She should be happy that they had been luckier than her, and so, she forced herself to smile. “I’m happy for you. That’s great to hear.”

Ronno looked at her, his cold expression turning into a surprised one.

“Thanks.”

Aster nodded. Wishing to change the subject to get the mix of worry, fear and sadness inside her under control, she quickly spoke; “Where is your sister? I hope nothing happened to her.”

Ronno shook his head, his expression returning to normal again as well when they turned away from the odd moment. “Lakia’s fine. She should arrive here soon.”

Just as he had spoken, three more figures of deer entered the meadow, two of does, one of a buck. As they came into sight, and as Aster recognized Lakia, her smile turned even brighter. The brown doe frowned for a moment, but when she seemed to remember clearly as well, and returned the smile.

“Aster, was it?”

“Yes. I’m happy you found what you were looking for.”

“Thank you, we’re really happy, too.”

Aster could tell; the worry in Lakia’s eyes was gone, and was instead replaced with a light of joy and relief. She introduced Aster to her two companions, her and Ronno’s half sister Alba and their uncle, Maverick, the buck they had been looking for. Then, she told the two how they had met Aster. As she mentioned that Aster was looking for someone herself, Maverick’s tired eyes lit up with interest.

“And who, I may ask?”

“My brothers, Yury and Hiro, and our parents. They look mostly like me, some of them just lighter. We’ve lost each other some time ago, when we were attacked by man…they might be dead by now.” She tried to suppress the sadness in her voice, but to no avail. When she saw Lakia’s sympathy, she quickly looked away.

Maverick sighed sadly. “Unfortunately, I have never seen them before. I’m very sorry; I wished I could have helped you.” Alba looked at her uncle and smiled a little, but didn’t say a word, unlike her sister.

As Aster shook her head, indicating that it was okay, Lakia smiled kindly. “I’m sure you’re going to find them. We didn’t know if we would find Uncle Maverick either. We just knew we had to at least try.”

Aster thanked her with a smile. The small group talked for a little while longer, but eventually, Aster bade them farewell, wishing them good luck on their journey home, whereas Lakia wished her luck for finding her family.

To be honest, Aster just couldn’t take seeing them so happily together anymore, being so sure they would be welcomed at home soon. She wasn’t a mean doe and didn’t usually lean towards jealousy, but for her, it was just so unfair in that moment. They had a family waiting for them, their mother, and she had no one. How much she would loathe herself for those thoughts after learning of their mother’s death she didn’t know yet. It wasn’t as if she gave herself the fault, that would be silly, but still, she would feel bad about it.

She wandered through the forest on her own for quite a long time, thinking about everything and especially about her hopes to find her family again. They were small, very small, to be exact. So many months she had been looking, and still, she hadn’t found any sign that they were alive. She knew that it wouldn’t be long until she would seriously think about giving up, about finding herself another home and just move on. But just now, she couldn’t.

As deep in thoughts as she was, she didn’t notice that she was being followed. It wasn’t before a cracking branch, destroyed on purpose, as she later came to assume, caught her attention. Startled, she spun around, pricking up her ears and eying her surroundings intently. As she noticed the form of a buck coming closer, she relaxed, but her muscles tensed again instantly when she recognized him.

Great. Him. No, not Ronno, that other jerk that had been pestering her for two days now. She rolled her eyes as he approached her.

“You. What do you want?”

“What? Can’t I follow a doe that is just walking around on her own? You could get yourself in trouble,” he replied smoothly, smirking as he came closer and looked into her eyes. The doe snorted audibly.

“Believe me, I’m a big doe, I can deal with things myself just fine.”

In her old herd, she had always been one of the does most reluctant to giving in to the buck’s advances. And that hadn’t changed yet. She raised her head high and looked at the buck with a cold glance.

“Aw, but don’t you wish to have a strong buck by your side?” The words “Like me!” hung in the word unsaid, but it was obvious that that was what the buck tried to tell her. Another roll of her eyes, another snort.

“If you ask me like that…no!”

Flicking her tail, she walked right past him, not wishing to continue that conversation. It served no purpose, after all, and she had better things to do than to waste her time with someone like that. There were enough does in the forest he could choose as possible mates, why her?

But if she had expected him to give up so easily, then she had been wrong. Without hesitating one second, he ran before her and blocked her path. Raising his head, he gazed at her intently before speaking.

“You know, you’re a very beautiful doe. I would enjoy greatly if you agreed to be mine in this year’s rut.”

It was already summer, after all…The rut wasn’t before fall, of course, but it didn’t seem as if this buck wanted to wait to choose his mates. And that although his antlers were still covered in thick velvet…Aster shook her head with a grin.

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I won’t be here when the rut begins.”

This seemed to catch the buck by surprise. He stared at her for a moment, clearly dumbfounded. “What do you mean?”

“I’m looking for my family, and I’m leaving after getting some rest,” Aster explained before, once again, walking past the buck. But once again, he didn’t seem to want to let her get away so easily. He quickly walked up to her side.

“Maybe I can come with you.”

“No!” the doe snorted in irritation, and now it was her who stopped to gaze at the buck. She took a deep breath, just wanting to get over with this as quickly as possible. “Listen, I’m sure you’re a nice buck and all, but I’m not interested. There are plenty of does, go pick another one.”

And with that, she continued her walking, quickening her pace. This situation started to bother her more and more, and she didn’t like feeling uncomfortable like that in the least. But for a moment, it seemed she had finally lost him, just before he ran up to her and jumped right in her path, a wild yet determined look to his eyes.

“But I want you. I’m not letting you go away like that,” he told her with flattened ears. The doe rolled her eyes and sighed.

“You’re making this harder than it has to be. Let me go.”

One attempt to step around him and her path was already blocked again. And that was how the situation went on a few more times before eventually, Aster began to feel something different than irritation. Fear. Yes, she feared that this buck would really not let her go. When she tried to turn and get away this way, he just walked around her. Could he really be that determined to have her as his mate this year? Seemingly, he could.

Then, she tried it with shoving him out of the way, but that didn’t work, either. It didn’t seem as if he intended to hurt her, but he just used his body to keep her there as well. The doe grew more and more uncomfortable.

“Let me go!” she called, no longer trying to keep her voice calm.

Once again, she received a determined “No” as an answer.

“She said she wants you to let her go,” a third voice cut in all of sudden, making both the doe and the buck turn their head in surprise. Instantly, Aster widened her eyes, for none other than Ronno stood there and looked at them, especially the buck, through narrowed eyes.

Instantly, the other buck pinned his ears against his skull, tensing his muscles even more.

“Who says that?” he snarled.

“Me, obviously.” Ronno smirked, rolling his eyes and stepping closer, His muscles were tensed as well, but he hadn’t lowered his head, without possibility to use his antlers, this would make no sense, anyway.

“And who are you? Her brother or what?”

“Someone who heard that you’re unwanted here, so get away.” Ronno glared at the buck, which growled in return. Aster looked to the side as she heard the sound of more deer approaching, and saw Lakia, Alba and Maverick approaching.

“This is none of your business. Get lost!” the buck snapped at Ronno, who seemed rather unimpressed by this. He made a quick jump forward so he now stood between the buck and Aster, who still couldn’t quite understand what was happening.

Was this the buck that hadn’t wanted her to be around them just a few days before?

Ronno pushed the buck against the flank, causing him to stumble sideways for a bit before catching his balance again. He glared at the dark reddish buck and seemed to be ready to strike forward, but stopped when Maverick calmly walked up to his nephews side.

“Maybe you should leave.” His voice was calm yet determined.

The buck seemed to measure his chances. Maverick didn’t seem like much of an opponent,