Chapter Ten: Livid Under the Stars
Just as the haze of sleep settled over Remy, a voice sounded in her ears. The girl ignored it, rolling over in her bed and curling herself into a tighter ball. The voice continued through the open window that Remy's head rested under.
"Remy. Come on." The owner of the voice stuck his head through the window, his snout pushing Remy's arm. "The others are waiting."
She sleepily turned over her shoulder, greeted by the waiting face of Littlefoot.
"I'm trying to sleep, Littlefoot. You all should be in your nests. Aren't you grounded? You guys are just going to get into more trouble if your families find out you're sneaking around at night." She rolled back over, closing her eyes, assuming Littlefoot would let her be.
But he didn't.
The long-neck nudged her again. "Please, Remy."
The girl sat up, running her hands through her messy hair. "Okay. I guess I can see what you guys want." She stumbled out of bed, pulling off her nightwear and slipping into fresh clothes the moment Littlefoot walked away. Once dressed in something more suitable for a night out in the Great Valley, she grabbed her quiver and bow, strapping them to her back.
When she was outside with the brown long-neck, she stared up at him, arms crossed over her chest, clearly unamused. "Why are you disobeying your grandparents, Littlefoot? Out of all your friends, I wouldn't think you would try to sneak around the Valley when you should be staying in your nest."
"Well…" The long-neck sheepishly lowered his head, grounding the earth with a forepaw. "Cera woke me up and said she needed to talk. We got the rest of the gang, and…" He looked up only to advert his eyes immediately upon Remy's harsh gaze. "I haven't been grounded since I was a youngling. And we weren't the ones that started the fight."
"But you still fought back."
"I-but—"
Remy held up her hand, stopping Littlefoot from making an excuse. "I understand that some people and dinosaurs feel that they can't walk away from a fight. They have to defend their honor, defend a friend, or if they don't fight back, the harassment will keep happening. Still, if you can, you should walk away. I'm not going to say any more about this because I don't know what it feels like to walk in your footsteps. If you guys are sneaking out in the middle of the night against your families' wishes, then fine. I can't control you. But, if you get into trouble, don't come crying to me."
Littlefoot shamefully lowered his gaze. "Do you…still want to come with me to talk to the others tonight?"
The teenager sighed, running a hand through her thick, wavy dark brown tresses. "I guess. I'm not going to be the one that's going to get in trouble, so…" She shrugged. "I could use more sleep, but there's no reason why I can't take a long nap tomorrow afternoon."
"Thanks, Remy."
Littlefoot and Remy arrived, spying the orange hide of Cera pacing between the other two assembled dinosaurs and the lone pterosaur. Petrie and Ducky quietly chatted with one another while Spike stared off into the distance, casually chewing a clump of grass. Ducky was the first to point out the approaching long-neck and human.
"Took you long enough," Cera grumbled upon greeting the pair.
"I can't help that you chose a spot so far away from where Suri and her family live." Littlefoot laid down on the ground, letting Remy slip off his back. He rose to his feet and walked over to where Petrie and Ducky sat, curling up next to them.
Remy took a seat beside Spike, feeling that the conversation far too late into the night would be one she wouldn't enjoy listening to. With the spike-tail not necessarily a part of any family, just living near Ducky's nest, he could do whatever he pleased, just like Remy. Considering the glazed look of his magenta eyes, it appeared that he was on the same side as Remy. It was just a late night of eating and ignoring the rants of frustrated, rebellious teens. Still, it was admirable that the spike-tail, who was older than the rest of the adolescents, stayed friends with them. He could have just as easily started his own life in the Great Valley without interacting with the Gang anymore, but he was content with his comfortable life.
"Ready for some typical teenaged rebelling, Spike?" Remy asked, leaning against his dark green hide, arms crossed over her chest and lips pressed in a thin line. She watched Cera continue to pace back and forth, the others now silently waiting for her to speak.
Spike grunted in agreement as he ripped out another clump of grass. The moment Cera tossed her head, his gaze drifted skywards, his mind following with it. With a stomp of her foot, Cera finally spoke, and Spike loosened the tethers and let his mind drift to the stars.
"I'm assuming we all got the same lecture?" Cera questioned, hardened jade-green gaze passing over each of the assembled creatures.
"That we should not start fights in the Great Valley no matter what the other dinosaur does or says?" Ducky questioned. "Even if we did not start the fight?"
"Even the Valley can be dangerous, and that not everyone is friendly." Littlefoot laid his head down on the grass, heaving a loud sigh. "Think I don't already know that, Grandpa and Grandma?"
"Me shouldn't fly away from the nest so much and stop worrying about eggs?" The moment Petrie said this, he blinked, glanced to Ducky, and then smiled sheepishly at the others. "Well, Petrie do worry a lot… Mama right about that. She just overprotective and want Petrie to stay near nest. Mama still not use to having first clutch away from nest and her mama-instincts are strong because of eggs." The flyer fiddled with his hands, beak clamped shut as the others continued to stare. "Sorry, me ramble."
"Don't hang around long-necks, singers, flyers, spike-tails, and thin-skins," Cera stated, glaring in the direction of her and her father's nest. When she turned around and saw the other's bewildered expressions, she rolled her eyes. "Well, we got mostly the same lecture."
Cera paced through the grassy ledge, head lowered as if she were about to charge the massive, jutting stones that acted as a barrier around the cliff-edge. "I hate that the adults decided that we can't leave our nests. We're almost adults ourselves. We should be allowed to do whatever we want. If I want to go outside the Great Valley into the Mysterious Beyond, I should be able to. If I get into a fight with another dinosaur, I shouldn't be grounded to the nest. We all know how to take care of ourselves."
"But Cera…" Littlefoot lowered his head, barely able to look at the three-horn. "The Great Valley is our safe-haven. It protects us from dangers and sharp-teeth. We can't just leave."
"And there's a lot of dangers in the Valley too." Cera snapped. "You just said that, Littlefoot." She stomped her foot, brandishing her horns at the residents in the Valley below. "I think we should show the adults we can take care of ourselves. We should run away."
Remy nearly snorted. Luckily, Cera didn't notice, even as the girl covered her nose and mouth. All Remy could think was that the adolescent dinosaurs were uncannily similar to rebellious teenagers. Not understanding their families' protectiveness, wanting to show that they can do things that they really can't, going against their families' wishes because they didn't like the rules. It was all so familiar.
Remy and her friend Heather never really had much of a rebellious stage. Remy had sports to work off steam, and her mother rarely gave her any reason to get wild with her. Heather was an introverted bookworm who was almost always top of the class. She was more easy-going than Remy, and almost nothing stirred her to the point of lashing out. Felicity, on the other hand, could be a near replica of Cera.
Felicity was in constant arguments with her parents and siblings. Whenever her mother had asked her to be home at a particular time, Felicity would make sure she stayed out several hours past that time. When she was younger, if things didn't go her way, she'd make an embarrassing fit.
"Come on," Cera continued, facing everyone, a determined glint in her eyes. "Let's all run away, live out in the Mysterious Beyond. We can show everyone that we can take care of ourselves. Then we'll be free of all these stupid punishments. There's no way I'm going to be grounded to my nest for three days. Not like Dad can keep that close of an eye on me."
"He will have someone watch over you," Ducky interrupted. "Mama asked a friend of hers to watch me. Petrie said Watcher's going to watch him." She looked up at Littlefoot, who shrugged, not knowing who or if his grandparents had chosen someone else to keep an eye on him for the period he was grounded to his nest.
"We can leave tonight. Let's kill a sharp-tooth and bring it back. That would show the adults."
"Cera…I don't know…"
With a crack of her back, Remy spoke up. "The reason your guardians grounded you is because you disobeyed a rule they made, and I'm sure it's one that's kept throughout the Great Valley. You're not supposed to fight unless it's during courtship season, and you guys aren't old enough to participate. Nonetheless, no blood is supposed to be spilled on Great Valley grounds."
Cera snorted. "Yeah, and I'm just going to stand aside and let those two frill-heads push us around. It was our tree. We found it first. We were the only ones that were going to eat from it."
Remy shrugged. "The way I see it is that everything should be shared in the Valley. More and more herds are moving in, and nesting season just started. Soon, the Valley will be filled with hatchlings and lots of hungry mouths to feed. The more food you find, the better, especially with picky hatchlings."
Cera merely shook her head and continued her rant. Remy turned to look over the Great Valley from the cliff, vaguely aware of the others agreeing with Cera. The plan formed into something along the lines of sneaking out of the Valley during the night. Remy couldn't care less. If the adolescents got into trouble, it was their fault. They would learn from their mistakes. She tried to talk them out of it, but they didn't listen.
As Cera, Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie talked about running away or other rebellion methods, Remy yawned. She let them speak for some time, resting her head against Spike's warm side to get some shut-eye. The voices blurred together as she joined the spike-tail in letting her mind drift. It wasn't her place to step in. She was a small human in a world of dinosaurs. Their cultures were different, and her input wouldn't make much difference with dinosaurs over twice her size.
Remy was roused from her light sleep when Spike shifted. Barely knowing what the current topic was, she mumbled something incomprehensible. Spike grunted from beside her, his eyes no longer glazed over and locked on the stars. His magenta gaze was now trained on movement below in the Valley. Movement around a certain nest.
"Ducky. Nest. Eggs. Gone." Spike managed, but the others did not hear. He smashed his tail against the nearby rock, and he glared at the others. "Ducky. Nest. Eggs. Gone."
Remy was already peeking over the rocks when Spike had first spoken. Through the light of the full moon, she could just make out the shapes of two creatures moving among the grasses. Long necks and long legs painted a specific dinosaur's familiar image, but no names came forth. As Spike said, they were roaming around Aura's nest, a small, round object in one of the dinosaur's hands.
"Oh, no, no, no." Ducky was beside Remy, hands pressed to the side of her face in panic. "This is not good. Oh, no, it is not." She was already walking down the rocky pathway to follow the egg thieves, only to be stopped by Litlefoot's voice.
"Ducky, wait." The long-neck nearly wrapped his neck around the swimmer. "We should tell the adults. They'll know what to do."
"No!" Cera shoved Littlefoot aside. "We'll go after them ourselves. This is our chance to show the adults how responsible we are. If we can get Ducky's unhatched sibling back, then our families won't be able to keep us in our nests any longer."
"I don't know…" Littlefoot watched the bird-legged dinosaurs' forms disappear into the darkness.
"We have to." Ducky jumped in, panic growing ever stronger as she glanced between her friends, the two dinosaurs that had stolen her sibling getting further and further away. "They are going to eat my sibling. Littlefoot, please, we have to go after them." She tugged on the long-neck's leg. When she couldn't take it anymore, she stumbled after the thieves.
"Petrie come too. Me no want them taking any more Valley eggs. Me no want them eat me unhatched siblings either." He perched on the tallest of the rocks. "Besides, we just get into more trouble if adults find out that we been out late." He then took flight, following Ducky's more easily seen bright green hide.
"Just go with Cera." Remy patted Littlefoot's leg. "The egg stealers are going to get away before we could even wake any adult. We are the best bet at getting Ducky's sibling back." With that, Remy swung herself onto Littlefoot, and the rest of the gang went slinking through the Valley after the egg thieves.