something I will remember. Stay well bear. I hope to see you before The Season starts."

"If I am not with a female of my own kind," the bear said. "You will smell her and know."

With that the bear turned up the hill and vanished into the darkness. He moved quietly over by the spring and found lots of fresh grass uneaten by any animal because it was so close to the Man cave. He ate there and then took a long drink from the spring. The water from the spring tasted fresher to him than water from the stream. After he ate and drank his fill he went as deep in the forest as he could and still be able to see the Man cave. After empting himself, he lay down as the first light of the new day started to light the sky.

He slept for a while and soon he could hear Men coming out of the Man cave. They started a fire and started to burn other things on the fire that all the Men ate. Soon the small Men came out and started playing around the Man cave. Then they started playing with the small dog. They kept throwing a stick that the little dog would pick up and carry back. It was as the greater light was rising that the wind began blowing over his tail. Soon afterward the little dog started to run away from the Man cave and toward him. One of the small Men ran after him. He had no fear of one dog that size or the small Man, so he stayed in place and watched the small dog run toward him. The little dog came into the same clearing as he was and stopped. The little dog started barking at him.

"Here, Here," the little brown dog barked just like the larger dogs that hunted them. He stood still. The little dog made no attempt to try and attack him. He was far too big, but it did make a lot of noise. He saw the small Man run toward him. It looked like a small doe fawn to him. It came into the same clearing as him and the dog. The fawn looked up at him standing there and backed up a step. The doe fawn was wearing an outer skin like all Men, but this one was a different color that he had not seen before. It was like a red, but not the same. He stood still. He felt no danger.

"Dar nar deeer," it said.

He wondered if it was asking if he was a deer. He nodded. The fawn came up and looked at him, but did not get too close. This Man fawn did not look like she wanted to kill him. She was too small to carry a killing stick. She looked happy he was there. He put his head down until it was only as far about the ground as the Man fawn stood. She took a step closer and then another. She reached up with her small front hoof and touched him on the head. She rubbed her hoof on his face like she was a fawn of his own. The Man fawn seemed even happier. There was no desire to kill him in this creature.

"I am Stranger," he said to the doe Man fawn.

"Nee da Iane," she said calmly almost as if she understood him.

"Iane," he said out loud. "That is a pretty name. Is that your Mother and Father there?"

"Pa Pa," she said pointing to the Man cave.

He had no idea what that meant. It was funny, he never understood Man before, but he had only known the Men where he grew up. Those Men were not nearly as small as this Man doe fawn was.

He bent over again and again the Man fawn came up to him and this time tried to put her hoofs around his neck. For a moment he felt she was going to attack him and he started to pull back. Instead she pulled his face close to her and she rubbed her face against his. Just like a fawn would do. She liked him as strange as that sounded to him, she did like him. Why were not Men all like this?

"Iane," he heard one of the large Man doe call from near the Man cave

"Aye Aye," the doe fawn said and picked up the dog before running out back towards the Man cave. He watched her get close to the Man doe and then point with her front hoof toward where he was. Was that Man doe her mother? The Man doe called out something and soon a Man showed up and she pointed toward him. He decided then he had seen enough and went back into the deep forest and away from the Man cave.

He circled around the meadow and made his way back to his clearing. The greater light was high overhead before he got there. The others were already bedded down for the day. He did not want to disturb them so he lay by the small pond and slept until the greater light was down and darkness fell across the forest.

He met the others in the small clearing that night and after they fed, he told them the story. Almost none of them believed it. He had a hard time believing it too. Man was always the killer, yet this fawn did not want to kill him and in fact seemed glad to be with him.

I never heard of any Man who wanted to be friends with us." Balo said.

"Nor have I," he explained, "And yet there it was. She seemed to want to play with me," he told them. "I have no idea why. I thought all Men wanted to do was to kill us. This little Man doe did not want to. There was no desire to kill me or any animal in this doe fawn. She acted just like one of my own fawns."

"If that is the case Father" Stena asked, "What then makes Man change?"

"I wish I knew," he muttered.

Chapter 3: The New Deer

It was two nights after the Man family left that they first appeared on the meadow. At first he did not notice them but as they ate he noticed Balo paying attention to a small group of deer eating on the meadow about half way to the Man cave. There were two males and several females. The light breeze was blowing across the meadow so he could not get a scent on them, but they did not look familiar. Soon others started to notice them and shy away from them. Finally Marco, a three year old male, came over to him with Balo and Duro just behind him.

"Stranger, do you know who those deer are?" Marco asked politely.

"No," he had to admit. "They are strangers. I do not think they are from the Man path forest either."

"They look a little thin," Duro added. "Could they be from Bambi's old forest?"

"They do not look familiar," he said studying them closely. Duro was right both males and the females looked thin and there were no fawns which at this time of year; that was unusual. Something was not right here. By now the rest of the herd was gathering around them.

"One way to find out," he said out loud. "Balo, please come with me, the rest of you stay here."

With that he walked slowly toward the group of deer. Balo was behind him looking intently. "Do you expect trouble?" Balo asked.

"A herd leader should always expect trouble," he answered. "The males do not look old enough or heavy enough to fight us. Approach closely and use your nose. Smell for sickness. If they are sick, I do not want them near our herd."

"Understood," Balo said and walked behind him.

As they approached the doe stopped eating and stood behind the two males who came forward. He got within several lengths of the larger male and stopped and turned to face him.

"I am called Stranger and this is Balo. We are the herd leaders. May I ask who you are?"

The second male came forward. They looked nervous, even a bit afraid. It was then he noticed it, there were scars on the smaller male's flank, old scars. Some male had slashed his side with antlers some time ago. The first male looked scarred in his front as if in a fight during the last Season. Both males started to turn and walk away.

"Stop!" he ordered. "I will not harm you as long as you do not try and harm my herd. I can see you are thin and you have been in fights. I will not fight you unless you force me too. Now please tell me your names?"

The deer looked among each other not seeming to know what to do. Finally the larger one stepped forward. "I am Relno," the bigger male said in a meek voice. "This is my younger brother Rasno. The females are Kelane, Kelris, Lacine, Nalene, and Geran. We have come to seek shelter from our old forest. We are hungry and food is not as abundant in our old forest as it is here."

"What forest do you come from?" he wanted to know.

The male pointed his nose toward the bear's den. "Over that hill is another forest. In that forest are many deer and not as much food. We came to find a better place to eat."

"That is understandable," he said looking them over. Again he wondered about the lack of fawns. He could clearly see some of the doe were nursing. "I do not see any of your fawns," he said.

"We were not sure we would be welcomed, so we left our fawns hidden," Relno said.

Balo walked up to him and whispered in his ear. "They seem safe enough and I do not smell any sickness, do you?"

"No," he said in a low voice. He then slowly walked over until he was within three lengths of Relno."Very well, you may stay here if you wish. If you want, you can join the herd here. In the meantime, please fill yourselves and feel free to eat with us. I recommend staying on this side of the meadow. Man sometimes visits the Man cave there and on the other side lives a large bear and he may go after your doe or fawns.

He could almost see the relief on the faces of all the deer. With that he turned around and walked back to his own herd. He called the older males together and any of the doe that were interested and explained the situation. No one seemed to care much. In this forest there was food enough for all.

They stayed on the meadow until he saw the first hint of the greater light and he called the heard away. Even the other deer left the meadow going back to their bedding areas. As he, Claris, Carie, Stuben, Balo, Stena and Delon left the meadow and

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