The best decision

It is the closing days of summer, that hinterland after the solstice where the darker nights draw in but the heat lingers during the waking hours. The frolics and adventures had been had and now was the time to be lazy and try to hold onto those precious sunlit days before autumn arrives. No matter how much we want it to slow down though, life doesn’t stop for the summer…

Two gangly and threadbare creatures move between shade patches at the fringes of a large open grassland. You’d be forgiven for not recognising what they were at first. What should have been a fine coat of feathers on each of them was tatty, patchy, and changing colours in places. Moulting from juvenile coats to adolescent ones was an unpleasant experience, and these two also had borderline malnutrition to contend with. 

The two young Therizinosaurus had weathered three winters together since they met on that fateful stormy night. They had not been successful in finding any kind of parental figure in that time but they had each other. Without a guiding hand in their life, they had been forced to learn so many things on their own through trial and error. The upset tummies after bad berries. The sniffles and sneezes after sleeping in a drafty, damp nest. The bruises and aches after encounters with unfriendly wildlife. It is all they have ever known.

The pair are quickly running out of shade. The grassland sprawls ahead of them. 

“Mmmeeeeeep,” the tan-yellow one exhales sadly.

The canary-yellow one nods slowly and solemnly. They both sit down for a moment to enjoy the shade beneath the tree and work out what to do next.

“Me-me-meep?” tan-yellow suggests.

Canary-yellow scans the grassland before them, her eyes sweeping from one side to the other. Then she cranes her delicate head over her shoulders to look at the sparse woodland behind them. It would not provide much shelter, or food, but it was better than attempting a big open space. 

“Fe-feep,” canary-yellow responds. Her voice is soft and pleasant.

Satisfied with the mutual decision, tan-yellow gives a little happy churr and they both sit for a little while longer. In the warmth of the afternoon, it is very tempting to close your eyes and snooze…

===

The sun has shifted. Shafts of light break through the canopy above and shine directly onto the pair of youngsters. They had indeed fallen asleep, side by side but with their necks draped over the other, essentially using each other as pillows. The light is bright and disturbs their sleep. They start to wriggle out of their comfortable dreaming, experiencing that strange crossover of what is real and what is not for a few moments.

Hmmm. Were they dreaming of…? What…what is that, over there…?

-munch munch munch-

A large mahogany-red shape slowly comes into focus. A round shape. Four legs. No feathers. Some kind of crest, fringed with spikes. This was not the first time the pair had seen a Styracosaurus but they had usually kept their distance. Had it seen them yet?

Canary-yellow is the first to panic. Despite the sleepiness, she has the presence of mind to stay still but she can’t contain the little peep of fright. Tan-yellow flinches a little, in that state of her body being flushed with adrenaline and being ready to run. 

-munch munch munch-

The russet Styracosaurus continues to happily eat the youngest branches of saplings trying to take hold at the edges of an old, fallen tree.

The pair couldn’t stay frozen forever. They had to move. Tan-yellow is the first to attempt getting up, though she never fully stands up. She gets to a crouch and stays low. She looks to canary-yellow, encouraging her to do the same. The Styracosaurus stays in her view the whole time. With both of them low and moving slow, they emerge from under the tree. They are behind the Styracosaurus, there is no way it can see them…

-rrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmm-

Canary-yellow’s stomach rumbles. They both look down to the offending organ, as if that would do anything. By the time they lift their heads again, their gaze meets the Styracosaur’s.

A long thread of tender bark is slurped into the mouth, given the briefest chew, and then swallowed.

“Oh, hello,” comes a pleasant and warm voice.

===

Candela. The Styracosaurus is named Candela. She spends a solid 30 minutes or more trying to converse with the youngsters. At first, she gets nothing but horrified looks and several shuffling steps backward. The rumbling from their stomachs gets more frequent. She snips off some branches of the nearby saplings and makes a small stack. She takes a few steps back and nods her head towards the twig buffet.

“Go ahead, these are young saplings…the branches are nice and soft and have a little moisture inside…” she encourages the pair.

Tan-yellow has spent this same 30 minutes observing Candela. She wasn’t aggressive. She wasn’t being territorial. She wasn’t defending anything. And she probably wasn’t going to hunt them because she had just been happily eating some twigs and branches. So…she was…okay…

Tan-yellow takes a few steps forward. Canary-yellow wriggles at her side, not ready to follow yet but not wanting to lose her adopted sibling either. Tan-yellow continues. In her mind, if anything bad is going to happen, it happens to her first so that canary-yellow can get free.

The young Therizinosaur reaches the little pile of sapling twigs and branches. She reaches down and gingerly grasps one in her mouth. It bends as she begins to chew. Without realising it, she just devours it. She hurriedly reaches for another one, practically inhaling it, before she even thinks to signal for her adopted sister to tuck in. Barely pulling her attention away from the modest pile of twigs, she quickly flicks her head to canary-yellow, mouth full of twig. Canary-yellow was not that far behind. She never wanted to be too far from tan-yellow but also didn’t want to be too close to Candela. The presence of food is a huge motivator though.

Canary-yellow eventually sidles up to tan-yellow’s side and then partakes of the saplings. The scene that follows is like excited children wolfing down fries in their favourite fast food place. 

“Hmm…I’m going to need some more saplings…” Candela murmurs to herself, watching the ravenous youngsters.

===

By now, the sun is starting to set, turning the sky a rose-pink colour. Candela has yet to convince the Therizinosaur pair to move from this spot, but she wonders if that is because of the language barrier. She spoke softly and slowly, used simple words and statements, but got very little in verbal responses from tan-yellow and canary-yellow. Meanwhile, they seemed to communicate very well with each other in a strange little language, peppered with the odd overhead word here and there. 

When she had run out of saplings from here, she had trundled off to the next nearest patch and stripped those of branches too, bringing them back to the pair, who predictably devoured the tree noodles.

Candela watches the pair. It was obvious to her that they were still young and inexperienced, and had not been given any guidance in their most formative years. She knew they belonged to a large species that also roamed the island - despite their age they were nearly the same size as her already. She could just walk away at this point, she had done a good deed and helped them eat something…but the thought gnawed at her. She did not like the idea of leaving two youngsters without at least some more survival skills. If she could get them talking, that would be even better. Its not like she has anywhere to go right now.

The Styracosaur looks to the dimming sky. She wonders if she can get them to some shelter for the night. She looks at the pair, who have finished a pile of meadow-brush. They look back at her, a little expectantly. This is good, they trust you for food at least. 

“It’s always a good idea to bed down somewhere safe at night. Do you understand what a den is? Sleeping in cover?” Candela begins, speaking clearly.

Tan-yellow and canary-yellow exchange looks with each other, a few little meep and feep words are uttered and then they look back to Candela.

“Nest,” tan-yellow states.

Oh good, they do know some words then! Candela smiles broadly and nods her head with positive affirmation.

“Yes…yes! That’s good. A nest for the night,” she beams at the two. 

Tan-yellow and canary-yellow seem to straighten up, smiling gently and even their feathers fluffed a little. This felt nice, lovely comments from another dinosaur.

“Follow me. Lets pick a nice tree and make a nest underneath it,” Candela beckons them to follow and starts moving back into the sparse woodland. 

Tan-yellow and canary-yellow pause only for a moment and then put one foot before the other as they follow Candela.

===

They do not travel for long before finding a nice broad fir tree that has a sizeable gap underneath its branches. The youngsters are ready to bed down next the sturdy trunk but Candela has something to show them first.

“If you can’t find a cozy den, you can always make one. This tree is good for protection from above…but not here on the ground,” Candela begins. She sweeps her impressive head and creat in an arc, is if to say ‘these are all the angles that someone can approach us from.’ 

“When you have a good tree like this, there are two things you can do. First, lets make the ground a bit softer,” she continues, reaching up to the low-lying branches and giving them a good chomp with her strong beak.

For a moment, tan-yellow and canary-yellow think that it is more food and scurry forward excitedly, but Candela shakes her head vigorously. Hmm, so they haven’t learned all of the edible plants yet.

Once the pair stop, she lays the fir branches on the ground. It is a soft-needle variety and has a pleasant smell. She tamps the branches down a little, and invites the pair to do the same with their feet.

“Some things are not good for eating, but they are good for comfort. Feel how much softer this is compared to the hard ground?” Candela wasn’t sure if all of her words were being understood, but her actions certainly were.

The pair reach out with their lumpy little feet and imitate Candela’s movements. The canary-yellow one especially looks delighted with the bedding. They lift their heads and now watch Candela with even more intention.

“The second thing we can do is make a screen,” Candela moves to the sturdy trunk and this time has to reach up higher for what she wants. It will also take a bit more effort as she gnaws through a thicker branch. She doesn’t completely cut it though, and as she makes progress the branch droops lower and lower and lower, until it hangs from the main tree at an almost 90 degree angle. Its broad shape and many little needles create a makeshift screen or wall.

Candela repeats this one more time so that they have some ground cover. With the work done, the Styracosaur shuffles herself down on to the natural bedding and watches with satisfaction as the youngsters do the same. They keep their distance - still understandable - but they have each other to curl up with.

Day one. Done.

===

Tan-yellow and canary-yellow have been with Candela for a whole season now. They witnessed the wonder of the changing treescape and the bounty of fruits and roots at this time of year. Winter is nipping at their heels. 

With a much more varied and robust diet available to them after Candela’s teachings, both tan-yellow and canary-yellow - now furnished with actual names, being Adiona and Juno - are looking healthy and svelte. Their markings continue to grow in, and both are sporting the early signs of a crown of feathers on their head. They have not grown much but they are looking better and are more active.

To Candela’s credit, she has also taught them several words in this time and the pair are stringing sentences together very well. She has never been one to pry in other’s business, but she had asked very gentle questions about their early life which helped her understand how best to teach them. She admired their tenacity. Not many young dinosaurs can make it on their own. Well, they had each other…and that can make the world of difference…

“So…what do about cold?” Juno asks.

The trio are sat basking in some late-afternoon sunshine. They had been feasting on acorns and roots all morning. Candela’s territory was modest and encompassed some of the grassland where they first met, but mostly this temperate woodland that had been bountiful over autumn. Many of the trees are bare now.

“Well…some of us handle this is in different ways. Some will move to a warmer part of the world for a short while and then come back in spring. Some might stock up on food in a shelter for the season. And some of us are perfectly fine whatever the weather,” Candela responds. 

“Oh…what we do?” Juno follows her question with another question.

We. That was nice. It meant Adiona and Juno wanted to stay a little while longer.

“I will be moving a little further south to enjoy some of the seasonal bounty there. Its an interesting journey, there will be lots of others like us who will be making the trip too. If you want to come,” Candela offers.

Adiona and Juno look to each other. Meeting more dinosaurs? Were they ready for this? Meeting Candela turned out fine. Maybe other dinosaurs would be fine too.

“Okay,” the pair said in almost perfect unison.

Candela smiles.

“We’ll spend a few more days here and prepare as much as we can. Before the frost starts, we will go,” Candela says as she moves back to her feet, giving her legs a little stretch. Time to move to the next foraging patch.

Adiona and Juno also get to their feet, shaking out their feathers as they do so. They had embarked on long journeys before. They had endured terrible weather (they met in a storm after all). They had done it all together and this migration would be done together too.