This story is dedicated to:

Frostforge44

FreakingCrazy

flowerpower71

The archive lost some of its hard-hitters with your departure, but I hope everything's going well for you. I wish you all the best in future projects.

Anyway, this is the beginning of the next story in Thoughtful's saga. Maybe the last? (I've said that before, and alas, here I sit.) The updating schedule will be fairly lax, but we'll see how this goes.

Thoughtful Smurf to be voiced by Lily Collins.

Edited in my usual haphazard style, all mistakes are mine. Smurfs copyright Peyo, Thoughtful belongs to me.

Smurf y'all later!

Thoughtful Smurf tore around a shrub, legs moving faster than her mind even registered. A projectile whizzed by, narrowly missing her shoulder, and she lunged to the left. Another dark shape clipped her knee and she stumbled, sprinting to the right.

She risked a glance back at the blur that was her attacker, leaping from branch to branch with inhuman agility. "I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"

The result of her plea came in the form of another projectile smacking squarely into the back of her head. At the same unfortunate moment, her foot twisted on the uneven forest floor and sent her sprawling into a bramble bush, a thousand tiny pinpricks jabbing through her clothes and yanking her to a painful stop.

The solid shot seemed to placate her attacker, as he stopped on a branch just above her, squeaking and shaking a fist before he turned and vanished into the canopy.

Thoughtful hadn't picked up on everything he'd said, but even with her limited knowledge she could tell the chipmunk had not been pleased.

The bushes before her shifted and she braced for another attack from the perturbed rodent, but instead Papa Smurf and Tracker stepped through the leaves. They stared a moment, taking in the rumpled Smurf, before promptly bursting into laughter, doubling over on themselves to keep upright.

Thoughtful's eyes burned with embarrassed tears, cheeks heating up. "It's not funny!"

Papa finally got a hold of himself, gently pulling brambles away from Thoughtful's clothes. "No, I'm sorry, it's not."

Thoughtful frowned at him. The lines by his shining eyes clearly indicated he thought it was, though he kept his quirking mouth mostly under control.

Tracker had no such qualms, barely getting words out past his residual chuckles. "S-Smurfs above, I have never seen a chipmunk get so angry."

Thoughtful finally got to her feet, picking thorns out of her hair. Her hair? Where was... ah, her hat still hung in the bush like a white flag raised to her attacker. Congratulations, the mighty chipmunk had defeated her.

Papa Smurf knelt to check the foot she'd twisted. "Are you alright, Thoughtful? That looked like quite the tumble." This, of course, sent Tracker into giggle fits again.

She glared at her friend. "I'm fine, Papa. I can put weight on it, see?"

"Arms?" She held out her arms, looking at her hat again while Papa inspected the numerous tiny scratches.

"They're okay too. " Finally Tracker managed to pull himself together and she watched as he plucked her hat from the brambles and plopped it on her head.

Straightening, Papa brushed off his hands. "I'd like to get some salve on those scratches anyway. Come along, my little Smurfs, that's enough practice for today."

The three of them set off through the now much calmer forest, Thoughtful adjusting her hat as she went. "What did I say to get him so angry?"

Tracker barked another laugh, sauntering beside her with his hands tucked in his pockets. "Nothing I can repeat in civilized company." Papa hmmed an amused agreement.

"But I repeated exactly what you said!"

"Thoughtful," Tracker put a hand on her shoulder, feigning sympathy even though his eyes shone. "Trust me, you didn't."

She pouted. "This is so easy for you two, why am I not getting it? Is it something I'm doing? Or not doing?"

Papa glanced over his shoulder at them. "You need to remember, Tracker and I have been communing with animals for decades. It all comes with practice and time, learning a new language doesn't happen in a day."

"I'd get pelted with acorns a lot less if it did." The back of her head throbbed as if for emphasis and she paused to massage the growing lump. Tracker stopped next to her, all easy smiles.

Until he stiffened like a prey animal, stare fixated somewhere deep in the forest. All evidence of humour and relaxation shed from him like a winter coat from a rabbit.

Unnerved by her friend's abrupt shift, Thoughtful froze too. A beat. "What's wrong?"

He sniffed the air. Twice. Three times. Then he grabbed her hand. "It's time to go!"

Out of the undergrowth thundered a giant raccoon, scream tearing through the forest and teeth snapping shut just shy of Tracker's tail. The three Smurfs bolted.

Thoughtful's existence narrowed from complex thought and emotion to the pounding of her feet against the dirt, matching the pounding of her heart. Ragged gasps. Keeping Tracker or Papa in sight. Keeping the monstrous raccoon behind her. Following the worn paths to safe haven.

She ran until she felt her heart would burst, and only then did she slow. Papa and Tracker stopped alongside. Papa panted mercilessly, crouched with his hands on his knees, and Tracker took near-silent breaths as he scanned the forest behind them, watching for any other sign of the animal. Thoughtful tried to listen for the sounds they'd taught her, but hearing anything above her own wheezing proved difficult.

Finally, tension released in Tracker's shoulders and he changed from guard dog to Smurf again. "All clear."

"Why is that raccoon so ornery, anyway?" Thoughtful walked in a loose circle, cooling her muscles. This wasn't the first recorded instance of this particular raccoon giving chase to a Smurf. There had been many reports lately of gathering parties or passers-by being attacked without warning. From what she'd heard, Clumsy nearly got his head bitten off in one of the first attacks. Papa finally got his breath back and the three of them began walking again, a little more wary this time.

"It won't tell me anything," the elder admitted.

Tracker pursed his lips. "It won't even let me get close enough to ask."

Thoughtful glanced back and forth between the two. "And... Nat?" The little Smurfling may have been young, but he proved time and again that when it came to animals there was no Smurf better.

Of course, the minute the words left her mouth she knew what Papa would say. "Absosmurfly not, I am not letting my little Smurfling anywhere near a hostile raccoon."

She should have guessed.

Her steps pulled even with a pebble. She kicked it down the path a bit. "If I could just learn faster, maybe I could help." To be learning valuable skills and not being able to use them was killing her slowly from the inside. If only she knew enough to speak raccoon!

Provided she didn't say something stupid and get herself killed in the process.

The swelling roofs of the village rose into view, the comforting din of Smurfs at work cutting into her thoughts. Seeing everyone milling about, doing chores and tasks and generally being useful, sent something sour into her gut.

Tracker smiled at her, kinder this time instead of teasing, and patted her shoulder before tucking his hands in his pockets again and heading into the village. Thoughtful watched him integrate easily like a fish to water.

"It'll get easier, my little Smurf."

Thoughtful glanced up at Papa, standing resolutely beside her. His hands clasped behind his back, he watched the village with a gentle expression, face full of love and serenity.

She faced forward again. "I know, Papa Smurf. It's just that..." the words caught on her tongue, thoughts buried so deeply in her mind making themselves known without her consent.

Papa said nothing, only looking at her with those kind, probing eyes. Curse him and his Papa powers.

"I just... I just wish there was a place in the village for me. You know, everyone has their own smurfy thing to do, and that's great, I'm happy for them, but it's been over a year since I came and I still feel like an outsider sometimes and I know it's silly, everyone's so nice, but I just feel useless sometimes and I feel that if I could do something like talk to animals or even speak the humans' language I could contribute something, does that kind of make sense?"

He laughed, that warm belly laugh he was so good at, and Thoughtful risked a glance up at him. He shook his head fondly at her, setting one hand on her shoulder as Tracker did not two minutes earlier. The love and care in that simple touch, the depth of his eyes, made Thoughtful feel foolish for even entertaining the thought. How could someone look at her in such a way if she were an outsider?

"Thoughtful, you might not see the way you contribute to village life in the same way Handy or Farmer or other Smurfs contribute, but that doesn't make your role any less important. It's entirely up to you when you realize what a smurfy impact you've had since you came, but make no mistake; the other Smurfs, including me, are thankful for the part you play." His smile got a little impish. "Fluent in chipmunk or not."

She could ignore that last comment in lieu of the rush of affection and gratitude surging through her heart. Her eyes welled up, but before tears could fall she threw her arms around Papa. "Thank you, Papa. I think I needed to hear that."

He chuckled again, patting her back. "Everysmurf does now and again." They pulled apart. "Come along, now. Let's join the others."

The two of them started to pick their way down the hill into the village. Even through the residual sting on the back of her head, Thoughtful swelled with a new sense of belonging, the pain of insecurities unspoken gone with Papa's reassurance. She was still useful, even if she couldn't speak to animals. She could find purpose in other things.

Papa spoke up again as the scraggly grass and pebbles merged to packed dirt paths. "Oh, you know what may help?"

She latched onto the words instantly, a new wave of hope washing over her. "What?"

"You could go and see your friend Beathach. Perhaps he has some insight into learning techniques."

Of course! Thoughtful couldn't stop the little hop in her step, excitement bubbling over her mind into her body. "You're right! If anyone knows about it, he does! May I go tomorrow, Papa Smurf?"

"If you finish all your chores before noon, you may." He chuckled at her giddy vibrations. "Settle down, now, it's time to smurf some salve on those cuts."

A quick examination to the bump on her head and a layer of sweet-smelling honey salve later, Thoughtful waved goodbye to Papa by his door. "Thank you, Papa. And thank you for suggesting Beathach, I never would have thought of him."

"Yes you would have." Papa followed her out and closed the door behind him, glancing at the sky. "Could you please smurf Farmer back to the village? Greedy's about to ring the dinner bell any moment and I don't think he'll be able to hear it from the fields."

"Yes, Papa Smurf."

The paths stood empty at this time of evening, most Smurfs already at the dining hall, but they were far from eerie. A year into living here, her new home, and she met the roads like old friends, positive energy of Smurfs lingering like a cool mist at the end of a hot day. She breathed in the very essence of the village and all who lived there, shedding the day's low points with the atmosphere of comfort hanging low over the mushroom houses. The setting sun sent brilliant, dappled light through the canopy and houses cast long, ballooning shadows over the fallen orange leaves. Cool air warmed in her lungs, expelled in the faintest fog. The curling white cloud drew a smile over Thoughtful's face.

Boy, was she lucky to be a Smurf.

The paths opened up to tilled farmland, bursting with ripe yellow corn and bright, cheery smurfberry red. At the far end of the field rose a green cabbage, taller than she was, and near its base popped a blob of the purest blue. All bathed in rich, golden light.

Thoughtful manoeuvred her way around crops as big as her head until she pulled up to the biggest cabbage seen by man or Smurf. Farmer, on his hands and knees, fooled about with something at the base. He plunged so deep into cabbage leaves that only his feet and his little blue tail peeped out. She peered upwards, but could hardly see the curve of the vegetable, much less the top. "Wow, it's really shot up in the last week!"

Some rustling, and Thoughtful gave him a moment to extract himself from the cabbage. He grinned when he saw her, pride shining in his eyes. "A-yup, that's thanks to all the rain the week past. But there be a dry spell smurfin', so I hope she don't get too thirsty."

"And this is without Papa's fertilizer?" Hard to believe, the only vegetables Thoughtful had ever seen of this size had been magically tampered with.

If Farmer's chest could puff up any more, it certainly did. "Not a speck. Just good old fashioned dirt."

She shouldn't have doubted him. Even now, Farmer's agricultural skills astounded her. "Oh, Papa Smurf told me to fetch you for dinner."

He glanced at the sky, as if just noticing how late it had gotten. "Sacred twenty Smurfs, I hadn't even realized." He stood, not bothering to brush the dirt off his already filthy pants, and patted his prized cabbage. "Come along, my friend, it's time to reap today's benefits."

Thoughtful tilted her head, eyes flicking from Farmer to the cabbage and back. Was it... was it coming with them?

Far be it for her to decide what a giant cabbage could and couldn't do, but she didn't think it would fit in the mess hall.

The leaves rustled a little more, and out popped another creature. He shook his head in the light, like he hadn't seen it in a while, before his gaze dropped to Thoughtful and he beamed. "Oh, hello Thoughtful."

Her face warmed with her own fond smile. "Hello, Gourdy." Should she feel silly for thinking Farmer was talking to the cabbage? No, the little genie all but disappeared under its enormous leaves. And Farmer talked to his plants anyway.

Gourdy stood and brushed himself off, and the three of them began to pick their way through the field again.

"Hey, Thoughtful, do you have something on your arms?"

"Yes, Gourdy, it's a honey poultice."

"Oh. Smells really good."