The Ring and The Dagger: Memories of Ursalia

Anthem Two: Leaky Tents and A Bird's Cry

The sun was cloud covered as they set off into the dusky morning dew. The group was made up of three distinct clans of bears, each holding onto memories more precious than reality, each wondering whether their life would be as quick and easily snuffed as their friend's had been, and for some wondering what it would have been like to have known the deceased. As they walked past hills, valleys, through forests and finally the mountains that led to Uraslia, each bear pondered the meaning and futility of their existence, each looking to the next bend or turn in the road not daring to ask the questions that filled their brains.

And nobody, not even Ursa, mentioned or brought to attention the fact that Gusto was not there.

Where could he be? Zummi thought as they trudged through the murky path. This is important!

As they turned into the central valley where Ursalia once stood all the Glen Gummis gaped in horror. The Barbics just sighed and continued back towards the chaos that they were now used to calling Ursalia.

"My Gummi.." Zummi breathed.

Oh Gusto!!!

The Gummies who had been travelling in relative gloominess shrugged down even farther in their carts or on their feet as despair washed over them like a wet blanket. There would be no happiness, no sorrowful but happy memories of the good times. This passing, this death, was chaos..And the fury of it completely blurred the warmth of memory out of picture.

The picture had been blurred, there were no fine lines now. Now they knew why Ursa had been so full of rage, or how Buddi had barely spoken to anyone upon his arrival at the Glen. Now they knew.

Now they knew.

"By the Great Gummies..." Zummi breathed. "That one simple act of touching an object can bring about this destruction."

Gum help us...

-seperator-


The rain was bad..It continued for three days without stop and the bears all sat huddled under their tents to keep out the cold. Soon, a break came in the weather, and they all ate dinner from their packs around a hastily built fire and wondered what to do about Ursalia. Fix it? Leave it?

"Well," Gruffi said. "I'm not sitting around here. I'd better dig that grave now, before the rain starts again."

"Good idea," Ursa griped, looking pointedly away from him. "I'll go find you a shovel."

The air was tense for a moment, then Gritty got up from his place at the fire.

"I'll show you where he is..."

Gruffi nodded and got up, leaving a scowling Ursa digging through their bags. He wouldn't let it bother him, right now he had more important things to worry about. He kept wondering if he was crazy to volunteer for a job like this. It was bound to be brutal. Gritty lead him to a bear sized bundle of hastily wrapped cloth sitting on the ground. Four torches surrounded the body, traditionally, and Gruffi wondered what he himself would look like when he died.

"We didn't do the final wrapping. It was, just too hard..."

Gruffi nodded. He had heard from the others what shape exactly Thornberry's body had been in when they had found him, covered in rock, crushed, but none of their explanations could prepare him for what he saw.

One time, once, Gruffi had found a deer in the forest, dead, killed only for the rack of antlers on its head. The poor thing had been killed in the most horrible way, the hunters and surrounded it and chased it off of a cliff. The poor thing's skeleton had been completely shattered. Gruffi had gotten over his complete horror of the animal's condition and brought himself to bury the animal properly, sending its remains back to the soil where it came from. He knew that it would be damaging to feed the meat to wolves, because then they would learn to expect hand feeding rather than killing their food.

But what Gruffi saw under that blanket was uncomparable to the broken animal he had found before. Thornberry was nearly unidentifiable...The skull and facial bones had completely been shattered, the blood had left the body along time ago leaving it thin and hollow. Thornberry, was, to all intents and purposes, crushed, like an eggshell underfoot.

Gruffi felt a wave of nausea pass over him and he stepped back to grab a stone slab for support.

"Are you sure you can handle this? Maybe I should help..."

"No, no, you leave, just give me a second here and I'll be fine..."

"I'll go get the coffin we started building, its really nice, elegantly carved, beautiful..."

"Yes, you go.."

Gruffi couldn't speak anymore, because, like an animated ghost he had gone to the body, supplies in hand, and without thinking or feeling began the process of wrapping the old bear up in wrapping like a mummy. That was the way it was always done when the body was mangled..So that it would be easier to put into the coffin and for people to see and say goodbye too. It would be easier to, handle a wrapped body.

Gruffi padded in hollow spots here and their, carefully lifting the broken hands and wrapping them in soft cotton..All the while his face a mask of effort and concentration.

His mind, however, was in chaos, fighting against the finality that had snapped through his mind like a quick car shooting through the ground.

Thornberry was dead, and he wasn't coming back.

All the barriers finally broke down and he cried unrestrained. A strong hand on his shoulder alerted him to Gritty's appearance.

"Here, let me help you put him in the coffin."

Gruffi nodded numbly and the two of them lifted their broken burden into the cart.

"Thank you.."

"Hey," Gritty laughed. "Friends help friends, it is the Gummi way.."

Gusto laughed, finally, and watched the strong bear head back to the main fire. Looking down at the wooden coffin, Gruffi sighed.

Now comes the easy part..digging the darned hole.

Easier said than done. At about an hour into starting the rain, now a light sprinkling, started up again. But Gruffi had sent the other bears that had come to get him packing.

"I wanna get this done so that I can sleep with a clear conscience tonight..."

-seperator-


Back at the main fire, soaked, but still able to keep the flames alight, Ursa was sitting with Zummi looking into the dancing flames.

"He's so stubborn. He won't admit when he's wrong or incapable..."

"What makes you think he's incapable?" Zummi said


Ursa noted that he hadn't yet countered her argument about Gruffi being wrong or right. He was avoiding the issue.

"Its obvious that he's letting his personal feelings interrupt his logic. Look at how he fights with that bear..." that bear being Gusto. "They are obviously friends, he's only defending Gusto because of that."

"Oh you think so?" Zummi chuckled. "What makes you think they're friends?"

Ursa smiled smugly.

"Because, if Gusto were a woman they'd be just like me and Gritty, reversed, I'm like Gruffi and Gusto is like Gritty..and everything is so unpredictable..."

"I sense confusion in you," Delphi said, sitting beside them. "You obviously have some sort of romantic feelings for both male bears, or perhaps just one, that you will not admit to."

"I DO NOT!!" Ursa got up angrily.

Delphi just laughed into her hand and pointed at the fire.

"Do you think that if you admit your feelings to yourself that you will lose power over yourself, that you'll become weak? I think you already have. You attacked an unarmed bear out of anger and you've pitted him against the rest of us with your accusations. Nobody is even willing to argue because they are afraid of you."

"And YOU are not afraid of me?"

Delphi smiled, looked into the fire and sighed. Then she waved her hand in front of the fire, dousing it in a single gesture. She then relighted it with another effortless gesture.

"I have the ability to protect myself with magic, whereas others do not. You hold physical power, you're a fighter and you are a leader and people are afraid of you. But you are afraid of love."

"Afraid, I'm not afraid of anything!" Ursa was still a little stunned at Delphi's powerful magical display.

"Then why do you deny your feelings? You're afraid they will control you rather than you controlling them."

Ursa blinked, then turned away from her.

"At least I can get a man without having to dress myself up like a doll, I can be myself without the perfume and the obvious hair dye..."

Zummi and the other Gummies gasped but Delphi didn't blink an eye.

"Cheap shot...Coming from a woman who won't even admit she's in love..."

Ursa growled and stomped away from them.

"I'll show you! Gritty! GET OVER HERE!"

Gritty scrambled over to his leader and gasped.

"Yes..puff...Ur...puff...sa...gasp...What is it?"

For a moment, they thought Ursa had changed her mind, but she grabbed the bear in her arms and kissed him, passionately. Sunni covered Cubbi's eyes and the bear immediately pushed her hands away, staring wide eyed with a grin on his face. Delphi laughed, and said "Well that's one way of doing it," and Tummi blushed in embarrassment.

"Wow!" Gritty said when she finally let him go. "Can I have seconds?"

"Anytime you want," Ursa smiled. "Cause I love you yah big lug..."

Gritty blushed.

"Well, I love you too..Ursa...Ursa..Like, like Ursalia isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ursa sighed with a shrug. "So my full name is Ursalia...So?"

"Its so, feminine..."

"Hey! If you want me to kiss yah again you call me Ur-sa, clear?"

"Yes ma'am!"

There was laughter and friendship around the fire after that. Ursa and Delphi formed a truce and Cubbi chased Sunni around the fire saying "Kiss me! Kiss me!"

"EWWW CUBBI YOUR GROSS!!"

The laughter echoed into the night, fading past darkness into a nearby clearing where the only audible sound was the digging of a shovel.

-seperator-

The rain poured down in torrents. Gruffi had built a flood well to keep the grave from filling up. But now he was sitting in the mud taking a break at the bottom of the pit that was not yet deep enough to be a grave. If it was too shallow; rain could wash the coffin out. But if it was too deep then underground rivers could do the same.

Gruffi had heard laughter from the fire earlier, but hadn't joined them to figure out what the laughter was about. He was too busy worrying about the grave, how deep it was, what this rain would do to his hard work, etc. He sat in the mud, wondering wether he should give up and admit his failure when a light shone down at him from above.

Gruffi blinked painfully, then looked up. The first thing he saw, was two blue furry feet, caked in mud. He followed the legs up to the lamp that was raised at waist level over the pit and finally up to the face, which was wet, and smiling with guilty embarrassment.

"I'm sorry I'm late, but when inspiration hits, nothing stops you."

"Gusto??"

"I wasn't going to let Ursa stop me from apologizing, in my own way, to Thornberry. I hope its enough."

He raised the lamp up to the darkness, and beyond it Gruffi saw a wagon which he hadn't even heard pull up, with a hastily tied sheet wrapped around a large stone monument of some sort.

"You'll see it...But first, I brought my shovel, let me help you..."

"No, I'll said I'd do it and I'll do it..."

"Gruffi!!"

Gruffi looked back up at the dripping blue bear. Gusto put his lamp down and jumped into the pit, splashing mud on himself and frowning.

"I got us all into this, now I'm going to see it through, I'm a more responsible person than you think."

Gruffi nodded sheepishly and Gusto huffed.

"Better get started then huh?"

They clasped hands, and for a moment, Gruffi couldn't let go. His eye had caught purposefully on the jewelled dagger at Gusto's waist. He looked up and realized that Gusto was admiring his ring.

"Ursalia?"

"Yeah, well, uh..."

Gusto smiled brilliantly. This morning Gruffi would have given anything to see that happy face light a candle in the looming darkness that had penetrated his heart. Now he was standing, unable to move as Gusto looked at him with a quirked head.

"What?"

"Uh, nothing, lets, uh, get this done so I can sleep..."

"Yeah, sleep would be nice, I haven't slept a wink since learning about Thornberry..."

"But that's over..."

"A week ago I know. I get short naps but...Well, I'll be sleeping in tomorrow, with a clearer conscience once we get this finished."

Gruffi nodded and they both began to dig. When they were done they were both up to their heads caked in mud, soaked to the skin and probably had colds to boot. Gruffi looked down at the grave and silently appreciated Gusto's help. It was more rectangular now, and a little more stronger, with pieces of board placed here and there to support the muddy walls that threatened to fall in on them otherwise. They dragged Gusto's statue out of the cart and set it up at the head of the grave. Gusto positioned it.

"I'll let them decide wether to reveal it or not...gosh I'm tired..." Gusto yawned.

Gruffi laughed.

"I'll help you set up your tent..."

"Tent, a heh, heh..I was supposed to bring one of those?"

"Don't tell me you didn't bring a tent!"

"I was, really intent on finishing this statue as soon as possible, I forgot..."

"Well, I suppose since we're both muddy messes anyways we might as well share. You don't snore do you?"

"I don't know? Arte always says so, but then again Arte is a little untrustworthy..."

"So are you," Gruffi teased. "Where is that ball of flying feathers anyways?"

Gusto laughed.

"Went south or something for the winter, pshaw, a few leaves turn red and he turns tail."

"I'd imagine," Gruffi muttered. "Alright, everything's put away. Come on, lets get out of this rain."

They entered Gruffi's tent, which was pretty big for a single bear, and Gusto stood inside the entrance looking around.

When Gummies travelled, they travelled, and Gruffi had somehow been saddled with the chore of managing supplies. There were packs of all sorts stored here and there, including all the Gummies tools and cooking utensils.

"My tent was the only one big enough," Gruffi explained.

Gruffi's bedding was set along the side of the tent that was most protected from rain and leakage. Gruffi instructed Gusto to set up his bedding, if he had any, right next to his own for warmth, and went over to a pile of packs to scrounge around for some clean bed clothes.

"Its better to sleep naked, Gruffamundo, your just going to get mud on those things too..."

"I'm not sleeping naked, I'll freeze! Would you hand me that..."

He turned around and didn't finish his sentence. Gusto was already lying flat on his back on his bedding, one eye closed the other eye staring up at a drippy leak in the tents roof, and was completely, well, bare as a bear, so to speak.

Gruffi shivered, ignoring his "flight and run" response, then looked up at the leak Gusto was staring at.

"I'll get that, where did Grammi pack that sewing thread?"

Gusto sat up on an elbow as Gruffi, still in his muddy clothes, sewed the hole.

"Do you think they'll forgive me, Gruffi?"

Gruffi grunted and looked at his handiwork.

"There's nothing to forgive. It was an accident...And, well, we should be protecting and supporting each other now, not squaring off at the dinner table."

The look in Gusto's eyes was pure magic and Gruffi had to turn away so that Gusto wouldn't see him blushing.

"I don't think I'll find my clothes in here..." Gruffi finally said, gesturing to the packs around him. "Guess I'll sleep like this..."

"You can't sleep like that Gruffi, you'll catch a cold...Take your clothes off.."

"I don't like exposing myself to the elements.."

"What? Grammi's pots and pans are elements?"

Gruffi blushed then scratched his head nervously. Gusto noticed the gesture and laughed.

"Oh, I get it, just a sec, I'll turn out the lamp. I promise, it'll be absolutely dark, I won't see a thing. Not that it matters, we're both males here."

The light puffed out and Gusto heard the stiff sounds of Gruffi straining to get out of his rain shrunk clothes and into his blankets. Rain poured down outside and Gusto found himself staring through the darkness towards Gruffi's general location, wondering how Gruffi felt about what had happened. Was his friendship truly genuine? He didn't know, but what he did find out, quickly, was that being in Gruffi's company was so relaxing that he fell asleep for the first time since pulling the dagger out of the stone statue. He could sleep because he felt safe.

Gruffi also discovered, quickly, that Arte was right, Gusto snored. But not unpleasantly. As Gruffi listened to Gusto's heavy intake of air he wondered how he was ever going to help the others forgive Gusto. He didn't know how to convince them that Gusto was Gusto, curse or not, and that he need their help not their hate.

He didn't notice when the rain stopped pouring, or when Gusto rolled over under the covers in sleep and cuddled up next to him. He only noticed that while he was lying there, with the sweet smell of Gusto's rain drenched fur dampening his brain, that the darkness and pain from this morning that had been lightened a bit with Gusto's arrival had completely lifted from his being due to the gentle rhythm and strong embrace of his friend beside him. He curled down into Gusto's arms, uncaring of their undressed state, and fell into a deep and restful slumber.

-seperator-

The next day, as the Gummies came to the clearing to have Thornberry's funeral, they received a shock. The grave was so well made that there was no trace of the labour behind it other than the well built rectangular pit and the pile of top dirt, covered with a tarp of some sort to keep it from washing away. No shovels, no supplies, and Thornberry's coffin stood under a light tent covering to protect it from the rain. But that wasn't the biggest shock. The biggest shock was the life sized stone statue covered with a blanket to protect it from damage.

"What in the..? Where'd that come from?"

Ursa went over to it and pulled the sheet away to reveal a very real, very life like statue of Sir Thornberry, leaning in dignified repose, one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other looking proudly towards the rubble where Ursalia once stood. A knight to the last. They all breathed in awe.

"Well," said a voice behind them. "I thought it was nice myself when he showed it to me this morning."

Gruffi had pulled himself out of his tent and was now standing staring smilingly at the statue, wearing clean clothes but all mud soaked and dirty. Regardless of his dirty fur and wrinkled work clothes, however, his eyes sparkled.

"He? Who?"

Gusto pulled himself out of the tent, much to everyone's amazement, and was also covered in mud, wearing his paint smock which was the only clean outfit he could find in his packs, and looked around sheepishly.

"Well? Did I capture his essence? I was going for loyalty..."

There was a silent pause, then Sunni said, "Oh Gusto its perfect!!!"

Agreement circled around the group and Ursa blushed a little embarrassed.

"I agree," she finally said. "And I should not have disagreed to its creation."

But she didn't apologize for her other comments and actions, just signalled Grubbi to start his eulogy.

By the time they had all said their bits, the youngest Gummies as well, the sun had started to fade. But no rain had permeated the day. As Thornberry's coffin was lowered, Gruffi smiled at Ursa.

"Its going to be alright, you'll see, there's plenty of room at Gummi Glen..."

"I should never have agreed to it, we're nomadic Gummies..."

"Buddi needs bears his age to play with."

Ursa didn't argue at that point, just watched as each Bear placed a flower at the statue's base. Gusto took Gruffi's arm, ignoring the stinging look in Ursa's eyes and sighed.

"Are we going to cover the grave? We might as well since we're dirty..."

"No, no, no," Gritty said. "You two have done ENOUGH work, go take a bath and change. I'll fill the grave..."

"You sure?" Gruffi asked concerned.

"Of course, the way I'm feeling now I'm strong enough to handle anything."

Gruffi didn't understand why, but nodded and motioned for Gusto to follow him to the river. It was about time they got cleaned. The mud seemed to be soaked into his very veins at that point. He finally came to the edge of the water, and was about to start undressing when a voice shouted,

"BANZAII!!"

A blue, nude, streak whizzed past him and splashed into the pool. Gruffi muttered grumpily under his breath about "royal crossbreeding" and tugged the last remaining garment from his body.

It was stupid, his embarrassment, they were both male, bears, young, Gruffi was older and not as worldly, but still, he was embarrassed about his body. Why? Jealousy? Gusto was much better built than him, that was for sure. Fear? What kind of fear? Something splashed him.

"Hey Grufferoonie!! Are you going to finally decide wether or not to be shy, embarrassed or insulted and get in this water?"

Gruffi growled, answering Gusto firmly with a grunt and waded into the waist deep pool. Gusto lay back lounging in the water.

"If this pool was deeper we'd have a swimming party, remind me to invite all the cubs over to my waterfall to dive for sunken treasure..The stuff's all down there, the weight of the gold and stone sunk it..."

Gruffi laughed, then splashed Gusto, in higher spirits and a playful mood. Gusto responded in kind and when Gritty, Tummi and some other Gummies finally appeared at the edge of the water hole to have a bath of their own they had to stand and watch the two bears dish it out water wise because the water hole was not large enough for them all. Gruffi finally pulled himself out of the water, a little embarrassed, and Gritty stopped him for a second.

"That bear..." Gritty said, pointing to the oblivious Gusto. "You trust him that much?"

"With my life..." Gruffi assured.

"Hmm, then I do too..." Gritty said a little nervously. "I'll talk to Ursa..."

"Thank you." Gruffi said, then headed back to Ursalia to pack up for the trip home.

Little did he know how close Gritty and Ursa really were.

-seperator-

"DOWN WITH THE OGRES!!!!!"

"DEATH TO BROCCOLI!!!"

"NO FAIR CUBBI!!! IT WAS MY TURN FOR THE ROPE!!"

Gusto's pool party, when he was finally able to fix his waterfall from the mess it had become, was a hit. All the younger Gummies, including all the cubs, Delphi and her brother Denni, Tummi, and various other Gummies from the barbic clan, turned out on a nearly daily basis to enjoy the pool of water that sat under Gusto's waterfall. They had tied a rope to a tree that leaned over the water near the deep area so that the cubs could launch themselves into the water. It was fantastic!

Ursa still avoided Gusto like a bad plague. Gusto held his mask of unconcern quite well, but Gruffi knew underneath he was hurting. It was odd being back. In fact, everything had changed. Grammi was now getting assistance from Delphi, Sunni and the surprisingly talented Tummi, who cooked now like a pro, since it all went into his stomach anyways. Zummi and Tanni's friendship had taken a more romantic twist.

"My mate died when Frenni was born," Tanni had told them all, in order to explain how an older woman like her could have any cubs. "We hadn't expected to have a young cub at our age, he was something of a surprise. I miss my Freldi so terribly."

The two elderly bears spent a lot of time in the library together, just whispering to each other about Gummi lore and enjoying the company.

Grammi wasn't jealous at all.

"She can have him, I say, I have plenty of trouble taking care of all the cubs around here...I'm more than happy to hand him over to her, she can feed him and do his laundry..."

Zummi, as it turned out after a week, was pretty low maintenance. Tanni and Grammi laughed and joked about men, laundry, and Gruffi's general maintenance, if that was what you could call all the banging he did in the glen. Delphi had became quite flirtatious in the last couple of days.

"I wish you wouldn't wear clothes like that," Denni griped. "Its embarrassing."

He was complaining about the skin tight outfit she was wearing specifically to swim in. It was, very, small, to his mind.

"I can wear what I LIKE, thank you very much...Denni. Are we going swimming or not?"

"I'm not, you go ahead."

"She sauntered saucily past him and tapped Tummi's nose affectionately before leaving the kitchen. Tummi blushed and Grammi huffed.

"If that girl wasn't such a hard worker I'd deck her one..."

"She's got spirit all right," Denni declared hotly. "But gosh it burns me up sometimes the way she acts...As if she didn't have an ounce of noble blood in her body!"

Silently, unknown to the chattering group, Tummi had slipped quietly out of the room and headed to the waterfall. He needed to relax, right now he was confused about his heart, and everything else for that matter where Delphi Gummi was concerned.

-seperator-


"Do you like my swimsuit, Gusto?"

"Yes, its nice.."

"Does it look nice from this angle?"

"Uh, yeah..I guess."

Gusto didn't know how he had gotten into this situation, one minute Ursa was screaming at him from the riverbank about not hurting one hair on Buddi's head or she would kill him, and the next minute Delphi Gummi had slunk sexily into the water and now had his back pressed to a rock, forced to answer her strange questions. Ursa muttered grumpily and slunked off to sit on a log, back to everyone, waiting for Gusto to send the girl away so she could shout some more.

Sunni, Cubbi, Buddi and Frenni watched, waiting for Gusto's move. Then they noticed that Gruffi had appeared in a swim suit, making a finger up shushing motion to them and slipped silently into and under the water.

Gruffi barrelled through the water, quietly and quickly to the unknowing pair, and finally to the delight of the cubs on shore, Delphi was lifted by her legs from under the water and dunked headfirst with a splash right back in. Laughter erupted from the cubs in torrents and even Ursa managed to snicker. Gusto just stared, an embarrassed but delighted look on his face. He pointed to Gruffi as he turned to the kids and said,

"Take a good look kids, this is what a 'Knight in shining Armour' looks like!"

Gruffi blushed at their laughter and applauds, and finally noticed Ursa sitting on the log, back turned to them all, staring off into the retreating distance of the trees.

"Just a second," Gruffi said to Gusto and climbed onto the bank.

He walked over to the log and sat on it, silently, beside her.

"Can you forgive me for being too defensive and not seeing your pain?" He asked.

"Can you forgive me for transferring the blame from myself to Gusto to you?" she replied.

He nodded and she returned it.

"Nice to be home...Missed home, a little more quieter, now that Gusto isn't sleeping in my tent anymore."

"Why do you put up with him?"

"Because," Gruffi sighed. "He's a friend. Not only did he, Tummi and me save the three of us from an island, but he brings colour to my world. I need that."

Ursa nodded.

"Does he snore?"

"Like a bear," Gruffi joked. "He's had a lot of trouble sleeping, sometimes he comes to the Glen at night and begs me to let him sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor in my room. I give him the bed. Apparantly he is no longer able to sleep at night without company. Grammi says that he alternates everynight, coming into the Glen, and crawls into Cubbi's bed or my room, or sometimes Buddi and Frenni's room, even Sunni's had him in a sleeping bag in her room at night. He just needs somebody in the room with him."

"Is he really that needy?"

"Well, uh, don't tell anyone, but the first time we slept in that tent, he...Oh, um, snuggled up to me."

Gruffi blushed and Ursa nudged him in the ribs playfully.

"I..I didn't wake him..I didn't have the heart, he was so exhausted..Did you know he didn't get any sleep that week?"

"No, I didn't."

There was silence then, and Gruffi finally said.

"If, if, a person, I mean.."

"What Gruffi..." Ursa said, realizing the "Gusto talk" was meant to distract him from what he really wanted to say but was afraid to.

"Gosh this is hard, um..."

He went quiet when she simply stated, "I understand."

"Do you? Do you really?"

It was then that he took her hand, opened the flat palm upwards, and dropped the ring onto her palm.

-seperator-

The forest stirred as winds swept up the boughs of the trees and Gusto could be heard in the background of Ursa's mind, splashing in the water and trying to persuade Delphi to stop following him. She heard the cubs chuckling and fighting over the central rock as they played King, or Queen as Sunni was heard commenting, of the castle. She looked at the ring, gold, beautiful, the name Ursalia etched in gold, and knew, with the sighing of the wind, what she had to do.

"I'm sorry, Gruffi, but I love Gritty, I have since we first met..."

And she dropped the ring out of her hands into the grass. Gruffi picked it up, breathed a sigh, and Ursa stood up.

"I understand," he said silently. "Can't blame a guy for trying huh?"

"You'll meet the right person one day Gruffi, right in front of you, like I did. Right under my nose he was, didn't give him a second glance until it was pushed into my face that I obviously loved him. You'll find love. Its probably sitting right under your nose and you don't expect it."

She walked off, unaware that right under his nose, once again in place on the hand that he had currently buried his face into, was the ring. A sound of splashing water and Gummi laughter was heard in the background, and Ursa walked back to Gummi Glen. To be with her love. To be with Gritty.

-seperator-

Gruffi didn't know what to do aftre Ursa left him, so he just sat there, staring at the trees that were changing from green and red into brilliant gold of autumn, signalling the end of summer. He sat there, watching, until Gusto sat down beside him.

"Got rejected huh?"

"Isn't the sky beautiful today? Those clouds like white whipped cream floating on a sea of emptiness...So peaceful..So..."

Gruffi bent over, wrapped his arms around himself and sobbed very uncharacteristically. Gusto leaned over him and put a hand on his back, silently saying, "I am here." When the emotion had passed and Gruffi was trying to apologize for his moment of weakness, Gusto shushed him with a hand gesture and pointed to the sky.

"Hey Gruffi, look! It's a bird. Wonder where it came from? Aren't all the birds supposed to be going south?"

Gruffi laughed as Gusto stood up to shade his eyes from the sun to admire at the wobblingly arcing form. They would find the answer soon enough, for as the bird flew closer and closer one salient fact came into their minds at once.

It was Arte. Arte was back early from his trip to the south. And something was very wrong with the way Arty was flying, fast, urgent, and bobbing a little to the left.

"He's hurt!!"

They rushed forward as Arty's feathered form tipped down and finally landed with a thud on the ground.

"ARTE!!"

Gusto cradled the injured bird in his arms and sat there trying hard not to cry.

"How did this happen, what happened?"

The cubs had all come over, Delphi too, and they were now looking at the bird.

"I was in a storm, a bad one... and there were Gummis, and a horrible storm was brewing up, and they sent me to get help and..."

And Arte slipped into unconsciousness. Gusto hugged him lovingly, then stood up, carrying his precious bundle back to the Glen. More bad news.

Just when he thought he had finally found a golden memory, something had to tarnish it again. Well, not anymore. Whatever it was that was trying to destroy his life was not going to succeed. He would put a stop to this all, somehow...Somehow. He breathed a prayer, and the other Gummi's followed him back to the Glen.

The calm of the storm has passed...Now the hurricane had begun.