The Promise for a Better FutureThe air felt increasingly cold around the longneck as she looked into the horizon beyond which her mate had disappeared not so long ago. His steps could still be seen in the dry ground but their endless journey into the distance only deepened Tranquil’s fears about her own situation. Bron was gone, chasing his own vision about where the Great Valley was located. Tranquil had told him that he was going astray but the male wouldn’t listen to him. Now, she was left alone with her aging parents but it wasn’t herself Tranquil was so concerned for.
In the past days, she had increasingly come to accept the fact that she indeed was pregnant. That fact alone brought immense joy upon the longneck but even then, she wasn’t sure whether she’d be able to take care of a child in this hellish time without her mate. Bron had hoped to see the baby’s hatching but the dying of the world around them seemed to grow quicker by the day. Bron had believed he could protect his family best by trying to see if the tales he had heard about the Valley would prove to be true.
The female longneck sighed as she looked at her parents who were standing behind her, looking at their daughter in concern. Tranquil knew they needed her to be strong at this time as they were getting too old to survive by themselves. Without Bron, she was forced to carry on their family’s legacy with pride and that thought only brought another, more confusing thought to her mind. She had once imagined becoming the leader of the herd. But not like this… not like this. Not with only her grandparents as her followers and certainly not on this most testing of times. Her mother slowly approached the younger longneck and spoke to her soothingly.
“It’s alright, Tranquil. We’ll see him again. But before that, we have to work together. It’s still a long way into the Great Valley and we have to continue our journey soon.” The elderly female said as Tranquil slowly turned to look at her, her mind growing increasingly fearful for her situation. Her eyes held a deeply conflicted expression as she turned to face her mother.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready for this, mother. What if he’s right? What if… what if it’s we who are going the wrong way? I owe it to my child to do my best but… I’m not sure what that is.” The longneck’s mind had been a flux even before her mate’s departure but after he was gone, she began to feel the hopelessness and decay of the land around her really starting to creep into her. However, those thoughts were momentarily interrupted by another, this one male, voice.
“We know the right way and I’m sure he’ll return once he realizes his mistake. It’s regrettable that he chose to leave us but that cannot be helped. We have to reach the others before it’s time for our grandchild’s birth.” A warm smile rose to the massive dinosaur’s face as he thought about the joy of seeing the baby’s hatching. An additional relief was that the herds would gather together for the duration of the birth of their children which would protect them from the sharpteeth for the duration of the earliest days of their lives. However, the younger dinosaur wasn’t nearly as optimistic as her father.
“B… but what if things only get worse? I… I don’t want to see my baby suffer all his or her life from hunger and thirst! And we can still be only heading to a wasteland and towards the mouths of the sharpteeth! I know it can’t be helped but I don’t want to see my child born into such a nightmare!” The terrifying images of her own and her unborn hatchling’s slow starvation burned in her eyes as she looked around herself. There were still some patches of green to eat here and there but there hadn’t been sky water for weeks and even the Bright Circle itself seemed to slowly be dimmed under a cover of hazy darkness. Indeed, it seemed like the whole world was collapsing around her at a time when she should act like a beacon of hope and trust to a young boy or girl. And she… she was far from sure whether she’d be able to carry on with this massive charge. Her mother, however, approached her slowly and put a comforting expression to her face.
“Don’t worry about that, my daughter. It’ll be alright. You’ll come to see that you’ll be able to do quite a bit when you have a young one who depends on you. I know it more than well, Tranquil. Things weren’t quite as bad when you were born but I was still forced to overcome my limits trying to protect you during your early childhood. You might remember that you weren’t exactly a stranger to dangers.” The elderly longneck chuckled as she looked at her daughter’s gloomy face which brightened slightly as she turned to look at her mother. The male looked at Tranquil with a similarly warm expression and continued to where his mate had left off.
“I still wonder whether you’ll disappear somewhere when we turn our backs on you. Besides, you can still relay the most important thing to our grandchild: the hope of the Great Valley’s existence.” He said, trying to make the soon-to-be mother recover her sight of the small herd’s entire situation. Tranquil forced her breaths to calm down but there was just so much that could go wrong, so horribly wrong.
She answered to her parents in a meek voice, growing ashamed by her own cowardice at the situation. She had most often been seen as a wise and calm longneck but those were the times when she had been responsible only of herself and her parents but this was something the female wasn’t prepared for: to actually ensure a happy childhood to her child. She already loved him or her greatly but that love only worsened her fears. What if she would be a terrible parent who could only bring pain and sorrow to her offspring?
“I know that but… we don’t really even know if it’s there and… and… I could live in safety within our beloved Emerald Grove where everything was peaceful before… before the fire mountain spit its wrath. B… but my child won’t have any of that and I’m not sure whether we’ll even make it to the Valley. It… it’s just not fair for him or her!” Tranquil said as she looked at her parents’ faces. The two looked at each other and nodded in resolution, deciding to tell something to their distressed daughter. It was the male who begun to speak first.
“Tranquil… The Grove was a wondrous place, it’s true, but we always knew we couldn’t stay there forever. The whole land around it had begun changing around it and when you were born, all of the surrounding plains were still lush and green. Do you still remember the time when the Farwalkers told us of the Valley for the first time? You were awfully young back then.” The male said, making the younger longneck fall into her thoughts. She could remember flashes of that meeting as it was always a great occasion when the Farwalkers visited their distant home. However, knowing that her memories were blurred and vague at the very best, she merely shook her head. Her mother took a sigh and begun to speak, prompting Tranquil to follow the traces within her memories to that distant, faraway day…
The young girl smiled in excitement as she jumped from one boulder to another in a small clearing in the upper hills of the Emerald Grove, balancing carefully as her legs struggled to find a good foothold on the massive boulders. The childish excitement of testing her limits with these games was apparent in her eyes as she looked at the next rock near her, preparing to take her next leap towards it. Slowly but surely, the rocks moved deeper towards a cliff overlooking the lower slopes of the small grove, opening into a potentially dangerous fall. However, that was part of the fun for the girl… or at least it would have been hadn’t her game been interrupted by a sudden call.
A low bellow could be heard ringing from the walls of the hills, at first scaring the longneck. Maybe a sharptooth had sneaked on her family or someone had hurt themselves? However, as the echo begun to die down, she realized that there was no sound of urgency or fear in the voice. It sounded more like a greeting but who was her family greeting? Suddenly, her lonely games disappeared from Tranquil’s mind and she quickly ran down the narrow, grassy ramp by the mighty mountains towards the opening of the grove near the increasingly dry plains around the small refuge of life.
The meeting was already in full swing as the small longneck reached the place where the lush meadow surrounded by the mountains suddenly turned into the open steppes which were covered only by tiny, stunted grass. However, the concerning sight quickly departed from the girl’s mind as she heard a call from her mother whose form could be seen in the distance.
“Hey, Tranquil, I was already wondering whether you’d show up at all, you little rascal! Come greet our guests, I believe you’ll find their stories quite interesting!” The older longneck said as the group of Farwalkers looked in amusement as Tranquil ran towards the small group of dinosaurs in excitement. The child loved to hear about the lands outside her home and it wasn’t everyday dinosaurs like these simply walked into her beloved Emerald Grove. The girl looked at the small herd of longnecks in deep interest and spoke to them as her mother ordered.
“Hi, everyone! Where did you come from? Who are you and where are you going next? How was your journey?” Tranquil knew her questions were overwhelming for the still-weary Farwalkers but her genuine excitement at their arrival seemed to amuse many of the wandering dinosaurs. Their expressions seemed a bit too worried and serious for the longneck and one, yellowish longneck was about to answer when her father cut him off, chuckling slightly at his daughter’s questions.
“That’s a bit too many questions for someone who has wandered for days to get here, don’t you think? I think we should let them rest and…” At this point, the longneck looked at the longneck with an expression that demanded silence from the larger dinosaur. He then answered the duo quickly afterwards.
“No, no, it’s alright. We are weary and tired, that’s true, but there is also something we need to tell all of you. To answer your questions, little lady, I’m afraid I cannot say our trip was an easy or pleasant one. The plains all the way from here to the Small Water were once covered with forests and dancing streams but they have grown increasingly thin. And as a result of the disappearing green food, the sharpteeth have grown more aggressive and dangerous than ever. We nearly lost two of our members to them the other day.” The longneck said with a cringing face, saddened by the sight of the girl’s terrified face. However, the concerning developments had begun many Cold Times ago and he knew the longnecks deserved to hear the truth. Tranquil, her parents and the small group of other longnecks all gasped as they heard those words. Had the change affected the whole region up to the Small Water? It was one of the largest lakes known to any dinosaur and it lied five days’ journey from the Grove. Shortly, one of the other longnecks asked in fear from the longneck.
“B… but surely it can’t get much worse than this, can it? I mean… at least a part of the green food must survive these dark times, don’t they? Our precious Grove is safe from this worrying trend but it’d be a shame if the rest of the world got swept away!” The longneck spoke in a haunted voice but the other dinosaur’s voice did little to calm her fears.
“None of us can say for sure but thus far huge parts of the land have been swept away by this cursed phenomenon. And to be sure, it is more than likely that this small grove will face the same fate if things don’t change soon. I’m sorry
but that’s a fact.” The longneck followed in an apologetic look as silent gossip begun between the residents of the small valley. Tranquil’s earlier excitement had turned soar as the tales of the Farwalkers took an unsavory turn. The distant lands she had often dreamt about were dying and the same would happen to her home? Tranquil turned to look in fear at the other longnecks when one of them rebuked to the Farwalker in anger.
“I don’t know what you’re up to but we won’t have a bunch of strangers spreading their lies among us! The world may be changing but there’s no use in coming to scare us with hasty predictions!” The dinosaur yelled, his gaze penetrating into the wanderer in agitation. The Farwalker returned the gesture but kept his voice low.
“We just tell you what we’ve seen in our journeys and there’s no reason to get angry because of it! I, too, would regret the Great Dying spreading here but there’s no telling what happens during the next Cold Time or the one after it! There are stories about entire herds being wiped out because they lingered in their homes for too long. This world once held many sanctuaries of great beauty and harmony but they are being wiped out with an astonishing speed! I’ve seen it myself.” The old longneck’s eyes held a clear look of loss as he remembered all the places he had been to and all the dinosaurs he had met. Tranquil’s mother looked at the longneck with a conflicted expression, trying to find something to say even now.
“Then what do you think we should do to prepare for this disaster? Join you? If you think we’ll just…” At this point, another of the Farwalkers stepped in and answered in a calmer voice to the female.
“Right now you have to do nothing but mind the changes around you. And when your home begins to die, seek out a distant land, one that has remained untouched all this time. We’ve heard it is a refuge for dinosaurs who wish to call one place their home. For us Farwalkers, however, adventure and exploration is the way we want to spend our lives.” The younger male said, looking at the residents of the Grove in slight apology. At this point, Tranquil’s eyes flashed wide open as this one promise of eternal seTranquilty seemed to resonate her greatly. She ran towards the Farwalkers and once again, spoke out everything that was swirling within her mind.
“What is that place and where is it? Have you ever seen it yourselves?” The girl asked carefully, willing to know everything the wandering dinosaurs knew. The herd’s leader looked at his followers and after exchanging a few words with them, he turned to look back at the small dinosaur.
“No, we’ve never seen the Great Valley by ourselves as, as my deputy said, don’t search for just one place to live in. We have heard whispers of it from several dinosaurs on our journeys but there’s one meeting I remember most clearly. Fifteen Cold Times ago in the far western lands, we met an ancient swimmer who claimed to have visited the Valley when he was but a hatchling. Back then the world was fair and bountiful which meant he didn’t have to stay in the Valley but he had later heard that despite the areas surrounding that place turned to dust, the land of waterfalls, grassy meadows and endless food has lived on. The swimmer was too old to return there but it was his legacy to offer this journey to anyone willing to undertake such a quest for life.
The swimmer seemed to have problems remembering exact details from the Valley but if I remember right, he told anyone who searches that beautiful land to follow the Bright Circle where it touches the ground. It’ll be a march of ultimate faith and it’ll take many Cold Times for you to reach it from here. However, it’ll be the only safe haven for your children and grandchildren in this fading world.” The longneck ended his tale on this note and after a few moments, a few of the denizens of the Grove seemed to begin chuckling audibly. A complete stranger coming to tell them to leave their ancestral end? The Farwalker had to be out of his mind! However, Tranquil’s father soon cast a glance that silenced those voices immediately and then turned to look at the wanderer again.
“We appreciate your message, my friends. However, our home is still perfectly fine and we cannot embark on such a march! Our children and elderly king wouldn’t stand a chance! I’m sorry but we cannot accept your offer.” He said, feeling a mixture of respect and puzzlement within him at these words. However, the wanderer’s next words were the once Tranquil would remember for the rest of her life.
“Suit yourselves but the time is running out. When your young ones reach adulthood, this grove will be a different place and if you still wish to disregard my words at that point, it’ll be too late. This world is a place of great happiness and plenty but to continue to revel in them, you have to think further than tomorrow. Remember that when this land’s time runs out.” All of the denizens of the Grove looked at each other in fear, not knowing what to make of the Farwalker’s words but there were three among the audience who took those words by heart. Even a fool’s hope would be better than to resign to despair and this Valley offered a perfect metaphor for that. Back then, they had hesitated without end but the fate forced their hands before long.“Today might be a rough one but as the Farwalkers told, there is always tomorrow and it is for that day that we have to work for. We remember how you beamed with joy and life in those days and I’m sure our grandchild welcomes whatever life we will give him, as long as he or she can believe in a better future. Do you understand, dear?” The elderly dinosaur concluded her and her mate’s story. Their daughter’s face was beyond thoughtful as she relived those days of newfound threat and a promise for salvation. The pictures of her carefree games, endless adventures and the ever-present joy she could see around her during those times seemed to bring relief to the longneck and she slowly understood what she would have to do. Suddenly, the void left by her mate’s departure seemed to start to disappear as she realized the impact the Farwalkers’ courage and her still-unborn child’s smile had upon her. She had made it through a lot already and with her parents’ help, she felt like she could face the dark, long path that sill lied before her.
“Th… thank you both. For being for me already back then and for continuing to support me. If my son or daughter is going to be strong enough to make it through this, I’ll make sure to help in any way possible. Just like you two did with me.” Already, the happy memories invoked by her parents made her eager to finally meet her child but it would take many cycles of the Night Circle before the egg would hatch. The three longnecks nodded at each other, turning their gazes on the distant, empty horizon where the Bright Circle was setting swiftly. The elderly male spoke one last time before the small herd continued their trek.
“Of course, Tranquil. We’ll all ensure that the child’s childhood will be as happy as possible. But we have to move on. Somewhere behind those plains lie the Rock that Looks Like a Longneck and the Mountains that Burn and our destination. We have no time to waste.” And with those words, the three longnecks once again set their sights into their fabled prize, the distant, mythical land safe from all evil and hardships that seemed to envelop their entire lives these days. However, the journey itself would only bring additional tragedies as three longnecks would indeed reach the Valley after many Cold Times of marching but that group wouldn’t be the same one which had started this seemingly endless march towards life.
And here's my response to the January's prompt challenge!. It's a brief story (my shortest fic in fact) but I hope it still manages to shed some light to the premise! This is a simple tale about Littlefoot's mother's (called Tranquil in this story) doubts and fears about her coming motherhood as well as well as one, fateful, meeting from her own childhood. In any case, I hope you like this offering and any thoughts are welcome as usual! 
