"Has he come yet? Is he here? Huh, is he, is he, is he?" Ducky's excited chatter hit two elderly longneck's ears and they turned, gracing her with a soft smile.

"Not yet, young one. The Bright Circle has barely show above the mountains after all, we didn't expect him this early. Granma and I just wanted to be the first ones to see him when he does come, Ducky. You can tell the other's we will let them know when Littlefoot arrives."

"Me spread word! Petrie spread word of Littlefoot's return!" Beside Ducky, Petrie flapped down onto the ground, accidentally hitting his friend in the leg with a wing.

"Ouch!"

"Me sorry…heh." Petrie smiled cheekily, but there was nothing he could do. In the last year, he had hit a growth spurt and his wings had almost tripled in size, if not quadrupled. With the massive wing size growth, he had to learn how far they stretched out…and he hadn't gotten the hang of it yet. He was still shorted than his mother, but not by much. He was become much like his father had been, actually, from what Pterano said. Petrie had inherited his father's coloring, though he was slightly darker and a bit more gangly and not as muscular. As for Ducky, she had shot up and had surpassed her mother in height, although baby fat still clung to her unlike most of her brothers and sisters, who had traded that fat for muscle. Height was not all Ducky had grown into, however. With age, a level of grace began to accompany her, one that was uncommon for her species. Yet, she was able to run and leap amongst the quickest in the Great Valley, or the slyest of raptors had she been in the Mysterious Beyond.

Not far away, Cera grazed the land and bathed in the early dawn, her sister and her niece and nephew beside her, all clearly enjoying the calm of the morning.

Cera had matured greatly within the last year since her first friend had left the Valley, from an awkward, gleeful albeit swift to anger teenager to a much more mature, strong, and capable threehorn. Her beauty could not be over-stated, and her soft golden colors reflected the sun well into the afternoon. Unlike both her biological parents, her skin tone had not darkened into an ashy gray, instead it took the route of her father's mother's mother, and her green eyes were just as bright as her mother's had once been.

Tricia had grown, too. Though the threehorn was just coming into her horns, she had inherited her mother's beautiful frill, although her horns were beginning to sway out to the side as her father's did, instead of her mother's forward horns. Like her father, she also has ribbed backing, which was a deep pink color, blending her father's gray and mother's soft pink well with her lighter pink hue. Her eyes were a deep brownish red, just like Tops'. Luckily, she had inherited her mother's temperament, and was a soft-spoken gentle creature, though fiercely protective of her family.

As for the twins, they had come a long way from the rambunctious, pains in the frill to Cera that they had been as toddlers.

Dana, Cera's nephew, had been very eager to learn as a child, and it was thought that he knew more than any in the Valley, although he was very quiet. Dana was also a cautious male, and often made fun of as he outright refused to fight, even for a female. Combat scared him. He was not a coward, and he could let his temper loose better than his grandfather at times, but he was so mellow that to see him angry was a more of a shock than anything else. He traveled from time to time into the Mysterious Beyond with a few herd-mates he had established, but he returned to his family once he had had enough of the wild world outside.

Dinah, compared to her twin, was the polar-opposite. She was a wild, talkative, and extremely adventurous threehorn, one than was always at the ready for a challenge or fight. Although she never provoked fights, nor necessarily condoned them, she was always the first in line for a Rally, which was a contest between the fittest threehorns for mateship and accompaniment. Her bubbly personality was comical at times, as she rarely complained or found a downside to anything, although she was by no means naïve. Reckless as the days were long, it was not uncommon for Dinah to find herself in a bind and need rescuing.

Both of the twins had taken after their father, Cera's big brother, in looks. Toro had been older when Cera was born, at twenty-one and already not only herd leader of his herd but also with a mate. However, during the Great Earthshake, he and his mate became separated from Topsy and Eocha, and had wondered for almost four years until they arrived at the Great Valley, exhausted, dehydrated and almost starved. As Toro's mate Penta was nearly at her egging time, she laid the eggs and then did what she could to strengthen herself, but it wasn't enough for her, or for Toro. Both collapsed from over-exertion within a week of arriving at their destination, leaving Penta's younger sister Tyra to raise the two eggs that were their legacy. Tyra had accepted that duty with grace and poise, doting on the two, but when she received word that an old friend was deathly ill, she left them with Tops, knowing he and Cera would take care of them.

Spike the spiketail, had come a long way from being the clumsy, goofy, and slightly retarded dinosaur he had been as a young child. Around the age of ten, he had begun to speak, and it had been slow going as everyone tried to come to terms with him expressing himself. By the time Littlefoot left, he was speaking full sentences all the time, though his word choice was simple. He had never truly grown spikes upon his back, as his species normally did, but he grew them o his tail, the white bones very sharp and dangerous to anyone not looking carefully.

It seemed, according to other spiketails in the Valley, that Spike was a rarity to his own kind, as he developed a black beak over his snout and three sharp horns on the top of his head, as well as one on the top of his nose and under his throat. Each bone was light in weight according to Spike, but by no means were they brittle. If he would ever need to fight, he could protect himself easily. His eyes, too, had shields. Under each eyelid, he had formed dark golden ribbed eyelids, and his nose bridge consisted of hard ribbed bone, much like Cera's father's backing.

As fierce as Spike looked, though, he was as easy-going and patient as he had been as a youngster. He rarely spoke up or argued, and he was content to follow his friends around even now. He still preferred actions to words, and he continued to play as though he was a child

Besides the growth of the residents, not much had truly changed in the Valley, as a year of good prosperity and growth had come upon the Valley dinosaurs.

Long into the day, Granma and Grandpa longneck waited for their grandson, hoping to see him. But as the Bright Circle rose high in the sky, and then sunk to the dirt once more as it always did and the Night Circle came out, they gave up hope, broken hearted. They had missed their only grandchild, and now that he hadn't shown, a fear announced itself in their brains.

"Brachio…what if he's dead? I…I couldn't bear it. We should never have let him go! He should still be with us, and with Bron and Shorty…what have we done?"

"Aladona! Don't talk like that. Littlefoot is fine, I'm certain of it. We'd know if he wasn't…like we did with Sauri." He paused as he saw his wife flinch at their lost daughter's name, then sighed and lovingly embraced her. "I know, dear. It hurts to think of him ending up that way…but remember when he was a hatchling? He overcame the jaws of death on more than one occasion. Have faith, my love. Goodness only knows where he is right now…he may just be late, or he may have had something come up. We simply don't know…and until we do, I refuse to think of him dead!"

Grandpa walked off, trying not to cry or show his desperation like his wife. Leaning against a tree, he sighed and looked to the sky where the stars were coming out, wishing his grandson had come home.

"He'll be alright, Longneck."

The voice startled Brachio, and he turned to see Topps not far away, staring at the longneck like he wanted to say something. Topps stepped forward another step, and a glint of determination lit his eyes.

"He will be. You raised him to be strong and able, and we all admire him for his strengths. I'm not talking about defeating that one Sharptooth, either. He showed his strength the day he brought my daughter home as mere hatchlings, and each time they did some stupid shenanigan and he brought her home…brought them all home. We wondered the Mysterious Beyond for years, old friend. And yet, I think perhaps Littlefoot knows it better than you or I ever will. If he does not return tonight, he is busy. That herd is large, I would imagine it takes some effort for them to all listen to him. Even so, I recall him making you and your wife a promise to return. You and I both know he will keep that promise, no matter how long it takes. I believe in him. He has led us through fire, drought, cold-fire rocks, Sharpteeth invasions, the Great Cold, and so many other things my old brain can't name them all. Have faith, Longneck. I know he will return."

Brachio said nothing as Topps turned and walked away, and only after the threehorn had gone did he dip his head and whisper, with tears rolling down his cheeks, "Thanks, old friend." Turning, Brachio headed to his and Granma's nest, more confidence in his steps than there had previously been. His grandson would return, he knew it. The Great Valley would see that boy again someday.


A/N: Much shorter chapter this time, guys. Sorry about that, but the next chapter should make up for it. I stay pretty busy, but hopefully by Monday or Tuesday the third chapter will be up. Thanks for reading!