Ch. 1: Unfit in a Fit World

8 Years Later

Auntie Shrew's age did little to calm her feisty spirit. She still held a fierce tongue that was louder than her creaking bones.

Whenever Elizabeth visited her old friend it gave her a sense of unease, an unease the shrew caught and addressed. "Still look as young as they day I met you."

Auntie Shrew sat in the burrow of the farmer's field that was her winter home. She sat at her table while Elizabeth brewed a kettle of tea.

"Thank you," she acted as if the words were a compliment but they made her skin crawl. Despite the years that had passed she looked to have not aged a day since the rats of NIMH left. Her children had grown, though slower as she had excepted as they were Jonathon's children. The four were the only who didn't question her lack of gray fur and wrinkles, but the rest of the animals around the forest and farm did not let her forget her oddity.

Nor the oddity of her children.

"What is your secret?" Auntie asked, accepting a hot cup of tea.

"I've always been healthy," Elizabeth replied, sitting across from her.

"Hmm," Auntie squinted at her, her age making her vision blurry. "Where are the children?" she decided to change the topic.

"Outside," Elizabeth answered with a sense of relief. "They don't prefer the indoors much, not even Teresa who spends her days reading."

"They're becoming too big for your house," Auntie commented. "They'll soon be adults. Teresa's old enough to start a family of her own."

"I know," Elizabeth sighed. Her children were growing up and getting ready to start the next stage of their life. But she couldn't help feeling a wave of grief; she didn't want to be left alone.

"However Martin won't be finding a mate with that attitude of his," Auntie snapped.

Elizabeth let out a soft chuckle, despite the years that had passed Auntie and Martin were always at each others' throats. But she supposed the shrew had a point, her son was always getting on the wrong side of the other animals.

"He'll learn," Elizabeth assured Auntie.

The elderly shrew made a sound of disagreement before taking a sip of her cooling tea.

.

After a few more minutes of conversation the mouse and shrew finished their drinks and Elizabeth helped Auntie into bed for a nap.

Content she would be fine without her Elizabeth left the burrow to find her children. The first she found was her eldest. Teresa sat on a small rock next to the shrew's home. She was reading one of Jonathon's old books, even though she and her siblings had already read it many times.

Teresa looked up and smiled at her mother. She was a beautiful mouse, even though the dress she was wearing was more rags than cloth by now. She still wore the ribbon she had owned since she was eight, though her hair had grown since then, reaching past her shoulders.

"Hi, Mother," Teresa greeted before gracefully sliding off the stone. "How's Auntie Shrew?"

"She's doing fine," Elizabeth replied, "She's sleeping now. Where are your brothers and sister?"

The sound of a sudden scuffle gave her the answer and the two mice hurried to the noise, moving through old corn stalks.

There was a small group of voles, shrews, a thrush and a couple of rabbits forming a haphazard circle.

Teresa, less mild-mannered than her mother, pushed through the crowd with Elizabeth behind her, reaching the front of the crowd Elizabeth let out a gasp. Martin was rolling across the ground, tussling with a young vole. Cynthia and Timothy stood on the sidelines while cheering their brother on.

"Martin!" she practically shrieked, racing to the two to break up the fight.

Seeing their mother hurrying into the fray the other three Brisby children quickly helped her separate Martin and the vole.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Elizabeth demanded of her son. A trickle of blood slid down Martin's chin and his fur was a mess of dust. The vole was in no better condition.

"He called me a freak!" Martin growled, shooting daggers at the vole.

"You are a freak!" the vole snarled. "My dad was born and grew old while you were still a baby!" He violently pulled himself out of Timothy and Cynthia's grip. "You're all freaks!"

The vole disappeared into the brown stalks of the field and the rest of the crowd followed, muttering agreements.

When the Brisby family were left alone Teresa scowled at Martin with annoyance, "Could you be any more petty, Martin?"

"Petty!?" he whirled around to face his sister. "He insulted us!"

"So? He was a complete stranger, what do you care what he says?"

"I'm not gonna let someone, stranger or not, think they can insult me."

Teresa let out an exaggerated sigh and it was at that time Elizabeth turned to her two youngest.

"Are you two okay?"

Cynthia, fur naturally disheveled and her old blue ribbon dusty, waved her hand in an unimpressed manner, "Couldn't be better, Mom."

Timothy nodded, "We weren't the ones fighting."

Elizabeth gave the two a hard look, "Yes but you certainly didn't try to stop the fighting either."

Cynthia pursed her lips and looked away, not looking apologetic in the slightest.

"Sorry, Mom," Timothy turned his eyes to the ground. "But I wasn't about to do that vole any favors."

While the girls were slim and Martin was bulky, Timothy was scrawny. His bout of pneumonia had taken its toll on him and he remained weaker than his siblings, and despite being a year older than Cynthia he wasn't much taller than her.

Elizabeth released a soft breath and wrapped her cloak around herself. "Let's just get home. It's getting too cold."

.

They had never moved back to their old place by the stone. While the new home wasn't as close to food it was more isolated which was for the best. Ever since Elizabeth's time with the rats of NIMH their neighbors didn't look at them the same way. Only Auntie Shrew still talked to them, along with Jeremy and his family.

After dinner Elizabeth cleaned the dishes while her children were sprawled around the living room. Timothy and Teresa shared a book, Cynthia lying on the floor working on a map of the area around their house. Martin was staring out the window at the night-covered forest.

"Mom," he spoke suddenly, looking over his shoulder.

Elizabeth looked up from the plate she was cleaning, "What is it, Martin?"

Her son's expression already told her what he was going to say: "When are we going to Thorn Valley?"

Now all her children were looking at her, and Elizabeth felt a twisting in her gut. "You've already asked me this a hundred times before. It's too long of a trip to walk, and Jeremy and his family already left for winter migration."

"Okay but when Jeremy was here you always said it would be too much of a bother," Timothy pointed out, looking over the couch he shared with Teresa.

"Even though he helped Mr. Ages move there a few years back," Cynthia added, turning her attention away from her map. "And they don't even like each other."

Elizabeth swallowed, trying to think of an excuse that would satisfy them. Teresa firmly closed her book and came to her mother's rescue: "You all act like we'd be welcomed with open arms."

The three turned their eyes to her.

"Why wouldn't we be after all Mom and Dad did for the rats?" Martin demanded, crossing his arms.

"Because we wouldn't belong," she said with bluntness. "We're mice, not rats. Mr. Ages belongs because he came from NIMH. We have no idea what those rats had been through, and all we know is how to be common field mice."

Martin opened his mouth to retort but Teresa wasn't done. "Besides," she continued, "We might be like them because we're Father's children…But what about Mother?"

The room fell silent and Elizabeth had to wonder if there were times her children pitied her. She quickly put the dishes away and told the four she would be turning in early and to not stay up too late.

Lying in bed Elizabeth accepted the fact that despite alls he had done in her life she was a coward. Teresa wanted to go to Thorn Valley as well, but she saw her mother's fears and came to her defense. While Elizabeth believed her children could find a place there with time, she did not believe the same for herself.

She was nothing like the rats. If not for Jonathon being her husband they would not have helped her, she would not have even met them. Justin had been incredibly kind but he was the only one she truly knew, and while she didn't go a day without missing him she was sure his life as a leader kept her from his own thoughts.

Elizabeth knew she would easily request Jeremy to take her children to Thorn Valley once he returned. But she selfishly wanted to keep them.

She already lost Jonathon.

She already came so close to losing her children as well.

She couldn't bear to say goodbye.