"Hello, children!" Pterano exclaimed, beaming as they all began to cluster around him. He could see his sister's annoyed look, but he knew that even though he'd been exiled again, his popularity had not diminished in that time. "And oof! Hello Petrie!" he said, accepting his nephew's hug with one of his own. "I found out who she is... well... not fully, but I'm meeting her again later on." He told his sister, who was still up in the nest.
"So, who here has missed Uncle Pterano?" he asked, knowing the answer would probably be unanimous. It was at that moment that a minor tremor passed through the ground, and Pterano thought it might have been an earthshake, but as it turned out, it lasted only a few seconds, if that. He looked around, wondering if there was any sign of danger, but the land seemed to quiet afterward, and he shrugged his shoulders, looking up at his sister to see if she had felt it as well.
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As the tremor hit the Great Valley, the two Rainbow Faces paused, and looked at each other. "Surely it can't be..." the female said.
"It's awfully early, if it is." the male responded.
"Mmm... we'd better find her, and fast. Her goals are NOT in line with the goals of the Council."
"Um... well she DID manage to convince some of them of her viewpoint. And do remember, we ARE running out of time." the male reminded his companion. "We need to both find her, and figure out a way to... resolve things."
"It doesn't have to be the way she sees it." the female pointed out. "There should still be a peaceful way of solving this."
"Yes but... maybe she's right." the male stated hesitantly. "After all... our culture... our heritage... though it makes me cringe thinking about her methods."
"Taking the lives of others is NO answer. Her view is that the cycle of life is to simply kill in order to survive... but it's not that simple. There ARE other options... peaceful ones." the female persisted.
"Yes... of course. Well... shall we?" he asked, motioning with his arm for them to continue their trek, and the female nodded, walking beside him as they continued their "tour" of the Great Valley.
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Littlefoot was going to respond to Chomper when he felt a sudden earthshake, though it lasted less than five seconds. "Huh... wonder what that was." he said, looking around, but feeling nothing further. "Chomper." he shifted his attention back to the sharptooth. "I had no idea... and I didn't even know you were venturing out into the Mysterious Beyond to well... feed." he said, looking at Redback before glancing back at Chomper.
"Do you... hunt? Or do you just... eat dead leafeaters?" he asked, shuddering a little, but not backing away. He instead sat down right next to Chomper, and kept his eyes on him. "I wish there was something I could do for you... even in the slightest. I mean... I'm glad you intend to keep your promise... probably more than you know." he said, smiling. "If you want, I'll try and keep it a secret for now." the longneck said reassuringly. "The others, including our friends, won't have to know. Would that help, do you think?" he could hardly believe how cheery he sounded, but cheery he was, as he was looking to make Chomper feel better, even though he knew he was talking about not revealing sensitive information to his closest friends.
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Hyp bared his teeth, and clenched a fist, getting right down to Ridge's level, but Ridge backed off with Harper's assistance. "Hmph. Didn't think you'd try picking a fight. But alright, fine." he said, in response to Harper's plea. "We won't do this here. They sure are taking a bit, huh? Wonder what they're talking about." he mused aloud.
