Fate of the Forest

(OLD) Chapter 4 - Clover (the real one)

Hey there everyone - Blizzard here with the real Chapter 4. Hey, though that April Fools' chapter was fun and I got to pull out a couple stories onto paper! A couple reminders to wash your hands, stay at least 6 feet away from other people while outside, and be careful about keeping yourself as far away as possible from contracting this new coronavirus disease.

As I promised, here's a new chapter from me to help spread a little comfort during this difficult situation. 

   It was really strange heading back to the grove again, where our parents lived; although we didn't really live in the forest permanently (yet) and we often padded right back to the grove for the night, it felt strange to bring more than just us along.

   It was me, Starflake, Shade, Shock, Jay, Owlet, Fiery, Dark, and a few more animals my sis befriended on the way; there was Thicket, who Shade rescued from back in the fire, and Marble and Stella the dog were from the town nearby, who at some point had met Dark and became friends with her. What I felt most skeptical about was... bringing a dog of all creatures into our grove. Dogs could pose a danger to our grove, and most likely send our parents into a frenzy.

   "Um, Starflake," I mumbled, bounding ahead of Shade and Shock to catch up with my sister, "is it okay to bring Stella into the grove now?"

   Starflake looked at me puzzled. "Why shouldn't we? She's a friend..." Her face slowly fell to a glum expression. "Oh. Right. She's a dog." She slowed her pace a little bit. I felt a little bad for her. As the oldest she naturally had to take leadership of our little group of friends, and act as a big sister to everyone. Personally, I was fine with it as long as I didn't lead; I was used to being the younger brother. But Starflake was so tensed and nervous about being leader, it always showed in her ice-blue eyes. Otherwise she hid it rather well, if everyone just looked at her body language instead.

   I looked to the ground, racking my feline brain for any ideas to help her or cheer her up. Then I dragged out a small sprout of an idea. "There has to be some way to convince our parents, right? Maybe we could have Stella play tame until..."

   My sister's pale blue eyes lit up suddenly, like a small spark of electricity through gray storm clouds, and she straightened a bit. "Right! She could just sit quiet while we're in the grove. Until she gets bored of it," she said, building upon my idea, turning her head back to where Stella was prancing around with Marble and Dark on either side. 

   "Thanks, bro." She lightly butted her forehead to mine as a gesture of thanks. I warmed a little. I helped my sister! It wasn't very often she did this. In fact most of the time she was very annoying, so I annoyed her back.

   I watched as Starflake slowed her pace to match Marble, Stella, and Dark, and I slowed my own pace to match Shade and Shock. 

   "What do think's gonna happen next?" Shade asked me, a skeptical look in his eyes. "I mean, we're bringing strangers into our home."

   "As much as I'd like to see what would happen if the peace in our grove was broken, I agree with Shade," Shock butted in. 

   I shrugged. "What do you two predict?" For some strange reason I wanted to know my friends' ideas.

   Shock gave us his usual wild grin. "Everyone freaks out about a dog coming to the grove. Chaos ensues. All of the grove is thrown into great disaster. And out of the blue, I come in and-"

   "-add on to the chaos that is happening in the grove," Shade cut in, finishing Shock's little "story" of chaos. "Which would not be helping things."

   "To be honest, I don't think Shock's ever helped our situation. Has he?" I teased, knowing that anyone else looking at me right now would see mischief in my eyes.