at the tiny biters messing up her name yet again.

The tiny biter ran beside his two cowering comrades. "You not explain to Swerve?"

One of them shivered as it spoke in broken words, "We tell Swerve we need to see stick."

The other nodded. "He say 'no' so we tried to grab it!"

What followed next was something that would be stuck in Thud's mind for as long as he lived. In one swift movement the new tiny biter smacked the second speaker with such force that it knocked him over.

"That stupid! No do that again!"

Thud shook his head as he allowed Violet to handle this mess. Now I have seen everything.

---

Flinter ignored the stinging in his hand as his counterpart now cowered on the ground instead of getting up. It not hard to say all the words: 'Swerve, may we look at stick?' Now Mendsy mad at us!

He looked up at the massive biter who had accomplished the impossible hours before. She had given one with a broken bone hope.

"Sorry, Mendsy. They not do what Flinter tell them."

"What did you tell them?" Violet asked pointedly.

Flinter gulped. It did not sound like Mendsy was happy. "Flinter tell them to tell Swerve that we want to look at stick. I not there when you make stick arm."

"Is there a reason you want to see it?" Violet asked, her voice slightly uncertain.

Flinter nodded with excitement. "If pack Thinker know how to fix arms then fewer of us can die."

"Oh, this should be good…" the gigantic orange fastbiter mocked from some distance away.

"Why didn't you just ask me?" Violet asked Flinter, "No one should be messing with Swerve's arm while its healing."

Flinter looked around nervously. "I try to ask Helper Leap, but Green Mean One tell us to go away or get eaten."

"You shouldn't be anywhere near Leap," Violet growled, "If you're not helping, you shouldn't be bothering him. You're lucky you didn't get eaten."

Flinter bowed down as if a heavy weight was upon him. "We sorry. Green Me… Green One is helping Helper Leap?"

"Of course she is. She's a healer. Are you really that dumb?" Violet snapped, her patience having run out.

Flinter cowered fully as he laid down in front of the massive biter. "This Flinter's fault. Please let others go."

"No, Flinter! It mistake!" Swerve's voice protested from the other massive biter, but Flinter shook his head.

"Are your packmates smart enough to actually go anywhere without you?" Violet asked, her tone noticeably lighter.

Flinter allowed himself to rise, but he kept his head bowed. "Flinter is pack Thinker. Swerve might be Thinker when Flinter die."

Violet groaned in frustration. "Just keep your pack from doing stupid stuff," she finally said.

Flinter watched as the healer began to walk off. Despite his racing heart and the taste of adrenaline in his mouth, he knew that he had to ask the question that was on his mind.

"Let's go, Flinter! Mendsy spare us."

Flinter ignored Swerve as he rose to his full height, for what it was.

"You help Swerve, and you help Helper Leap. Great Mendsy, can you help pack?"

"Help you with what?" Violet asked as she turned back around, confused, "Did another of you get hurt?"

Flinter examined his own body just to make sure that Mender did not notice an injury that he did not. "No, but pack hurt. Pack not do good in this place. Too many bellydraggers. Not enough ground fuzzies."

He stepped forward, ignoring Swerve's cautionary grunt.

"Pack go here because old Thinker tell us to go here, but he dead. Breathing sickness get him and most of rest of pack. Now only we left. This place have little food but also little breathing sickness." He took in a deep breath. "Can you find us good place?"

"You'd have to ask someone with authority about finding a new place to live," Violet replied, "I'm just a healer, not a leader." She noticed Flinter's disappointed look. "However, I can do something about the breathing sickness problem."

This made Flinter's head bolt upward with curiosity. He almost couldn't dare to hope that she was serious. Every tiny biter knew that if they got the breathing sickness then that was it.

"What was that plant called again?" Violet wondered aloud, "Whatever it's called, it's a red rot-plant. The pack needs to eat that for awhile. I'll have to ask Haven for the details, but it will cure everyone as long as you do that."

Flinter's legs began to shake at this news. Could it be true? "So… we go back to where food is without dying?"

Another voice squawked beside him. It was Red, the idiot who had threatened Swerve's stick. "We can become family pack!"

"A what?" Violet asked in confusion.

Though he paid them little heed in light of the miraculous information they had just been told by the great healer, Dodger and Thud both moved closer to the orange fastbiter as if to converse in private about the scene in front of them.

"We only mate when pack find place to be," Flinter explained. This must be young big biter. She not even know about mating! "And then pack make nest for all pack mothers. We have no place to be, so we not mate yet."

"Ew." Violet didn't bother to hide her disgust at how the tiny biters handled nesting.

"Considering how dumb your friend over there is, you might want to leave him out," Tracker said, gesturing at Red.

"Um, girls… you know what they say about arguing with fools. They will beat you from experience."

Flinter looked up at the massive orange fastbiter that suddenly came into view. He didn't quite know what a 'fool' was, but with the biter's tail-smile it must have been some kind of compliment.

"I wasn't planning on arguing," Tracker said, glaring at the red tiny biter hungrily.

Flinter hesitantly looked at Violet, hoping that she would call off her fellow big biter. However, if this was the cost of the cure for the terrible sickness… then Red would be a necessary sacrifice. If Flinter was ready to sacrifice himself for the pack, then he was willing to sacrifice others for the same.

Red, meanwhile, did his best to hide behind Swerve's small body.

"Don't worry, Mender," Tracker said, "I'm not going to eat them. Yet."

"And they'll probably scatter and bother Leap and Swerve if you don't eat him," Violet said, "How about this. You don't eat any of them while we're all stuck here, and they don't bother Leap. If any of them do..." Tracker nodded in agreement.

Flinter nodded readily as Swerve smacked Red until he did so as well. "We understand, Mendsy! We not bother Helpers!"

"It's Mender," Violet nearly snapped before forcing herself to calm down, "And no messing with Swerve's arm."

Flinter nodded readily as he tried to repeat the name, "Understood, Mender! Come on, biters; let's tell pack that sickness fixed!"

It only took the tiny biters a few moments for the little balls of feathers and teeth to evacuate from the sight of the larger biters. So they never heard Taunt's parting words.

"You are so going to be remembered as Mendsy!"

---

Gleaming yellow orbs shined through the tall grass as the enveloping cloak of night covered the surroundings in its clouded hues. Beside the rhythmic sounds of snoring behind the vigilant watcher, the only sound greeting his ears was the gentle rustling of the grass around them. It finally seemed that the turmoil of the previous days would give way to a return to normal pack life.

"No touching the Rot Plant! Mendsy said so!"

And I would kill you for breaking that rule just to get some quiet around here, Dodger thought, regretting his choice to keep an eye on the tiny biters, And get my sister's name right, you idiots.

As if to punctuate the order from the tiny biter, two of his counterparts rushed forward as if to protect the small mushroom. It was miniscule in size but easily dwarfed the tiny biters. The scene of several tiny biters making patrols around the small object would have been hilarious if it wasn't for the fact that to these small predators this mushroom was their potential salvation.

That was when Flinter walked into view of the other tiny biters, rubbing his head tiredly.

"What going on? Green One say she eat loud ones, so why are you loud?"

So that's how there are still tiny biters, Dodger thought, amused, There's always at least one slightly less dumb than the rest.

"Buzzer say she have cough."

"Cough.. I do."

"You just eat too much, too quick."

"You lie!"

Dodger was about to leap over to the tiny biters in order to save Tracker the trouble, but that was when something happened that made him pause with surprise.

Flinter silenced the other biters with a single raise of his tiny clawed hand.

"The Great Mendsy give us this gift, and you reward her with being stupid? We use Rot Plant like Mendsy say, only when Coughing Sickness come, not just cough."

The tiny biter who had coughed promptly bowed her head in shame at the leader's rebuke. With a simple nod she turned and returned to the large pile of tiny biter bodies who were already submerged in the river of dreams.

That was relatively decently handled, especially since these guys seem to act like kids at the best of times, Dodger thought, glad to see that he would have to intervene in every problem the tiny biters caused.

As if to punctuate his thought, Flinter turned towards the small 'guards' and gestured at his beak. "Keep it down. Mendsy and helpers nice, but not others."

Mender's not going to be too happy either if you keep getting her name wrong. Dodger couldn't figure out how the tiny biters were having so much trouble getting his sister's name right.

The guards nodded as they resumed their vigil. For a moment it looked like Flinter, with the latest crisis averted, would return to the massive expanse of bodies in peaceful slumber.

But that was when his shimmering yellow eyes came across another pair of orbs through the tall tuft of grass.

Took you long enough, Dodger thought before standing up to reveal himself, If I were hunting you, you'd be dead by now.

The tiny biter lowered himself to the ground, which was itself not much of a movement from the larger predator's perspective. It took Dodger a few moments to realize that Flinter was not trying to hide in a pathetic manner but rather was showing respect to a larger carnivore. The moment of pleased surprise at the tiny biter's use of etiquette was short-lived, however, as Flinter quickly ran in Dodger's direction.

"You want to see Flinter? Green One not mad, is she?"

"If she were, you'd be hearing crunching bones, possibly your own," Dodger replied bluntly, knowing how badly his mate wanted to eat one of the tiny biters, "Did you need something?"

Flinter cringed at the mention of crunching bones. "Please no mention bones! Green One already tell us too much about those in her story."

What is he talking about? Dodger wondered, Did Staza tell them one of her stories?

The tiny biter seemed to regain control over himself rather quickly. "Flinter just make sure that big biters not angry. Mends-" he struggled a bit when he saw the bigger biter glare, "Mendser help us too much to make her mad! We may become family pack now."

"You could have done that if you'd left this place a long time ago," Dodger reminded Flinter. Or are you too stupid to figure that out? There's nothing to eat here that doesn't result in a high chance of being eaten yourself.

Flinter shook his head as he looked back over his pack, a small assemblage of bodies resting around a small bush.

"We get the breathing sickness… and then bigger pack take our territory. This only place to go, and too little food for tiny biters to go across Barren Place."

"It's called the Barrens," Dodger said, "And I have to ask, having never had a territory before and thus seen quite a few places, is this: why would you be so stupid as to enter an area you have no hope of crossing? The world is a pretty big place. You could have gone somewhere else. Anywhere else."

Flinter sighed and sat down with a dejected expression plastered on his features. The scent of regret and shame radiated from the little biter.

"Flinter know that you think tiny biters stupid. We know you mad at tiny biters sometimes. But we do best we can." He turned towards Dodger's face, struggling to arch his neck at a sufficient angle before Dodger finally leaned down to make the task easier for him. "You never have territory before? So you run away from bad packs too?"

"Its kinda hard to have a territory when you're a kid, and there's only four of you," Dodger replied in explanation, "The important thing was that we didn't do anything as dumb as stay somewhere with no food. We always kept looking for some place better. Some place we could actually stay."

"There some food here," Flinter noted, "Enough for tiny biters. But there not enough to be happy, and it dangerous. But to go through Barrens might kill rest of us. We barely get through Big Grass Place. Old Thinker die there."

Flinter rubbed his beak. "Flinter grow up with pack. Flinter help pack. Flinter not want to hurt pack. But Flinter not know what to do for pack."

The next look that Flinter gave the fastbiter was almost mournful. "Do you understand Flinter?"

"I understand not knowing what to do," Dodger replied, knowing all too well the doubts that came from being responsible for others, "When a situation is bad, though..." He gestured at the area around them. "The worst thing you can do is nothing. If you make a good decision, things improve. If you make a bad decision, you learn from it so you can make better decisions."

Flinter was silent for a few moments as he processed the bigger biter's words.

"So Old Thinker leading us here was mistake… and me keeping pack here was mistake. But me leading pack through Barrens might be mistake. What does Flinter decide that is not mistake?" Flinter shrugged. "All paths lead to dead pack even with Rot Plant. Even bad place better than dead place."

"Why not just go back the way you came?" Dodger asked, "You could follow the river in either direction so you don't get lost. Your pack is going to die here. If you leave, there's a chance it might survive. Staying put is not an option."

"And we try to fight other tiny biters for territory?" Flinter questioned, "Even with us few?"

"Why fight? Keep the pack moving until you find a place that is unclaimed or a pack that doesn't mind a neighbor." That's what I was doing before I ran into Seeker's pack. Dodger suppressed a growl of frustration.

Flinter nodded grimly as the scent from his small body shifted from anxiety to something approaching relief. Never mind how much he tried he could not understand the little biters' mindset, but he could understand the common struggle. The common struggle to survive in a world that seemed willing to kill you if you gave it a moment's chance. That didn't mean he didn't find Flinter very strange, though.

Dodger couldn't help but smirk as he watched Flinter. Apparently he's finally gotten an idea. Flinter's expression slowly shifted from calm to excited, his tail shifting into what Dodger supposed was tail-smile. I almost want to know what he's thinking. I've finally lost my mind, haven't I?

"If breathing sickness hurt us then it must hurt other packs… and dead packs have no territory..." Flinter noted as he rubbed his head, "Maybe that make opening for our pack!"

"Finally," Dodger sighed, "Things change all the time, Flinter. Packs move around. You might find an area that can't support a larger pack but could easily support you." I'd offer to make such a place, but I'm not in charge anymore. Staza would be thrilled to be hunting tiny biters again, though. Maybe I really should ask Thud about it.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sensation of something grabbing one of his claws.

"Thank you, Verant! Flinter tell others plan. Maybe we join bigger pack if they let us. We do have Mends-er's secret now."

As if to emphasize this point he gestured in the distance at the tiny mushroom as if it were the solution to all of the pack's problems. Just how many of them died from that sickness, after all?

But, as soon as the moment had come, it had gone. Flinter sprinted back towards his packmates and promptly settled in next to the snoring pile of bodies. Within moments he joined them in the peaceful realm of sleep stories.

Wish I could do that, Dodger thought, I can sleep anywhere, but I've only ever seen Mender fall asleep that fast.

That was when the sound of someone clearing his throat greeted his ears. Based upon its cadence and the familiar scent that followed, he quickly identified the culprit.

"None of them hurt themselves, did they?"

"Surprisingly, no," Dodger said, turning towards his sister, "What are you doing up? My watch isn't over yet."

Mender yawned as if to punctuate her brother's point. "Well, I heard some talking, and Flinter seemed excited so I figured that was not a good sign."

She looked out at the sleeping pile of bodies suspiciously, as if it were a ruse for some diabolical plot to make her life more complicated.

"He just realized that the sickness that his pack is so scared of doesn't just affect his pack," Dodger replied, "I don't think it should cause a problem. I hope."

Violet nodded and gave a relieved sigh as she sat down beside her brother. Though Dodger was no thought reader he did have a sniffer and a well-honed ability to read those whom he cared about. And Violet was in many ways the easiest to read. As such he preempted the obvious statement that his sister was currently too nervous to say.

"I missed you too."

Violet jerked slightly at having her thoughts be read so easily, though she quickly relaxed. She would have expected no less from her brother. Being careful to make sure no one else was looking, lest she embarrass her brother, she gave him a friendly nuzzle.

"You had me worried sick. Leap too… but mainly you."

"I've seen you literally worried sick. You looked fine to me," Dodger replied, "What were you worried about, exactly?"

Violet's beak quivered for a moment. "I… I was sure you were fine. But… there was always a chance…" She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "The pack feared that you two were dead. Purple Tail almost made that a reality."

"And that's any different from that spiketail that almost got the both of us?" Violet rubbed her head at the memory. "Got you, actually. Or the time we ran into Calin's pack? Or that two-footer that wouldn't leave us alone? Or..?"

"This was different! Neither of you were there." Violet practically hissed, "What if it had been you instead of Leap? What if Haven couldn't have fixed the injury? We all know there wouldn't be much that I could do…"

"If you couldn't do anything about it, you'd move on. You'd learn more and continue to do your best," Dodger said, deliberately ignoring the disrespect his sister was showing him. I guess it really hit her hard. "Did you do the best you could for Leap?"

Violet nodded. "I did it as Haven showed me."

"If you did your best, nothing more can be asked of you. If you have done absolutely everything in your ability to succeed, whether fighting to defend your pack or fixing the results of that fight, you have nothing to be ashamed of if things don't go the way you hope." Dodger paused for a moment. "Do you consider me a failure?"

Violet's expression appeared to go blank at that suggestion as her eyes flickered in confusion. "What?"

"Am I a failure?" Dodger repeated, "Nothing I've tried to do for you has turned out the way I hoped. I failed to keep you with the rest of our siblings. I failed to realize I needed to teach you not to bully those smaller than you before that incident with Staza. I failed to teach you how to hunt, at least not the way I wanted to. Staza was the one that taught you how to fish. I failed to instill enough self-control in you so you wouldn't imitate me when we first met Seeker's pack. I ask again; do you consider me a failure?"

Violet almost appeared catatonic at this point, with every part of her body going rigid and her scent descending into confusion. In such a state she could only speak the truth. Despite the obvious internal struggle, the voice that came from the fastbiter was surprisingly calm.

"You're not a failure. You're the only reason I am still alive."

"And why is that?" Dodger asked, "Why do you think I'm not a failure?"

Violet did not break her gaze on her brother's face. "You… things got bad. A lot. But you were always there. You never gave up on me even when you could have."

"That's my point. Even when I had no clue what I was doing, I did the best I could to teach you what I could. Was it good enough? I don't think so. Our parents could have done much better, except maybe for the fishing. But I know I threw everything I had into teaching you what you needed to know, so I can live with that. There's no shame in failing except failing to try."

Dodger watched his sister carefully as the words began to register in her mind. Gone was the confusion that resided there before. In its place was a slowly growing cascade of acceptance. Unlike Flinter's struggle to understand, Dodger could tell this was different. His sister was not stupid; she was just unwilling to accept certain truths. But she was an adult now with a pack name. It was time for her to accept the hardest truth of them all.

The resulting nuzzle was not unexpected, but it was sudden.

"I thought I had failed with Swerve… after I put on the stick for his arm he didn't move," she sighed, "Tr-Staza and I talked about it. She said something similar. I guess I have to be told some things twice."

Violet broke from the embrace as she allowed herself a light chuckle. "Must be the head injuries."

"Nope. I've always had to tell you stuff more than once." Dodger allowed himself a smile.

"Must be why Ponder's lessons work. She always tells you the same thing twice," Violet joked before she examined the tiny biters in front of them once more.

Don't ever give up on yourself, sis, Dodger thought, You've got so much to be proud of. I hope you know that.

Looking over at his sister, Dodger noticed his sister going from wide-eyed surprise to exasperation. He quickly turned to see what she was looking at. You've got to be joking.

"Why does Red have sticks tied to his arms?" Violet asked the silence of the night as if it would provide an answer. "Did someone decide to practice on him?"

Her silent whispers were greeted by the not-so-distant snores of the tiny biters.

"That, or he broke both his arms. Want to ask him?" Despite his own question, Dodger wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Violet could only shake her head at the scene in front of her. Despite the two sticks crudely secured to his arms with what looked like blades of grass, Red appeared to be sleeping without a care in the world. It was a distinct dichotomy from her expression of unworthiness and fear from a few moments earlier.

"Well, I will deal with it in the morning… but I think it is time for second watch." Dodger was bemused by the slight nudge he then received. "And since you all are continuing the journey tomorrow I think you need your sleep."

"I'm not going to argue with you," Dodger said, "The tiny biters are exhausting."

This earned him a surprisingly jocular tail-smile from his sister, "You should try dealing with Taunt on the way here… but maddening as they are the tiny biters did help. Just make sure that they don't follow you."

"I don't mind if they follow me. Staza will be happy to make them leave," Dodger replied, hiding his surprise at his sister actually making a joke, "With a few packmates less than they started with, that is."

His sister snorted. "Good night, Brother."

"Goodnight, sis."

As the siblings parted and Violet began her role as part of the second watch, she did not notice the gaze of a certain tiny biter in the distance. Having struggled to sleep with his stick arm, serving as both a blessing and a curse, he couldn't help but have noticed the distant words emanating from Violet and her brother. As he looked upon Violet in the distance he had no doubt that this dinosaur had saved his life and, with the Rot Plant, possibly the lives of his entire pack.

Thank you, Great Mendsy. Pack will need to make song to you.

Neither the big biter or the tiny biter could forsee what that song would eventually bring.

---

Three months later:

Euphoria.

In itself it was just a word, but the sensation it attempted to contain was something that defied verbal utterance. It was wind brushing against an open wing. It was the glorious scent of fresh air against one's nostrils. It was the ability to go anywhere with the gift of the flyers. Or, as Nunti was experiencing, it was the aftermath of finally succeeding during the Time of Mating.

Several tiny biters scattered as his talons grazed the ground in yet another celebratory feat of acrobatics. The resulting victorious screech was enough to make every dinosaur present in the field turn their heads in mild annoyance.

Nunti took to the air again as he allowed his momentum to finally subside against the welcoming embrace of the wind. As he turned into its transparent currents he finally looked upon the ground for a suitable landing site. As, despite his happiness in doing what nature demanded, his wings were now making demands on their own. Namely that he give them rest.

It wasn't until he practically collapsed against the ground that he realized how demanding his wings could be. It was also the first time he truly noticed the lingering pain in his back. I guess that fight did more damage than I thought.

Nunti allowed himself to stretch out against the ground as a resounding pop registered in his ears. The resulting relief was a confirmation of both his hunch and his momentary idiocy. The hunch that he had taken a hit to the back, and the idiocy of doing celebratory acrobatics after a day of fights and more enjoyable activities.

Fiona would call me an idiot. Nunti stretched his neck until it too popped. Well, more so than she already did.

"Alto, quit running! Flyer might eat you!"

"Flyer not flying!"

"Don't be idiot! Flyer can get up!"

The flyer's eyes flickered at the sudden interruption to his thoughts. As his eyes focused on the miniscule raptor in the distance it stopped suddenly, its confusion turning into abject fear. All around him in the tall grass dwelled adult tiny biters, carefully gazing out at the sudden intruder.

That when when the child made a run for something unseen by the flyer, before disappearing into one of the numerous burrows. Several other children did the same, leaving only the adults to continue glaring at him. No doubt they were near their evacuation tunnels as well.

Nunti couldn't help but chuckle at the display. "Well, I guess it is time for tiny biters to mate too."

Turning his attention away from what he could only imagine made up a significant portion of the diet of Pterano's nephew. They were like land fish, if that were a thing. But, he reminded himself, it took as sorts. If the great Circle of Life had kept them alive then obviously they deserved to be under the Bright Circle's welcoming light.

Looks like I will need to rest for the night before heading back. If it stings tonight then it will be worse in the morning. Sigh… I can see why Pterano warned me about biting off more than I could digest. But she was so...

"Gather, little ones! Swerve tell song!"

To say that this made the flyer pause would have been quite the understatement. Though he had never succumbed to the arrogance that often comes with the gift of flight, he did have the typical demeanor of a flyer. The focus on the wind and the open air, with the consideration of the ground-dwellers being limited to that of the companionship that comes from mutual co-existence. Though he talked with valley residents and generally knew their concerns, he had to admit that he knew little of the various creatures that roamed the ground, or worse yet, in the ground. To him their burrows were like a prison born of the ground itself, a reminder of where his bones would one day lay. And the sky was a reminder of the gift of life that he could still enjoy.

But as he was not going anywhere, perhaps he could listen in to the tale of these mysterious and strange creatures. It wasn't like he was going much of anywhere at the moment.

With more than a little curiosity, he placed his ear to the ground.

And promptly regretted his curiosity. The resulting cacophony of tones and words that assaulted his brain was something that took several moments to process. Much like the babble that a young flyer would speak before making proper sentences, the narrative conveyed made some sense but was obviously created by a lesser mind. Though he was always one to convey a good story he could only assume that this one would be used as a joke or a curiosity, but there was nothing here that was…

And Swerve's arm hurt and hurt,

I fell on the dirt,

But Mends-er come to save me,

Give me stick arm,

Now arm free!

Nunti's eyes went wide. There were only two beings he knew of that had ever fixed a broken bone, and neither of them were named Mends-er. Did those two do some of their 'research' under different names? Something was not quite right here… Soon another voice cut in.

And now rot plant arrive,

Keep all tiny biters alive,

Mendser protect us from breathing sickness,

As we all be witness

"Healing plants… another dinosaur has healing plants." Nunti let the reality of those words register in his mind. He could only hope that this was the handiwork of the valley's allies as he had no idea what a threat could do with such knowledge. And he was certain that Mendsy couldn't have been one of these tiny things. Was she a kind-hearted leaf-eater? A sharptooth? A flyer? He had to have more information.

A healer in the Mysterious Beyond could save so many younglings. And the rainbowfaces were only two dinosaurs, and the valley's swimmers only so able to apply their knowledge. And with the number of ill dinosaurs who know went into the valley for refuge…

Perhaps it was time for him to take the initiative. With his aching back he wasn't going back to the valley anytime soon anyway.

Time to take a lesson from Petrie I do believe.

One of the tiny biter guards near the burrows had no time to react before he was suddenly lifted off of the ground and placed firmly on a tree branch. His only companion was his mode of conveyance... the flyer who was now towering over him.

"What can you tell me about this Mendsey?"

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Thanks for the reviews, everyone! (:

bryan mccloud: Indeed the Seven Hunters seem to be able to come up with the right plans or innovations just in the nick of time. Though with the intrigues that are at play it will soon be difficult for each side to tell who is friend and who is foe. And, as we often see in real life, an untrue narrative if believed by enough people can lead to real changes in alliances and events.

gordhanx: Thank you for the detailed review, and my apologies for not getting to this chapter until now. Wrok and Greenshade are indeed beginning to show other aspects of their respective characters in the previous chapters. Neither is overtly malicious from the standpoint of their followers, and they do have some motivations, justified in their minds, for the actions that they are taking. Though, as it common in life, their antagonism against their adversary has plunged the region into conflict and chaos. With Penol, Ignis, and Dravos each having their own motivations and interests, with both overlap and conflicts, it will be interesting to see in the future how the situation develops.

Keijo6: I am glad that you enjoyed the interplay between the hidden runners in the previous chapter. It is a delicate balance to keep the hidden runner angle and the pack's own challenges coherent in a sprawling narrative with over 6 factions (Ignis, Wrok's pack, Questor's pack, the valley, Seeker's pack, and Verant's group) and the incorporation of the roleplay content into the mix add to the difficulties involved. I can only hope that dedicating one chapter to the past story (and saving the rest of Mender's rise to becoming a wide-known name for another chapter) helps to keep things more manageable for the reader. In any event we will move back into the present in the next chapter and into the complex web of lies and conflict that the hidden runners and the packs now find themselves in. As always, I look forward to your review and thoughts for the latest chapter. (: