Beatrix had warmed up to most of the herd in the past few full moons, four to be exact. He was loved by all the moguls and their children, he loved to tell them the stories his mother told him at their age. 

He was still hated by Duvessa and her friends, but Kian and Bartholomew always put a stop to her bullying. It had mostly stopped, except for calling him a “mutt” when no one was looking.

He had grown in size a lot since he first arrived. Back at home he always skipped the first and third meals, but now he was so hungry after every training session that he had to eat every feast. He became more built, still very slender, but his arms had more strength in them. 

It was sunhigh when Beatrix woke up, no one was in the den, and he couldn’t hear much coming from outside. He got up and yawned, it was the best night's sleep he had in a long time. His muscles were taut as he stretched his back and arms, he wagged his tail as he walked outside ready for the day. 

He saw Bartholomew, Yolanda, and Kian eating together under a beautiful green tree. He padded over to them and they greeted him with a smile. 

“Why didn’t anyone wake me up for training?” 

“Bartholomew didn’t tell you last night?” Kian tilted his head. Beatrix shook his head. Kian and Yolanda squinted at Bartholomew as he awkwardly chuckled. 

“Today is Long Night Eve, we get to take a break today until tonight when we gather for a fire,” Kian explained, “We are going to meet when the moon is high, and light a big fire in the middle of camp. Everyone will be there, superiors, moguls, calves, everyone. We will gather around the fire and ask the Tengokus to share a message with us. Then we will eat thistleberries and celebrate the change in seasons. Then you are free to go to your den and sleep,” 

“Will we get to sleep longer?” Bartholomew asked. Kian rolled his eyes and stared at him.

“Has there ever been a season that I let you skip more than one sun of training?” 

Bartholomew frowned, then grinned, “You let the tenderfoots thirteen years ago sleep till sun high,” 

“And that was a one time thing, you should hope it never happens again,” He frowned. The three of them looked at each other questioningly. 

“Kian! Come over please!” Daenerys called from across the camp outside of her den. Kian nodded to her then to the three of them, and left. 

“I still think we should be able to sleep till sun high,” Bartholomew groaned. Yolanda giggled, but Beatrix was silent, pondering what Kian meant. 

“Are you hungry?” Yolanda turned to him. His stomach growled obnoxiously before he could reply. 

“Yes!” He laughed. They turned around to the middle of the camp where the feast pile was, and walked over. 

They each picked a squirrel, Bartholomew picked the fattest one in the pile. Their faces were deep in their sun high meal, Beatrix’s squirrel was still warm and fresh, he savoured every bite. 

“What should we do today?” Yolanda asked after swallowing a big chunk of meat. Beatrix looked over to Bartholomew, who shrugged and looked at her. 

“We could go swimming, or hunt, or fight, or…whatever,” She sighed. Bartholomew sat and stared at the ground while running his tongue over his misplaced canine tooth. 

“I haven’t seen much of the forest…manybe we should explore it together?” Beatrix pondered. 

“Yes! I bet you’ve never seen an owlbear before?” Yolanda perked her ears up with a smile. 

“What’s an owlbear?” He asked with a tilt of his head. 

“It’s exactly what it sounds like…an owl and a bear mixed together,” Bartholomew told him. 

“I don’t get it…” Beatrix sighed. 

“That’s fine. You’re going to love it!” Yolanda smiled.

“He’s probably hunting right now, he’s gonna be hibernating soon,” Bartholomew thought aloud, “He’s probably really fat right now too,” He snickered. Beatrix giggled at the offensive joke, it felt good to finally not be the butt of the joke. 

“Follow me, I always know how to find him, “ Bartholomew puffed his chest and turned to lead the way. Yolanda and Beatrix followed right behind him. 

“Do you know this guy?” Beatrix asked her. 

She shook her head, “No, but we see him all the time. We like to watch him during the hot season and when the Long Night season starts we like to bug him in his sleep,” She chuckled. 

“Last Long Night season we spent the whole time digging a pit in front of his den, and when the Flower season came, we went to his den and saw him fall into it,” Bartholomew laughed. Yolanda giggled at the memory and Beatrix laughed at the thought, even though he didn’t really know how to imagine an owlbear falling into a pit. 

They walked through bushes of orange and yellow leaves, the ground was covered in pine needles and crunchy leaves. There were many holes in the ground, he could smell snakes and squirrels burrowing in the ground. He saw a light brown squirrel begin shedding into white fur as it climbed up a tree. In its mouth was an orange tinted mushroom, once it was up high it stopped and went to the end of a long branch. It took the mushroom into its paws and jabbed it onto the tip of the branch. 

Beatrix was amazed by all the new creatures he saw, he was looking at the shriveling leaves and the over-ripe berries. His foot slipped into a hole with a THUD and he OOF’ed. Underneath the leaves and needles was a nest of young Al-Mi’raj. Five little rabbit looking babies stared up at the three of them. They had the body of a skinny bunny, and each of them had one long, sharp hone jutting out of their forehead. 

“Awww! They’re so cute!” Yolanda cooed. She walked up to them and pushed her nose close to them. 

“Why are they in the middle of the trail?” Beatrix asked. 

“This isn’t technically our “trail”. This is just the path me and Yolanda take,” Bartholomew said. 

Everyone’s ears perked up and they turned their heads. There was a strange noise in the bushes. It sounded like an extremely high pitched whining pig, and sort of like a kitten. 

Bartholomew licked his snaggle tooth, scouring his mind for what that noise could be. His mind went blank for a moment, until… “Guys, we need to get out of here!” He yelled, a startled look appeared on everyone’s faces as they turned around to run. 

Beatrix felt uncomfortable running through the unknown of the forest. He followed behind Bartholomew and Yolanda, his legs launching himself farther and farther with each stride, his panting was heavy and his tongue sweat like a pig in the sun. His blood was hot and his head felt empty, like his body was moving, but he wasn’t telling it to. 

Drip

Drop

Droop

Beatrix felt a cold splash of water dab on his nose, then on his ears, then it started to pour. Beatrix never noticed how dark it was becoming while they were walking, but now the sun was cast away by dark, angry clouds, and rain drenched his coat. He stared up into the sky, not gray, but black, it was like that night. The scene of him running away from his home, his home being destroyed, it all flooded his mind and he couldn’t take his eyes off of the terrifying sky. 

“There he is!” Yolanda shouted from a little ways away, “Beatrix, come on!”

“What are you staring at?” Bartholomew yowled over the ground breaking sound of the rain, “Beatrix! Watch ou-”

BOOF!

Bartholomew got up after Beatrix rammed into his chest, making them both topple over. But Beatrix had yet to make a move. The rain was as cold as a corpse, frozen in the mountains. Thunder crackled and taunted them, the lighting shone brightly in front of them, it watched in amusement as they jumped and yelped. 

“Beatrix, we have to go!” Bartholomew shouted in his ear. He got no response, “Wake up! We need to get back to camp!” His voice was angry and impatient. He bit Beatrix’s arms and dragged them away from his face. 

His angry expression froze for a moment, suddenly he couldn’t feel the rain, he didn’t feel cold. All he could feel was a deep ache in his heart, one he had never felt before. His heart was dragging down deep into the bottom of his chest. He could hear his pulse in his ears. His expression was no longer angry, but worried and sorry. 

Beatrix lay in the mud that was beginning to form a puddle, he was shaking violently and his eyes were shut tight. His whole body was drenched in ice cold rain and his tail had lost all of its warmth. Boiling hot tears swept down his face, he cried and whimpered. 

“What are you doing?” Yolanda screamed as she ran to Beatrix, “Why’ed you bite his arms so hard!” She whipped his head around and snarled at Bartholomew, “He’s bleeding! What’s wrong with you?” She scampered to Beatrix's aid, licking his wounds and warming his face with her own. 

“I didn’t mean to,” Bartholomew mumbled, stunned at his own actions. He walked over and maneuvered himself underneath Beatrix. He let out a heavy breath that made steam in the cold air, then he pushed himself up with Beatrix on his back. The two of them trudged through thick mud and dodged around frantic wolpertingers and squirrels. 

They heaved themselves all the way back to camp, the distance was short, but their muscles were screaming from the effort. 

“They’re here!” A voice shouted. Suddenly there was a swarm of catoblepas in front of them. 

“Move! Give them space!” Blaine’s voice boomed from behind the crowd. 

“Everyone, go to your dens! It is too cold out! There is no need for everyone to get sick!” Daenerys called. She and Blaine walked through the gap people were making as they all started leaving. 

Blaine gave them a stern look, “Come on, we’ll discuss this in my den,” He growled. Daenerys looked at Beatrix with pity in her eyes, she gave Bartholomew a disapproving look.

They got into the den and Bartholomew laid Beatrix in Daenerys’s bed. He was out cold, shivering and teeth clattering. Daenerys cuddled into the bed behind him and wrapped him in her warmth, her damp purple mane seemed to swallow him. Suddenly there the room was filled with the sound of purring. 

No one spoke for a long time, no one knew what to say. Bartholomew licked his tooth and bit his upper lip. Yolanda looked like a wet rat, furious like she had been rejected by the best hunter in the herd. 

“What were you three doing?” Daenerys was the first to speak. 

“We were showing him the forest,” Yolanda said. 

“In the rain?” Blaine raised an eyebrow. They stared at each other for a moment.

“It wasn’t raining when we left, but we got scared, and we didn’t realize the sky was getting dark,” Yolanda sputtered out. 

“Hm…” Is all that came from Blaine. 

“You two know better than to go out without telling anyone,” Daenerys sighed. 

“What’s going on?” Beatrix yawned, his head still dizzy. 

“Nothing. You and Yolanda are free to go,” Blaine stated, “Bartholomew, you stay here,” He glared into Bartholomew's angry green eyes.

Beatrix got up from Daenerys’ bed and followed Yolanda outside. It was still raining hard, like frozen water trickling off of the tip of an iceberg. He shivered and shook his coat, water came out of his ears and splashed Yolanda.

“What are we doing now?” He asked. She seemed to be off in her own world because she did not answer him. It was very still in his mind, the constant thumping of heavy rain almost put him to sleep standing. 

“It’s cold,” Yolanda said, “Let’s just go to our den,” She spoke softly, he couldn’t tell if she was even talking to him. She padded away and he followed behind.

The den was filled with all the tenderfoots in camp, everyone was laying on one another to keep warm. Yolanda joined the bottom of the pile and motioned for Beatrix to come lay with her. He curled up into a third of his size and wrapped his long tail around his body and tucked it under his chin. 

Beatrix noticed that Duvessa was right next to him and Yolanda, he looked at her as she seemed to be dreaming, but her eyes darted open like she could feel him watching her. Beatrix snapped his eyes away from her direction and braced himself for her insults. She rolled her eyes and grumbled something before turning her head away and closing her eyes once again.