The furlings glided through the air in the flapper wingamathing for hours before the sun finally began to set through pink, parting clouds. The rain eventually began to let up. Once they were able to lock the wings in place, Abigail joined Michelle in looking over the side of the aircraft, as Edgar updated their map to include places they hadn't charted yet. But with the sun going down, they thought it best to land the craft somewhere so they could forage for more food and get some sleep. They'd already gone through their meager food supplies.
"How far are we from Dapplewood?" Abigail asked Edgar, looking over his shoulder.
"I'd say we've almost tied our record now for the furthest we've ever been," he answered, "But the black trail hasn't taken us to any humans yet."
"We just need to keep going," Abigail answered, looking at the map, "Of course, after we stop to camp out somewhere."
Abigail looked at the regions around the black trail. She blinked when she noticed they weren't far from Oakdale meadow. That was where the furlings had traveled to get the lungwort and eyebright to save Michelle's life. The natives hadn't been very friendly, save for a single field mouse who'd befriended them and believed in them. Abigail missed him, though she wouldn't admit it to the others out of embarrassment.
"Why don't we go to Oakdale meadow?" Abigail asked.
"What, so we can get made fun of by squirrels again?" Russell asked.
"They have things to eat there," Abigail protested, "And a place to sleep where we won't have to worry about predators."
"But you remember how every rodent in the meadow fought over one acorn, don't you?" Edgar reminded her, "And the squirrels said we were only there to steal their food. I don't think there's a ton of food there."
"Oh, yeah…" Abigail scratched her head, "Well…we at least have someone there who might help us."
Edgar didn't remember who she was talking about, but the memory crept into Russell's mind.
"You mean that mouse boy who wouldn't stop breathing down our necks the whole time we built the flapper wingamathing?" he asked.
"His name was Willy," Abigail said, folding her arms, "He was the only one that believed in us. And right now he is the only one we know outside of Dapplewood that would care to help us."
"I guess maybe you're right," Russell sighed. Of all the individuals they had met on their first journey out of the forest, Willy was the only one who might be remotely helpful. The choir birds weren't much of a help besides telling them where the meadow was, and everyone else they'd encountered was either a bully, or a rodent-eating one-eyed owl.
"It might be fun to rub it in that one squirrel's face that we were able to build a real flying machine," Edgar said with a grin, "We left too fast last time for that."
"Let's set course for Oakdale then," said Russell, turning the steering wheel and heading east of the black trail, "Remember where the trail is, you guys."
"I've got it on the map," said Edgar.
"I can remember without it," Michelle boasted.
The aircraft glided downwards, across the tops of trees and over open grassland. Before long, as the sun was on the horizon, they crossed a pond and spotted rocky red cliffs up ahead. This seemed like the place. Abigail and Edgar took their places at the winder-uppers and Russell circled around until they lost enough altitude to make a safe, smooth landing in the grass.
"So this is Oakdale," said Michelle, standing on her tip-toes to see outside the cockpit, "It's about how I imagined it."
Not far from where they'd landed, an opportunistic field mouse hid in the upper branches of the lone oak tree that dominated the field, watching as a red squirrel gathered acorns for himself.
"I'll make sure those dirty no-good mice don't see a single acorn from of our tree," said the squirrel to himself.
"Alright, steady…" he whispered, taking aim with a pebble.
With careful precision, he threw the pebble down, knocking the pile of acorns out of the squirrel's hands.
"What the-hey!" the red squirrel shouted, "Willy!"
Willy scurried down the bark of the tree on all fours, "Sorry Waggs, they're mine now!"
"Why you worm-tailed buck-toothed little thief!" Waggs shouted, climbing down after the nimble gray field mouse in the blue shirt.
"You kiss your ma with that mouth?" Willy chuckled, reaching the roots of the tree and snagging a couple acorns.
"I hate mice!" Waggs yelled, as Willy darted off with three of the acorns, "All a bunch of no-good thieves!"
Waggs quickly gathered up the acorns that Willy hadn't taken, for fear that if he didn't, the gophers would get them. Willy ran up the gentle slope, chuckling and taking a bite out of one of the acorns, holding the other two in one arm.
"Dinner is served," he said with satisfaction, before reaching the top of the hill.
His jaw dropped when he saw the flapper wingamathing parked in the grass not too far off. He paused for a moment, blinking to make sure it wasn't a mirage.
"She came back!" Willy exclaimed with a laugh, before darting down the hill toward the aircraft, "Abigail!"
Abigail's ears perked up as she climbed out of the cockpit. She turned around and peered through the grass.
"Who's that?" Michelle asked.
Willy emerged from the grass. Abigail gave a bashful smile, looking down and tracing her toes across the dirt with her arms folded behind her.
"Hi Willy…" she said softly.
"Abigail, I thought I wouldn't see you again," he said, coming closer, still holding the acorns.
Abigail rubbed her upper arm and looked to the side shyly, "Well, I did want to come back to Oakdale meadow one day…to see you, I mean."
Russell rolled his eyes, "So that's what we're doing here, huh? To come see your boyfriend?"
"So the truth comes out," teased Edgar.
Abigail frowned, turning red from embarrassment, "Shut up, you two."
Willy blushed as well, before looking down at his acorns, "Hey uh, you hungry?"
Abigail looked back at Willy and nodded, "We all are."
"I don't have enough acorns for all of you, but I can give two away." Willy said, giving Abigail two of his acorns.
"Thanks," she said, looking back at her friends, "Who should get them?"
"Me!" Russell said instantly.
"I'm real hungry too," said Michelle.
"Edgar?"
"Eh, I'll hold out for something else," he answered.
Abigail handed the acorns over. Willy watched, having wanted Abigail to have one but admiring her selflessness. He also noticed an extra member of their team this time.
"Hey, is she the little badger girl you were trying to save?" Willy asked.
Abigail nodded, "This is Michelle. We got the herbs to her just in time."
"That's great to hear, I always wondered what happened," Willy said, smiling at Michelle, who put her acorn down and gave him a shy curtsey, "So uh, what exactly brings you to the meadow, huh?"
Abigail's ears went down and she looked away, "We have no where else to go…"
"Dapplewood got attacked by humans," said Russell, biting into his acorn.
"Yeah," Edgar said sadly, "They kidnapped everyone, and then they destroyed our homes."
"Humans?" Willy was shocked, "I've only ever heard of those in stories, but they say that humans built the water cave that flows into the pond a long time ago."
Willy motioned to a metal drainage pipe which flowed into the pond, supported by cinder blocks. The furlings remembered well their trip down the sewer where they were washed through that drain.
"They also say that humans have something to do with the Yellow Dragons that drained the marsh," Willy explained.
"Humans did that?" Russell asked.
"It wouldn't surprise me," said Edgar.
Willy scratched his head, "So let me get this straight, the humans just waltzed into the forest and took everyone away? Why would they do a thing like that?"
"Don't ask us," Russell sighed.
"We're trying to follow them," Abigail explained, "We know that they sped away inside their monsters-on-wheels along a big black trail. But it was getting late, we were really hungry and we needed a place to sleep. So I thought that we should come here. You're our only friend outside of the forest."
Willy gave her a look of sympathy, "So you guys are on a pretty big adventure? I'll see if I can help. I'll take you guys to my burrow. It'll be a little cramped but we'll manage. I've got some seeds and oats stored away for emergencies."
"Is it far?" Edgar asked.
"Nah, it's just over the hill, along the shore of the pond. I'll show you."
The group headed through the grass and over the gentle slope, Russell grabbing their supply pack and bringing it with. Willy led them down to the shore, and past the sand there was a hole in the grassy dirt. They were being spied on by Waggs and some of his squirrel friends, who were originally going to take his acorns back before the sight of the furlings made him forget that goal.
"Did you hear that guys?" Waggs asked, "Come on."
Willy turned, seeing his old foe marching down the hill towards them.
"Uh oh. What do you want?"
"Well if it isn't those little punks from the forest?" Waggs said, "Why'd you come back?"
"None of your business," Edgar replied.
"I already overheard you guys," Waggs said, "Dapplewood was attacked by some humans and now these little worm-munchers are gonna lead them here!"
"Are not!" Willy snapped.
"What if they were followed, huh? Do you wanna be gassed? Or trapped in some cage heading for who knows where?"
"We weren't followed," Abigail contested, "The humans were gone when we left. We checked. If they knew about us we would have never made it this far."
"Yeah well, it's easy for you to feel comfortable, you've got that flying machine. If the humans come to the meadow you'll zoom out of here and leave us high and dry just like you did to your own families, right?"
"Shut up!" Edgar yelled, making Waggs take a step back as the mole confronted him, "You probably don't even know what it's like losing your family and home! But none of this has anything to do with you. And by morning we'll be gone anyway. So why don't you just shut your mouth before I shove an acorn down it?"
Abigail and Russell looked at each other, while Michelle watched curiously. They'd never seen Edgar this mad before.
Waggs was taken aback, before balling his fists and frowning at Edgar, "Do you wanna make something of it, mole? I'd like to see you try to make me shut up, worm-eater."
"You want me to?"
Waggs gave a smug grin, "Ha! What would you do, dig and fling dirt at me? Mud-munching mole."
Edgar charged at Waggs. The stress of everything that had happened had finally made him explode. He knocked Waggs down to the ground with a shoulder to the gut and mounted him, punching him in the face repeatedly until Abigail and Willy ran over to try and pull him off. Edgar struggled, but after they lifted him off Waggs scurried away with a black eye and a bloodied nose.
"Y-you just wait!" he stammered as his other two friends ran up to him, "I-I'll be back! Stupid worm-eater!"
As he ran off, Abigail turned to Edgar, "What's gotten into you?"
Edgar panted, shivering with rage, and he yanked his arm from her grasp, "I wasn't in any mood to be told I abandoned my family."
"I thought that was pretty cool," said Michelle, "He won't be back after that I betcha. Mean old squirrel."
"He's had that coming for a long time anyway," said Willy.
The group then silently went to Willy's burrow. Abigail didn't like knowing that the grief Edgar was feeling was making him capable of things like that. But she could hardly blame him. Just twenty-four hours ago they were all having dinner with their families, and though the forest was still devastated, life wasn't too bad overall. So much had changed in such a short time.
"Alright, I know the place is small but make yourselves at home," Willy said.
The burrow looked like Willy had dug it himself. There was a main chamber carved through the dirt, just tall enough for Willy to walk through, and a bed of grass and cotton pulled straight from a plant.
"Do you live alone, Willy?" Abigail asked.
"Yeah, since I turned 13 a few months back," Willy said, "That's the age us field mice strike it out on our own you know. My Ma's got twenty other kids to look out for after all, I can't hang around there all my life."
"Twenty?" Abigail was surprised; this wasn't the way life was in Dapplewood at all.
"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," said Russell, knowing what being part of a big family was like.
"Where are all the chairs and tables?" Michelle asked, "Don't you have any books?"
Willy gave her a confused look, "Tables? Books? What are those?"
"I think things are a lot different outside the forest," Abigail explained to Michelle.
"Why, what's it like inside the forest?" Willy asked.
"Well I…um…for starters, except in Russell's case, parents don't usually have that many kids, and we stay living with them for longer."
"We also have furniture," Michelle interjected, "And books. And candles."
"Huh. Well uh, I've got food stored in the back chamber, help yourselves."
Remembering how hungry they were the group ventured into the next room, finding a small pile of seeds and leaves. As they feasted, Abigail began to ponder whether or not Willy's simple way of life was abnormal. Or…was it the forest that was abnormal? Was that why the humans took everything? Because Dapplewood was different?