they were far enough away that he could not be overheard he stopped.

"What is wrong?" Claris asked. Had he become that obvious to her?

He stopped and tried to speak, but as always struggled to find the right words. "You know it is hard sometime for me to talk about things close to me."

"You do not have to speak," Claris said with a grin. "I already know what you feel."

"Well there is something else you must know, and I feel I must tell you now," he said then took a deep breath. "Claris, I have never been with a doe like you. I have never felt for a doe the way I feel about you. When the Season comes, I want you to be with me."

She smiled and started to answer, but he stopped her. "Before you answer there are things you must know. When the Season starts, Man will be back with his killing sticks. When man comes, he always tries to kill the largest male deer. That means Bambi, Ronno, some of the larger herd males and it also means me."

The green eyes dimmed as Claris realized what he had just said. "No," she muttered and rubbed him affectionately on the neck.

He did not return the feeling. "Yes me," he continued. "So far, I have been wise enough not to be hit and die. Bambi is the same way. What I do not know is how long that will last. I want to spend my life here with you. What I do not know is how long that life will last."

Claris pulled away and looked at him with those green eyes almost sparkling. "No one knows that," she went on. "As long as you live, I want to be with you."

That was the first thing he wanted to say, now for the harder part. "You also know that like Bambi I will do things like I have done before with the Man caves and the Man animals. I do these things because with what I have learned among Man, it allows me to understand better what needs to be done. I will not stop doing that."

"No, you will not," she repeated calmly. "You and Bambi are different, yet you are both the same this way. I know what may happen and so does Faline. We talk about it when you two are not around. We both know one day neither of you may be here. Until that day I will be here with you, and Faline will be here with Bambi."

She already knew. How silly of him to think he was the only one with such thoughts. In that moment he realized for the first time that Claris may be stronger on the inside than he was. He still wanted an answer from her. "When the Season comes, will you come with me?"

"Of course," she said and licked his face. He did the same thing. For a few seconds he wanted her now, but it was not yet time. After a long while nuzzling each other he lay against the side of a down tree that supported his head. Claris could then lay against him with her head against his neck. In that moment he realized just how much he wanted her.

Later on just after dark they came back. Both Bambi and Faline were lying outside their cave together with Veron lying next to his mother.

"Have you heard anything more from the meadow?" he asked Bambi."

Bambi did not bother to get up. "Just some noise when the greater light was setting and then nothing. No more noise from the killing sticks."

"Maybe they are gone," he said looking to the meadow. "After dark we should look."

"I was thinking the same thing," Bambi answered. He lay down near Bambi and Faline. Claris lay next to him. It was like they were one family.

The two of them went back alone to the same place as the previous night. They could see from their hiding spot the light was gone. The man cave had vanished and there was no more scent of Man or his dogs on the meadow. It was safe to use the meadow again at night. As he turned to go back to the clearing, Bambi stopped him.

"I saw when you got back today with Claris, you both seemed different and more relaxed. Did you talk with her?"

"Yes, it was time we had a talk. There were things I wanted her to know," he said. Even though it was night he could still feel those two black eyes almost burning through him.

"May I ask what you talked about?" Bambi said. Normally he be put off by the question but he felt Bambi was asking for a reason, so he told him, everything.

"Good, I have known for some time you two would stay together like Faline and me. I am also glad you told her about what you want to do and what may happen because of it. Now I have something to ask of you."

With that Bambi turned away and looked almost like he did while trying to ask something he was not sure how to do. Then he turned and spoke in a low voice. "Like you, I talked with Faline when we first came together. I told her what my duties were with the herd and what may happen because of them."

Bambi seem to swallow hard, this was not like him. He was worried and he was showing that worry to him. Then he looked him straight in the eye and said with some hesitation, "If it is me lying dead in the meadow, I want you to do two things for me."

"Bambi, I do not think . . ." He started to say,

"Stop!" Bambi ordered. "Let me finish."

He then seemed to gather his strength before he went on. "I want you to look after Faline. I do not think she will need protection, but I want someone to protect her especially from the fools like Kragus. Will you do that?"

"Of course," he answered firmly. "I will gladly look after her. However if it is me lying dead in the meadow, I want you to do the same for Claris. I do not want her living without a friend."

"Of course I will," Bambi answered. "Now the next and hardest thing I want you to do. If I am dead, I want you to be the herd leader until my son Geno is old enough to take my place."

For one of the few times in his life he was stunned silent. Bambi wanted him to be herd leader? Him the deer everyone wanted nothing to do with. "Bambi everyone runs away from me, you want me to be leader, why?"

Bambi walked up to him and rubbed his side, "Because Faline is correct when she says you and I are mostly the same. I also trust you and your knowledge to do the right thing. Ronno, while big and strong, is not that wise. Many of the others just do not know how."

He did not know whether to laugh or weep. He felt his throat tighten and his body shake. For one of the few times in his life, he felt fear at what might come. "Are you sure, my friend?" was all he was able to say.

"Yes, I am sure, my friend," Bambi answered, and again looked at him with those piercing back eyes.

They walked silently back to Bambi's cave. Bambi called the herd to the meadow to feed. He found he had no appetite. All he could think about was what Bambi had asked him. He wondered if he was wise enough to lead the herd. He hoped he never have to find out.

It was then he realized he was standing with only Claris next to him. She was looking at him with a look of concern in her eyes. "What happened out there?" she wanted to know. "You look in pain."

After making sure no one could hear them, he told her what Bambi has asked.

She looked at him in disbelief. "What will you do?" she asked.

"I will do the best I can," he said simply and walked toward the meadow.

Chapter 6: The Hunt

The days got shorter. The grass did not seem to grow as quickly, and there was a chill in the air at night. All were signs of winter approaching. He saw that both he and Claris had enough muscle and fat on them that they could easily survive the winter unless it became very very cold. Most of the deer had put on enough weight to make it through the hard times. One thing about this herd, there were no old deer here. He had asked Bambi about this and he was told that those few older deer that survived the fire and the hunting by Man in the old forest had decided to stay there. Some of the younger deer born right after the fire had also remained there like Bambi's son Geno and his daughter Gurri. Bambi and many of the other deer had come here because the old forest could not support that many deer after the fire. The old forest was just down the stream less than a day's walk from the big meadow. During the summer, both Bambi and Faline had gone to visit their children.

He had finally stripped the last of the velvet away from his antlers. When he did Claris came up to him and looked at him. He could see the pleasure in her eyes. "You have a wonderful rack," she told him. "It is as big as Bambi's."

Somehow that comment was pleasing and yet he felt bothered by it. He did not want to be compared to anyone. Little Veron was no longer so little and was spending more and more time away from his parents and with other fawns of his age. He was asking all sorts of questions. The one thing all of them tried to teach him was that he was never to go into the meadow without one of them being with him. That lesson was being taught to all fawns by their mothers. The fawns still did not understand what the presence of Man meant. Soon they would all know.

One evening after eating on the meadow, they walked back to the cave as normal. As he walked across the stream he was suddenly hit with a powerful scent from a doe. Only it was not Claris, it was Faline. He stopped and looked at her. For a second he felt the urge to go over and have Faline much like he had Claris. He stopped himself and looked up right into the black piercing eyes of Bambi who was looking at Claris the same way. He knew Bambi was feeling the same as he. In the other deer herds he had been in there were males who were close friends, yet would argue and fight with each other at

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