A knock on the door of Grumpy's Care-A-Van roused him from his bed. He was in the middle of reading, and it took him a moment to pull himself out of the words. Another knock finally jolted him away from the pages, and he climbed down the ladder to open the door. Maelstrom stood there, grasping a copy of the same book that Grumpy had been devouring.
"Hey," Grumpy said.
"Hey, little bear," Maelstrom said, a noticeable pitter-patter in his undertone. He held up the book. "Just got a copy from the bookshop."
"Good. Hope it's legible."
"You translated it well from Oldspeak."
"Can't believe it took so little time," Grumpy sighed. "A year ago I barely knew any Oldspeak. Now I'm pretty sure I could speak it with one of our ancestors."
"And publishing translations of it!" Maelstrom said proudly. "And in two different languages!"
Grumpy flushed with pleasure. "It was fun and interesting. Benefare had a fascinating life. All of those adventures with Thunder Bears and Care Bears, the split, discovering Care-A-Lot…"
"Don't spoil it!" Maelstrom exclaimed, pressing his paws over his ears. "Not all of us have read it."
"Fifty thousand times," Grumpy muttered, but he grinned, and his bright blue fur rustled in the wind. "What brings you here?"
Maelstrom smiled. "Share sent me to tell you there will be food. A lot of food."
Grumpy laughed. "She's certainly going to be kept busy. Are Cloudburst and Snowdrop going to be there?"
"And me. I'm not passing up her grub."
"Then we'd better get there soon if we want first pick."
Grumpy grabbed his Carry-All and shut the door of his Care-A-Van behind him. The two bears hurried to the Rainbow Ride. The new carts were much bigger than the old ones, which meant that Thunder Bears could ride them. Maelstrom loved riding along the rainbows. He was still dazzled by the colors, even after a year. Grumpy understood. After the dark clouds and dim light of their youth, the colors were incredible.
They passed above the Thunder Fields to see a game of Honey Ball being played by two teams, both a mix of Thunder Bears and Care Bears. Crumble was on Team Bolt, and he scored with a wild crack of thunder. His team piled on him, a mix of color and darkness, all yelling and cheering in two different languages. Apparently, that was the winning goal, and Grumpy grinned at the celebration before he leaned back into his chair.
The rainbow ride crested a rise, and all of Care-A-Lot was visible. There were the islands that had been there since Grumpy had been left there all those years ago, but now there were others, too. The new islands were those that the Thunder Bears had moved from their moorings in their own territory to combine with Care-A-Lot.
The thunder clouds where the Thunder Bears lived were known as Monsoon-Season, and it was on one side with Care-A-Lot on the other. In the middle, some islands were for one side and some were for the other. Those islands were where their people mixed and culture was exchanged. There were often feasts and parties as the two communities worked toward becoming one.
The Rainbow Ride rocked gently as it docked, and Grumpy followed Maelstrom toward Share's house. When they got there, Grumpy smiled to see that Funshine was chomping on some fries with one paw while paging through a book with the other. Grumpy came up behind him to see that Funshine was halfway through.
"Enjoying the book?" Grumpy asked, sitting down beside the yellow bear.
Funshine nodded, tearing his eyes away from the pages. "Definitely! You did a really good job with translating."
"Tenderheart and Echo really helped," Grumpy said. "They both understood Oldspeak, and they really helped me to translate it into our different languages."
"You were a key part, Grumpy," Tenderheart said, coming down the stairs to place more food on the already laden table. "Echo and I couldn't even speak to each other without you helping. Don't shortchange yourself."
Funshine shut the book. "The store's sold out already," he informed Grumpy. "Of both languages. Smart Heart had to turn away new customers. She's going to have to reprint."
"That's great!" Maelstrom boomed.
Grumpy smiled. "I just want everybody to read Benefare's journal. It took a lot of work to translate it, and it's worth reading."
"I second that," Tenderheart said. "I learned so much about Oldspeak and Care Bear history and Thunder Bear powers. It's an incredible find. And I never would have found it if it hadn't been for you."
Tenderheart beamed at Grumpy, who felt warmth spread through his heart. Tenderheart's praise was more valuable to him than ever before. He'd spent months with him and Echo, working for hours to translate the Oldspeak into English and Thunderspeak. They had become so much closer since he'd discovered the journal.
It had been in a hidden compartment of the statue's base. Benefare had magically preserved the book, but since he'd lived fifteen hundred years before, the journal had been written in Oldspeak, a hybrid of Ancient Thunderspeak and Old English that wasn't practiced by most bears anymore. Echo and Tenderheart had known some, and over the past year, they had worked with Grumpy to piece together the language. Grumpy had then supervised the translation into the native language of the Care Bears as well as Thunderspeak. The books had been published, and the first print run for both tongues had come out that morning.
Share hurried down the stairs with Cloudburst on her heels. Cloudburst carried a large turkey and ham platter, while Share had a plate of small cakes and cookies. They set their dishes down on the table and looked satisfied. Just then, Snowdrop, Cheer, and Harmony came laughing up the path, with little Wonderheart high on Snowdrop's shoulders.
"Perfect timing!" Share exclaimed.
"Let's eat!" Cloudburst exclaimed. Just like with Maelstrom, her voice was accented with raindrops and small rumbles of thunder. It was apparently a Thunderspeak accent, and Grumpy was the only Thunder Bear who could talk without it.
Snowdrop threw Wonderheart high into the air then caught her and set her down. The Thunder Bear was just the right height for Care Bears, meaning that she was a runt. But Grumpy really didn't mind that part. He stared at her as his mouth went dry.
"Yummy!" Wonderheart exclaimed, crawling up onto the bench of the new, larger picnic table. It was painted purple and black, with the colors in alternating patterns.
"Been reading the new book," Snowdrop said, holding up her copy. It was yellow-white, like lightning, meaning it was the Thunderspeak translation. "I hate to put it down."
"I hope it's readable," Grumpy said a bit shyly.
"It most certainly is." Snowdrop paused. "Will you sign it?"
Grumpy was in the middle of pouring tea, and he started, sloshing tea onto the table.
"What?"
"Yeah, sign my copy, too!" Funshine exclaimed.
"You're the one who has the most credit on the book cover," Snowdrop said. "I want Tenderheart and Echo to sign it, too. But I want you to do it first."
Grumpy stared dumbly as Share retrieved a pen and shoved it into Grumpy's hand. Grumpy took the Thunderspeak copy and wrote his original name in his tongue then Grumpy right beside it in English. Snowdrop beamed and clutched the book to her chest.
"Thanks, Mist."
Grumpy flushed and quickly turned to sign Funshine's purple copy. Funshine grinned at him, and Grumpy gave him a warning look. Yes, he had a crush on Snowdrop, but if Funshine did anything to announce it, he would kill him. Funshine said nothing, but he continued to grin as he drank his tea. Snowdrop sat across from Grumpy and eyed the feast with great interest. Grumpy gazed at her pretty black fur and bright yellow-white eyes, and he smiled.
Things had changed a lot in the last year. New friendships had been forged, old friendships tested and tried, and everything was still trying to find a balance. But sitting in the Forest of Feelings, surrounded by friends both new and old, Grumpy was glad about all that had happened. The Thunder Bears and Care Bears were finally learning to live together, and their combined future looked bright. And with the final piece of the puzzle, Benefare's journal, finally available for all of their peoples to see for themselves, things were going to get even better.
Grumpy picked up his teacup and held it out.
"To Benefare and his great secret," he said.
"To Benefare!" they all repeated, holding up their cups.
Then the group of Care Bears and Thunder Bears drank to the future that they would face together.
