Chapter two sees a bit more action, hopefully.

Beathach to be voiced by David Tennant.

Thoughtful Smurf and Beathach (and I suppose this particular chipmunk) belong to me.

Smurf y'all later!

The mess hall was nearly full by the time the three of them arrived, dinner already served and Smurfs halfway through their meals. Farmer and Gourdy said their goodbyes and left Thoughtful to join up at her normal end of the communal table, sliding in between Brainy and Greedy.

Greedy immediately set about sniffing at her arms. "Mmm, Thoughtful, you smell good enough to eat!"

She laughed and tucked her arms under her poncho. "I wouldn't advise that. It's medicinal poultice."

"Medicinal?!" Brainy snatched a hand and held it up to his face before Thoughtful could so much as squeak. He turned it over and over, inspecting every little scratch.

She tried not to blush. His hands were soft.

Finally, he tore his eyes away from her arms, looking up at her with his probing blue eyes, made all the bigger by his glasses. For a second, she stared into those eyes, their hypnotic spell binding her in place.

"You really do need to learn to be more careful! After all, like I always say, a smurf of prevention is worth a pound of cure!"

Aaand, the spell broke.

Thoughtful gently pulled her hand from his, busying herself with her meal. "It's just a few scratches, Brainy, nothing to worry about. I fell over during practice today, that's all." The less people who heard about her encounter with the chipmunk, the better. Who knew how long it would take Tracker to let that one go?

Brainy stared at her a moment longer before turning back to his food. "And how was practice today?"

"Brainy! Are you... taking an interest in someone else's life?" He spun to glare daggers at her and she laughed. "No, practice was smurfy today, thank you for asking."

Clumsy peered around from Brainy's other side, leaning over so far he fell off the bench. Thoughtful quashed her initial concern, Clumsy had survived far worse than a bump on the rear. He pushed his hat off his eyes. "What were you learning today, Thoughtful?"

She offered him a smurfberry from her plate and he popped it into his mouth. "Chipmunk, though I'm not very good. Oh, smurfing of which," she poked Brainy's thigh, "Papa Smurf said I could go to Beathach's cottage tomorrow to see if he had any learning tips. Would you like to come along?"

His eyes widened in feigned shock. "You mean, I could go see this famed wizard friend of yours? Truly? Oh, happy smurf!"

She laughed and poked him again. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I'll come along, if only just to see what all the fuss is about."

He dropped one hand abruptly, resting it overtop of hers, and her heart stopped. She stared at the point of contact, the warmth from his hand seeming to flow through her entire body and intensify right at her cheeks.

She glanced up to see him searching her face, somewhere between asking permission and offering a challenge. They'd talked about this. They'd talked about this so many times and yet, here he sat with his hand on hers in the middle of the dining hall. The rush of heat sparked into irritation, and she tried to convey her mixed emotions through her expression, coupled with the slightest shake of her head.

Brainy's eyes dropped, and he removed his hand.

Suddenly, Thoughtful could breathe again. She pulled her hand back into her own space. Brainy still didn't look at her.

"Don't suppose I could come too?" Gutsy broke away from his conversation with Hefty to interject. "I'm always down for a new adventure."

This pulled a smile from the corner of Thoughtful's mouth. "You just want to come to see if he has any more dangerous animals." Last time she'd visited Beathach, Gutsy had bitterly lamented about missing the chance to see the wolverine in the wizard's care. The fact that it had been rabid was merely the icing on the cake.

Gutsy set both elbows on the table, leaning his cheeks on his fists, innocent as can be. "Why, lass, how could ye insinuate such a thing? I'm sure I have no idea what yer talkin' about."

The smile tugged at the other corner of her mouth now, but could never reach its full potential with Brainy's writhing energy at her left side. He was trying to catch her eye. She pretended not to see. "I'm sure Papa Smurf won't have a problem with it. And I know Beathach won't, he's been asking about everyone ever since I met him."

"Aye, smurfy. Let me know when yer headin' out tomorrow."

Brainy stood so suddenly Thoughtful actually jumped. Finally, she met his eyes and didn't entirely like what she saw. His eyebrows furrowed unnaturally, fists flexing at his sides. The other Smurfs in proximity grew silent and still, watching Brainy like he might explode. Thoughtful's shoulders tightened at their attention, but she kept her eyes upwards.

"Thoughtful?" Brainy swept one hand to the door. "A word?"

No Smurf seemed to breathe. Then Thoughtful moved to stand and the tense atmosphere shattered under the sound of the bench scraping away from the table. Still, she was all too aware of everyone's eyes on her back as Brainy led her out of the mess hall and into the cool evening, shutting the door behind them and trapping the boisterous noise of contented Smurfs behind mushroom walls.

The sun reduced to a mere streak on the horizon, Brainy was lit only by the firefly lanterns strung along the paths, dim glow turning his blue skin almost purple. Thoughtful found herself glad for it, since it was difficult to see Brainy's face, and then shied away under a wave of negativity. That was a rotten thing to think.

As usual, Brainy didn't wait to speak. "I need clarification."

A beat as Thoughtful stared at him, incomprehensive. "I... I'm sorry?"

"I need to know what you consider us, Thoughtful, because I thought things were going smurfily and then suddenly you start to avoid me and wander off into the forest all day and invite other Smurfs when I try to be alone with you and I'm very confused and Brainy Smurf does not do confused." He punctuated the last point with two fists on his hips, watching her. Waiting for her to respond.

She did. "W-what?"

His fists dropped with a heavy sigh, the fight gone out of him in a single breath. "I just... I hate not knowing if we're smurfy or... It seems to change every day."

Ah. This conversation.

She shifted uncomfortably, but some of the tension locking her shoulders released. This seemed to be a long time coming. Slowly, trying not to scare herself as much as scare him, she reached forward and took his hand. He looked back and forth between their clasped fingers and her face, probing.

"I'm sorry," she said again, and she meant it truthfully. "We're smurfy, I promise, it's just..." She drew in a steadying breath, "It hasn't been that long since that whole incident with my other village and... I guess I'm just trying to find myself. It feels like it's only been a day or two since I got my memories back and I still don't really know who I am, and it's not fair to you for me to try to get to know you better when I don't even know myself. Don't get me wrong," she hurried on as Brainy's face fell, "I like this, I like... what might happen, but for right now I just need to take it very, very slowly."

He glanced back to their hands again, and Thoughtful realized she was gripping a little too tightly. "And that's why you... don't want to be seen with me?"

Her mouth dropped open as she registered the weight behind his words. "No! Smurfs above, no, Brainy, that's not why I asked to keep this quiet. I don't want to jump into things, and letting everyone know feels like... it feels like a big step. One I'm not sure I'm ready to take just yet. Not until I'm confident in myself and my own identity. The part I play in this village." Her gaze, downcast during her confession, finally raised to his. Brainy stared at her with no less fondness, but the hurt had all but vanished. "Does that kind of make sense?"

He huffed, crossing his arms, but she could see the beginnings of a smile in the darkness. "Hmpf. I'll wear you down eventually, Thoughtful Smurf, Brainy Smurf always gets what he wants."

All her nerves left her in a breathless laugh. "Of course he does, in the end." Emboldened by the beautiful evening and the new level of trust and honesty she felt they'd achieved, Thoughtful tilted onto her tip-toes and pressed her lips gently against Brainy's cheek. She'd kissed him a few times before, and he her, but it never failed to send a thrill through her lips and down her spine. She hovered for a second after pulling away, mouth close to his ear. "Just please, be patient with me."

He squeezed her hand. "I am the best at being patient."

"I'm sure Lazy would disagree." She dropped back onto her whole foot, arms floating up by her sides. She felt so light she might just float away. "Would you like to come back inside and finish dinner?"

"No. I would like to go for a walk with you."

She hadn't been really hungry anyway. "Brainy Smurf always gets what he wants."

They left the warm light of the mess hall behind them, clasped hands invisible in the darkness to all but each other.

Thoughtful finished her chores in record time the next morning, trying to find ways to expel giddy energy while she waited for Brainy to finish his. Finally, they were done. They collected their packs, retrieved Gutsy, and said goodbye to Papa Smurf before heading out into the forest.

It took precisely twelve minutes and fifteen seconds for Brainy to start complaining. "No wonder nosmurf comes up here except you, Thoughtful, there's no path to speak of. Yow!"

She turned to see him flat on his tail, rubbing one foot and tears pooling in his eyes. Ahead of her, Gutsy scoffed and continued on, unflappable as ever. Thoughtful memorized the place he disappeared in case she lost him, then knelt next to Brainy. "Are you alright?"

He nodded to his foot, where a tiny thorn stuck from his shoe. She reached forward and plucked it out, tossing it into the forest. Brainy smiled up at her, eyes still watering. "Thank you."

Should she tell him the thorn had barely punctured the fabric of his shoe? "No problem. Come on, we can't lose Gutsy. He might try to fight that raccoon."

Brainy shuddered as they started off again. Gutsy climbed over that log, right? Yes, Thoughtful caught glimpses of blue tartan darting in and out of the trees ahead. "Why did we have to walk, anyway? Fringe would have gotten us there a lot sooner." A spider dropped out of a tree, landing softly beside him as he let out a strangled cry. It seemed to glare at him before scuttling away. "And safer."

"Fringe has been busy lately, preparing for migration. Most of the storks have. I don't want to ruin anything by taking him away from that, it's an important part of a bird's life."

"Still," Brainy grumbled, making a face that could only be described as a pout.

Thoughtful hid a grin. Utterly adorable.

Feet hit tree bark and Gutsy stood above them on a fallen log, half-leaning over the curvature, the only thing keeping him from a tumble being his grip on a spindly twig. "Ye know, I just realized I haven't the slightest notion where we're headed. Ye wanna hurry it up there, lassie?"

She leaped, propelling herself up the side of the log to stand at the top, wiping dirt and moss off her hands. "We're not too far, Gutsy, another hour's journey maybe."

Of course, her estimate stemmed from trips she'd made to Beathach's cottage herself. With Brainy in tow, it was more like an hour and a half before the three of them stood at the edge of the clearing. She'd been here many times before, but with Gutsy and Brainy along, Thoughtful suddenly saw the clearing with fresh eyes, nervous as to what their first impressions might be.

The whole time they'd been travelling South, away from the nearest human village. Beathach lived out in the middle of nowhere in a slouching hut that looked more like it was dug from the earth instead of built. A crooked chimney breathed a sweet gray smoke that could be smelled even from this distance. Moss hung in long strands from the roof, nearly hiding the door. The beaten path leading to the hut stretched barren, but flowers of every colour and shape sprouted in the clearing, most blooms rising up taller than Thoughtful would be even if she stood on Gutsy's shoulders. Two round, paneless windows barely peeped out from under a curtain of ivy, warm candle light shining from between the leaves.

Thoughtful squinted, adjusting her glasses. The light shifted with shadows from inside the house.

Gutsy started forward, apparently done with studying the scene. "C'mon, we haven't go' all night."

"Hold on," Thoughtful snagged his sash as he sauntered past, and he stopped more in response to her words than her weak attempt at holding him back.

"Everythin' smurfy? I thought ye said ye knew this fella."

"I do, and you're right, usually I would just invite myself in, but look at the windows."

Brainy and Gutsy studied the windows, and she could feel the energy shift when they noticed the shadows. Brainy muttered, "there's something big moving in there."

She nodded, ignoring Gutsy's excited tail wag. "Sometimes he gets humans over who need help with their livestock, but I can't tell if there are two people in there or just him. We should be cautious."

Gutsy's tail stopped moving, and he crossed his arms. "Ye do know what me name is, right?"

Nevertheless, they all crept forward in the long flower stems, avoiding the exposed path as much as possible. Nearer to the open windows, they heard low voices.

Thoughtful held out a hand, silently asking them to wait, as she leaped onto a water barrel and peeked into the window. There sat her friend, dressed in brown leathers, kind green eyes shining in the light of his little fireplace. His scraggly beard shifted as he laughed at something and responded in his own reverberating timbre.

Thoughtful dared to move an ivy leaf, straining to see who Beathach's guest could be. Her heart leaped a little in surprise as a furry brown streak leaped from the modest table and onto the opposite windowsill, but she needn't have worried. Beathach waved goodbye to the chipmunk as it hopped down into the flowerbeds and disappeared into the forest.

Releasing the ivy, she glanced over her shoulder. "All clear." Brainy and Gutsy joined her on the windowsill.

"That's him?" Brainy asked, disbelieved. "He seems so... rugged."

"Other humans call him a wild-man, so I suppose you're not wrong." She used a strand of ivy to swing to the floor in a graceful arc. "Beathach!"

The wizard turned at her voice, another face-splitting smile stretching wide. "Why, if it isn't Thoughtful Smurf! What brings ye here on this lovely afternoon?"

"A question," she smiled as she felt Brainy and Gutsy drop to the ground on either side of her. "And an introduction."

He put a hand to his chest, dropping to his knees immediately. "Glory be. Could this be the day I finally smurf some of your family?"

Brainy and Gutsy recoiled, and Thoughtful flinched a little.

"What's he mean by 'smurf'?"

Gutsy lifted his chin at Beathach. "Aye, yer head's full o' mince there, human!"

Confusion at their reactions quickly vanished beneath utter joy. "Right tidy, another highlander! Yer a bit of a chancer there yerself, lad."

Gutsy hooked a thumb at the wizard, suddenly grinning as if nothing had happened. "Oh, I like this one, lass."

"Thought you might." She turned her attention back to Beathach. "Good try, but 'smurf' wasn't used in the correct context there." Unsurprising, he hadn't managed to use 'smurf' correctly once since she'd started teaching him.

Beathach's mouth turned down in an exaggerated frown, but his eyes still shone. "Alas, another botch. I'll stick to the King's French then, shall I?"

A language they all knew. "Probably for the best. You've met Gutsy," she motioned to him and he nodded brightly. "And this is Brainy."

Brainy stepped forward, adjusting his glasses. "Salutations. I'm sure Thoughtful's mentioned me often."

One bushy eyebrow raised nearly into Beathach's hairline. "Ah... indeed she did." He regarded Brainy for a moment, studying him in a way Thoughtful wasn't sure how she felt about. The way Brainy's back stiffened next to her, she didn't believe he quite appreciated it either. Time to move the conversation along.

"What I wanted to ask," she paused, letting out a silent breath as Beathach stopped eyeing Brainy like a hungry snake and focused on her again, "is if you have any tips or tricks for learning animal languages quicker. I've hit a... a bit of a roadblock."

"Ye don't say?" Beathach pulled himself off the ground, bringing a kettle off the fire just before it started to whistle and busying himself with retrieving three tiny cups. "Apparently yer not the only one. The chipmunk what was just here? Well, he nearly dislocated his own shoulder whipping acorns at some blue busybody who said some pretty nasty things about his hygiene."

Thoughtful sent him the most withering glare she could muster, trying so so hard to ignore how Brainy and Gutsy doubled up on each other in hysterical laughter. At dinner the night previous, Tracker had recounted the story of her crippling defeat at the hands of a chipmunk a little too close to Nosey, and when she'd woken that morning the whole village was sending her amused snickers.

Tracker Smurf was so going to pay for that.

In the meantime, though, she tried to compose herself. "Yes, well, you can see how important it would be for me to learn any kind of methods for avoiding this conundrum in the future. So as the resident master of all things fauna, perhaps you have a book, or a cheat sheet?" She paused. "Or a spell?"

The last request sobered Beathach slightly. He poured drops of steaming tea into the cups, setting the kettle back on its hook. "Aye, I might. Come with me." He nodded to the other two. "Please, make yerselves at home. Oh, and highlander," Gutsy glanced up just in time to see a fleeting wink, "if ye need something stronger than tea, check the barrel to yer left."

Gutsy's eyes lit up, practically falling over himself to check the contents of said barrel.

Thoughtful shook her head fondly at his retreating back, then took a running leap, ricocheted off the table, and scrambled up the notched leather of Beathach's coat to his shoulder.

Brainy leapt to the tabletop as well, staring after her, wringing his hands in the way he did when he was in an unfamiliar environment. "Where are you going?"

"Just to the back room," she tried to soothe his nerves with a smile. "Everything will be fine, just too many bodies in the back room at once disrupts the power balance there, makes it less potent. We'll be back before you say 'smurf'."

Then Beathach turned into a narrow, cold stone staircase and the warmth of the fire, and Brainy's last tiny wave, were left above ground.

The staircase wound tightly, walls so narrow that Beathach had to slip sideways in some places, but Thoughtful embraced the cool earth and gray stone like an old friend. She counted stairs in time with Beathach's walking rhythm. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen...

Thirty three steps down, the staircase opened into a long rectangular room, the walls and ceiling the same gray stone as behind them. The room couldn't be classified as 'big', even from a Smurf's perspective, but looked even smaller with the sheer amount of mass packed into the space. Bookshelves covered every wall, more volumes piled on stools and small wooden tables. Bundles of herbs and hand-crafted dolls and charms hung from the ceiling on bits of rope. Light came from three crystals twice the height of Thoughtful herself, engulfing the room in a dim green glow. Any other available surface space was covered in a myriad of ornate chests and jewelry boxes of some kind, most of them locked tight.

She jumped down onto a bit of empty table as Beathach turned, pulling a thick leather cover over the entry to the stairwell before sliding into the array of magical items like a fish to water.

Thoughtful stayed silent. There were times when Beathach didn't want any sound to enter the room (another way his form of magic lost its potency), but it was impossible to know which was a silent day and which wasn't until Beathach himself made the distinction.

She concentrated instead on the settling of air in her lungs, For some reason, being so far underground and surrounded by the smell of earth and the gentle green glow of the crystals, nothing manufactured or unnatural, it all made Thoughtful feel impossibly close to nature. Like, down here, if she reached out to touch one of the walls, a plant might start growing from the cracks.

She shifted away from the wall, tucking her hands under her poncho.

"So that's the infamous Brainy Smurf, huh?"

Ah, a talking day after all. She watched as he pulled a book from a shelf and leafed through the pages. It might have seemed like he wasn't paying her any mind, but she'd witnessed first-hand how good his multitasking performed. "He certainly is."

"Quite honestly, he doesn't seem the type ye'd usually get on with."

She made herself comfortable on an ornate box, pulling her legs up. "I've put a lot of thought into that, actually. I think we complement each other."

He peered at her over the top of the book. "And yer sure ye wouldn't rather have the highlander?"

A laugh escaped her before she could stop it. "No! And trust me, Gutsy could have his pick of the ladies if he was at all interested. Brainy, though..." she hesitated, knowing what she wanted to convey but lacking the words to do so. "He's... he's the knowledge to my wonder, if that makes sense."

A grin tugged at the corner of Beathach's mouth as he put the book away. "The answer to yer questions."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You humans, always making things sound so dirty. Brainy's a great Smurf, once you make the effort to get past the initial layer of insecurity and defensiveness."

"Sounds like ye've put some tidy thought into this."

"You should see my diary, I've got pages of this kind of stuff in there."

This coaxed a deep chuckle out of him, but his green eyes shadowed immediately after. "Ye mentioned something about a spell."

Her heart leaped and contracted in the same instant. "I... I did."

"Ye know how dangerous using magic is when simple practice will give ye the same results."

It wasn't a question. She'd discussed the same thing with Papa, and the answer was always magic shouldn't be used frivolously. Too many things could go wrong. "That's why I just asked for tips, things that helped you when you were first starting to learn the animal languages."

He handed off a piece of parchment to her, covered in so much ink it seemed to be more black than brown. "This really helped me with tonalities in certain languages. Maybe ye can find use fer it." Luckily, it was small enough that Thoughtful could fold it and put it in her pack. She'd read over it later.

"Thank you, this should be most helpful. Now we really should be getting back, Papa Smurf will be~"

"Thoughtful."

She paused, eyes flicking up. Beathach was the definition of serious, mouth set in a tight line under his beard. "I'm no' joking. It's a wizard rule that if something can be accomplished without magic, do it without magic."

She tilted her head. Why was he specifying this?

"Yer a determined girl, and that's great, but just..." he sighed, scrubbing at his face with a hand. "I dunno. I've been gettin' a feeling from the earth. Just... yer capable enough on yer own, ye don't need magic to make ye special, ye get it?"

Her fists tightened on the straps of her bag. "I understand."

And in that moment, she realized she didn't. If something as harmless as learning a language could be accomplished through a spell or a potion, why not? It would give immediate use, instead of learning it through years of practice, and surely the buy-out wouldn't be that high for something so simple. Papa and Brainy often spoke of how magic often came at a cost, and she could understand the reasoning behind not doing something drastic such as, say, raising a family member from the dead, but the ability to understand and empathize with a creature?

She thought of the raccoon terrorizing the forest, thought what might happen if she could just talk to it. Wasn't the possibility of peace worth the risk?

None of this she relayed aloud, of course, not after seeing the obvious relief lining Beathach's face. "Good. Let's head back then." He held out a hand, palm up. She stepped into it, holding on to his index finger, and her friend pulled the leather cover away and began up the stairs.

They entered into the little hut again, and immediately Beathach let out a booming laugh. "Wee numptie, I didn't mean the entire barrel!"

Gutsy's cup of tea sat, untouched and cold, on the table, but it didn't stop him from smacking his lips in satisfaction, eyes gone a little crossed. Brainy scowled darkly at him from the other end of the table, turning to Thoughtful as she hopped off next to him. "Papa Smurf is going to be smurfed."

Together, they hauled an unsteady Gutsy to his feet. "Can you make it to the windowsill?"

Brainy blew a puff of air through his lips. "Please. He can't even stand."

"Aye and haud yer wheesht," Gutsy's head lolled for a moment before he got his neck under control. "I'm right braw, ye wee balloon, let me show ye." He pulled away from their support before either of them could protest, executing a rather impressive front flip from the table to the windowsill. He overshot on the landing, pitching forward at Thoughtful's gasp, but grabbed an ivy vine to right himself. With a flourish, he spun around to Beathach. "Evenin', chum, and we can tear the tartan again one day."

The wizard laughed again. "Aye, skedaddle, ye reekin' bampot."

Gutsy threw him a two-fingered salute, then promptly fell backwards off the windowsill and into the yard.

Brainy heaved a sigh far too big for his little body. "Smurfs above, I can't understand anyone anymore." He followed Gutsy's trajectory to the windowsill, peering over the side. He moved to jump down before glancing at Beathach over his shoulder. "It was a pleasure." He leaped out of view.

"Likewise," Beathach muttered. "I'd ask again if ye wanted the Scot, but after that display I think I just answered me own question."

Thoughtful leapt to the window as well, glancing at the ground. Gutsy was halfway across the yard, Brainy tearing after him in a mad effort to keep up. "I think I'll stick to my Smurf, thanks." She looked back, expecting to see a smile, but Beathach had turned serious again.

"Be true to yer name and think about what I said about magic, Thoughtful Smurf."

Why was he on her back about this, she'd mentioned a spell once. "Of course. Thank you, my friend."

Before he could chastise her any more, she launched herself off the windowsill and took off after her two companions.

Wrangling Gutsy in his state proved to be a three-Smurf job, and both Brainy and Thoughtful were sadly lacking in the strength department. After their third (or fourth?) attempt to stop Gutsy from throwing himself off tree branches to see if he could fly, both bespectacled Smurfs leaned against a trunk, panting and sweating like humans.

Thoughtful tried to wet her lips, heart burning in her chest. "At least... we don't... have to carry him."

Brainy stood with his hands on his knees, coughing every so often. "That would... be preferable at this point."

The snap of a twig cut Thoughtful's breathless laugh in half. She jerked up, suddenly aware of how close they were to the village. And to other things.

"Brainy," her voice barely more than a whisper, not an inch of her moving on its own accord, "where's Gutsy?"

Another twig snapped, and now Brainy stood rigid with fear beside her, scanning the undergrowth for red hair and blue tartan. "I don't... I don't see him."

They remained stock still, listening, waiting. A beat of silence.

Something crashed out of the bushes and Thoughtful screamed, Brainy matching timbre beside her until they finally focused on their attacker. Gutsy Smurf howled with laughter, clutching his stomach and rolling back and forth on his tail. "Ye shoulda seen yer faces!"

Brainy, the first to recover, scowled at his older brother. "Yes, yes, so funny, come here you troublesmurfer." He moved to grab Gutsy's arm.

"Brainy, no!"

Thoughtful blurred forward, hands connecting solidly with Brainy's shoulders the instant before a giant weight slammed into her side, sending her tumbling over and over and over and suddenly the ground dissipated under her and she was falling.

She landed hard on her back, gaping like a fish until she sucked in a lungful of sweet, precious air. Her side and back throbbed, and something had cut her hand, she could feel her own blood leaking sticky trails down her wrist.

She lifted her hand to inspect it, and saw the source of the cut. Half buried in the ground sat a radiant orange jewel, pointed at the edges like a star. In the dim light from the hole above her, it shone like the sun, glittering and beautiful. She stared, transfixed.

A shape blotted out the hole above her and the spell broke. She tore her eyes from the gem, remembering where she was and oh smurf, Gutsy and Brainy are out there with that thing! She surged to her feet and took two steps to the hole...

Then darted back to snatch up the gem, shoving it firmly under her hat. She could puzzle over it later.

Scrambling to the top, she popped her head out into the open. Brainy stood facing the hole, eyes flicking to her briefly when she made herself known, but otherwise too occupied with attempting to restrain Gutsy and stare down something just over Thoughtful's shoulder.

Slowly, she turned.

Not five apples from her hole crouched the hostile raccoon, muzzle twisted in an ugly snarl.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for everyone except Gutsy, who continued to spit profanities at the raccoon like a Smurf possessed.

"Thoughtful," Brainy's words drew thin and reedy with his fear. "I'm going to jump into the hole, okay?"

She didn't trust her own voice. The best she could get off was a tiny nod, never tearing her eyes from the raccoon. It's attention shifted to her now, the closer target.

Nothing happened for a long second.

"I'm going to count to three and then I'll rush for it."

Thoughtful gulped, finally finding her voice. "Be careful, Brainy."

Something shifted behind her back, and the movement made her shoulders lock. Then, Brainy spoke again, "Here we go. One... two..."

The raccoon pounced.