Chapter 54: Struggling with thoughts
A yellow-ish Threehorn opened its eyes. It lied on a big meadow with soft, fresh grass, trees growing here and there. It was Cera. The girl got up, stretching her little body as she did so. Observing her surroundings, she noticed that she was at a place she hadn't been at in her life yet. While there were similarities to the Great Valley or the oasis she has been at, something was different... something she couldn't really track down. "Where am I? What happened? Am I alone?" These were only a few of the bucketload of questions buzzing around in her shielded head.
Upon further inspectation, she noticed a little group of dinosaurs in the distance, dinosaurs of her kind... "At least I'm not alone whew!" the little one thought, relieved. Then another thought hit her. "Where are those kids I used to travel with?" Cera wondered, only now remembering some more details of what had happened before she must have fallen asleep. Likewise, she also wondered how she managed to get to that place to begin with. After all, the last place she remembered being at was a cave with an awful lack of light...
"Did I sleep-walk?" the Threehorn thought, puzzled. She quickly brushed this thought aside though since there hadn't been a single bit of green around the system of caves if she remembered correctly. She was pretty sure she did.
Cera attempted to walk to a bush of berries to take a bite. She immediately changed her mind however as she felt that something was... wrong, somehow. Her back didn't hurt... for the first time in ages as it felt.
"How is that even possible?" Cera questioned herself . She had adapted to the constant stinging pain in her back like a Flyer would adapt to the unability to fly... eventually.
The little comparison her brain created made her think of Petrie, the self-conscious Flyer that used to travel with her. She honestly felt sorry for the guy, now that she had a weak moment, apparently. It clearly wasn't her way of treating others to show some empathy but considering that she was all alone at this very moment, unsure about her whereabouts and feeling utterly lonely, she decided to allow herself to express her feelings as there was nobody to see her weakness anyway...
"What's going on?!" her mind cried. Cera almost strained her neck at the attempt to take to look at her supposed injury on her back. What she saw, wasn't helping to sort out the mess she got herself in in an unknown way. The injury was still there, looking even worse than she remembered. The perplexed girl touched it in another act of strain... and again there was no pain. She didn't feel any pain at all.
Confused, Cera decided to join her fellow Threehorns to ask them a few questions. Whereabouts and so on...
Neither Ducky nor Petrie knew what way they should try to make the period of waiting for Littlefoot and Spike to bring them and Cera some food the least unnerving and boring. After staring at Cera's body moving up and down at such a regular pattern that it became predictable very quickly for a while, both drifted off into a thoughtful state of mind.
Ducky felt kind of lonely without Spike on her side. The Spiketail was really good at entertaining her despite his unability to talk; whenever he was nearby, Ducky didn't have time to have negative thoughts. His absence, however, made the little Swimmer drift off into a melancholic trance. She couldn't stop thinking about her family and how much she missed them, how lonely she felt without them playing with her all day. Despite having Littlefoot's words of wisdom in mind and despite her joyfulness lasting for the better part of the day, she couldn't prevent tearing up. Sadly, Ducky stared at the ground, watching her tears dribble down.
Petrie remembered a dream he had been having two nights ago. Pterano, his beloved uncle, had died in it which had scared him deeply. Of course, Petrie knew that it had just been a bad sleepstory after all but considering the rough, dieing land there were always doubts whether or not one would see a fellow dinosaur again...
"If only me could fly..." Petrie thought, sighing. It would be so much easier if he could. Sharpteeth? Easy to deal with once you have reached a certain height. An earthshake? The air isn't affected by it so fly up high...
Petrie so wished to have the ability to fly like his siblings and all the other Flyers around the world. He would have pushed his heart out of his chest if that was possible, so great was his desire.
Petrie had always been the outsider. Therefore, he wasn't surprised at all that the group he was currently travelling with didn't have any use for him. He was small, anxious and weak plus he didn't have any special abilities. Spike could at least track down food with his well developed sniffer and Cera was really tough while Littlefoot was smart and sort of leading them without anybody really calling or considering him that - a leader. Last but not least, there was Ducky, often sad and depressed but at the rare moments where she was truly happy she spread it like a Clubtail would spread its odor at a hot summer day. This ability of the Swimmer girl was the main reason the shy Flyer liked her the most, by far.
Thinking of Ducky, the Flyer turned to her to look how she was doing since she was suspiciously quiet. He had to notice the tears forming in her eyes to be poured forth, rolling down her cheeks and dribbling to the ground and he couldn't not hear the light choked sounds that came from her chest.
Ducky was probably feeling lonely, Petrie concluded and he honestly didn't mind some company at that moment. This time, he ordered himself, he wouldn't stand still, staring at the Swimmer for an eternity and not uttering a single word, no. This time he would walk to her without hesitation, collecting all bravery he had and offering her consolation.
Petrie got up from his sitting position and walked to Ducky, anxiety and uncertainty building up in his chest. God, how he hated his goddamn shyness...