Cherry's Adventures of Pocahontas

chapter 4

Pocahontas led Cherry to the forest with Meeko and Flit following. It looked like the deepest parts of the forest.

"Why doesn't your grandmother live in the village with the others, Pocahontas?" Cherry asked as she looked around.

"She can't," Pocahontas replied. "I'll explain once we meet her."

"Is that my Pocahontas?" a voice drawled.

"Grandmother Willow, I need to talk to you." Pocahontas stepped forward to a weeping willow tree.

Cherry's eyes widened as the tree was talking to her.

"Good morning, child," Grandmother Willow smiled. "I was hoping you would come visit someday. Oh, hello."

"Um, hi." Cherry greeted anxiously.

"Can't say I've seen you before."

"Can't say I've met I talking tree before, ma'am."

Grandmother Willow giggled. "It's okay, everyone has different reactions to new things. You must be the new villager, Cherry. You didn't know how you got here or how to get home."

"Yes," Cherry stated. "How did you know?"

"I know a lot of things, my dear." Grandmother Willow, then looked back at Pocahontas with a smile. "Ah, I see you're wearing your mother's necklace."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Pocahontas said, taking the necklace. "My father wants me to marry Kocoum."

"Kocoum?" Grandmother Willow wrinkled her nose. "But he's so... serious!"

"We know." Cherry nodded.

"My father thinks it's the right path for me," Pocahontas agreed. "But lately, I've been having this dream, and I think about it-"

"Oh, a dream," Grandmother Willow smiled with delight. "Let's hear all about it."

The animals of the forest chattered in excitement like Pocahontas's dream had to be the best story they ever heard.

"Quiet!" Grandmother Willow scolded the animals, then blew a squirrel from her face as it climbed. "QUIET!" she snapped, making a light echo in the air. She then smiled and looked down at the girls. "Now, child, you were saying."

"Well, I'm running through the forest and then right there in front of me is an arrow," Pocahontas explained. "As I looked at it, it started to spin."

"A spinning arrow? How unusual." Grandmother Willow said in content.

"Yes, well, it spins faster and faster until suddenly, it stops." Pocahontas finished as the animals spun their heads.

"Hope you're not running a fever," Cherry said. "That makes me dizzy."

Grandmother Willow thought for a moment. "Well, it seems to me that the spinning arrow is pointing down your path."

"But, Grandmother Willow, what is my path?" Pocahontas asked.

"How will she find it?" Cherry added.

"Pocahontas's mother asked me the very same question." Grandmother Willow replied.

"She did?" Pocahontas sounded interested. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her to listen," Grandmother Willow told Pocahontas. "All around you are spirits, child. They live in the Earth, the water, the sky. If you listen, they will guide you."

Pocahontas and Cherry closed their eyes. There came a distant wind with a calling voice within them.

"I hear the wind." Pocahontas responded.

"Yes, what is it telling you?" Grandmother Willow asked.

Pocahontas pondered, but had trouble understanding. "I don't understand."

Willow: Que que na-to-ra

You will understand

Listen with your heart

You will understand

Let it break upon you

Like a wave upon the sand

"It's saying something is coming," Pocahontas spoke up. "Strange clouds?"

"Maybe a storm's coming." Cherry wondered, pushing her glasses back.

Pocahontas then climbed up the tree. Cherry watched her as she looked beyond the forest.

"What's over there?" Cherry asked, looking up.

"What do you see?" Grandmother Willow added.

"Clouds," Pocahontas told them. "Strange clouds."

"Strange clouds..." Cherry echoed, wondering what they could mean.

Pocahontas stealthed around. Cherry was walking around the village feeling hungry. Chief Powhatan then approached her.

"Wingapo, Cherry." Chief Powhatan greeted.

"Wingapo," Cherry waved back. "Do you have food? It's been a while since I last ate."

"Oh, sure, here, have some plump berries." Chief Powhatan handed her a bowl.

Cherry smiled, then ate the berries.

"You know, Cherry, you have been here a while now and we haven't found any trace of family members of yours. Maybe you would like to stay in our village until we find them?"

"Oh, sir, I have a family already. I don't know where they are, but they need me."

"This'll be temporary until you can find them," Chief Powhatan lifted her chin to make their eyes meet. "Pocahontas can be your new sister and I can be your new father until you are able to find your family. I hate to abandon a sweet girl like you."

"Oh, thank you, sir." Cherry smiled. "Do I have to marry Kocoum?"

"No, only Pocahontas does."

"I really think you should reconsider."

"She will learn to love him, I'll be seeing you, Cherry."

The Chief left as Cherry finished her berries. Meeko prowled by normally with a chicken leg in his mouth. He looked up to see a hungry Cherry. He took the chicken leg out his mouth and offered it to her, but it was covered in raccoon drool.

"Uh, you can keep that." Cherry smiled, sheepishly.

Meeko chattered as if to thank her, and ate the chicken leg.

"Where did you get that, anyway?" Cherry wondered.

Meeko pointed to the bushes were some hunting village men were.