Chapter 2:
Ali woke up. All around her were Longnecks, trees and rocks gliding through the air. Ali, gliding as well, jumped on one of the flying treetrunks which began to rotate around its axis due to the impact so that Ali almost plopped off it. She giggled. Abruptly, spooky, dark clouds appeared out of nowhere, eclipsing the area. Rings made out of cloud encircled the Bright Circle, closing in. Ali closed her eyes in fright. However, her curiosity quickly grew over her terror so she opened her eyes again. She saw the Bright Circle growing bigger and bigger...
Just at the very moment at which the Circle would have crashed into the ground, Ali awoke, panting. The pink Longneck girl looked around. Seemingly, she wasn't the only one being haunted by strange sleepstories. A cry just echoed which sounded as if it were uttered by the leader of her herd - the Old One.
All of a sudden, Ali's Mother turned around in sleep, rolling on her daughter. Ali screamed in pain and surprise and woke up her mother by doing so.
"Mum! You've rolled on me!!!"
Ali's Mother jumped to her feet, startled.
"Curse you sleepstories! I'm terribly sorry, sweetie... Did I hurt you?" she stammered.
"First, I'm not your 'sweetie' anymore! I'm not a hatchling after all! Second, yes I'm hurt... byYOU!!!" Ali cursed and sweared.
"Don't talk to me like that! It's not my fault when nasty sleepstories are hunting me! Besides, you have had one last night as well, crying 'Mother' all the time!!!" Ali's Mother countered, hitting a full blow.
"Alright... truce," Ali called, nerved. "Now that's why everyone was staring at me like that yesterday..."
Just then, the Old One passed by.
"Well hello, you certainly look as restless as I do."
"Yes, we've been having this sleepstory every night, always the same one," Ali's Mother replied.
"By the looks of it, almost everybody seems to be affected."
"Yeah, my mum rolled on me!" Ali piped up, unasked.
"Can you explain this, Old One?" Ali's Mother asked, frowning.
"Those sleepstories only appear to affect us Longnecks," she spoke. "I have had talks with dinosaurs of other kinds and nobody had any unusual increase in bad sleepstories, or always having the same one over and over again for that matter..."
"Does this mean that... all Longnecks all over this world are having the same sleepstory?" Aliwondered in excitement. Her hope to meet a certain dinosaur in the near future was just being reactivated.
"If I'm not mistaken, little girl, you might be right," the Old One spoke.
"Awesome!!!" she exclaimed merrily. "Then Littlefoot ought to experience them too!"
"Who is Littlefoot?" she wondered.
"A friend of mine. Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike too!!!"
"Ali is talking about the nephew of the old Longneck living in the Great Valley. Back then when we last visited the place, he got dangerously sick. Only the Nightflower from the land where we came from could prevent his certain death. Littlefoot brought the Night Flower in time due to Ali's help," Ali's Mother narrated.
"Yes, I remember now..." the Old One replied. "Who are those other folks though?"
"Friends of mine too," Ali prattled.
"The young Longneck may be friendly and kind but he has a weird bunch of friends if you ask me... Unfortunately, my little daughter seems to have befriended them as well," she explained.
"MUUUUUM!!! Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike are alright and I'M NOT LITTLE!!!" Aliscreamed.
"Ali behave! They aren't Longnecks like us which means they can't be friends of yours! They're different from us and everything that’s different is dangerous and to be kept away from. Have you got this, young lady?"
"YES!"
"Old One, you were about to tell us the reason for the sleepstories, weren't you?"
"Oh right, I think, for the purposes of the herd, it is wisest to call a meeting when the Bright Circle enters the sky to unfold my thoughts, guesses and intentions to everybody."
"Why of course this is wise. Why would we receive any preferations anyway?" Ali's Mother laughed subserviantly.
"Yes, you are right. Now settle down and rest. Good Night!"
"Good Night!" mother and daughter called.
They indeed settled down - Ali kept a fair distance to her mother, just in case... They soon drifted off into a troubled sleep...
In the following morning - the Great Circle was about to rise up into the sky - Ali was woken up by her mother because the meeting would start as soon as the Bright Circle had risen. Ali wasn't particularly pleased since she just had been having a wonderful sleepstory about Littlefoot and his friends. Her mother washed her face, using her tongue, since Ali had to look proper.
"Cut it off!!!" Ali groused.
"You ought to look nice," her mother retorted.
"Bla, bla, bla..."
"Ali!!! Stop being naughty!"
"Just leave me in peace!!!"
"I believe I need to report your bad behavior to the Old One. You won't have anything to laugh about in that case, young lady!!!"
"That's it?"
"Come on, Ali!"
"Nay!"
"ALI!!!"
"Catch me if you can!!!"
"YOU ATTEND THAT MEETING NOW!!! You'll regret it deeply, I promise you that!!!"
"Yawn..."
"ALI!!!"
"This herd is just BOOOOOORING!!! I want to have FUN!!! And I won't let you spoil me having some!!! Seeya!" Ali stormed off.
"YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE, YOUNG LADY!!!"
"Not bothered..."
"ALIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!"
Yet Ali didn't obey. Before she disappeared in the jungle, she roared.
"I HATE YOU!!!" She ran away, kicking every pebble in her course.
Ali's Mother sighed and took a few deep breaths to calm down. Then she attended the meeting...
The Old One stepped into the semicircle built by her herd members and started her speech.
The gossip of the gathered Longnecks immediately ceased.
"Good morning, fellow Longnecks."
The crowd replied blearily.
"As you certainly have noticed already, we Longnecks - and that applies to our kind only as I discovered at doing some research among other creatures - have sleepstories every night. It is the very same one everybody is experiencing."
She made a short pause to listen to any comments the Longnecks might utter.
"Yeah, I know mine by heart!" somebody called, annoyed.
"Me as well!" another Longneck exclaimed in frustration.
They called, screamed and ranted in a mess, forcing the Old One to intervene.
"Now do not talk all at once," she piped up indignantly. The crowd ceased talking.
"Very well! Your reaction validates my presumption. Everybody is having sleepstories, truly everybody."
Her gaze wandered to a nearby mountain chain for a short moment. They had discovered this place being quite hospitable from up there. They had been dwelling there for quite some time since two young females would become mothers very soon. The place was about the size of the Great Valley, though it was in reach of Sharpteeth and offered less food than it. As long as there was enough food to last, so the Old One had decided, they'd stay until the little ones could walk on their own. She gazed for any possible threats - an important thing to do being the leader of a herd and a role the Old One was more than willing to take due to being born over-cautious and apprehensive, so were most of the members of her herd. Since she didn't spot any possible threats, she continued.
"I will now report to you what I have experienced in my sleepstories and how I felt at that and then I will ask you whether it is similar to yours. I wake up on the ground and there are many Longnecks all around me who, like all the trees and rocks, are flying. They are moving into a certain direction. I feel that I need to follow them. As soon as the desire to follow them pipes up in my head, I get heaved up into the air tailfirst. My whole body is eventually being carried by the air as if invisible forces are working. I follow my fellow Longnecks. But suddenly, a shadow is being put upon us. I look into the sky and I see how black clouds stack up at a crazy speed, aiming towards us. The clouds form rings around the Great Circle, approaching in the process. I shut my eyes since the Bright Circle is shining too bright to look into it for a long time. Then I try to open them again but the only thing that I can see is how the Bright Circle grows bigger as if being thrown from the sky, falling onto us. I always wake up panting, occasionally crying. Whenever I have woken up, I have a weird feeling. I feel as if I am supposed to go to a specific place but neither do I know where to go nor why to go nor what to do once having arrived. These days, I suffer of persistent restlessness which is, knowing me, not my self. Now, my fellow Longnecks, I ask you. Do you feel similar to me?"
Immediately, they began talking in a mess again. The Old One picked up enough pieces of conversation to be completely sure.
"Okay, enough," she stated and the herd subsided on command.
"You have the same feelings that I have. That was to be expected. After all, why should I be the only one, taking into consideration that we all are having the sleepstories?"
The crowd agreed, murmuring.
"What is causing me a headache, is the unevitable question whether or not to follow our instincts. Of course, we would miss something, staying here. I feel it, an event will take place and it will be gorgeous!"
The herd nodded in agreement.
"Mind you that two members of this herd," the Old One gazed at them. "Will have offspring in the near future. The eggs are about to be laid but the breeding uses up a lot of time as you should know. Therefore, we would have to split the herd."
Most of the Longnecks didn't seem to like that particular thought. Here and there, they were whispering.
"Moreover, the possibility of many unneccessary dangers would have to be accepted for something that we honestly don't know anything about, for something we merely feel. Sharpteeth, fire pits and big wastelands without any water or food are only a couple of the many dangers that might do our herd harm. But the group that will stay here for the sake of protecting those emergent parents would be under even bigger danger for it would very likely be a rather small group and there is safety in numbers after all. After all, who would want to stay if almost everybody else goes to see that event whereas you are supposed to stay behind with a little minority, exposed to Sharpteeth and other offending creatures?"
"Well, I’m gonna stay here!"
"Yeah, we're safe here, relatively."
"And who knows if we'll find food on our way..."
The crowd started debatting the matter loudly. The Old One didn't chime in this time - she intended the herd to make this tricky decision. She let them discuss for a while until one discussion after another fell silent.
"Very well."
The herd dedicated their attention on the Old One, somewhat slower than they usually did though.
"I let you discuss this over because I do not like to make this decision myself. So let us vote on the matter."
The crowd seemed to appreciate her proposal.
"Everybody who thinks of doing the perilous journey may stay where they are. Everybody else may walk to those massive rocks." She pointed at a few rocks decorating the meeting place behind her.
"If you are not quite sure yet, walk to where I am currently standing. Further questions?"
The herd agreed, only one of the emergent females piped up.
"Will you vote too, Old One?"
"Of course! I like everybody here am a part of this herd albeit I am in the lead. I have casted my decision already but I will be the last of us to confess my opinion for you should not make your own decision on the basis of what I consider right. Well then, let the vote begin!"
The Old One was fairly convinced that her earlier speech had affected the herd's opinions to big enough a degree to assume that the majority would vote for staying. Luckily, most of them shared her views on many things, anyway. She was pleased to note that the vast majority made a pilgrimage to the rocks. Hardly anybody remained on their spots, nobody came to hers. Joining the majority, she proclaimed.
"The vote is valid! We will stay here. I hope that the minority can accept that as well."
The few dinosaurs that would have dared the journey, including Ali's Mother, nodded.
"Very well, the meeting is over! I only hope that the sleepstories will not vex us too badly."
The herds separated into several groups and walked off to different places to eat, drink or bath.
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Here we have Ali, her mum and the Old One. As you have probably already noticed, I haven't kept them in-character exactly. Tell me your thoughts, opinions, praise, critism...
Next chapter's about Shorty & Bron.