I told you I'd be publishing regularly! I hope you enjoy and to publish again soon!

Honey threw another bucket of feed into a feeding troth and wiped the sweat off her head. Coco was behind her, doing the same for another set of animals. Between them was a wagon full of the feed being some mixed grains and fruit scraps. Behind them was Mackenzie getting water from a giant barrel that was labeled ANAMALS ONLY! then slogging his way to the water tubs to fill them with the fresh water.

"I always thought," Coco huffed, "I'd be an acrobat when I joined the circus."

Honey pulled the wagon with all her might and Coco helped by pushing. She dropped the handle when they had gone far enough then puffed for air. "Yeah… I thought it… would be…more fun!"

The circus had planted themselves in a large open space where they had paid a small sum to set up and perform. There were a few tree sized mushrooms but they helped secure some of the tents in place. Some of the circus members managed to convince some local businesses to rent out spots around the giant performing tent to add to revenue. Separate tents divided some of the animals based on species and aggression. The more predatory usually remained in their own tents with their own species. However, the "herbivore tent", as it had been called, was the second largest tent and had basically every other animal so long as they were well behaved. Otherwise, they would be forced to return to their cage.

Mackenzie finished with the last water tub and sighed. "I think that's… the last one. We should go find Oliver and see if we can get breakfast now."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Coco agreed as she pat her belly.

"Wait," Honey stopped them. "What about Victor?"

"Oliver said he was feeding the carnivores," Mackenzie shrugged, "And he was gonna show us how to feed them later. Come one, let's find him, then we can get something to eat."

"Okay," Honey replied, hanging her head.

The three children ran off towards the collection of carnivore tents. They inspected each one, looking for the terrier until they had noticed him clapping his hands clean and whistling outside of the tent closest to the main tent.

"Oliver!" Mackenzie waved his hand and ran up to him, Honey and Coco running behind him. "We finished with the herbivores. Can we have breakfast now?"

Oliver grinned, "Well… not quite yet. See… which one's Honey again?"

Honey perked up. "That's me."

"Ah, yes," Oliver smiled, "You. You agreed to take care of Victor from here on so…" He motioned inside the tent then grabbed some tools and plopped them into her arms. "Here you go. All you need. I'll talk you through it, don't worry. Come on now."

Honey's tail began to wag, but Mackenzie and Coco's ears drooped. "Which tent is Victor's?" Honey scurried along behind Oliver, struggling to keep the tools in her arms. Meanwhile, Coco and Mackenzie trudged along behind. Their stomachs reminding them they were promised breakfast.

"Tent?" Oliver chuckled as though Honey had outdone all the clowns in their act. "Victor doesn't get a tent. Not since he took a swipe at the boss. No-sir-ee!" Oliver took a moment to caress the scratch near his eye and fell silent. He cleared his throat quickly then continued. "Uh, Victor is too wild. There's some hope we can get the ol' boy to mellow out. That's why the boss is holding onto him. Not to mention the pure talent he had when he was tame. But oi vey the price to pay…" Oliver chuckled again. "Let's… just hope its worth it."

"How did that happen to you?" Honey asked, struggling again to balance the tools.

"Eh?" Oliver arched his one good brow.

"Your eye," Honey clarified. "You said Victor did it. What happened?"

Oliver stopped in his tracks. For a moment it was like the workers around him weren't there. He had become so distant but once Honey closed the distance he returned to reality. "It… was a bad day for all of us. The boss… he's great and all, but… sometimes… He just don't listen, see?" He chuckled to make light of the subject. "Keep that between us, ey?" He chuckled again nervously. "Well… since yer gonna take care of him for now on, I guess you'd best know. You already know Victor is known for his bad temper. But it's not just that. The boss can straighten out just about any animal thanks to that whip of his but… his greatest prize was the leafines. They're downright vicious, monstrous. Much harder to tame than urczars depending on who you ask. But Victor? He's unlike any leafine we've ever seen. They're usually green, yellow, or red once in a blue moon. No matter their color they eventually turn brown too. But… Victor is blue. You don't see that every day and even if you did, he'd probably be the only one to disappear into thin air."

"He can disappear?" Honey gasped.

"Well… yes. He turns invisible sometimes. Had us fooled into opening his cage and… nearly got out. Gave me this." Oliver tapped his eyepatch. "I was the first to figure out he could do that. I told the boss, but he didn't believe me. Said I didn't know anything about leafines like he did. Well, he used the trick even when I told them not to open the cage, he did and went on a rampage. Boss fixed him up right, got him in the cage, and… paid me some compensation with some extra shekels of silver. After that he used Victor in one disappearing act and then nearly got everyone killed as he went crazy again… I don't know what it is, but that leafine is… different."

Oliver and the children were quiet for a while. Honey would be lying if she didn't say her nerves were starting to spike. She gripped the tools tightly and tried not to show it.

"Welp, look at me goin' on about Victor and standing here. And here you are holdin' those heavy tools. Hey." Oliver whistled sharply. "Border boy, help her out, will ya?" Oliver motioned at Honey. Mackenzie quickly took most of the tools from her. "That's more like it. Come on."

Mackenzie furrowed his brows, a bit frustrated at Oliver. "My name's Mackenzie."

"Mackenzie?" Oliver eyed him. "Ain't that a girl's name?"

"I-it can be both!" Mackenzie shot back, nearly dropping he tools.

Oliver scoffed, "Alright, whatever you say. There he is. His majesty himself. Victor!" Oliver whistles at the cage, "Breakfast time, big guy!"

Honey nearly froze up as she saw the giant, blue leaf-maned lion stand and begin pacing in his cage. Mackenzie froze up as well and Coco hid behind him.

"Is he… bigger?" Coco asked quietly to the others.

"No, I think we just haven't seen him standing up close until now," Mackenzie replied.

Honey tighten her grip on the tools. "He looked so much smaller when he was laying down…"

Everyone gulped. Even Oliver was timid in the presence of the mighty leafine, though, his swallow was much more restrained than the kids beside him. He swiftly moved behind them and started pushing them awkwardly forward. "Look who I brought. Your old friends from yesterday. Isn't that nice? They came to visit you!" Oliver stopped pushing them then huddled them together. "Alright, here's the deal. We got to feed him first. We put some sleeping droughts in the meat so he dozes off and then you, I mean, we can clean the cage and get out of here. Meats over there." Oliver pointed at a crate labeled, "VICTOR'S FOOD". "It's an enchanted box. Keeps the meat fresh." He pat Honey and Mackenzie's backs then pushed Honey. "Off you get."

"A-a-aren't you going to… show me how to feed him?" stuttered Honey.

"I'm walking you through it, it's just as well. Go on, off you pop," Oliver replied with a nervous chuckle. He backed away a step or two, making extra sure, Mackenzie and Coco were in front of him in case he needed to run.

Honey walked slowly to the meat box watching Victor as he stared at her. She swallowed hard as she attempted to get closer. The cage rattled suddenly as Victor began pacing again. Honey jumped back at the sound and relaxed seeing as Victor was just moving back, but it didn't bring much more comfort as he was still quite locked on her.

"A little faster, now, let's not wait for the grass to grow. Come on!" Oliver called. He was trying to sound encouraging rather than impatient. Honey finally reached the meat box then opened it up to a strong smell of raw meat. She coughed and waved the air around her. Flies were quick to gather around the box. "Aw, it's just a bit a' raw meat! The smell'll do you good!"

Honey picked a large slab of meat and tried to keep a good grip on the slippery, slimy cut in her hand. It was pretty large. About half her size. It made it quick heavy. "Okay, now what?"

"Alright, close the box and grab that there medicine bottle next to it. Just drop the meat on top of the box."

Honey did as she was told then pointed at the bottle. "This one?"

"Yeah, that's the one," Oliver nodded. "She's good at this, I'n't she?" Oliver gave both Mackenzie and Coco a positive smile, "I think she'll do well just taking care of victor on her own."

"I hope so," Coco said, putting both of her hands to her mouth nervously. She scooted closer to Mackenzie who was staring at Victor for any aggression.

"Do I just sprinkle it on?" Honey asked taking the bottle in both hands.

"Yup, just a few droplets'll do." Honey started shaking the bottle like ketchup and sprinkled the liquid on top. "That's enough there!" Honey jumped and fumbled with the bottle to put it back down. "Just spread it on the meat and hand it over to him now." Honey began spreading the liquid with her hands, tensing uncomfortably at the feeling of the meat.

"So… how do I give it to him?" Honey asked, picking the meat up.

"I just said," Oliver smiled in a confident but clearly frightened manner. "Hand it over. Chop chop." Honey looked at him wide eyed. As did the others.

"She has to hand it to him?!" Coco exclaimed her face contorted into worry.

Mackenzie shook his head. "No way, Honey, don't!"

"Well, she's the one who wanted to do it, wasn't she? Come on now. I've done this plenty a' times. It's fine! Go ahead," Oliver smiled. In truth, he was a bit worried himself. Victor never had someone so small feed him before and she could pass as part of the meal to be honest. But if it meant he didn't have to feed the vicious beast, then he was all for her trying. Though he would feel a little bad for her.

Honey swallowed hard again then started slowly closing the distance between her and the cage. Victor licked his chops and waited. His stare was blank and hyper focused. Honey was starting to shake then stopped. She stared at him and took a deep breath. She didn't know what he was thinking but a small part of her suddenly felt like he remembered her. She was almost certain he wouldn't hurt her. He had to remember she stopped in front of him and the lion tamer. She severely hoped at least. She put on a confident face then committed to the act and approached more confidently. The wagon was pretty tall, but she was just tall enough to be able to feet the meat between the bars. She lifted it up and Victor was quick to meet the food half way and bite at it quickly.

Everyone jumped back at the motion. Mackenzie dropped his tools, Coco hugged him, Oliver and jumped a good five feet in the air and backwards, and Honey squealed. Victor quickly chewed and tore the meat in two pieces and swallowed the first then started to eat the next piece. Everyone took a breath as Victor finished his meal quickly. He started cleaning his mouth and then laid down.

"See?" Oliver chuckled. "Nothing to it. Now we wait and… clean the cage."

"Clean it?" Mackenzie groaned. "But what about all the stuff you said about Victor?"

"Aw, none of that matters now. He's gonna fall asleep here in a few minutes. Here, Honey," Oliver beckoned honey with his hand, "wash that off here." He picked up a rag with a bucket of clean water and wet the rag then threw it at her.

Honey caught it and cleaned her hands. She stopped and started to stare at Victor who was peacefully swishing his tail and laying down. She smiled and looked down at her hands. She had just fed a lion—well, a leafine—and her hand and fingers were intact. She stared at the cage with the leafine and dropped the rag beside the bucket. Maybe Victor was a vicious beast on the outside but in inside there was a gentle kitten…

Rusty cleared some brush out of his view so he could see better. On front of him was a huge town with mushroom buildings, log cabins on lily pads and several different people walking about the busy town. "Whoa! Look at this place! It's amazing!"

Snickers stuck his head up over Rusty's. "Whoa! It's like a fairytale village!"

The other children stuck their heads through and all gawked in amazement at the town.

"Whoa!"

"Wow!"

"It's so cool!"

"It's beautiful!"

"That's Lilytown," Valerie said with a smile. As she was checking her sack of what supply she had.

"Lilytown?" Jack asked.

"Is it because of the lilypads?" asked Bingo.

"I suppose so," Valerie replied. She secured her sack and swung it over her body then put her broken bow in her empty quiver. "Indy, can you convince the urczar to wait for us here?"

"It asks us to wait!" The urczar shook the dust of her head and watched the town below. "I must wait. In pond spawn hive, predator is prey and prey is predator. But I am no prey. So I shall wait. Must trust it to find joys. Only then will I help you. Yes. Only then I will find your joys. Yes."

Indy nodded. "We'll do our best. I promise." Indy nodded. "She says she'll wait."

"Quickly. Hunt quickly, or despair will grow and grow. And I will not help you find your joys. Because I will have none to help you find yours. Yes. Yes." The urczar turned too the forests and began to walk away.

"Wait! How will we find you?" Indy ran to stop her from leaving.

"I go not far. Not far at all. Call for me. Use words Big One. I will know it's you. I will come. Big one are the words. Yes. Yes."

"How about Beauty?" Indy smiled. "Just like your husband called you."

"Very well. Yes. I will answer that word. Beauty." Beauty bobbed her head and continued to climb the hill."Yes. Yes. This word will do. And I will answer. Yes."

Indy smiled and returned to the others. "Beauty says she'll wait out here. We can come back and call her beauty. She'll know we're calling for her."

"Indy, how can you suddenly talk to animals?" asked Bluey. "Is it magic?"

"It looks like it. She said the crystal started to glow brighter, but we didn't see anything." Chloe remarked. "Maybe it's giving her the ability to speak to them."

"I don't know how I'm doing it," Indy said, taking the crystal from her pocket. "But maybe it does have something to do with this crystal."

"That's a discussion for another time," Valeire said, walking back to the road. "For now, I think it'll be good if we got something to eat other than fish."

"Bleck!" Bluey shivered. "Yes please. I don't like fish."

"Me neither," Bingo agreed. "It tasted… strange."

"I thought it was good," Rusty smiled as he rested his sword on his shoulder.

"Me too," Jack added, "I like fish."

"It was okay, I guess," Snickers shrugged, "But I'd like some good food."

"Or at least something better than fish," Chloe groaned. "I'm really hungry."

"Don't worry," Valerie assured. "First thing's first, I'm getting us some rooms and lunch real soon." The children cheered.

Thirty minutes later, they were all sitting at an inn table. They gulped down several cups of water and soon soups and bread were brought to their table.

"There you are dears," the froggish barmaid smiled, "Enjoy your meals. Holler if you need anything." The children all sniffed the soup, making them salivate.

"Mmm, it smells delicious," Snickers slurped then started to dig in.

Valeire giggled as the others agreed and started eating. "Slow down, all of you. You'll get a stomachache." Valeire loosened her bracers and stuffed them into her bag then pulled her sleeves back. Her red cloak rested on the back of her chair. She sat at the end of the table while Bingo sat on her right, and Indy sat on her left.

Bluey looked around at the interestingly constructed inn. Everything looked as though it were constructed from branches. The walls, the furniture; even the chairs were branches and sticks. The roof was made of large leaves. As were the tabletops and the cushions for the furniture. The bowls were made mushroom tops; the utensils were hand carved. In fact, not one utensil, knife, fork, or spoon, looked the same as the other. They all had different twists, knots, or curves that separated them from the others.

"Isn't this place odd?" Bluey asked Chloe, who was sitting on her right.

"A little," Chloe nodded, "But isn't it so cool? It's like a fairytale but for real life! It's like we're princesses running away from an evil king and seeking refuge in a town full of kind frog people."

"Yeah! I think so too!" Bluey nodded in excitement. "It's kind of exciting!"

"Bluey," Bingo tugged Bluey's arm. "Can I have the salt."

"Sure," Bluey reached over at the center of the table then gave her the saltshaker. It was then she noticed something on Valerie's wrist.

"Thank you," Bingo accepted the shaker then began shaking some salt in her soup.

Bluey stared at the the thing on Valerie's wrist for some time, responding to Bingo with only a weak, "You're welcome." It was red and thin, with a twisting pattern. She couldn't tell what it was made of, but it looked somehow familiar. "Is that a friendship bracelet?"

Valerie traced Bluey's gaze to her wrist in meark split seconds. "Hmm? Mm!" She swallowed her food and politely pat her mouth clean with a napkin. "Yes, it is. From a very dear friend… A long time ago."

"Is it the same friend who gave you your bow?" Bingo asked with a smile.

Valerie shook her head. "Mm… No, that was someone else… It's sad, really… I promised I'd never forget… But I can hardly recall anything about her… Even a name…" The table was still and quiet. Everyone stared at her as Valerie fondly fiddled with the red bracelet. "Never you mind my old trinkets." She giggled, "Eat. You must still be hungry. Who knows when you'll get this much food again. Go on, eat up."

Bluey stared at the bracelet for a while, even while everyone continued to eat. She was unsure, but she felt as though it was familiar. But in the end, she decided it was only coincidence. A lot of friendship bracelets looked the same anyway.

It was lunch time now. At least, for the animals. Coco and Honey were once again pulling a wagon full of feed and pouring the buckets into troths. Mackenzie, however, was stuck with scrubbing the water tubs clean before filling them with fresh water. He wiped some sweat off his brow, having finished with his fifth tub and then walked his way to the water barrel.

"This is really hard work. I'm really sore after lifting all those logs with Oliver…" Mackenzie rubbed his aching shoulder and sighed.

"I heard what happened." Coco frowned and stopped scooping feed to face him. "Oliver said Tony was walking too fast and you tripped in the mud."

Mackenzie had mud-caked fur to prove it. Mackenzie stretched his shoulder and filled the bucket with water. "Yeah, he did. But I'm alright. You should keep feeding the animals. Then we can get lunch. I'm starving."

"Don't forget, we still have to feed Victor," Honey reminded, diging her bucket into the feed and pouring it out for some penguin looking creatures.

"I know!" Mackenzie stopped in his tracks. The girls stopped too, surprised by his sudden outburst. "I know! I know! I KNOW, okay?! I'm not stupid, Honey!"

Honey recoiled even though he was ten feet away from her. "I'm sorry, I was just making sure!"

"Well, you don't have to make sure every time I try to take care of everyone! I keep thinking about how we need to eat soon, and every time I do you keep bringing up Victor! Victor! Victor! Victor! He's all you can think about!"

"Stop squabbling! Please!" Coco covered her ears and shut her eyes tight.

"Well, Victor is our responsibility now!" Honey crossed her arms. "Otherwise the mean lion tamer will hurt him!"

"He only hurts him because he hurts other people!" Mackenzie stopped right up to Honey making Coco recoil back in fear and try to hide behind her ears. "You saw Oliver's eyepatch! Victor did that, remember?"

"I know!" Honey replied grabbing her arms sheepishly, but she refused to let that define the leafine as anything. "But that was because he was taken from his home! Against his will! He doesn't want to be here!"

Mackenzie nearly ripped his ears off his head as he gripped them and pulled them. "Rrgh! What does it matter!? He's still hurting people! He's a mean lion and he deserves to be in that cage because of what he did!"

"You would think that, Mackenzie! You're just like that meanie lion tamer. Just like when we played circus. Hmph!" Honey turned her head and Mackenzie recoiled. The room fell silent accept for the animals frightened bleating.

"Please! Stop!" Coco finally shouted over them. Not that she needed to. Mackenzie seemed quite finished with the argument. "You're scaring the animals and me. Please stop squabbling."

Mackenzie looked at the animals. They all were shuffling and making their own sounds almost like they were asking him to stop shouting too. They were merely coping with the aggressive sounds but to him they were all looking at him and shaming him for losing his temper. He turned his head to look at Honey and she was glaring at him then turned her head away again. He then looked at Coco who had never looked so afraid of him before. Mackenzie felt the world go dark again. He backed away and shut his eyed tightly only for the world around him to be replaced by the playground again.

"No… no no no no no!" He clenched his eyes tight and shut his ears. "I don't have to come back to this place! I don't' have to come back to this place! I know what's here. I don't have to come back!"

"Look who's the meanie now! He needs to learn good manners!"

Mackenzie opened his eyes, against his better judgment, and saw his younger self backing away from two larger kids. He was backed into a was wall of cushioned seats as the kids closed the distance to hurt him. In the moment, he was scared to death, but… that just made him angry. He chose there and then to refuse being a victim to these bullies. So he desperately screamed and jumped at one of the and managed to pin him. Then her started throwing his arms as his head and scratching his face.

"Ow ow! Get him off! Get him off!" his victim cried. The other kid tried to do just that but his didn't immobilize Mackenzie's arms. Mackenzie's hand swiped across the other one's cheek and easily made him lose his grip. He didn't even give the second one a chance to recover and started to attack him too.

"Ow! This kid is nuts!" The second one cried then managed to throw Mackenzie off of him. "Stupid baby!"

"Ow! Ow! My eye!" The other kid cried holding his eye and sobbing.

"Oh gosh! Come on, let's go find my mom! That looks bad!" He helped his friend to his feet and glared at Mackenzie. "I'll get you for this, you stupid baby head! I'll scratch both your eyes out!"

The young border collie huddled underneath the slide and balled up. When Mackenzie saw what he had done, he immediately regretted lashing out like he did. He just wanted them to stop being mean. Mackenzie looked at his own paws right as his younger self did the same. They were clean, both pairs of paws, but knowing full well what they had done was too much to think about. Mackenzie started to cry. The kid who had his hand over his eye was forever burned into his mind. The way he looked scared. The dread in his eye that made him wonder if he'd ever see normally again. Mackenzie knew he had done that to him… and it hurt to think he was still that bad of a person.

Mackenzie shut his eyes tightly as he cried but when he opened them he realized he was still in the circus tent and Coco and Honey were still watching him or turned away. He blinked a few times, a stray tear escaping his eye. It made Coco a little less frightened and Honey a little less angry. He turned away then returned to the bucket.

"Mackenzie…" Honey reached out for him, "I…"

"We should stop. Like Coco said. The animals don't like it and… I need to clean their tubs. Just finish feeding them and go feed Victor… Take your time… I'm not hungry anymore…"

Mackenzie filled the bucket and made his way over to the same tub as last time to fill it up. The he took the tub cleaning supplies and moved onto the next. Honey and Coco were almost done with the feeding before Mackenzie and Honey broke out into an argument. Honey looked at Coco with a face full of regret. But she was too ashamed to say anything to him.

"Mackenzie…?" Coco approached him slowly from the other side of the tub, not really able to see him or his crying face.

"I'm fine, Coco… Just keep help Honey finish feeding the others, okay?" He replied, his tone a lot less aggressive than before.

Coco shyly fiddled with her fingers then looked at the ground. "…okay…" She turned around to help Honey but not without one more glance at the tub Mackenzie was cleaning.

Honey and Coco finished with the feeding then began putting the tools and wagon away. Mackenzie was cleaning his fifth tub of the seven had to do. Both girls watched him cleaning alone then looked at each other. It was an unspoken agreement between them to approach him and try to talk.

Mackenzie was almost done with the tub. He sniffled then rinsed it out and sighed when he examined the work was finished.

"Ma-ckenzie?" Honey reluctantly called. "Um… me and Coco are done feeding the animals… do you want us to help you with the tubs?"

"No thanks," Mackenzie replied stoically. I can take care of them myself. You should go feed Victor without me. I'll be done soon anyway."

Coco rubbed her arm and Honey dropped her gaze, fiddling with her fingers. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Mackenzie replied, scrubbing the already clean tub so he didn't have to face them. "Hurry up. He might get grouchy if you wait too long."

It confirmed what they already knew. They knew better than to force the issue, so Coco motioned for Honey to leave with her, and Honey nodded. She followed Coco at first but froze after one step to look back and take a deep breath.

"Mackenzie, you wouldn't be a meanie lion tamer. If it were for real life, you would be a good lion tamer. Way better and nicer than Sheffield. You'd probably be a better lion tamer than me…" Mackenzie's scrubbing stopped. Honey turned around and to join Coco at the tent entrance then stopped again. "You were only pretending to be bad anyway. And I was only pretending to be a lion. So, it's not fair I called you a meanie… I'm sorry." Coco smiled at Honey proudly. Mackenzie, however, didn't turn his head and continued to scrub the clean tub. The girls left and Mackenzie finally turned around just to see if they were gone. His eyes were misty and with a single blink they both began to leak.

Mackenzie sniffled and sat int the clean tub then wiped them clean. He sobbed on his own for a while then said to himself aloud, "No, Honey… you were right. And that's why it hurts so bad…"

Sorry to end things on such a note. I don't like doing it, but somehow it felt necessary. I'm going to get the next chapter out quickly. Don't worry.