Noah had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Her jaw slacked, and she felt her limbs shaking. But it wasn't from being tired. She was overwhelmed with what she saw.
Green. So much green. There were open fields of green, and thick forests that covered mountains. Light and dark shades, blending together and standing apart.
And blue. A huge lake in the middle, reflecting the sky. In the distance, she could see a tall, thin waterfall flowing from one of the green mountains, with colors scattering in the mist.
Surrounding the valley were humongous mountains, taller than any she had seen in her life. Not even Baylene could easily scale them, let alone even reach the tops with her head. They stood tall and proud, like protective guards.
Clouds were scattered in the sky. Sunbeams pierced through them and fell to the water's surface. It was small and subtle, but it added to the beauty all around them.
She perked her head up at a familiar sound: squawking. There were birds flying overhead. Though she knew it wasn't likely, she still wondered if it was the same flock that had escaped the sunrock.
"Is... is this...?" she trailed off.
"The Nesting Grounds," Paka said with a nod and smile.
"It's-it's untouched!" Eema exclaimed, her voice cracking.
Slowly, everyone began to walk off of the rocks. Noah froze when her front foot touched the grass. After walking across the desert and through the cave, it felt so soft and cool to the touch. It was almost too good to be true. But as she got all four feet off of the pile and into the green, it dawned on her: this was real.
She swallowed thickly. "It's so beautiful!" she whispered.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bruton staring at her for several seconds. When she turned her head, he snapped forward and walked further out into the grass. He must be so overwhelmed. This was what the herd was traveling for, fighting for. No wonder Kron was so adamant on walking for so long.
The lemurs gathered at her and Aladar's feet. "Our new home," Plio sighed happily.
"And it comes with a pool!" Zini cried out with glee. Both giggling, he and Suri bounded towards the lake. Url waddled after them as fast as his legs could manage. Baylene walked quickly to the lake, laughing as well.
"C'mon, Eema!" Noah yelled, rearing up on her hind legs and running forward. "We won't have to dig for water anymore!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Eema laughed as she followed. "Oh, glorious mud, here I come!"
Just as they reached the shore, Baylene yelled, "Look out below!" She plunged into the lake, creating a huge wave.
Noah and Eema both giggled as the water splashed gently against them. "Is it like you remembered?"
"It's even better!" Eema declared, digging at the mud. Once she had a sufficient hole, she laid down with a sigh.
Paka walked up next to Noah. "Well, whattaya think?" he asked. "'Bout as good as your island?"
"Nothing could top our island. But this... this definitely comes to a close second. It's better than I even imagined!" She looked around, taking in the sights. Baylene was wading around in the lake, with only her upper back up exposed to the air. Zini was floating on a piece of driftwood. Suri had climbed up into a nearby tree; Url was laying against it, nuzzling its bark happily. Eema was rocking back and forth to cover as much of herself as she could in the mud.
"Hopefully the rest of the herd gets here," she remarked, looking around. There was no sign of any life. No footprints, nests; not even anyone hiding in the grass. Even if the path they took had been a shortcut, it seemed odd to her that they still arrived first; especially when they took time to sleep, twice, and had fought off two Carnotaurs.
Paka opened his mouth to respond. But when he spotted something behind her, his jaw snapped shut, and his eyes widened. "Oh, no," he muttered.
"What's wrong?" She turned to look at what he saw.
Near the tunnel they all just shoved out were two moss-covered mountains. Between them was what looked like a recent rockslide, given that the rocks were darker in color and free of moss.
"That's where we used to get through," Paka explained. "An' prob'ly right about now, they're out there."
Noah's eyes widened. "You don't think... he wouldn't..."
"If he's desp'rate enough."
Their heads snapped to the side at Aladar yelling, "They'll never make it over that!" He was next to Bruton, who looked both astonished and frustrated.
"Aladar, wait!" Noah ran after him as he turned to the cave. "What are you doing?"
"I gotta get over there!"
"Kid, wait!" Bruton said. "Let me go. I'll talk to Kron, he'll listen to me."
"Oh, like how he listened to you when he left you behind?" Aladar snapped.
When she glanced at him, Noah saw the Bruton's frown deepened. But he didn't say anything in response. "At least let me go with you," she said to Aladar. "You can't face Kron alone."
"He already hates you enough!" he retorted. "I won't let him hurt you just because you and I are backtalking him!"
"She's right," Bruton said, causing both twins to stare at him. "You can't face him alone. If you let me go with you, he'll see that I survived. Maybe that'll convince him."
Aladar glanced between them before sighing. "Yeah, okay. Noah." He turned to her. "You and Paka can keep digging out where the cave-in happened after we leave."
Before she could answer, both bulls took off down the tunnel. She growled, shaking her head. "Stubborn idiots!"
"Welp, don't wanna keep 'em waiting," Paka remarked, trotting into the cave. She reluctantly followed.
By the time they reached the cave-in, Aladar was at the top, digging through the rocks just under the ceiling. Bruton was at the base of the pile, watching him. He turned his head to Noah and Paka, and said sternly, "Only dig at the top of the pile! Otherwise, you'll cause another cave-in."
Noah rolled her eyes, but nodded. He frowned at her, but didn't say anything else.
"We'll be back, Noah!" Aladar called down. "We'll bring everyone home!"
She grunted in response. Paka nudged her in the shoulder, and she spat out, "At least be careful!"
Aladar nodded, and continued to dig. Once he had a large enough hole, he crawled through. Beams of daylight shined through in his wake.
Bruton opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, he climbed up the pile, dug a little more, and squeezed through as well.
Noah sighed heavily. "Well, here's to the next half-day of digging." She climbed up to where Aladar had just stood. Where his back had been rubbing against the ceiling, she was short enough to just barely avoid it. She began to dig, carefully pulling the rocks away from the pile and between her back legs.
She heard Paka join her. But what surprised her was when he nudged at her hindquarters, pushing her towards the hole. "If you hurry, you can catch up," he said.
Her eyes widened. "But... it'll take a whole day for you!"
"I'll get one o' the old-timers. Baylene'll prob'bly make this a quarter-day's work."
"Are you sure, though?"
"Go on, git," he snapped playfully. "Or the herd'll be comin' before you even reach 'em."
She smiled widely and nudged her forehead against his. "Thank you, my friend," she said. "I'll tell Chastain you're home safe."
"Tell 'er I'll keep the nest warm!"
With a nod, she crawled her way through the hole between the rock pile and ceiling.
A/N Hopefully, I did a good job of describing just how breath-taking the Nesting Grounds are to the dinosaurs. And I don't know if it was intentional, but I added the idea that the flock of birds that escaped the island also made it to the valley. It kinda gives the "your journey is complete" vibe. And, of course, I had to add a little romantic cliche; the classic "person A says something is beautiful and person B agrees that person A is beautiful", though in this case, it's half-nonverbal XD
A couple of things I changed were Url cuddling up to his tree and Eema wallowing in mud. She mentioned it several times, if you're including the deleted scene (which I am in this story XP) so she deserves to have her mudbath.
I thought about having Noah get left behind at the valley. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense for her to tag along, since the twins were together for a lot of stuff. It just made sense that they would be together for the climax. I also thought about if I wanted Bruton to tag along or not, but I couldn't resist the idea of Kron being proven wrong about considering him a dead-weight burden.
