The Continuing Saga

[Allicloud]

For a moment there was silence. Then, the clawed hand of Redback waved from behind a tree.

"Gimme a sec, just gettin' a snack!" Came his voice.

Moments later, he and Tero emerged, Redback halfway through chewing on something. He wiped a slight dribble of juice from his chin as he grinned cheekily.

"Mm-mmm! You weren't kidding about those treesweet things, Tero! Deeelicious!"

Redback left the fringe of trees and stood by Littlefoot's side. Looking up to the venerable old longneck, he nodded his head respectfully. Tero followed at his own pace, sitting himself upon Redback's tail. The sharptooth absent-mindedly smoothed the layers of black grass draped over his body, as he tried his best to not look imposing or dangerous as he made his introduction.

"Ah...Hiya. In case you hadn't guessed already, I..I'm Redback."

[Mama's Girl]

Cera paused in her own greeting as Littlefoot appeared, as she saw that his grandfather also had been looking for him and was now speaking to him. She nonetheless caught his own greeting to them. "Yeah, probably" she said curtly as he asked if Petrie was at his nest. She didn't put much thought into why.

The longnecks seemed to launch into the topic though! Cera just frowned to herself as they talked. Ducky would have advocated for Pterano as well, if she wasn't too polite to interrupt Littlefoot's grandfather.

Instead they both listened as the conversation turned and now both glanced over in interest at this mention of someone "like Chomper". Then the someone, or two someone's (since they hadnët met Tero yet), stepped out.

Cera took a step back, her shocked gaze going from the sharptooth to Littlefoot and her look clearly asking if Littlefoot weren't insane vouching for a sharptooth like this!

He wasn't lunging or anything though, still the threehorn stood there tense and about ready to bolt.

Ducky gulped, just staring up at the sharptooth nervously, wanting to trust him if Littlefoot trusted him, but her instincts telling her to keep her distance. "Um...H-Hello" she tried, though it came out really soft and unsure.

~~~~

As she flapped on closer to the farwalkers, still on this little information mission for Pterano, his sister sighed, landing just a pace or so from where she could spot the herd still mainly gathered.

"Ok..." she gathered her thoughts, "We'll just start with, hi, do you have a blue flyer with you...no, not that direct" she muttered to herself, trying to figure out how to do this and not come off as odd or anything...

~~~~

Harper was surprised, but in a good way, at the genuine interest she felt her little story, well her and Ridge's little story, was getting from Pterano. It was just so odd, being in the "spot circle" so to speak but she slowly warmed up and got less tense both in her tone and posture as she went on, sharing the experience, as she'd felt it, with the three before her.

"Well, I still thought Ridge was crazy", she thumbed over to her friend, "and I was pretty sure the pair of us looked insane, following this set of footprints across the Great Valley with Ridge's nose to the ground sniffing in anything he could find, but if I asked him what he found he'd just say 'not much'".

"I was still mostly ok with the search though, until we got to an exit from the Valley into the Mysterious Beyond. I told him that was far enough and whatever this was it wasn't all "that" important while he tried to remind me that we'd wonder about it the rest of our lives or something if we didn't find out. I still didn't believe him but somehow he won our talk".

Ridge laughed, "Well when I start walking ahead, follow or go back home to boredom are about the only two options" he told her with a grin.

"Yeah, well" Harper went on, "We didn't have to go far into the Mysterious Beyond to find this thing Ridge said we had to find and..." Harper paused and laughed as her mind told her ahead of her words to the others, of course, what it was Ridge had been so hot on the trail off.

Here the spiketail grimaced, why had he suggested this story again?

"It turns out Ridge didn't have to waste all that time thinking over how it could look like a two footer and yet be too close and all. When we reached the end of where the foot prints went there was a hole where two little swimmer, younger than me even, who live around here had made a sort of hide out where they kept tree sweets and stuff that they thought they had to hide, like I said, they were really little kids, and their odd walking carrying the stuff was what made the funny looking prints".

"Yeah" Ridge finished, up, "and we sort of blew the warning call on their little hide out by tracking them so then their mom made them stay near the nest more and they couldnt' go out there and...".

"When we were walking by again one time, later, they threw all their tree sweets at Ridge" Harper laughed.

"Yeah, somehow in their little minds I'm personally responsible when both of us were out there" the spiketail sighed.

[Pterano]

Littlefoot caught Cera's look as Redback stepped forward, but even the sometimes gullible Littlefoot had to admit that there was something almost TOO perfectly timed about Redback's eating a snack. Was he really eating treesweets back there... or was it something else? He gulped a little, but kept his mouth shut. The only problem with this suspicion was that why hadn't he just dined on Littlefoot in the first place if he was going to eat meat? Therefore... he had to be eating treesweets, right? He wanted to trust Redback, and give him a chance, as he believed everyone deserved at least a first chance to prove themselves.

Grandpa Longneck's head rocked back a little as the sharptooth strode out of the woods. "Littlefoot..." he said, trailing off though as Redback approached. Littlefoot only hoped he hadn't let his grandfather down, and remained silent as Redback introduced himself.

"Well... um... it's nice to meet you Redback." the elder longneck managed to say. "I'm sorry, it's just... we don't normally get sharpteeth here in the valley... and you'll need to present yourself before the other adults before you can live here among us. We're actually having a meeting soon regarding the return of an old flyer to our ranks, so perhaps you could do it then? I did wish to inquire though, Redback, about your reasons for wishing to stay here. I can't say I blame you when it comes to location, as it truly is a paradise." the longneck stated. "But is there some reason you can no longer live out in the Mysterious Beyond?" he asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

((I had an idea that will give Petrie's mom something to do in terms of asking about the blue flyer, and possibly introduce another plot point. ))

In front of Petrie's mother landed a male flyer, though one much younger than she was. He looked to be entering his young adulthood, perhaps early twenties. He was a very deep red in coloration, almost a burgundy, but not quite. His belly was cream, and he sported a prominent crest on his head, making him a pteranodon, like her.

"Oh! Hello there." He said, giving her a smile. "I'm sorry but... I only just arrived last night and I'm looking for the local watering hole." he said looking about him. "Do you live here? Could you perhaps direct me to it?" he asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pterano flapped his wings excitedly at a sentence that Ridge spoke, according to Harper, but he otherwise remained quiet, and let the spiketail and his niece finish the story. "Aha! So it was simply a pair of young swimmers hiding things against their mother's wishes out in the Mysterious Beyond." he said, light entering his eyes as he did so. "But that's not the important thing. The important thing, has to do with something you said Ridge stated." He stood up now, and stretched his wings a little.

"He said that if you didn't go out there and find the answer, then you'd be wondering about it the rest of your lives. I couldn't agree more!" he said in a grandiose fashion, spreading his wings wide. "You should never regret pursuing a goal, provided of course it is a noble one." he said. "I know that might sound hard to believe coming from me, but if you simply had given up, he's right! You would have been wondering if you had made the right choice or not, and asking yourself over and over again 'could I have done more?' Well this goes for all of you." He said sweeping his hand around.

"Petrie, Devon, Harper, and Ridge. Pursue those dreams! Pursue those goals! Get the answers you want. I'm not talking about mere ambition either, though ambition is not always a bad thing. Even if you're wrong... and even if it turns out to be something that does not ends up working for you..." he said, starting to hesitate a little here. "At least you'll know in the future that it's not an avenue worth pursuing. It's how we grow and learn on our journey through life... we either succeed... or we make mistakes and learn from them." he declared. "That's why you should never be afraid to pursue something, because even if it disappoints you, or lets you down, you at least know what it was like, and that it is not something worth repeating. And if you succeed... all the better." He said, giving them a smile.

"I know you might think it odd I'd be saying this... as you know some of my past predispositions, but I assure you, I'm speaking of your youth. Now is the time to do things like that, and learn as you go. When you're my age... if you haven't ended up taking chances and learning from early mistakes... then... some mistakes can become rather big." he said, frowning a little sadly now. "You won't know how to properly handle them. This way, if you make one now, it probably won't be so big that it can cause irreparable harm. All you were doing was pursuing your curiosity, and that's good in ones so young. You seek answers because you want to learn." he explained. "So long as you act responsibly with your actions, you should never be afraid to take risks like that. If your overriding instinct is 'wait! I'm doing something wrong here', then yes, you should probably listen to it, but if you're just afraid because you aren't sure what's going to happen, don't be." he said, giving them all a smile.

"I guarantee that you'll be kicking yourself if you don't go through with it, and be asking yourself 'what if?' constantly, or 'if only I'd tried that.' Yes... well if it doesn't work out, and it hurts... as failures sometimes can... you can always talk to your mother or even me about it, as you should know that EVERYONE makes mistakes, especially at your age." he said, chuckling a little. "We'll be here to add some comfort and reassurance, share a tale of our own, and hopefully mend that growing confidence you all have." he smiled, placing his hands on his hips as he looked around at them.

[trulyfantasticme]

Petrie and Devon didn't know about Ridge and Harper, but they knew Pterano was right. They nodded, understanding what Pterano was telling them. Devon suddenly remembered what to say next. He stood up next to his father, placing a hand on his shoulder. "And what ever you do," he added. "Don't ever give up. No matter how hard this world may turn out to be, no matter what the results, dont ever give up. And don't let anybody tell you you cant do something. That would be unexcusable. Don't let nobody put you down cause if you do, how the heck are you going to get anywhere?" Devon sighed. "You want something, you gotta go get it. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. Don't let anything get in your way, not even your mother, not even your uncle, not even me. You do whatcha gotta do and you stick with it. Got it?"

He pointed a finger at the children before him and as he said those words, he felt himself grow wiser. Just as Pterano had taught him before.

[vonboy]

Mr. Threehorn had spent most of the morning gathering the other adults of the valley together. He had already informed Mrs. Swimmer and a few other adults of the impending meeting, and now he was upon the nest of Pterano's sister.

Mrs. Flyer! Important Meeting coming up today! Be at the Great Meeting Circle by midday!"

He wasn't much for conversation, so he started to walk off, towards the other adults that he had to inform.

---------------------------

Chomper had fallen asleep on Ruby's back. They were still a long ways from the Valley, and this was making Ruby worried. We never came back this late in the day before! she thought to herself. I hope no one notices. It appeared that they wouldn't make it back till the afternoon.

[Allicloud]

Redback tried to smile gently up at the Longneck. It was a pleasant surprise, and a nice change, that the leafeater was giving him a chance, and not charging him down or fleeing from him.

"Well Mister, to be honest, there's no real reason we can't live out there. Truth is, we really just don't want to. Me and Tero've had enough of havin' to walk back-to-back in the day and sleep with an eye open at night. It's rough life out in the Beyond. Even worse with Tero being a leafeater, and me being a sharptooth. That means we get trouble from both ends. He gets attacked by sharpteeth, I keep gettin' driven off by flatteeth, if you'll pardon the expression.
So, one day while runnin' fer my life, I just thought to myself 'Why am I still out here? I can eat and talk like a leafeater, so why not live as one?! So, here we are. We followed a farwalker herd, and ended up here."

[Mama's Girl]

Cera and Ducky both listened as Grandpa Longneck went on giving his greeting to Redback, almost taking off how one of the most trusted elders in the whole Great Valley took this to form their own opinions, or help with them anyway.

As the sharptooth wasn't sent packing, Ducky gained some more confidence in her wanting to trust this sharptooth off Littlefoot's trusting him and sat up from on Spike's back. By the end of what he said, she was sure enough to speak.

"Oh well, we have helpeded our friend Chomper while here, and so we could help you too, we could" she said with a smile.

Cera sighed, "Yes, we could just start inviting all kinds of sharpteeth in, make it sort of useless there being a protected valley!" she half muttered. She sighed, next though, jumping to apologize before Littlefoot no doubt told her to.

"Sorry. Not having the best morning" she now glanced over to Redback and Tero, "I guess what I mean is...welcome" she gave a not sure smile, but the best she could pull right now.

~~~~

(Fine by me )

The female flyer all but jumped back a bit at the sudden drop in, but soon composed herself and her gaze took in the...well not kid anymore, but close enough. A vague wondering on if this was related at all to the farwalking flyer she was on the trail of hit her mind but she quickly pushed it aside again.

"Yes, I do live around here" she said, pausing a bit as she considered what he asked. She didn't want to waste too much time before getting back to the nest, not that she didn't trust Pterano, but she knew what a handful her lot could be at times, still...she felt they'd be fine a bit longer and something in her motherly nature made it hard for her to leave someone even at this stage of being an adult himself without help.

"Yeah, sure" she began, before Mr. Threehorn's call interrupted her. She would have, had the threehorn paused long enough to let her get the words out, explained how she'd be a bit too busy, but she settled instead on nodding, "Alright, I'll spread the word" she gave that much of a promise at least.

Turning back to her companion, now, she knew he might be atleast a bit curious as to "what that was all about". Before he could ask she gave a small sigh, "if you're still around, and don't hear about it before, I'll explain about all that later. The watering hole is just this way though" she flapped up to begin showing him the way.

"Oh, by the way, I didn't give my name or catch yours" she said, next remedying the first part and supplying the younger flyer with her own name.

~~~~

From the moment Pterano started to give his feed back to her little story, Harper could tell, just from something she'd learned to recognize in her uncle's voice, that he was on some sort of important point and she just listened for what it might be as he went on. He got to it quick enough and Harper was sort of not surprised Pterano was agreeing with that one point of Ridge's.

She would have asked about dangers one avoided by not doing reckless things, but she didn't want to interrupt and so just listened. Plus, Pterano was hard to interrupt when off on a point and such.

He sort of answered the question round about, though, saying how failure just proved something not to do. Yet still, Harper was a hatchling who had been happy being homebound because she was one of those cautious sort who liked to think before leaping. Pterano also go around to answering that anyway, and Harper supposed he was right. Being so...analytical with stuff, if she had really thought there was a problem with going they wouldn't have gone, she knew that, because she would have turned back and hopefully Ridge would have followed her.

Her uncle also had a point, smaller mistakes now did seem like they would probably be better than full blown ones. His last words really did help, lumping himself in as support system for her to turn to if need be. She had to admit, someone else on her side, even theoretically, did help as did the underlying reminder of how Pterano would now be around to do just that, be around...provided the other adults didn't just fine a way or reason to kick him out...but they couldn't do that, there wasn't any grounds anymore, he'd made up for anything he'd done.

Ridge smiled then glanced over to Harper, "Ok, it's official, I like your uncle and all but cousin" he grinned, the last being best he could figure out Devon's situation of course.

Harper smiled as well, "Yeah after a while of knowing him most people do" she said, though she knew Ridge meant the more permanent, actual, liking and not just the followers worship Pterano had been able to gain before.

"And thanks, Uncle Pterano" she said, "it'll be nice, you being able to be around to help too" she said.

[Pterano]

Littlefoot's grandfather nodded, and spoke. "Ahhh well I see. The Mysterious Beyond is quite the different lifestyle. It's nothing like here, as I'm sure you're already noticing. I think we should continue this conversation on the way, however. The meeting will probably be starting soon, so if you wouldn't mind coming with me, Redback, we'll try and get you inducted into our community." He turned to begin heading to the Meeting Circle.

"Littlefoot, you can go off and play now, if you want."

"Um... that's OK, grandpa. Maybe I should stay with Redback for now, as he doesn't have any familiar faces aside from ours for the moment, so maybe it would be best if I went to this meeting too... oh and also I want to know why we're even holding a meeting about Pterano in the first place." the younger longneck said.

"Oh? Very well then... we'll head down there together." his grandfather said, nodding.

"So... you guys want to come along?" he asked, nodding at Cera and Ducky and Spike. "I kind of want to hear what all the fuss is surrounding Petrie's uncle. And well... Redback too." he said, looking over at the teen dino and his flyer companion. "I want to find out a little more about him. Besides, Petrie isn't here, and neither are Chomper and Ruby, and I'd feel bad going off to play without them. No doubt Petrie's going to be at the meeting..." Littlefoot trailed off, hoping his friends would follow him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you!" the flyer called after her as he too took to the skies and began following her. He honestly had no idea what the threehorn was shouting about, but figured it wasn't any of his business anyway. "Well my name is Norton!" he said, staying behind her for the moment and letting her lead. "I only located that farwalker herd last night, and I guess you could say I'm more of a solitary wanderer myself. I decided to join in on the group though as I've never been to this place before. Not sure how long I'll be staying. A few days I guess."

He spoke with an accent that was a bit lighter than Pterano's, being not quite as heavy and as thick. It was softer, and more reserved in a way. "I'm afraid I've been having a terrible time of locating the watering hole, though." he said, chuckling a bit. "Been parched since last night, and you're the first local I've spoken to. None of the other farwalkers could really help." he explained.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pterano let Devon say his piece, and then looked around at his nephew, niece, and Ridge. It was nice to hear that Ridge actually liked him, and he stood back a little to hear their responses. "Well thank you too. I'm glad I can be around to finally start supporting my family. I have to say I agree with Devon, though it IS important to listen to your mother as well. She knows FAR more than you may think, as she's been around for awhile, and with age comes experience." he said, giving them a nod, and by no way indicating himself in that. He knew why Devon told them to let no one stand in their way. His experience with his biological father was... not pleasant after all, and Pterano could hardly fault Devon for feeling that way.

"Hey, Pterano." a clubtail spoke up behind him, and Pterano turned around. "You ARE Pterano, right? Mr. Threehorn said you're needed at the Meeting Circle."

"Why?" Pterano asked, getting a little defensive. "I haven't done anything wrong. My exile is up."

"That's what he said. I'm just the messenger. I don't care if you show up or not." He shrugged his shoulders, and kept on walking.

Pterano turned around to face his family. "Mmmm." he said, irritated. "I'm supposed to be watching the nest... but she DID say to stay here if I'm called away. She must have known this would happen." It wasn't accusatory, but merely frustrated. "I suppose you can all come if you like. I can't imagine what this is about. I served my time after all, and more than was necessary too." he turned and spread his wings. "Anyone coming with, then?" he asked, looking behind him.

[trulyfantasticme]

"I'll go with you Dad!" Devon volunteered, stepping forward.

"Me will go too." Petrie also stepped in, landing on his uncle's shoulder.

[Allicloud]

Redback's face lit up as he heard Grandpa Longneck's words. He was really gonna get a chance!

"Ya mean it?! Oh, thanks, thanks so much!" He cried as he stood up, his swinging tail knocking Tero to the ground.

The flyer dusted himself off huffily as he joined Redback's side "Well, let's get going!" said the sharptooth.

As he headed off, Redback lowered his head and muttered to Littlefoot "So, whose this Pterano character I hear you talking about?"

[Mama's Girl]

"Oh yes, we will come along too" Ducky answered Littlefoot before Cera could even try to think up how to answer. Of course the swimmer was only speaking for Spike at most, if speaking for anyone at all, and the threehorn could still give her own answer.

"You are right Littlefoot, we may all be needed to help both Petrie's uncle and Redback not be...well um, yelled at" the swimmer wasn't actually sure what she expected the reception to be.

Cera rolled her eyes, "Yeah well knowing my dad, that's probably not the worst..." the threehorn cut herself off, for Littlefoot's sharptooth friend's sake.

"Yeah, I guess I'm coming too" she sighed, there really wasn't any way to avoid it, not unless she wanted to let Pterano take more from her and make her anger make her stay at her nest bored away from her friends. The threehorn just resolved to herself that she wouldn't look at or speak to the flyer as much as she could help it when dealing with Petrie and short of hurting her friend's feelings.

~~~~

Petrie's mother nodded as Norton went on both introducing himself and also explaining his "story" in a way. So, he hadn't been with the far walkers long. "Ah, I assumed you were just part of the farwalkers herd" she said. She already noted that Norton had a distinctive accent to his speech as well, not quite the same as how her brother spoke came off. She found it slightly interesting, she'd never encountered any other flyers who spoke anywhere similar to the way her brother had somehow picked up.

"And here I was about to ask if you knew anything about a blue flyer with a lighter shade than mine who's suppose to have been with the farwalkers" she chuckled to herself slightly at this by now ingrained desciption she had to go off, "but if you just arrived yourself I doubt you would" she smiled. She wasn't even sure why she made mention of her mission to Norton as they reached the watering hole.

"Well here we are" she landed, glancing about, but for a few, it was fairly empty. She sighed, "Most everyone you would be likely to meet here though is probably at that meeting the threehorn was yelling about" she told Norton before sighing, 'and...that meeting...is a long story" she went on  incase he felt like asking.

~~~~

Harper nodded as well, "Yeah I've...tried to pretend I didn't know the grown-ups were yelling at you enough before, this time I'm coming too" she nodded.

Especially as he could tell how unsure Harper, for one, was over why they were wanting Pterano there in the first place, Ridge smiled. "Ah don't worry" he told the flyers, "like Pterano just said, they can't be just wanting to yell at him, he didn't do anything. Probably just want visual proof your on the up and up" he told the flyer as Harper smiled at her friend putting such a point to it.

[Pterano]

((That was pretty hilariously random... knocking Tero over like that. XD))

Littlefoot flinched as Tero was toppled by Redback's wagging tail. Owch... talk about painful enthusiasm!

Littlefoot smiled as his friends decided to join him. "Thanks, guys!" he exclaimed, happy over this development. "So uh... any of you see Chomper yet?" he asked. His friend still hadn't shown up, and it was a little strange to be missing him like this.

He heard Redback asking in a low voice as they started walking who Pterano was, and Littlefoot let an uncertain look cross his features. "Well... he's an uncle of a friend of mine. A flyer. His name is Petrie, but he's not here right now, probably because he's with his uncle. It's sort of a long story about Pterano... but he's pretty controversial. Without trying to make him sound too bad... he made a few mistakes when I was really young and separated from my family... and there were deaths involved with his mistakes. He didn't mean for any of it to happen... but he didn't exactly take responsibility for what happened either... and he didn't exactly make things easier when he returned a few years ago." the longneck was trying not to bore Redback too much, or get him confused about any bits. He didn't want to color Pterano completely negatively after all.

"He was pretty ambitious... and tried to... sort of... well... find a flying rock that supposedly had magical properties. It looked like the one that appeared last night, in fact. He wanted to take over this valley... but he wasn't entirely bad either. He DID want to do it out of a sense of good... at least I think so... he was just... a little blinded by himself, if that makes any sense, Redback." the longneck looked over at him as he continued. "Anyway, the stone wasn't really magical, but some of his underlings kidnapped Ducky... the swimmer over there, and we followed after him and his group, trying to save her as they headed for the stone. It was just another adventure we ended up getting in to... and by the end of it, Pterano ended up saving Ducky, because she nearly fell to her death off that mountain you see up there." He motioned with this head to Threehorn Peak. "And so because of that, the grownups only exiled him for five cold times instead of forever."

Littlefoot smacked his lips as he thought about how to conclude this. "He accepted it gracefully enough... and now he's back. He's just very... complicated. I think he's really a good flyer, and hopefully he's learned from all that's happened, and I WOULD like him to live with us, provided he's OK now. I hope I didn't... lose you in any of that." he said, giving off a small laugh. "A lot of the adults still don't like him though, or at least are wary around him... so yeah, this meeting I guess is just to hopefully greet him... and not more than that." he finally ended, looking ahead of him with a tense look on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norton listened, and shook his head as they flew. "Well actually, no. I joined up with them last night. I normally travel on my own these days." He perked up upon hearing her question about a flyer though, and upon hearing the coloration, he grinned. "Actually, I CAN probably help you with that." he said. "I took note of the flyers in the group... at least most of them. If it's a female, there were no females whatsoever with what I observed." he explained.

"But if it's a male, there weren't any that really matched that description either. I saw a pink long tailed flyer, and a darker blue sharp toothed flyer, but none like us." He must have missed Pterano, but it wasn't surprising, as Pterano had placed himself outside of the main group, off to the side.

"Oh wait... there was one like us actually... but he wasn't blue. He had a twisted leg that looked all the worse for wear. So either way, I didn't see any flyers like that in the herd, so your flyer didn't come in with that group last night, at least." He said, brightening up even more when he saw the watering hole.

"Ahhh THANK you kindly!" he said, landing beside the lake and starting to cup his hands to take in grateful gulps. "Ahhh yes! That really hits the spot!" he exclaimed happily. He raised his hands in front of him, and shook his head with a smile. "It's alright, I understand. If there's one thing I won't meddle in, it's local politics. I learned that the hard way that others don't always like interlopers, and you don't have to go into details if you don't want to." he said, chuckling a little. "It does sound important though... or at least insistent, as that threehorn was certainly making it out to be so. Hopefully it's nothing TOO serious."

"Thanks very much for directing me here, and I'm glad I was able to help you a little bit in return. I hope you find whoever this flyer you're looking for is." he stated, stooping down to get another drink before straightening back up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pterano was surprised that everyone in the group wished to come with him. "Children!" he called up to the nest. "Stay in the nest, as your mother said! We'll both be back soon, and you won't want her to find any of you missing." He said, looking down at Ridge, Harper, Petrie (on his shoulder), and Devon. He nodded, and took to the air.

He flew with a determined look on his features, one of iron resolve. He didn't flinch, despite the inner turmoil he was feeling. He knew this was going to be chaotic for him at best, and a complete total meltdown at worst. He only hoped he could find strength to stand up to whatever trial they were going to put him on.

He couldn't understand why this meeting was being held, but Ridge was probably right. Just to see how he'd changed and what he had to say for himself, if anything. He could see the Meeting Circle up ahead, and noticed that already several dinosaurs were beginning to gather. He flew slow enough so that Ridge could keep up, as he was pretty sure the spiketail would be accompanying Harper.

When he did land, he stayed off to the side, joining the ever growing circle, and did his best to ignore the snorts and stares. He stayed with his family. Devon, Harper, and Petrie. He wasn't going to leave their side and move into the center unless he was called forth. He placed himself firmly in their midst, and appeared unfazed by what was going on around him, at least outwardly, but inwardly he was a wreck, and trying to keep it together.

[Allicloud]

Redback listened, amazed by Littlefoot's story. And he thought HE had had adventures! This Pterano sounded like quite a flyer. He grinned to himself; This meeting should prove most interesting.

"Quite a story, I must say. So, at this meeting I'll have second billing to him then?"

The group cleared the trees and the meeting place came into view. Redback gulped as he saw the groups of dinosaurs who had already gathered there. He had learned all too well how aggressive these seemingly docile folk can get.
Tero noticed that his friend had stopped at the fringe, and gave him a rough nudge. This seemed to get him moving, and they headed slowly towards the rock circle.

Redback leaned down to Littlefoot's level "Do me a favour, stay close to me, will ya?"

[vonboy]

Mr. Threehorn had finally made it to the Great Meeting Circle, after his search for the other adults.

He glanced over at Pterano, and just gave a "Humpth!"

[Mama's Girl]

Petrie's mother had at first smiled as Norton went on saying how he took stock of most if not all the flyers in the group. She could guess herself how Pterano escaped his notice too, yet one flyer Norton mentioned caught her attention and she thought on him, letting Norton go on even as they reached the watering hole, not sure if she should voice what she was thinking until she was sure.

But sure of what? If this was that one of her brother's old henchmen, for lack of a better description, did she exactly think Pterano knew that...no...no she didn't, or didn't want to.

She was glad Norton didn't feel insulted at her not being able to tell him all of what surrounded Pterano, being the last to just up and gossip about her brother with a newly met acquaintance, but then being completely in the dark wasn't fair either.

"Well, you'll find out yourself if you stay long enough" she said, "and it basically has to do with my brother returning and...for one reason or another, not everyone being happy about it". She shook her head, "but yes, staying out of politics is usually best" she agreed before looking thoughtful. She wished she could just do the same. She hardly cared about the mysterious blue flyer now though, her thoughts swirling around whether or not this pink longtailed flyer could be Rinkus or not. She was also trying to not let it dampen her faith in her brother, but felt she couldn't be sure on any points.

~~~~

"No, I have not seen Chomper, Ruby or Petrie" Ducky told Littlefoot as he asked, "just Cera, and she came to find me and Spike rather than us finding her".

Even if Cera missed Redback asking about Pterano, she couldn't miss Littlefoot beginning to explain. It was the last thing she wanted to stay nearby and listen too, though, so the threehorn began walking up ahead a bit.

Much as she tried, some of it still made it to her ears though. Like how he made "a few mistakes" and "didn't mean it". Cera's mouth tightened and she struggled with controlling herself. She wouldn’t blow up in front of the sharptooth, though, and just blocked out Littlefoot's story so as not to lose it.

They made it to the Circle, finally, though, and at just the sight of Pterano even still far off where he was at the edges, Cera's eyes narrowed.

"Do not worry, we will help you too" Ducky whispered to Redback as they now appeared to where others could possibly see both the sharptooth and his flyer friend, though the sharptooth was the one likely to get the harsh reception.

~~~~

As Harper landed, and for once heard the grumbles and snorts that were all on account of and a reaction to her uncle, she took just a step or so back. Oh yeah, that was why she'd never felt drawn to pry into either of his prior two exiles, it was just...uncomfortable.

But Ridge was right, this was probably just a sort of testing the waters on Pterano's return. Nothing more serious. After giving Harper a reassuring smile, since he didn't want to exactly go over and interrupt her being there as silent support for her uncle, Ridge just glanced between and around at the murmuring dinosaurs. He still found it so fascinating, as he encountered it all for the first time, that EVERYONE seemed to care for one reason or another about the flyer's return.

Harper turned to say something to Petrie, probably encouragement for the both of them on what she'd just been thinking of it all being fine, when she spotted Littlefoot, the others and...the newcomer with them. She was aware of Chomper, of course, but...that sharptooth...was not him or Ruby.

Surprisingly, even to herself, Harper didn't scream or dart back, or even react beyond staring. Probably since even she knew if Littlefoot was near a sharptooth and not eaten it was a good sign, but also, she just didn't know how to take it. She also didn't point out Petrie's friends to him, since she wasn't sure how he'd take it, the sharptooth and all.

[Pterano]

Littlefoot could see Petrie almost as soon as they arrived, and sure enough, he was over by Pterano. The infamous old flyer looked a bit worn out or tired, and Littlefoot couldn't exactly put his tail on what it was. He must have a raging storm of emotions churning away inside of him, the longneck thought. He was worried about Chomper, too, but realized that until this meeting broke up, there was little he could do about it in the meantime.

Littlefoot heard Redback's request before they reached the circle, and this caused him to smile. It most certainly helped put him at ease, as he could see now that despite being a sharptooth, Redback was quite nervous about being here. Littlefood decided to oblige him, and moved in next to the red sharptooth, showing his support for having him stay here, and even amidst the gasps and whisperings of "sharptooth" that were traveling throughout the circle, Littlefoot didn't budge.

"OK, just stay close to us then. You deserve a chance, Redback, and I'm not moving away until you get that chance." the longneck said firmly.

His grandfather stepped forward and started to quiet the crowd. "Please... everyone, please! He's not going to hurt anyone. We'll be discussing him after Mr. Threehorn gets his Pterano bit out of the way. This sharptooth is no threat to our valley, so I urge everyone to just calm down for the moment, as he has a few things to say, and will be heard after Pterano has been dealt with." the old longneck explained, though murmurs still abounded. It wasn't everyday that a sharptooth came into the valley after all, nor was it everday that one was introduced by Grandpa Longneck.

"Now then... Mr. Threehorn... why did you call this meeting? I realize not all of us are here just yet, but we can probably begin preliminaries at least. Pterano has served out his exile, and he can be permitted to live here now, as we rarely ever turn others away who need a home or refuge. So what exactly does this meeting concern?" he asked as he walked over to the threehorn.

Littlefoot was looking around, and listening in, and stopped as he thought he saw some familiar faces in the crowd. "Hey! Guys!" he said, nodding with his head over to a certain spot. "Is it just me... or are those the Rainbow Faces standing over there?" Littlefoot was motioning to a pair of gallimimuses who were standing well back in the crowd, and though it was difficult to make out at this distance, they did indeed appear to have rainbow streaks on their snouts.

Pterano, off to Littlefoot's left a ways, was keeping mostly to himself at this point. The flyer looked over at his gathered "family", and spoke in a low tone. "I suppose this is it then; my day of reckoning. The moment of truth about what Mr. Threehorn really wants. It's no surprise he decided to call this meeting I suppose... but what is he really after?" the flyer speculated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norton chuckled again at her comment. "Heheh, I see. Your brother sounds like a bit of a troublemaker. I wouldn't know what it's like as I'm an only child, and never had any siblings of which to speak of. Might I ask what your brother has done though? You mentioned one reason or another, so it sounds like he's done quite a lot." he stated, chuckling again.

[vonboy]

"It is true that it was mostly me that wanted this meeting today." The old Threehorn started. "Most of the Great Valley residents are more open to you coming back, I'm sure. I can see it in the faces of the congregation right here. They might be a little apprehensive, sure, but most want to give you a second chance. If it is the wishes of most of this Council, then I guess I can't keep you from staying, try as I might..."

"...but I have just one thing to say. I, personally, will NEVER forgive you for what you did!"

He stopped for a moment, to see if anyone else had something to say yet.

[Allicloud]

The sharptooth smiled as Littlefoot joined by his side. It was good to know that he did have support in this. He took a spot near the inside of the circle, ready to be called forwards. he could feel the eyes of the entire crowd upon him. He sat down, Tero crouching beside him.
On his other side, there sat a grown spiketail, not much bigger than him. The old spiketail's eyes never seemed to leave Redback. The sharptooth turned and glared back, giving a slight, albeit toothy, grin.
The spiketail swiftly looked away.

As Redback sat and listened, he shuffled awkwardly at the old threehorn's words. If he was going before this old dinosaur, he would need to choose his words wisely.

[Pterano]

Littlefoot shook his head as Mr. Threehorn got all gruff and raised his voice. "That's typical of him." he said, but tried to keep his voice low enough so that only Redback could hear, as he knew Cera was sitting close by. He wasn't taking his eyes off of the Rainbow Faces either, as they seemed to simply watch the proceedings with smiles on their faces.

"Try not to worry too much about him. He'll be the one giving you the most trouble... but my grandfather is pretty good at making the others see things in a bit more... sensible light." he whispered to Redback.

Pterano shuddered a little as he felt Mr. Threehorn's words lance into him. Such force... Mr. Threehorn wasn't even trying to attempt to disguise his contempt and enmity toward the flyer. His jaw quavered a little, not because he was scared of Mr. Threehorn, but because the terrible visions were once more reappearing before his eyes.

All the things he'd done... the sharptooth attack, his nephew almost drowning while he paid it no heed, and Ducky plummeting into that dark pit. All actions of his own design, but he wasn't sure exactly what Topsy was referring to here. He shook his head to clear it, snapping his eyes closed for a moment before reopening them.

Deciding to face him, he strode a few steps forward. "Before I speak and tell this Council what is on my mind... I'd like to ask of you... what in particular can you not forgive me for?" he asked. Like most traumatic events in his life, he'd blocked the fact that Threehorn's mate had been with the herd he'd lead to their deaths, and it simply no longer existed in his mind anymore, the faces all blurring together and not forming any distinct one. "I can assure you, sir, I will endeavor to make it up to you, but I'd like to know which action in particular was so dastardly that you simply cannot forgive it."

[Mama's Girl]

Petrie's mother sighed, "Where to start" she began on answering what Norton asked about what Pterano had done. "But...maybe you should hear it from me before you no doubt here it from others..." she went on.

"My brother, Pterano, has always been...ambitious, or just wanting people to think he's great, ever since we were kids and it came off as him being a bit pushy with the other flyer hatchlings. He still always had the ability to make whatever he was talking about sound good, though, and so even on into when some of us were making our own journey here to the Great Valley after the green food started majorly disappearing, Pterano would argue with the herd leaders and try to get his point in. I...don't think I thought as bad of it as I should. He was my brother and I wanted to believe he meant well, and he always did, in an ill-advised, still dangerous sort of way" she sighed again.

"Well, the main thing people around here will tell you against Pterano is that while on this trip he got some of our herd to listen to him and lead them off on his own, to prove he could lead them. They...didn't make it back. I don't even know how much true guilt lays with my brother for it, either, since we could never get the real story out of him. They banished him from the herd for it with the sort of unspoken until after we made it here, because after he returned again five cold times ago there wasn't grounds to kick him out or anything and it looked like he could try to turn his life around...only I could tell from the start he didn't seem interested in that".

She paused, "Actually, here is why I was sort of feeling nervous when you mentioned a pink flyer with a longtail. When Pterano returned five cold times ago he had two...what he'd call friends with him, a brown uncrested flyer, Sierra, and a pink longtailed one, Rinkus, oh I could tell they were bad sorts from the start, but of course he never listened to me on the subject of friends" she sighed.

"The second trouble all centered around a story about a Stone of Cold Fire granting wishes and power" she rolled her eyes, "the story of course drawing my brother into scheming again to try to get it. I know that again he meant no harm, not really, but he just doesn't think most things through beyond what helps him at a given moment and so when one of the Valley's young, and my own son's best friend, Ducky, overheard him saying this he...I'm ashamed to say, added kidnapping to his list of wrongs just to try and keep the secret and by that pulled my son and his other friends into all sorts of dangers before we could get them back safely to the Valley".

"Though..." she went on, "I will give him this, after I found and confronted him about it there was an earth shake and Ducky almost fell. I say almost because Pterano caught her at the last moment. It went a long way in the council sentencing him and they only banished him for five cold times, so he's back now, though a season or so late".

Petrie's mother sighed again, thoughtfully this time, "I only tell you all of this to try and help you figure out, if you do run into him, what even I haven't settled on, how trustworthy he is. Since his return he has been different and seems to want to be better, though I'm not sure if he knows how. Now onto this pink flyer, if it is Rinkus...I wouldn't trust him as far as I could toss him" she was blunt with that part, "I'd know him though if I saw him, do you happen to know where he was last spotted?" she asked Norton, "If he's back in our Valley I do want to know about it and alert someone".

~~~~

"Knew this wouldn't go well..." Cera muttered as everyone in the group who noticed Redback seemed to start muttering and pointing anxiously. She was making herself pay attention to this instead of Pterano.

Finally Ridge glanced over as well towards where the pointing seemed concentrated, taking a step or two back himself, "Whoah...what the...". Grandpa Longneck speaking for the sharptooth seemed to calm fears, at least where Ridge and Harper were concerned. Even the semi-new spiketail kid had learned by now to trust the old longneck's judgment.

"Well, that's it then" Harper said, "If Grandpa Longneck says he's fine, then he's fine" she gave a small smile.

Over by Littlefoot, Cera caught what her friend said and looked, "I don't see anything" she stated. Ducky stood up on Spike's head, then hopped over to Cera's. "Hey!" the threehorn grumbled.

Still the swimmer saw nothing, so she next stood on Littlefoot's head, "Oh, yes, now I see them, I do!" she pointed. It was still hard, as it was for Littlefoot, to be sure if they were the same ones, but they seemed to be. "Gee, why are they back too..." she wondered.

Harper listened as Mr. Threehorn went on. She'd never heard the second of the council's complaints against Pterano personally, just heard what they consisted of after it was all said and done. As she heard it from his very mouth now, though, she frowned. She'd put faith in Pterano, and so lumped him in by now with the adults of her life that she'd do her best, in any small way she could, to defend, same as she'd always tried to do and be there for her mother.

She was especially bothered as she saw her uncle flinch, just more proof of how change he was and how much he didn't deserve for Mr. Threehorn to go at him like this. Harper's little hand had just moved, in a still as yet theoretical movement to maybe take Pterano's own hand or something in silent support, when her uncle strode forward and she dropped her wing again, just listening.

Cera had been ok while listening to her father speak of what she felt too, how he couldn't forgive Pterano for losing of the herd and her mother and siblings, yet, suddenly, as the flyer had to audacity to step forward and demand to know what he was unforgivable for, Cera broke.

Pterano had asked her father, as yet few even knew Old Threehorn's daughter was there, yet suddenly, she rushed forward just a bit from where she stood with her friends, shocking many she knew.

"You stupid, horrible flyer! Maybe my mother's death!" she screamed straight at and over to Pterano. "Or my siblings!".

Harper, Ducky, and even Ridge all froze.

"He...he told me what you did!" tears streamed down Cera's face now, yet her gaze on the flyer was full of anger more than sadness, "you lead them straight to their death! Then could somehow look right at me and talk to me while here before and pretend it never happened! Pretend you didn't murder them before I could see them again! I walked the whole way here myself with Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike and even Petrie, going off nothing but the hope that if we made it I'd see everyone of my dad and mom and siblings again and you...you!...".

Cera broke off in her sentence, not sure what else to say, and also having stood in the spot circle so to speak long enough during her tirade. Suddenly and without another word, she turned and darted away from the assembly, away from her friends even and off into the bushes. Ducky frowned, feeling awful for her friend, but wasn't sure what to do, Cera was hard to handle with small frustrations, as she'd sort of proven, she could be unreasonable with something like this.

(figured it came off more powerful if Cera sort of interrupted proceedings and told Pterano what this major crime was )