your herd. I shall leave now. Goodbye, Miss Faline.” He turned to go and bounded off into the bushes, only leaving a few shaking branches behind, but hardly making any sound. Faline stared after him.

“Take care,” she whispered before turning to go back to her herd.

Primel

“We arrive here, and now, our home is destroyed again!”

“Luag, calm down!” The grey doe desperately followed her brother’s angry pacing and tried to stop him in his tracks, but he just avoided her and trotted on. He seemed to ignore his little sister completely. She had trouble to keep up with his pace.

“Brother!”

Still no reaction.

“Luag, we are fine! Come on, the herd needs you!” Primel cried out.

This made the stag turn, anger burning in his steel-like eyes.

“We are fine!? We are FINE?!” he yelled. Primel winced in shock and stumbled backwards a few steps, her eyes widening. Luag just looked at her, his body tensed, his chest rising and falling very quickly. For a few moments, the siblings stared at one another, until Luag turned away and continued his pacing.

“The herd wanted me to protect them, and now look what happened. I led them to a forest where a fire happened soon after. Two-Leaf and her fawn are dead, and we don’t know if Blackfoot will ever recover!”His voice altered between despair, anger and pure grief. Primel’s ears lowered as she gave him a sympathetic look.

“But there’s no way you could have known…”

“That doesn’t matter!”

Primel stopped following him and lowered her head, shaking it lightly. Her eyes were full of worry as she looked up again. Luag had stopped in his tracks, looking at her. For a moment, the two siblings’ gazes locked, they kept eye contact for a while.

Turning away from Primel’s soft gaze, Luag sighed and said; “I will go look after the herd. Be safe, sister.”

Primel looked after him as he disappeared into the undergrowth, out of her view, and sighed once again. Why did he have to put up with this? Her brother was a good buck, he didn’t deserve all those problems.

With soft steps, carefully moving her legs, she walked off into another direction to examine their new territory. It was another area of the forest, higher up towards the mountains. The tree line where the fire had stopped destroying their home was clearly visible, but behind it, the trees were still tall and healthy. They still had bare branches, but that was because of the season. It was fall.

This area was beautiful, but yet more dangerous than the destroyed part of the forest. With being so close to the mountains, they had also increased the possibility of having a run-in with a mountain lion. This was not good, knowing that many does would fawn in spring, but it was a risk they had to take.

But Primel thought that it wasn’t even sure if the does would have fawns. The stress or accidents while escaping could have very well caused them to lose their offspring or to have stillborns. That was something Primel wished no doe.

She herself wasn’t pregnant, but if she had a fawn, she was sure losing it would destroy her.

Slowly, the doe ducked a low branch and stopped, listening to the voices of the forest. Her twitching ears caught the quiet rippling of a stream, and a smile spread over her features. She followed the sound, and eventually reached the moving body of water.

The grey doe gently approached the stream and looked at it. It was barely enlightened, as the canopy stopped most of the moonlight from shining down, but thin silver strands still made it past the leaves and fell on the water, which reflected it and sparkled in the dark. Primel smiled; the view was beautiful.

She gracefully lowered her head and began to drink in careful sips. The water was clear and cooled her throat. She gently breathed against it, making it curl even more. She giggled a little, and eventually raised her head again.

But she soon noticed she wasn’t alone.

A soft, startled cry escaped her lips and she jumped backwards. She could hardly recognize the stranger in the dark. She could see four points and a not as muscular build, though the buck wasn’t sickly or anything either. He was young, she could tell.

His voice made her recognize him.

“I’m sorry if I startled you.”

“Oh, it’s you, Prince Bambi,” Primel sighed in relief and smiled a little, though her eyes became a little sadder when she remembered her thought of the last evening.

She heard Bambi chuckle and, soon after that, quiet splashing as he carefully walked through the stream. His body moved closer to his as he jumped up the bank of the stream. She felt him approach, and it send shivers down her spine.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after you disappeared yesterday. Are you alright?” Bambi asked and looked at her. Primel swayed her head a little.

“My brother and I am fine. But my herd has had losses, a doe and her fawn, a childhood friend of my brother. And a buck of ours is hurt…we don’t know if he’ll survive,” she answered honestly, but did not dare to look him in the eye.

“Oh…I’m sorry to hear that,” Bambi replied.

Primel just sighed and turned to walk away. But other than she had thought, Bambi immediately followed her and walked casually by her side. She turned her face away, pretending to look at the leaves reflecting the moonlight or at the rustling ferns. Bambi talked, and she listened, but she didn’t reply.

“Why did you go away yesterday?”

That question brought her back to reality. Her head snapped up and she caught his gaze for a moment, but then, she looked away again. She had seen everything she needed to. Those worried, red eyes, those handsome features, that friendly smile.

“Oh…I needed to check on the herd members. My brother is the leader, after all.”

It was a lie. She hadn’t talked to a single of them, she had just walked around aimlessly, looking at the miserable animals who were in grief, the happy reunions and the still hoping faces. That had made her hope and give up at the same time.

“Oh, okay”, Bambi said. “And how do you like it here?”

She answered, and they kept on talking for a while. Primel considered asking about the doe, but in the end, she didn’t. She wanted to avoid bringing that topic up, afraid that it might make him suspicious. And the doe was gone, after all, whoever she was and whatever had been between her and Bambi.

Maybe it was better not to know.