Disclaimer: I do not own Redwall
A/N: This story was originally written for and posted on my Tumblr blog, RedwallThoughts. The italics are taken from the first post I made musing about what might have happened if things had turned out differently in Taggerung. The non-italics are the story that I developed afterward.
Imagine if, some seasons later, the clan finds a dibbun who snuck away from the abbey and got lost. They're used to Tagg's leadership by now, so rather than kidnap the poor kid they return the dibbun to Redwall.
Pt. 2
Mhera was beside herself with worry. Just five days after her appointment as abbess, and already she had lost a dibbun. No, Cregga had rephrased it last night. A dibbun had been lost not five days after Mhera became abbess. Mhera still felt guilty. Durby had wandered out of the abbey grounds while the main gate was open for woodlanders arriving for the feast to celebrate Mhera becoming abbess. Now, more than ten days later, Durby still had not been found. Mhera was beginning to fear that Durby was as far gone as her baby brother so many seasons prior.
Mhera had taken to walking around the outer wall each morning since Durby's disappearance, hoping against hope that she might look over the parapet and see the little mole trundling back home. But this morning had been like every other. She made the round of the wall without the slightest peep from the grounds below. Little Durby was nowhere to be seen.
Mhera had just rounded the corner onto the west wall again when she heard somebeast shouting from the main gate.
"Is anybeast home in there?"
Mhera stopped in her tracks and looked over the wall. The main gate was still a short distance away, but she could still make out the three figures standing on the path in front of it. The tallest of the three looked like an otter, although he was oddly dressed. Next to the otter stood a mouse, with whom he was conversing. The third figure⦠Mhera broke into a run. The third figure was just the right size to be a young mole and was wearing Durby's favorite red jacket.
The new abbess arrived panting above the main gate, looking over the edge of the wall down to the creatures on the path.
"Hello down there," she called out to them.
She was overjoyed to see that the third creature was indeed Durby. The otter and mouse with him explained to her how they had come to find young Durby lost in the woods, while Durby at the same time seemed to be trying to tell Mhera of his exciting adventure. Calling to the three creatures to wait, Mhera ran to find Skipper, who helped her to lift the heavy wooden beam holding the gate closed.
The two otters welcomed Durby back with open arms and hearty thank you's for his companions. Cregga arrived at the gate and, with the approval of Abbess Mhera, invited the two strangers to join the Redwallers for breakfast. The young otter and mouse stood awkwardly, looking at each other and then at the path behind them.
"The rest of our clan's still out there," the otter said.
At Mhera's bidding, the strange otter called for his clan to come out from their hiding places. The redwallers who had gathered at the gate whispered among one another at the sight of the vermin, asking each other in hushed tones if perhaps this was a trap. Mhera would have none of it. Seeing the frightened looks on the faces of the Juskarath, and with Durby still babbling his tale of how the 'noice varmints' had brought him home, she decided it was time the abbeybeasts stopped grasping at shadows.
"Your clan is also welcome to join us," she told the strange otter.
The look of relief on his face was clear. Introductions were made then, with Durby naming each of the redwallers present while Mhera and Cregga translated, and Tagg and Nimbalo calling each clanbeast forward until all stood together in front of the abbey gate. Mhera found that she could not help grinning at the sight. Durby had come home, and he had brought new friends with him. This was certain to be an interesting autumn.
