Chapter Twelve: Pools
Zeke was trembling. He'd never shot a gun before, and the experience was wholly disturbing for him. He'd never really seen someone get killed that close to him and it was frightenning. Hal hit the ground, and Gabby was safe. She stared at him, wide-eyed, and for a few moments there was silence in between them. He looked much older, and was covered with scars. And then...
"Z-Zeke?" Gabby said slowly, blinking up at him.
Zeke grinned.
"Didn't think you'd leave me out of the fun did ya?"
Gabby jumped at the Grubb, and for a moment there was a joyful reunion between them. He hugged her tightly.
"I didn't know if you'd come back," she confessed.
Zeke replied, "I was held back a bit, heh. So you can talk, and you're all grown up now, eh?"
"Yeah," said Gabby. She backed away from Zeke and glanced over at Munch, who hadn't moved. "This is Munch."
Munch nodded politely to Zeke, but didn't say anything. He hadn't spent much time around anyone else since Abe, and his protective instincts were worried about the gabbiwogs. He said his quick goodbye before jumping back in the water.
"So, when are you heading back upstream?" he asked.
"Soon I hope," said Gabby. "We were going to, but we were stopped."
"Well," Zeke said at length. "I think it's probably time I head back home. I did my job, and you've still got to do yours."
Gabby nodded. "I'll miss you. Thank you so much for helping me. And us."
Zeke nodded, patting her on the head.
"I'm glad that I could. Don't forget me, okay? I won't forget you either."
"Promise?" Gabby asked. When Zeke nodded, she sighed. "I should go then. I'll miss you."
"You too."
Gabby leapt into the water. She wanted the goodbye to be short, as she could already feel herself growing sick with loss. But she was free. The burden of worrying about Zeke had faded, and as she resurfaced again she looked to see Zeke still standing there, waving. He then turned and headed back into the forest, back to his home. Gabby watched him go, and then her instincts returned and she knew there were presently more important things to think about. She dove.
Munch was busily counting the gabbiwogs. When he finished, he regarded Gabby silently before drawing the gabbiogs out of hiding. They were glad to be out, and he let them stretch their fins and run about. After a day's rest, they set off early in the morning, up the Mongo River. Getting onto it was difficult - at least for the youngsters. Munch and Gabby had little trouble, but the baby Gabbits were struggling. Still, they all made it, and going was easy for the time being.
Gabby, since she knew the way, was instructed to travel up front, which surprised her greatly. Munch chose to travel in the rear to keep an eye on the younger ones. Gabby was terrified of leading, as she wasn't even sure she could remember the way. But the river flowed on and Gabby soon didn't worry about it.
Gabbits can jump very high out of the water, and as they came to their first waterfall, she overcame it with relative ease. She waited for the others, and they came in a wave right behind her, leaping from the water and splashing over the crest of the falls joyfully. Gabby was relieved. They came to several small waterfalls, and even passed by the shore where Gabby had met the Rat. She smiled, for although it wasn't there, she remembered it well. She also remembered her loneliness, and in a way, was glad she had gone through it - all for the happiness she felt now.
For the most part, there weren't too many falls, but the river was rough in some spots and the Gabbiwogs were a lot stronger than she'd given them credit for. They caught small fish as they went. Gabby spotted large fish she had once feared. While they were still large, she had within herself a confidence that was unshakable. She could've taken it.
The river continued in its ever-wide path, spanning days. The Gabbiwogs would play together, chasing one another, and Gabby and Munch would switch off so that one of them could rest. Some time later, they came a narrower part of the river that cut off from the Mongo. Gabby recalled it instantly and whistled, calling them to attention and heading towards it. The Gabbiwogs followed her, with Munch in tow. The river was much narrower and the crowd of Gabbiwogs swam very close together. Munch merely looked around, recalling very dimly what had occurred here so long ago. He'd been here, only he'd followed Gabby's journey and come downstream, as was the natural Gabbit's way.
Gabby leaped over the ridge of water that landed her straight into the warm, familiar Spawning Springs. She spun as she landed, hitting the water. Unfortunately, she forgot to slow down and hit the side of the rock wall head first with a grunt. Munch happened to have landed in the springs about the same time. Surrounded by the pool of other Gabbiwogs, he gave her a strange look. Gabby coughed sheepishly and rubbed her head. They dove into the second pool.
"This is where I killed that really big fish!" Gabby exclaimed. She swam about, recalling the ledges she used to swim through and the school of fish that filled the pool. It was much larger than she remembered. As she looked up through the fog, at the ledge that she couldn't quite see, where she had first parted Zeke.
"What is it?" asked Munch, looking up.
Gabby quickly told him her story, and Munch replied with his own. The two sat quietly in the water, enjoying one another's company.
Munch, unused to comforting someone else, suddenly whistled and dove under the water. Gabby followed, and the two played happily with the Gabbiwogs. They remained in the Spawning Springs for nearly three months - about the time that Gabby herself had stayed. Then they set off once more, once the Gabbiwogs developed their lungs.
The Gabbits, now larger than before, followed Munch and Gabby upstream, where the going became increasingly difficult. Gabby herself found that instead of being bored with doing this, she anticipated it. She wanted to go home - to Ma'Spa. Although she couldn't remember it exactly, she knew it was there, upstream, and it was exciting to see what it was like.
Nearly a week later they came to the place where our story began. They passed by a village of Grubbs, who hailed them as they passed. Gabby did not see Zeke anywhere, and there was no time to look. Beyond that, there was a great cave. The waters were shallow and there were ancient buildings. Like Zeke had done so long ago, they decided to leave the river and climb up to the top of the falls. To their surprise, there was a narrow, but freshly built bridge that connected them right to the waterfall. They wouldn't have to climb.
Curious, they sniffed the bridge to see who had built it.
"Grubbs!" Gabby said happily. "They built us a bridge!" She danced on her single fin, earning giggles from the juveniles. Once Gabby came to her senses, they kept going, crossing the bridge, and leaping back into the river to swim up once more.
They came out of the cave and into the clear air. It was a little cool, as autumn was beginning to settle. It took them two more days to reach Ma'Spa. They continued to follow the river as it made a large turn around the place where Zeke had once climbed to see it himself. The river became nothing but shallows then, and several feet wide. The Gabbits stopped swimming and stared in awe. The river was lined with ancient artifacts that vaguely resembled feathers. They stopped at an equally ancient wall not too far ahead of them. The wall was opened in the middle, and the Gabbits hopped curiously through it.
Ahead of them, they saw the back of the great Gabbit's head that looked over Ma'Spa. Gabby and the others hopped around it, staring at the expansive pools that surrounded the great head. Suddenly the juveniles leaped past Gabby and Munch and splashed right into the water. Gabby hopped over to one particular pool, the one she had been born in, and stared at it. There were vague, almost nonexistent memories about it in her mind. She wasn't sure if it was the right one, but it seemed right.
Munch hopped up beside her.
"You said you rescued all these Gabbits from a can, right?" she asked him.
"Well, yeah."
Gabby fixed him with a strange look.
"Well, how'd you get the can open?"
Munch laughed, "A can opener. It was hard to work it."
And it was then that the two Gabbits leapt into the water, into a world of nature and instinct, of song and acrobatics, the world of words forgotten. And it is here we will leave them, until they are called upon again.
A/N: Thank you to those of you who have read this. I went with the decision to leave Gabby's Song open-ended in regards to any mushy stuff. I do promise you that you will see some mild romance (but not in any of the prequel stories) later in the future, although it may not occur between canon characters. But I digress. I'll let you decide if anything happens. I hope I ended it properly, hahaha. Thanks again.
Love, Slig. 3
