else:

"Uh-huh. Mother says so. I remember this one time Mother and I were out on the meadow and this fawn came up to me and wanted to play and..."

"Bambi." He quietly snapped, ceasing my speech immediately. "I think it is best to leave the past in the past. A prince does not look back. Only ahead."

I thought about what he said for a second and realised that the mention of Mother was hurting him inside (as it did with me) and the pain would only go away if he let her go altogether. Inside, I was also feeling a little sick thinking about her because of how much I missed her, so I took my Father's words as gospel and agreed with him that I needed to put it out of mind.

We then continued on to cover more ground in the late spring snowy woods.

We went through a few areas of the forest that I had not previously seen before, including visiting several other open areas where the deer had been known to roam. I got the impression that while I had seen most of the forest growing up, it was a very large area and there was only so much to see. 

Now that I was with the Great Prince and he knew every area of the forest, I would possibly be heading on a journey of greater discovery.

But what I also admired was his wisdom and courage - certain elements that I also saw in Mother, which, I was sure, she had learned from her very mate, and what she had taught me to be.

They are certainly traits of the Royal bloodline, and it sure was important for me to learn them and continue the legacy.

That is probably why, through the grief and sorrow, an opportunity to learn great things was about to open up, and it gave me a chance to refresh my mind.

As we were walking further through the forest, I walked through a deep, thick coverage of snow that I could not keep even my head under, resulting in my whole body getting 'whitened out'. Even so, I eventually got to normal thin coverage once again, where after shaking the snow off, I found Thumper clinging onto my back leg. It was a pleasant surprise and good to see him again because we had not done so since that first day of winter a while back. 

He explained that he had been hiding from his sisters because they were pestering him to take them to see the groundhog, where on this particular day in late winter was the annual event where the groundhog emerges from winter slumber to observe whether he sees his shadow or not. If he does, it means more winter, and if not, spring would soon be on its way. It was quite a popular event here in the forest and other animals were also going to be there. To be honest, I wanted to attend as well, but I also wanted to stay with my father and let him show me the forest. I also realised that he would not like it if I slowed down behind him.

To his own annoyance, Thumper's sisters eventually did find him, and, along with his mother, convinced him to take them to the groundhog. I, on the other hand, got a call from the Great Prince to keep up with him, so I left my friends to do their business.

But I had further trouble keeping up with the stag because he was ascending a long, steep and slippery wall and I kept slipping backwards. His hooves were big enough for him to dig in and grip so that he could ascend fine, but my little hooves could not yet handle it. He saw this and gave in to let me go and see the groundhog with my friends because he told me that the South Meadow was very far and that it would be harder for me to keep up. To this day I think that he was just saying that to convince me to leave him be, but I still obliged all the same just to keep him satisfied. I really did not want to disappoint him in that sense because he seemed as intimidating as he was strong and wise.

So I eventually joined Thumper again along with his sisters and even Flower, who we convinced to awaken to see the special event. Faline also came along, so it was wonderful to see her again as well, because, not that I knew much then, I was actually beginning to fall in love with her.

Thumper seemed pleased that my dad 'let' me come, but I only let him know what he probably wanted to hear about my dad and I being close - not entirely true at that point - because I did not want to create a bad impression in front of my friends about personal issues. Not on this day, at least.

Anyway, the groundhog eventually emerged and he did not end up seeing his shadow, which was because of the luck of a cloud covering up the sun and causing shading at that very moment. The result of spring approaching caused rapture among the animals and they began singing a traditional spring song, much to the irritation of Friend Owl. Old and wise, yes, but also a bit of an old grump!

Almost immediately afterwards, I met my rival for the first time.

To our disappointment after the celebration of the occasion, the groundhog was suddenly scared back into his hole after a crude prank from an emerging slightly older fawn that me. His antlers had already begun to come through and he had no spots on his back, unlike me as yet. He found what he had just done very amusing and wanted to show it off to everyone, but we had no interest and walked away, still feeling the disappointment of the special day being ruined.

He stopped us short and introduced himself to us as Ronno. He then advised us not to head in the direction we were walking as he himself had seen Man. We were all surprised and intrigued by this, and he then rambled a far-fetched story about how he had been in the meadow and heard a voice luring him in, only for the fawn to sneak up and 'knock him out' with his antlers. I certainly believed it, but Faline knew that he was making it all up. As ironic as it sounds, I did say 'unbelievable' to him. He then took it literally and said that I was calling him a liar. I tried to debate that, but he challenged me to a spar. He even mocked my name as it sounded feminine to him. I then took a dislike to his ego, as did everyone else, I am sure. 

I just never understood how anyone in the forest could act like this after everyone else in this environment got along so well. I knew that it was important for the animals of the forest to co-exist so that we would be able to work together to defend ourselves from Man and live peaceful lives. That would completely compromise were it to be otherwise, and Ronno was a bad example in such a circumstance.

Conveniently, his mother showed up before he had a chance to fight me and called for him to come over, to which he obliged with irritation. I was glad because I was timid and semi-confidant and knew nothing better than running away in self-defence. I only hoped that he would keep his distance from me after that because he just had this evil arrogance that earns no respect. I am sure that everyone else felt the same.

My friends and other animals then left for their respective families to head home as it was getting dark. Faline and I exchanged one last pleasantry before she met with her mother to go home. That sight of a mother with her fawn broke my heart and made me think of my own mother again. Alone in that moment with everyone gone, I looked around the forest, hoping that mother was somehow still alive and would show up, but she didn't. I then gave in and headed back to a resting place near the Great Prince's den, where I lay and shut my eyes to go to sleep until my father would get back from his patrol. The thought of Mother still haunted my mind, and it would only continue in a more pleasant dream I had about happily reuniting with her, if only for a short time.

*

Cheating death

Having that dream about Mother seemed real enough for the fact that she was trying to voice some wisdom into me through my time of grief. She reminded me that everything in the forest has it's season where one thing falls but then another grows into something new and beautiful, and that her spirit was always there for me even if I could not see her. In a way, that gave me a sense of security and made me feel less lonely. Besides, I had my good friends to support me, as well as the whole forest since I was the Young Prince, so I never really was alone.

I didn't know it at the time, but she was trying to tell me that something good was about to come out of the ashes of this tragedy. That I was about to find out later.

By the time I woke up again, it was dusk and the sun was about to disappear, but that was far from what grabbed my attention. I had awoken to the sound of a voice very familiar calling from nearby. It was saying, 'hello', 'I'm here', and 'it's me'. It sounded a lot like Mother, and I got an immediate impression that she had survived and was calling for me to come. Excited, I ran towards where the voice was coming from, very eager to see her dear face once again (no pun intended).

I ran for a short distance before I arrived at the edge of the forest before the meadow. There, the voice stopped for a short while, and I could see nothing except the open snowy white area with the sun setting over the horizon. Coming to the meadow brought back that painful memory of the previous day, and I really was not keen on coming here again as a result.

Still, I was desperate to see Mother again, so that drive kept me going.

The voice eventually sounded again with the same three phrases as before, and so I entered the meadow with great caution (remembering what Mother had taught me on staying vigilant about potential dangers) and followed it to a snowed-in rock, which was actually not too far from