get the feeling of his son's head giving way under his blow, out of his mind. How could anyone stand to look at him now? He had killed male deer who did less than what he had just done. Did he deserve better? The wind blew in the trees that night and it rained heavily. Normally he would seek shelter to get out of the storm. He did not do that this night. He lay soaking wet and alone. He got no sleep at all that night. It was toward first light when he heard someone behind him. He smelled Claris and she was alone. She came up and quietly lay down next to him.

"You should go," he told her. "I am not fit company for anyone."

"I will be the judge of that," she said softly.

"Carie told us what happened about the fawn," Claris told him with her smooth voice. "There was nothing else you could have done except let the scavengers have the fawn. At least he did not suffer much. I do not think anyone blames you; not even Carie. I certainly do not."

He leaned over and nuzzled her on the side of the neck. "I am getting too old for any of this," he said still with a tight lump in his throat. "Maybe it would be best if I just left and turned the herd over to Balo. I am starting to feel useless here."

"No, Stranger, you are not useless. You have trained the children to follow you, and they will. They will train the others that come after them. You have done good things in the forest. Everyone can see that except you. I have seen you look sad lately. I know you feel you are getting old, but old does not mean useless."

"I wish I could believe that," he said. He put his head on the ground and closed his eyes.

"For now sleep," Claris told him. "You will feel better. Later we can go to the meadow and feed."

"I could not do that," he said cringing. "How can the herd look at me after they know what I have done?"

Claris nuzzled his neck "The herd will look at you as the herd leader who had to do a hard thing, yet still did it even through it hurt him badly. Now sleep and know I still care deeply for you."

He relaxed as Claris put her body close to him. It still made him feel warm inside. He slowly drifted off to sleep.

They woke as the greater light was setting. After empting themselves in the forest they ate and then walked toward the Man path forest. As he looked out at the short distance between his forest and the Man path forest as he thought about what he do next. He looked at Claris standing silently behind him.

"You know I could just walk out of this forest and into that forest and just keep walking. No one would ever hear from me again. Balo would be herd leader, and I would not have to look at my herd and try to explain what I have done. It would be better for everyone."

"No it would not," Caris said harshly. "Your children and Bambi would wonder what happened to you and would come after you. Despite what you think, they still care for you as do I. That is one reason why you will not go. The other and greater reason is because you are herd leader, and you will continue to be herd leader until you give it up, or die doing it. I have known that since the time we met. In all that time you have always tried to do the right thing, just like today."

He nodded, no matter how much he wanted to lose himself in the wide forest; he could not lose himself from himself. "So then what do I do?" he asked.

"You come with me and we walk back into the meadow. There is no Man around. We will walk over to the herd and they will still follow you."

Claris slowly walked over to him and nipped his tale like she would in the old days when they were still young. She then walked past him and walked to the edge of the forest. She walked into the meadow just across from the Man cave. She stopped and looked back to him.

"You are coming," she told him almost as an order.

He slowly walked out onto the meadow behind her not knowing how the others would treat him. As he walked down the length of the meadow he could see the other deer of the herd in front of him. About him he saw doe with one or two fawns. They were a couple of doe without fawns. Claris had not been the only one to lose a fawn in the herd. He walked out and stayed away from the others and just ate some more in peace. Claris ate beside him. It did not take much to fill him and afterwards he drank in the small stream running through the meadow. After he was done he saw several deer walking toward him. When they got several lengths away Bambi motioned for the others to stop and he and Faline came forward. He really did not feel like talking to anyone. They stopped and both Bambi and Faline looked at him with sympathy and compassion.

"I have no idea how you feel," Bambi said in a low respectful voice. "I am thankful I never had to make that decision. This may not mean much to you now, but no one blames you for this. You were faced with choice no deer should have to make and you chose the best you could. I admire that you had the courage to do that. I can only hope I would have had the courage to do something like that if I had to."

"I sincerely hope you or anyone else in this herd never has to make that decision," he told him.

"Your family would speak to you," Bambi said. "They see how this has torn at you and they want to help."

He did not want any help. He wanted no reminder of what had happened. Despite what Claris said, he felt like an outsider again like the first day he walked onto the meadow all those seasons ago. He wanted to speak to no one about this.

"No, my friend, I do not want to speak with them about this," he said. "Not tonight and not ever again do I want to speak about this. Tell my family that I never want to speak of this again," he told Bambi and moved away from all of them. He walked slowly back to the edge of the forest and disappeared into the trees. Only then did he feel better.

Chapter 2: Announcements

He came out of the woods several days later as close to normal as he could be. It had taken him a while to finally accept the idea that what he had done was necessary. Claris was right. What had convinced to return him was that he was still herd leader and although the herd did not need a leader at this time, he was still responsible for them; at least for now. That was going to change. He came out onto the meadow with the herd and saw the others there. He saw Bambi and Faline eating next to Claris. Carie was eating next to her son, Stelar and Karene. For now he only wanted to talk to those four, they rest he would tell later.

He walked over to Bambi, Faline and Claris who stopped eating. "I like to talk to all of you and Carie, when you finish eating," he said to them in a low voice.

All nodded silently. He next went over the Carie and repeated the message. She also agreed. He was leaving when Stuben spoke up.

"Father," Stuben said to him.

He turned and looked into his son's brown eyes which were almost on a level with his. By the time next season came around, he be as tall or even taller than him.

"Father, I know you wish to be alone, but Mother has explained what happened. I just wanted to let you know, I think you did the right thing. We all do. I am just sorry it had to be done and I can see how much it has hurt you inside. I wish I could be of more help."

A lump formed in his throat, for he knew his son meant what he said. "You already have helped, my Son, and I thank you and your mother for that."

With that he walked away feeling better than he had for days. It made what he was going to say easier. He went out into the middle of the meadow and continued to eat alone until he noticed the others coming up to him. He waited until they were all there before he bowed his head slightly.

"Thank you for coming,' he started. "I am going to call a gathering of the herd soon. When I do I am going to announce that I am giving up being herd leader. I will ask the herd to accept Balo as the new herd leader. It is time I step away from this and let a younger male lead."

"Stranger, if this has anything to do with our fawn, do not do this. I was angry at the time, but I know you did the right thing," Carie told him.

"Thank you," he said to her, but this has more to do with my age than anything else. Like Bambi did with Gorro, I rather give it to someone I trust than have some young male fight and beat me for it."

"You are not that old," Bambi said. "Other than Balo and maybe Stabo, I doubt any male could take this herd from you."

"Thank you, my friend, but age is catching up with me. It is time someone else lead. If there are problems, both Bambi and I will be here to help, at least for a while. The others are almost ready to take over themselves so this forest and the Man path forest will be well lead without us. There is not much more I can do here."

"I do not believe that," Claris told him. "I have seen you too many time do things that I thought could not be done, and yet you did them."

"I have done all that I could do," he answered. "Both Bambi and I knew that the young deer we trained this time would most likely be our last. That is why we trained so many of them. I can only hope what they learned will be passed on to others."

"So you will tell the herd that Balo is now leader?" Carie asked.

"No!" he said empathically. "I will tell the herd that I am giving up the leadership and that I think Balo should lead in my place. The choice belongs to the herd. They must decide who will lead them."

"And suppose someone

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