About two weeks passed since the group had... Well, an admittedly messy reunion and decided to form a "fellowship" of sorts, and they rarely were seen separated from each other afterwards. A welcome change in Bruno's life, perhaps one he needed the most, in Nettla's logic.

Watching them from a distance, seeing how they fared in their little adventures together, it all felt so... Nostalgic. Despite her age, her memory never failed her, and she swore to never forget the times of her youth nor the time she's spent seeing her-

No. Not "hers".
She raised Bruno, yes, but he could never be her son, her child, her fawn. It wouldn't do his real mother any justice to say otherwise... Ah, nevermind!

She'd never forget these recent days, the days she's spent seeing Bruno bond with his friends.


One week and half ago...

Bruno and Aydan were at the waterfall drinking; her mother, as always, talking a bit either with other local does or even sharing a bit of gossip with some songbirds. It was rather easy to know which doe was Aydan's mother, as she shared the same white fur and pink eyes as her daughter.

Aydan stopped and raised her head upwards without warning, catching Bruno's attention.

"Hm? Something wrong?" He asked, seeing her looking at... Somewhere up high? Or so it seemed to him. She wasn't smiling, only looking up with a fairly blank expression, sometimes her eyes seemed as if straining.

"Nothing! Just thinking... Ever wondered what the forest looks like from above? Must be a wonderful sight, no?" Her expression quickly changed to a cheerful one as she spoke, though her eyes squinted a little bit more.

He raised his head up as well, trying to see what she was seeing — and then he realized.
The very top of the waterfall.

Indeed, what a wonderful sight it must be from up high...

"Ah. But I think it'd be lonely... You can't play with other deer if you're up there." Aydan looked back at him, the latter looking at her as well. Her grin faltered for a moment, but only for a moment; it quickly gave way to a very positive stance on her part.

"Yeah, I think that's true. But c'mon, never thought of just imagining what it was like? Maybe when we grow up we can climb this mountain and see the whole forest from there!"

"You're right... You're right!" He smiled, his tail wagging a little.

"I bet even the birds would be jealous! We could be above the clouds and see all of the sky too!" She nodded. As they got back to drinking, Bruno didn't realize Aydan's eyes fixated on him, a little smirk on her face. She lifted one of her hooves, and then—

SPLASH

Bruno found himself splashed with water, face and hair and fur all soaked. Shaking the wetness off, he heard the other fawn giggle and laugh nonstop; upon opening his eyes she was standing in the shallow part of the lake before them.

"I couldn't resist!" Aydan shook her head, still smiling widely. Oooh, that was a challenge then!

"Why you...!" He lunged, but the other fawn already ran off. Both went about chasing each other around the lake, splashing water and laughing all the way.


One week ago...

Bruno, Eike and Corin continued with their quest on collecting nuts, though this time the fawn and the rabbit had a little more success that day all thanks to an idea Eike had. It all started with her at the base of a tree, staring up at the nuts hanging from the branches and thumping her foot in deep thought. Sure, she knew how to climb, but not that high up!

Unless...

...

"Uh, what?" Bruno tilted his head after hearing Eike, utter confusion shown on his face.

"Ya heard me right! You go to a tree, stand 'n steady yerself up 'n tall, then I climb ya and stand on the lowest branches so ya can pull 'em off!" Eike motioned the process as however she could, clearly happy with her own idea.

"Are you sure it's gonna work? I mean... Uh..." The Young Prince thought for a moment. "... What if you fall? And what if I fall with the weight?"

"Eeyy, no judgin' me! I ain't a child no more, but I'm no full adult either so I am not at all that heavy! And no way I'm gonna fall, nor ya will! I have claws, after all!" She tried mimicking a bear just to prove her point.

"If you say so." Heaving a sigh, he resigned himself to the plan.

Putting the plan in action, they found a tree with lower branches; doing as told Bruno let Eike get on his back, and then he leaned on the tree with his hooves while she held on. When they thought it was safe to climb, Eike hopped on his head and quickly grabbed onto the bark of the tree, then started climbing to the nearest lowest-hanging branch.

Although with some difficulty, she eventually reached it and stood on top of it. Now to execute her idea...

... Only to find out said branch was tangled in another from a tree just nearby. Yeesh, so much for helping out a friend. Her slightly panicked face and silence made Bruno voice his concern.

"What's the matter?"

"It's stuck. And now we're stuck too. What am I gonna do now?"

"Uh, bounce on it? Shake it? Probably it'll break free."

So Eike did. Sort of. She stepped forward and started shaking it. When that didn't work she — albeit hesitantly — stepped further away from the tree and closer to the thinner parts of that branch and did it again. And when that didn't work...

"Aargh! Stupid ol' piece of plant!" She stomped many times and even hopped till it broke free at last. "A-hah! It worked! It really—"

The sound of something creaking interrupted her. As if it was just about to snap.

"... Oh no."

The branch broke and gave way under Eike's weight. Bruno quickly got under so she fell on top of his back, which nearly made him lose his balance — along with nuts bonking their heads and leaves fluttering to the ground as some fell loose from the now hanging "piece of plant".

"... Well. That was somethin'. Just gotta yank it off that ol' tree now."

"I think I'll try."

Bruno bit onto one of the twigs, pulled and pulled till the whole thing fell to the ground. Looking at it much closer now... It wasn't nearly as big as they thought it was, though taking it off was still an arduous chore. For a very brief moment the Young Prince couldn't help but wonder — if he had been born a year earlier and had antlers already, it would've been much easier to finish this whole ordeal, wouldn't it?

In times like these he wished he was just a little bigger, a little older, a little stronger. Ah, there's no need to think such things! His own antlers would come and grow in no time!... Eventually. Anyway!

"I think that's enough work for today. We should get these to Corin." Eike nodded at the fawn. She gathered as many nuts as she could with her paws while Bruno grabbed the branch once more with his mouth, both heading to where Corin lived.

If that's how they were going to spend the rest of their autumn days, it'd be quite the tiring but somewhat rewarding season.


Three days ago...

On that day, Bruno, Aydan, Corin and Eike were strolling around when they came across the yearling siblings. They seemed just a little taller and Bran's antlers had grown a bit; they both were inspecting a local creek that afternoon. Apparently a tree had fallen off and made some sort of bridge; Eurig looked inside the log only to find it mostly hollowed out.

"Huh. Did termites eat this tree from the inside out, or did some lightning strike burn it from within?" Bran asked, tapping the old bark with his hoof, producing a echo-y hollow sound.

"No idea, but this one's been rotten for a while now. Wonder if it fell on its own, a rainstorm felled it, or some buck headbutted it too hard. Oh well." Eurig half-shrugged at her own statement. The four newcomers approached them.

"Ay, that wasn't here when I last came by. It's big enough to be somebody's home!" Eike's ear twitched a little, staring curiously at the "new" bridge; the siblings took notice of the group.

"Oh, hello you four."
"Hiya."
They greeted them almost at the same time.

"Did you see if it can be crossed? It looks really old." Corin asked.

"I think it can, for smaller animals at least. I'm not sure about bigger ones like us deer. I'd rather go around it." Thus Eurig walked away and did just that to prove her point. It took some time but still, better safe than sorry.

"Aw, c'mon. Since when are we scared of a little creek? We can just walk through water! Just watch." And Bran stepped down the ledge and into the water without thinking twice; naturally he shivered and let out a brrr as it was very cold. Still, he insisted on giving a few more steps.

"S-see? T-totally sa-safe!" He claimed, despite his noticeable tremble in both voice and body, leading his sister to giggle and shake her head. Had it been in winter he'd probably be frozen right then and there.

"Hmph, well look! We're the lucky ones! C'mon Corin!" Eike and the gray squirrel quickly got on top of the old trunk and walked halfway across with little worry. Then they turned to the other two fawns.

"Why don't you both test out? I think it can handle your weight." Corin reassured them, patting the bridge to reassure the duo on the other side. Aydan instead went behind Bruno for whatever reason.

"Hm, I'll let Bruno do it first!" Aydan nudged the other fawn onward, taking him by surprise.

"W-w-what? Why me?"

"I wanna see how you do on your own, of course! That's why!" Not the best of reasons, but oh well. It's not like the Young Prince could say no to a smiling hopeful fawn like her, nor could he just ignore the others watching him. And he had no idea how to leap from that big a distance either, so...

Taking a deep breath, he reluctantly made his way up the old fallen tree trunk. So far, still firm on the ground just before the edge. With trembling legs he made his first step, then another, then another. After that point, the creek just beneath him and the log, the sounds of running water and creaking wood feeling louder than he thought, and he felt tempted to look down...

"Hey hey, don't look down. Keep on walking and look straight ahead. One step at a time." Corin motioned to catch Bruno's attention, succeeding at it.

The Young Prince caught sight of his rodent friends at the other end of the bridge, eager to see him succeed; then of Eurig standing nearby with a worried and doubtful look on her face; then of Bran still walking in the water, apprehensive as well but much more hopeful in comparison; and finally glancing back at Aydan, who simply smiled and nodded at him.

He nodded back, and without looking back or down, he went onward.

Though still scared, the fawn assumed a more confident posture, walking slowly across the tree bridge and keeping most of his balance, until he reached the rodents' spot—

Then sprinting past them to get off the trunk, legs giving way and he fell on the ground he just stepped on. All in a sudden his companions gathered just near him and spoke all at the same time:

"Ya made it! Ya really made it! Congrats, buddy!"
"I knew you could do it! Now Aydan can cross too!"
"That all felt so tense. Bruno, are you okay?"
"W-wow, t-that looked l-like the walk of an a-actual P-prince!"

Before they realized it Aydan had already ran across the trunk, catching everyone's attention with a loud 'Ahem!' before she turned to Bruno.

"Well! That was nice to watch! You're okay, so everything's fine!" She nudged for him to get up, which he did.

"... Never felt so nervous before." He admitted, turning to look back at the creek and the "bridge". Oh he really walked across to the other side, didn't he?

"But it was worth it, right?"

"I guess." Bruno gave a little smile. Before he could say anything more, though:

"T-that's all very w-well, that's a-all very f-fine, b-b-but c-can we move on t-to somewhere e-else? G-getting c-c-colder here!" Bran spoke. Apparently he hasn't yet climbed back out of the water. Eurig just rolled her eyes while the rest just stood there unsure of what to do.

"I'm not gonna push you out of there this time. You leave on your own."

"Aw, c-come on!" Bran complained while doing exactly as told, shaking the water and cold off his fur. "Brr! Don't let me do this next time, hear me?"

"If you learn to listen by then, sure."


Today...

Of course, Nettla wasn't always watching when some of these days happened. More often than not, Bruno — sometimes accompanied with a friend or two — would recount the events with a smile on his face. So rare such smiles were when she first took him in, how glad she was to see him much livelier than ever, the sheer glee in his voice and the shine in his eyes.

The old doe couldn't help but reminisce in her own memories: the friends she used to play with before either Man or Nature took them away, how she was deemed "unlucky" for having been born unable to bear children, how her own brother too was "unlucky" and left no heirs before his own life was stolen by Man about two years ago...

Oh, how she missed those days, when life was much simpler then...

All she could hope for, was to live long enough to see Bruno grow into a fine young buck, and hope this year's winter would have mercy on her body.