N?

The others were talking, but he felt himself grow restless all of a sudden. Having lost his eyesight many, many Cold Times ago he had completely specialised on his other senses. And one of those was telling him that there was trouble ahead. Someone was staring at him.

"Grandma, Grandpa." The young Longneck's voice called out in greeting, joy brimming in those two words. He loved them dearly, it seemed.

"Hello." If his grandfather's voice was anything to go by, it was very much warranted. The old male sounded kind and caring. "I take it you are Tria's family?" There was amusement in there as well, he noted.

His son introduced himself first, then his father.

And that's when he realized what was wrong.

"We are already acquainted." A hush fell over the group at the freezing cold in the female's voice. The earth trembled ever so slightly as she approached.

A cold shiver ran down his spine. He knew that voice. He knew it damn well despite having only heard it once before long ago. Around the time his face ended up being like it was.

"That we are." He finally found his voice. "Apara, was it not?"

"Oh..." The old male Longneck's voice seemed to cut off her answer. "His wound did seem familiar." Gone was the amusement, the care and even the kindness.

It was then that Tria's grandfather realized that this time she would not be alone, but her mate would be at her side. And there would be no weak ravine-bridge to save him now.

"Off all the places you could have taken up residence, Tria, you had to pick the one with them..." He muttered under his breath, turning horns-first into the direction of their voices. Not that it would help him much: they could both still see and were quite a bit larger than he was. He faintly wondered how this would look to the bystanders.

There were screams, nearly drowning out the sound of something moving through the air quickly.

He screamed in pain and surprise when the massive tail of one of them slammed against his side, throwing him off his feet. He somehow knew it was not her that had hit him this time.

He roared, struggling back to his feet, shaking his head.

She is the one to answer, startling many. Longnecks do not roar, they do not need to. Their size alone is enough to daunt most opponents and those that are not, regret it soon enough. Most did not even know the sheer volume the behemots of the Dinosaur-world can produce. He did: he heard it every time he had a bad sleep-story.

Tria could only watch with wide eyes as two Longnecks stared down her grandfather. She had never seen them like this, not even when he first met her after she had come into the Valley once more.

The children are long gone in the near vicinity, having rushed well out of range. All of them, but Littlefoot who could not move out of sheer horror as his grandparents looked ready to kill.

S?

To say he felt uncomfortable in this situation would be a lie, though he'd always deny it if anyone said so.

"Tria, what is the meaning of this?" The dark-purple herd-leader looked at the pink female with fire in his eyes. He had heard enough of their conversation to know that she was forgiving her former mate.

"I think you heard just fine." She countered, not the least bit afraid of him. "I am giving him another chance."

"Really now?" His eyes bore into hers. "This quickly?"

"I think several Cold Times is not quickly, Zantion. You know me well. What did you expect when bringing me here? I cannot carry a grudge forever." The youngsters backed away, moving to the herd as their father and mother confronted in front of them.

For once, old Threehorn stayed silent, not making a sound even as his eyes never once strayed from the two in front of him.

"Not forever, this I know, Tria. But this?" He closed the gap between them, horns nearly locking with hers. "This is far too fast, if you were any indication when you joined my herd."

"Let that be under my judgement." She softly said. "What are you afraid off? That I shall be hurt again?"

"That too." For a moment the two males locked eyes, the younger one soon turning away again. Acceptance came in his voice. "Are you certain about this?"

"Got to take risk once in a while, don't I?" Tria joked softly, a teasing smile on her face. "You're on your own again."

The smile around his corners was a mere twitch. "Damn you." He turned to leave, walking to the herd before apparently changing his mind and coming right back.

He did not stop in front of Tria though, instead walking straight up to Tops.

"I'll make one thing clear with you: hurt her again, and your ass has more extra holes than a tree has leaves." Zantion's voice was civil, but the look in his eyes did little to hide the truth in his threat. "If I get her crying in my herd again, you are dead."

"Zan..." Tria glared at him. "Leave him be."

"For now, I shall." He had a smug grin. "Herd, we're getting the rest. I want Dad and Grandpa to be present for this."

The female Threehorn merely rolled her eyes. "You are a moron."

"Sure I am." He snickered. "Wonder what that says about you."

"Get out." She dryly countered.

He laughed the entire way out, followed by a small number of the herd that had followed him in. The rest would stay and wait for his return with those that had followed his father. His children were among the latter group, not willing to miss out on anything happening with their mother and her ex.

"So..." Zaron murmured as he looked up at Tria. "What are you to us now? What is he to us now?"

"Nothing changes, little ones." Tria looked down, nudging him. "Now, I guess you already know Tricia and Cera, what with sneaking off to meet them."

"Oops?" All five chuckled at that.

"Off with you." She countered, gesturing to the other children.

"Yes, Auntie!" They rushed off, laughing all the while.

"Behave yourselves!" She called after them. They didn't really listen, leaving her standing with her former husband and the other little ones.

"And off they are." The older female sighed in exasperation. "They take too much after their father when he was young. All over the place, I tell you."

"And what do they have from their mother?" Tops asked softly.

"Precious little. They were raised by their aunt, after all." Tria grinned lightly. "Did you truly believe I'd just get a kid with the first male I encountered? Zantion is my brother, Topsy, not my mate. I took the place as mother of his children because their actual mother died."

"That does explain some things, doesn't it...?"

T?

N?

D?

G?

YOu are banned for double-banning in the same post

Chapter 2

The next day was filled with a calm serenity almost unheard of in the Valley. Well, if one ignored the Longneck and Threehorn-families, that is.
Grandma had spoken truly when she stated she’d be on her husband’s case regarding regaining his strength, meaning the elder longneck could hardly take a moment before another glower was aimed at him. He gladly took those though, nuzzling his returned wife lovingly whenever she did. The Old One would chuckle every time that happened, muttering something Littlefoot couldn’t hear.
“Try to contain yourself a bit, little one.” The old female warned him, a telling look being thrown just over his head. He knew that she was looking at the stone settled where head and neck met.
“I will, Grandma.” The youngster beamed up before rushing off with his adopted brother to meet with their friends, leaving the grown-ups behind.
“Are you sure that is safe?” Bron briefly looked at his mother-in-law. He had been too confounded by the mass-return the day before, but it was slowly sinking in that his son somehow had created a fake Sharptooth.
“Of course.” Grandma Longneck smiled gently. “Unless he overdoes it, but that is the case with everything one can do, Bron. Are you insinuating that I’d let my grandson do something dangerous?”
“He did conjure up a fake Sharptooth yesterday, love. And he didn’t look that good afterwards.” Her husband spoke up briefly before getting another bite of treestars.
“Because of which one he used...” She trailed off. “Mary told me he thought of… that one.” Shaking her head at the feeling of loss slowly filling her heart, she chuckled. “Let’s just leave it at ‘if he takes it easy, it’ll be fine’. And I’d like to trust he’ll stop before it becomes too much.”
“But I can understand his concern, cousin.” The Old One leaned over to the other female. “You lot disappear in what was described as a cluster of Sky Fire… and come back covered in strange webs while the boy can suddenly just… make images out of nothing.”
“Out of light.” The other automatically corrected her. “I wasn’t sure if we would be able to afford to leave one of us with the children at the end there, so I insisted on them having some ability to defend themselves.” Her eyes narrowed a touch at something in the distance, beyond the sight of the others. “It’ll be fine.”
“It could have been worse.” Another voice spoke up, Pterano gliding over to them. “He could be capable of some things that could actually hurt him instead of merely tiring him.” The flyer smiled lightly as he settled down on her back. “Just a short interruption, if you don’t mind...”
“Mmh?” All four Longnecks turned to look at him. He didn’t fail to miss the slight glare in the eyes of the mate of the one he was sitting on.
“I took a flight around the Valley. The humans have cleaned up after themselves.” The brown shape gestured in the general direction from where the returnees had entered the valley. “Also, Lewis was there. He stated that they want to visit in three days and asked if that were allowed. Yes? No?”
“Tell him to send Mary.” Grandma sighed softly. “If he enters the Valley, there won’t be a peaceful visit. Not right now.”
The brown form sketched something of a bow before taking off once again.
“Must they?” Grandpa asked, looking after the climbing form. For the first time during the day, his wife did not glower at him for not eating.
“Yes. It is in everyone’s best interest if we keep relations civil.” She took another deep breath, looking after Pterano. “I’m sure you don’t need to deal with them if you don’t want it.”
All three doubted those words, but did not want to mar this still so recent reunion with arguments. Grandpa returned his attention to the trees nearby, while the other three took up a simple conversation of safer subjects.
At least, they did until a bright flash of light in the distance caught their attention.
“What…?” The flash turned into a pulse and Grandma had a terrible feeling in her chest as if someone was pressing against her heart from the direction it was coming from. She suddenly remembered what Cian had told her before they had returned to the past the second time; I’ll let you have the ability to sense other webs in use. And she knew of only one dinosaur present that could make light-flashes. “Littlefoot!”
Almost in answer, a roar echoed in the Valley, bouncing from the walls themselves.
They came upon a scene that earlier might well have been in their nightmares; a furious Sharptooth was squaring up against Old Threehorn, growling and snarling threateningly at him, while he was unstably retreating.
“Grandma!” Unlike their nightmares however, Littlefoot was sheltering under and slightly behind the light-green Sharptooth. The pulses stopped almost immediately, though they seemed to have taken a sharp toll on the youngster. Sweat was beading on his entire body and he was trembling.
“What is happening here!?” The Longnecks had been far from the only ones to have noticed the spectacle and react accordingly. The parents of all children that had headed in the direction of the flashes were also arriving. Hadria rushed over to her adopted child, completely at ease with him being within touching-distance of a large Sharptooth, unlike her mate and other children. “Spike!” She only hesitated when taking in the position he was in, firmly pressed against his longneck-friend, a small pink form cowering underneath them. “Little ones?”
“He tried to remove her web!” Littlefoot informed her, looking between her to his grandmother and then – when she too arrived – Tria. “He wouldn’t stop when I told him not to. I had to!”