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Chapter 8: Farpaw Faux Pas

Bergly Farpaw had seen many strange things, but he could never stop being surprised.

The boat came in from the West, because there weren't many other places for it to come in from. It was small, as boats go, with a sleek hull colored with chipped blue paint. The mast was topped by a massive red ruby bigger than Bergly's head. That wasn't the strange thing.

The strange thing was the mouse who stood on top of the bow of the ship. Her fur was long and black, with streaks of blue and red. She wore a robe so white it seemed to glow. Her arms were held straight out of her sides, like she was welcoming an old friend instead of sailing into a stranger's land. Despite the distance, and despite that Bergly's eyes weren't near as good as they used to be, Bergly could see the sublime joy painted on her face. With the rising sun casting an orange light across the sky, it made for an impressive site.

The rest of the settlement were already gathering in front of the caves whispering in excitement. Bergly shook his head, remembering the days when he would be the first to see anything. Now his senses had gone so bad that Bergly hadn't even heard the watchman's call.

The only one slower to leave the caves than Bergly, it seemed, was Berry Farpaw. Bergly shook his head. Does that girl have no ambition for… adventure?

Bergly remembered that, when he was her age, he had already joined the Guosim and traversed the tunnels of Bat Mountpit. Bergly smiled fondly at the memory. I wonder if old High Chief Cayveye is still around. I should go visit him again. It was just wistful thinking, though. Bergly's days of adventure were far behind him.

He looked out over his little settlement. Goodwife Merril was calling her fellow cooks, to prepare a small welcoming feast. Benny Farpaw, Bergly's younger brother, was strumming a lute and humming to himself. Old Sparic was fingering a dagger at his side, watching the approaching boat warily.

Who knew this is how I would spend my last seasons? Bergly thought as he walked back in his cave and put on his nice vest. Bergly Farpaw, heroic adventurer, turned into a small-colony chieftain? Spending his days thanking Goodwife for Merril for another delicious meal and laughing at Benny's attempts at music. All because I was too embarrassed to admit I couldn't find anything at the Northern caves. I should have gone to… Noonvale. I always wanted to see Noonvale, and there could have been a clue to Martin's last quest there. Alas, those days are past. He walked back outside, and the smell of Merril's scones filled his nose. Can't say I don't love it, though.

It would have been better if his daughter desired adventure as much as he had, though. Yes, I'm happy here, but I'm only happy because I've… earned it. You need to experience things to learn 'em, I've always said, and how's she going to learn anything if she spends all her seasons here on these caves? I may not be able to adventure anymore, but she has all the… opportunities in the world! He looked back at the wall of caves, hoping Berry would poke her head out of one of them, but she did not. Bergly shook his head and accepted a scone from Goodwife Merril.

"Many… thanks, Merril," Bergly said between mouthfuls of warm scone. It was moist and delicious, speckled with fresh blueberries they grew on the pastures above the cave, and Bergly thought blueberries grew even better here than they did in Mossflower.

Merril gave him a sweet smile. "My pleasure, Bergly." She then turned and grabbed Benny by the ears as the musician attempted to swipe an apple pie she had set out. "That's for the visitors!" she cried as she beat him over the head with a wooden spoon.

Bergly chuckled as he walked away, holding the still-hot scone in an old paw that had once scaled the Northern Mountains of the eagles and had punched the a Vermin Captain in the face during the War of the Skullsmasher, making a narrow escape from captivity that allowed him to warn the abbey of the approaching horde. I sure am lucky to have convinced Merril to come with me here. The goodwife had been the former Friar of Redwall Abbey, but had always sought for some adventure of her own. There was some speculation that she poisoned her predecessor to take his place, but considering how good her scones were, Bergly couldn't blame her.

He walked up near the ocean, watching the boat edge nearer, the joyful, white-robed mouse approach ever-closer. Hardly looks older than Berry, though with that… fur it's a bit hard to tell. No doubt she's had a few adventures, sailing across the Great Sea. I wish– Bergly just barely stopped himself from wishing he had a different daughter.

Berry Farpaw ate her breakfast slowly, methodically. It was a simple meal of oats and Martinvale blueberries, and she had had the same meal nearly every morning for the past few seasons, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. It was comforting, and she enjoyed the routine of preparing it every day, instead of just relying on Goodwife Merril's mood to see whether breakfast would be delicious or two hours late.

By the smell, this morning Merril would be both delicious and punctual, but Berry simply preferred her simple, consistent oats, no matter how crazy her father called her. Besides, everybody always said Merril had poisoned somebody once. They said it as a joke, or at least would say they said it as a joke, as if it were something to joke about, but it still made Berry wary around the Goodwife.

She finished her meal, and took her bowl outside to wash it in the ocean, and saw the reason for Merril's punctuality. A boat was coming in from the western sea, and instead of one of the vermin ships from Terramort they got every so often, this one had a mouse on it. Not just on it, she was standing on top of the bow, arms splayed out, as if the very thought of falling was inconceivable. Berry shook her head.

There was a lot of noise going on. Uncle Benny was belting out a song about fleeing from vermin as Goodwife Merril chased him around with her big wooden spoon, while rest of the settlers were chattering excitedly about what the visitors would bring. Berry was about to turn back inside when she saw her father standing at the edge of the ocean waving at her, with a face somewhere between joy and surprise.

Berry managed a weak smile in return. She didn't want to ruin her father's day by returning to the cave. Berry took a deep breath and walked forward into the chaos, tapping her paws against the bowl anxiously as she tried to ignore the noise.

To her left, she heard a thwack, and saw Benny fall to the ground, holding a paw between his head. Merril gave a disdainful sniff and walked away from the mouse, and scowled at Berry as she passed. Berry had always liked cooking, and Bergly had apprenticed Berry to Merril soon after the Saltclaw attack, but Merril stopped the apprenticeship after Berry criticized Merril's hotcakes. The goodwife had shown little pleasantness to Berry since then.

Berry moved between some young mice tossing a ball to each other to reach Bergly.

The old adventurer-turned-chieftain smiled at her. "You made it! I thought you would spend all day reading some... book. Have you tried a scone? They're... delicious!"

Merril grimaced and muttered a sullen, "No." She tried to ignore how her father saw the books she read about administration, a responsible preparation for the inevitable future, as something to joke about, but the only other thoughts that came were anxiety about her father making her try one of Merril's scones.

Her father was always doing this, trying to get her to try something. When Berry was very little, she had listened to his stories about adventuring and thought that was the best thing someone could do. Then, when she tried to have an adventure, all she got was trouble, and nearly ended up dead on the blade of Vog Myrmec.

It's not that she didn't want to go on an adventure, it's just that she wanted to go at her own pace. But whenever she tried to do something even mildly intrepid, her father would make such a big deal out of it. When Berry had traveled to Salamandastron with Merril while she was apprenticed, her father had told the whole settlement and packed her with enough supplies to outfit a journey to Floret, as if the small trip would ignite a sense of adventure that would send her traveling across the world. Instead, Berry had spent the whole trip wracked with anxiety over how she would tell her father that the journey was simply "fine".

Bergly waved an excited paw over to the tables the goodwives had been setting out. "You really ought to. Look, they just finished another batch. It'll be piping hot and perfect!"

"I already ate," Berry murmured, as she turned to wash her bowl.

Instead, she found the hull of a ship not 5 feet in front of her.

"People of the East!" came a call from up on the bow.

Berry looked up and saw the mouse in white robes, holding her paws out wide and shouting at the top of her lungs.

"I have been led here by the will of the warrior!" The white-robed mouse was smiling as if their settlement was the most beautiful thing in the world. "I have been led here by his word, the word of God!"

Author's Note: Bergly and Berry Farpaw! It was fun to write from their perspectives. This fic is certainly jumping all over the place; from Floret to the Big Island to Southsward to the Northern caves. We haven't even got to Redwall yet!