"Manny, what are you doing again?" Frightened when he heard that, the mammoth in question just managed to stuff his trunk into his mouth so that he didn't make loud and stupid noises. A little annoyed, he looked to the side, where he found the troublemaker, who wouldn't let him have his peace.

"Chilling, as they say these days." The larger animal didn't really sound calm or anything like that, when he said this, because it quickly occurred to him that he was being watched, while he was doing what he was doing. Again. Diego probably hadn't had anything better to do in the last few days.

"While you're watching others?" Asked his best friend, who, as a saber-tooth, remained sharp even in his old age. Unfortunately.

"I don't know what you mean." Acting like Sid had never helped him. Still, he thought that he could try it now and then when he didn't want to talk about certain topics.

"You don't have to lie to me. After you split up with Ellie, you're lonely. Even if you're still friends and still meet up occasionally, it's probably not the same anymore, huh?" Diego said to him, and somehow what he said was true and somehow not.

"Oh, shut up! Or how many times do you want to go over this with me? I'm glad that she's with someone now who makes her completely happy. Maybe I was a bad choice from the start." He did regret wasting Ellie's years, even though she never said anything to that effect. She remained the lovable mammoth and told him that it was nice while it lasted. But with her wonderful character, it seemed clear that sooner or later someone would fall in love with her. It probably seemed pathetic to others, that he just gave up her and their life together like that. His friends said he should have fought harder. For what? Show a little of what was left in him, only for his wife to long for more than he could give in a few months? He was tired of putting in the effort and why make the effort, when he knew that Ellie would be better off with someone else. At least she seemed much happier now, than she ever was with him. Or was everything too black in his head? In any case, she was right when she said that their spark had faded. Everyday life, even if a little exciting here and there, had turned them into friends who were only together out of habit.

"And what about Peaches?" The saber-tooth continued to inquire.

"Hey, I love my daughter and I will always treasure the time when we were a family. But now she's grown up and will soon start her own family ..." Manfred didn't finish the sentence, saying that he still regretted everything a little. He couldn't save his first family and that still haunted him some nights. Ellie had tried to help him, when he had nightmares. But at times, he didn't make it easy for her. He probably chased her away by doing exactly that. That's why she now leans on someone, who is better at showing these feelings openly. Even as a young mammoth, he himself was never good at that, because his father thought such things were useless. And when he looked at his reflection in the lake today, he saw the same old and grim mammoth. He shook it off, because he talked to her about it as best he could. But she didn't just exist to treat him. Ellie was a mammoth who wanted to be loved all around and he understood that, he was no longer the candidate for that.

"But you're still standing here and watching her. I hate to say it, but Sid was right for once and you really should stop this peeping tom." When the big cat mentioned that, he wanted to smack his trunk in the face in annoyance. Was he acting so stupidly about this thing, that he strangely couldn't stop doing, that even his sloth friend, who didn't usually show much interest in the world around him when it wasn't stinging him, noticed his behavior.

"I'm definitely not spying on them for fun! Just so you know, I'm just here by chance ..." But it was no use continuing to lie.

"Yes, you just happened to come by here. Of course. On this steep hill, that's always on your way through the valley, because you've been trying to keep yourself fit lately. What are you going to do later, swim against the current in the river?" Diego commented on his situation, as if he found this amusing. He didn't really think so himself. But the whole truth hadn't come out yet and he would never let it fall out of his mouth voluntarily. It was too uncomfortable for him.

"Ok, I get it. This isn't what I usually do. And could you shout louder, because no one has heard you on the beach yet." Manny replied, a little irritated and certainly too loudly. But he only noticed this, when there was a rustling in the bushes behind them both.

"Dad and Uncle Diego? What are you doing here?" Peaches wanted to know, probably hearing their voices before. The older mammoth still acted as if he wanted to hide behind his friend or at least try to occupy himself with something else, but it was pointless.

"Yes, Dad, what are 'we' actually doing here?" The saber-toothed tiger could have saved himself the question, he thought, and he gave him a quick, angry look as he walked past him and forward to his daughter to explain the situation. Luckily, the younger mammoth came forward alone, so the moment didn't seem quite so awkward.

"We were just in the area to ..." What's so great about this hill, he continued to think, but was interrupted by another male mammoth.

"Hey Peaches, you really have to see this, because .. Oh. Hello Peaches Dad and Peaches Dad's buddy." The younger guy also seemed a little surprised. At least that's what his voice sounded like, because he didn't look him in the face. Not that he wanted to or anything.

"Julian, you know what their names are." His daughter reminded her boyfriend. He kept reminding himself to remember this fact, but he was still thinking about other things.

"Yes, but your father said the other day that I shouldn't call him that." Julian added, and that made the female mammoth giggle briefly.

"You shouldn't call him Bro-Man, Bro-Manny or Brofred. You should leave out the Bro." She explained with a slight grin, and he had the feeling that he had missed something. But that shouldn't matter to him, because the young animals had their own inside jokes.

"Oh, OK. I thought he didn't want to talk to me. Hey, Bro... Um, Manfred?" When he tried to look him in the eye, the saber-tooth was pushed a little to the side. Unintentionally, of course, because Julian always acted a little clumsily. Which he slowly but surely found a little funny himself, but somehow he couldn't admit it.

"Sorry Diego. I just wanted to know where he was looking." With that, the other male mammoth also looked into the distance to a mountain where he was looking.

"I was just thinking and happened to look over there." A lame excuse, he knew that himself. But when Julian looked at him, after a moment he always grinned so stupidly that he felt uneasy at his age. It's probably the tension before the rival fight, even though they've known each other for a long time and he's never even been challenged. Actually, they don't live in a normal herd of mammoths, but that seemed to be the only explanation for him. There was another one, but he found that one really absurd and that's why he has to keep an eye on this youngster.

"Again by chance." The big cat added in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"The saber-toothed one probably wants to land in the water?" Manny announced calmly, and he certainly won't explain to Shira later why her husband came into the cave wet. Again.

"I don't mind if I hear what YOU were doing up here alone in the bushes first." Well, his friend's statement was not helpful at all, because now the younger mammoths gave him a strange look.

"Dad, if you want to spend time with us, you can say so. You don't have to sneak around after us." His daughter said, because she certainly wanted to be polite.

"That's not it. I don't want to spoil the young people's day by having them constantly wait for an old mammoth." Said the largest animal in the group, because he really didn't want to impose himself.

"Why are you babbling such a slob? And you're not old and you look very fit too." With these words, Julian pushed him almost happily in the direction where the path continued up the hill.

"We wanted to go to the clear mountain lake up there. It's a little way up, but the water isn't too icy because the sun shines on it all day. Just the right thing for you." The other male pachyderm explained, and to him it sounded like therapy for the elderly.

"Because of my old bones?!" Manny asked with an annoyed roll of his eyes and wondered inwardly, why the guy didn't shy away from physical contact. Julian was standing far too close to him and had probably never heard of personal space.

"No, I certainly didn't mean it like that." His future son-in-law apologized. Peaches didn't seem to mind his mood as much, probably because she was used to it. Her friend, on the other hoof, took a little distance from him, which promptly made him regret his harsh words, because the mammoth looked for a moment as if it had been hit. Not physically, but with the harsh voice.

"Dad, if you're again in a bad mood, we'll just leave you standing here. You know, he was just trying to be nice!" Peaches complained to him and he sighed, because he didn't want to be mean. Especially not to someone who would soon be part of his family. Just because he had strange thoughts, it wasn't Julian's fault. No, not really.

"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry, Julian." On these words, the boy gave him a strange look then, that almost made his heart stop. He wondered what he had done. Oh yes, he mentioned his name. He didn't do that very often and apologizing to the boy was rare too.

"Now stop staring and let's keep going!" Manfred said and picked up his pace. He stubbornly looked straight ahead because his head couldn't handle the warmth that was rising up inside him. The boy confused him and he didn't know what to do, except let out his bad mood.

"I wait... Ouch! You're almost as strong as your father." He heard Diego say and turned around, irritated, looking into Julian's stupid and smiling face now. What was wrong with the guy, he asked himself and looked back to the front with a sigh. Something was whispered behind the other male mammoth, but he didn't quite understand it. It was probably because of his age or he should have his ears cleaned again.

"That reminds me, I promised Shira... um, to sort out stones from the cave." The big cat suddenly said.

"What?" This time Manny looked back in the other direction so as not to stare at the permanently happy guy next to him again. But his saber-toothed friend had already made off and he looked after him in confusion. For a moment he thought about what that meant, because he had never heard of Diego having to sort out stones. Apparently his friend was getting old too, because otherwise this would have thought of it earlier and the saber-toothed wouldn't have sneaked up on him before or it was just an excuse to do something else that he didn't want to say out loud here.

"Ok, then just the three of us mammoths..." With that he wanted to keep walking, but Peaches interrupted him also.

"Actually, I have to leave again too, because I've noticed that I've completely forgotten about Louis." His daughter explained, as if she were careless, and ran very quickly back down the slope.

"But..." The oldest mammoth wanted to object loudly, but even though his daughter must have heard that, she ignored it and continued running into the undergrowth.

"See you later, you two." She called from further away and Manfred was sure, that she winked at the guy next to him. He turned to this, to find out what that meant. There was something in the bushes and this time, it wasn't Sid who had overeaten on berries. With a shrug and an innocent smile, Julian looked back at him. He sighed again and simply walked past the younger one.

"Then it's just the two of us." Manni said, even though he found the other two's behavior a little strange. He should actually like the situation. And he did, somehow, and at the same time, somehow not. He could finally spend some time alone with the boy. Of course, only to give him a piece of his mind about how he should always treat his daughter properly in the future. And they could take their time with grandchildren, even if Ellie can't seem to wait to see little mammoths. If they call her grandma, the joy will also fade a little, he thought jokingly. Maybe he could talk to Julian about other things.

Silence. When he noticed that it was quiet on their hike, because apart from the natural noises in the area, you couldn't hear anything else. This felt a little strange again. The older one pondered, where the sloth might be hanging out when he was needed for sidian disturbances. He shrugged it off, because firstly, he didn't need Sid's comments when he was having one of his clever days and secondly, the sloth only walked around up here, when he wasn't alone.

"Let's have a man-to-man talk, eh? This is going to be a real blast." Manfred cleared his throat and sounded pretty stupid in his opinion. Apparently he had long since reached the age, where he could no longer have casual conversations. He had been more of a friend of peace and quiet lately.

"Bro?" He hung on. Actually, to build some kind of connection, because Julian seemed to like this youth slang, even though this himself wasn't really considered a teenager anymore. But it made the situation even more embarrassing for him, because he got a laugh in response.

"Forget it." Manfred added and stepped a little faster, so as not to have to look at his current companion.

"Yeah, OK. I'm glad that we finally found time, to do something together." The boy replied and he looked at him again, or rather back, because he was a little further ahead. Nevertheless, he thought the other mammoth sounded far too happy about this situation. But it didn't seem as if he was just pretending or trying to be sarcastic and that's why it made him feel good too. With his years, he knew whether he was being lied to or not. Especially with the many and different characters in their valley.

"Good. Um, yes, that's good. Would you like to have a few quinces?" He drew attention to the tree that stood at the side of the path.

"Hm, yes." Julian immediately jumped up and circled the plant to quickly pick a fruit. Unfortunately, none seemed to be hanging low enough, even when he stood on his hind legs.

"Peaches would have come right up to it." The younger one sighed a little and an idea came to him.

"You're a mammoth, aren't you?" Manny asked, a little annoyed, because sometimes the other pachyderm was a little unwise.

"Yes, actually." Julian answered with a cautious nod.

"Then act like one." The older one said and tapped the tree trunk with one leg. A few fruits fell off. He even caught a quince with his trunk and gave it to the other mammoth. The other one looked at him with big eyes. Manfred was just glad that the fruit didn't fall on his head during the action.

"Wow, so cool bro. I mean bro-tastic. No, bro-sir ..." Before the boy's head exploded, he interrupted him and tapped his forehead with his trunk.

"Just Manny is ok." He explained, actually believing that he had mentioned something like that before. Maybe he wanted to do that, but didn't for other reasons.

"Really?" Julian wanted to know, and his face suddenly looked so happy again that he glanced away again.

"Yes." He sighed, but couldn't help but smile a little.

"OK, Manny." The other answered him and that was the cue for both of them to keep walking. At least he was walking a little faster again. After all, he wanted to reach the destination still today. On the other hoof, he didn't know what to expect at the mountain lake. Hopefully there were other animals there, he thought to himself, then Julian wouldn't just be focused on him. When he heard only his footsteps, he turned his head back and saw how his companion was dawdling.

"What are doing?" The older mammoth stopped completely and turned around again, where the other one was already running towards him. Its tusks were now full of fruit.

"I... thought... if you wanted some later." The other pachyderm explained to him, a little out of breath, because he must have run the whole way, which Manny himself was just walking along leisurely. So the boy ran a little way up the slope. Then he remembered that they could take some quinces with them and ran back to the tree.

"That's nice of you." Manfred just commented, instead of pointing out that they could have collected the fruit straight away. And he thought it was nice, but one thing bothered him a little. The other mammoth forgot to keep a polite distance again. He swallowed all the lectures to continue walking in a relaxed manner.

"And now?" He asked when there were more stones to be seen than green.

"We should probably arrive first." Julian smiled, obviously not understanding his question at all.

"Yes, we should. But I actually wanted to know, which way to go, because there's a fork in the road here." The older animal explained and used his trunk to indicate to the other one to look at the path.

"Um, this way." Julian said, who needed a moment to understand what was expected of him. After the answer, the guy seemed a bit embarrassed and walked along the path shown to him first. Manny found this behavior strange, but perhaps the youngster had just realized that older mammoths should be shown a little more respect and you should not step so close to their fur.