Title: They Will Know Us By Our Kin

Author: Heather-Lass

Summary: The naturalist Heather O'Toole is here, and she's not what anybody expected. But they still welcome her openly. She's met her mother and her grandfather, with happy results. Next up, school trip!

Disclaimer: All the Christy characters are property of the Marshell/LeSourd (did I get that right?) estate, etc, etc, etc. The naturalist character is of my own creation but with some real life folk singer. Heather Alexander. Because she rocks. So yeah.

Author's Note: Happy fluff chapter, sorry. Going to indulge my want of having Lulu be Lulu.

Chapter 5: Adventures In The Woods

Over the weekend, Christy and Heather had decided to take the children somewhere special for their nature trip on Monday. In their wanderings the week before, they had followed a deer path in a ravine bottom. At the end of this ravine was a glen containing a fern-framed waterfall and a pond that sparkled like crystal. Rocks covered in moss and edible mushrooms gave the place an ethereal look. One could almost imagine woodland sprites hiding behind trees and leaves to have a glimpse. Sunlight trickled through the canopy like golden warm rain and white lilies poked out of the earth here and there as if to say hello. Birds were everywhere in the trees and the stream that ran out of the pond down the hill was teeming with trout.

All the children knew was that they should wear shoes if they had them and that the older children might bring lanterns. Christy and Heather decided this was a good thing to bring since they weren't sure when they would be back, and even on cloudy days the forest was quite dark in places. The children were so excited when they got to school on Monday of the second week of school. All through spelling and reading, heated rumors were being passed by the children as to where they might be going.

"The found a pirate cave!" Little Burl furiously guessed.

"Nah! If I found one I wouldn't tell a noone." Zecharias Holt whispered back. "Besides, where's all them gold and shiny rocks?"

Across the room, Lulu Spencer whispered, "maybe it's an Injun gwaveyard. With awwows and beads. And they'll teach us…I don't know…Injun stories about theiw histowy/ We haven't done histowy yet today."

Her friend Mountie O'Teale, who had trouble talking properly for so long but was now improving, carefully mouthed her words back. "That's…because…it's Monday, Lulu. History…is Tuesdays…and Thursdays."

"Oh. Wight. I fo'got." Despite the trying of Fairlight, Christy and their friend Opal McHone, Lulu just would not, or could not, pronounce her "R"s. She knew what they were, she just couldn't say them. This lead to some interesting spelling bees until they could tell whether she meant an "r" or a "w". Often, when spelling, if she meant a "w" she held up three fingers when she said the letter. If she did not, it was a "r".

"Attention class!" Christy and Heather clapped their hands. "Today we are going on a walk to a place near the road to Raven's Gap. It is not a hard walk and will probably take us about an hour."

Creed Allen raised his hand. When called on, he asked, "what's so special 'bout the Raven's Gap road?"

"You'll just have to find out when we get there." Heather smiled at the impatient boy. He sighed and scratched behind his ear.

"You'll like it Creed, trust us." The Doctor's voice rang out from the door. Behind him stood David, fishing poles in hand. The children's heads whipped around to look at the visitors.

"Are you coming too?" Sam Houston asked.

"Of course, you think we'd miss such a good trip? And the doctor's got to make sure you're wishing the place well." David winked at Heather. Ever since David had come to the realization that Christy was the woman for Neil and not for him, their friendship had improved greatly. They often spent afternoons fishing while engaging in friendly debates on many a subject.

"Fishing." The boys and quite a number of the girls sighed with delight.

"But we ain't got no poles with us." Creed Allen questioned.

"David and I have a few with us, and we have string and nails, wee one." Neil chuckled. With sticks and worms we find, that will be all we need, I promise." Satisfied, the children hurried to gather their things, eager to be off on the trip.

The trip along the Raven's Gap road passed uneventfully and they turned off onto a side road when they neared Wildcat Peak. As Christy and Heather lead them into the ravine and down the deer path, the children got more excited. The sun was shining and the path looked like the road to a secret kingdom, at least in the minds of the children. Before they knew it, they had reached the small ledge that overlooked the waterfall.

"Oh it's so purty! Just like out of one of those fairytale books you read us, Miz Christy!" Zady Spencer exclaimed in delight. All the children, even the boys, gaped at the beauty around them.

"You were right, Doc!" Sam Houston tugged on Neil's sleeve, it's just magical. And look at all the fish!"

They climbed down to the pond's edge and put down their bags. The children immediately set about gathering plants for their nature books. They organized themselves so each child picked only of each plant for their books. They made sure that all, even the littlest, had as many kinds of leaves as could be but that there were no extras. They didn't want to tamper with the beauty all around them.

After several hours of this, some of the smaller children turned to wading in the pond and looking for pretty rocks. Sam Houston and Creed Allen dug up a pail full of worms and Neil and David started everyone fishing for the fish they would eat for lunch. Christy and Heather and some of the older girls started picking berries to mix with the wild honey from the Spencers.

After lunch, everyone was quietly resting or exploring, though not as fervently as before. Suddenly, a shout filled the air. Wildly, everyone looked around.

"I'm ok!" A hand stuck through the waterfall. Little Burl popped his head out. "There's a CAVE behind the falls. A big one!"

"Oh Burl," Christy laughed as she beckoned him down off the ledge. "You're absolutely soaked." She hurried him to the remnants of the fire they had cooked lunch on.

"S'okay. Was swimming. I think you can get der w'thout getting' wet though. Gotta go behind that serviceberry bush and behind the water."

Neil went behind the bush to look and then came back. "He's right, It's a big enough path for even me to get right next to the opening." Since Neil was the biggest person there, that meant everyone else could fit as well. "And it does look big."

Heather, Christy, Neil and David looked at each other in silent agreement and then at the children.

"So…we DO have lanterns, who wants to explore the cave?" Christy asked with a grin at the silent begging faces of the children. Their mouths split into grins as they raced to find the rope and lanterns they had brought.

End Of Chapter 5

Next Up: Chapter 6: Cold and Dark- Time to explore the cave, should be fun. Maybe I'll have David and Heather get lost or stuck together just for more fun, who knows?

Author's Note: Yes, it was short and fluffy, I know. School sucks. I'm busy. It's three weeks until finals. My sister posts more than I do. Deal with it. The next chapter will be better, if I don't get it up next week, it will be the second week of June. Sorry, but that's all I can do.