Warm...

It was... warm. Like, the feeling you get when your mother nuzzles you after a long day. Or when you do something you never thought you could. Or the feeling of home. It felt wonderful.

In the few days that passed after Skokey and Fenqua's meeting, Skokey had been taken care of by the doe. Fenqua, not quite knowing what his problem was, told him to pour out his feelings. He did, quite well, actually. He had wept for most of the day, letting out everything that he had kept in all those months. He told her about his meeting with his mother, about his sister, and about how he felt after all that. After that day, Skokey felt a lot better. He finally realized that people did care about him, and he didn't have to worry about being alone.

He was still physically sick, though. He still had nothing to eat, and he still refused to eat. He didn't feel completely better. But Fenqua always pushed him a little farther every day. But one time, she just flat out asked him:

“Skokey, why won't you eat anything? It's not good for you.”

“You think I don't know that? I don't feel like eating. It makes me sick every time I try.”

Fenqua sighed, “When was the last time you actually ate something? Not just nibble at, but ate.”

Skokey thought a moment, then curtly said, “Six months.”

“Exactly. If you want to get healthy again, you need to eat. And try to get passed your sick feelings.”

He sighed, “Come on, Fen, you can't expect me to do everything in one day.”

“I don't expect you to do everything in one day. I just want you to eat.” Her voice was a little stern, and this only made Skokey irritated. She softened her voice a little, “Please? Just try? I don't want to see you like this.”

Skokey sighed and got up. He looked her in the eye with an irritated look, “You know, you can't pull that one out every time you want me to do something.” He walked over to a patch of grass and waited for Fenqua to follow him.

She sighed exactly the same way he did, then smiled, “You big grouch.”

She followed him to the patch and started to eat. Soon after, Skokey started to nibble at the grass. After a quick scolding, he started to actually eat it. Then he realized he was hungrier than he thought, and started to eat it more quickly. Fenqua smiled on the inside, seeing him eat like that. She knew it was his first step to regaining his life.

* * *

Another day came, and once again it rained. Skokey already seemed to be filling out again. He looked a lot happier, even though he didn't show it. But the stag was curious, what had Fenqua been doing this whole time?

He found himself sitting next to her, neither of them speaking. He didn't know if she was waiting for something or what, but he decided to ask her. “Fen... What were you doing when I was gone?”

Fenqua sighed softly, and thought. “Well... I remember I was mad at you for a while.”

“Mad? For what?”

“For ditching me without telling me what was wrong. But that was a long time ago. But after getting over that, I just desperately wanted to find you.”

Skokey looked down and paused, then said, “Really?”

“Yeah. It's been getting a little tough at home. It's kinda hard to explain, but... I dunno. I'm just kinda glad I'm away from there. I'm... kinda glad I'm with you instead.”

He looked at her, and she looked at him. Her beautiful blue eyes locking with his dull hazel eyes. He looked at her, and saw nothing but beauty. Inside and out, he felt like there was nothing ugly about her. He saw that there were a few small scars on her body. But what's a few small scars compared to everything else? He felt his heart beat faster as he looked into her eyes, those entrancing blue pools that seemed to seethe through his entire body. He felt his love for her return, but... What did she think of him?

Fenqua broke her gaze with him, “Skokey... I don't...”

Skokey broke in, “It's alright, Fen, I understand.” He didn't know what he just said, only because he didn't know what she was going to say. But he knew, if he wanted to spare himself the pain, he only had to say those few words. Whatever it meant to her, it would show. He presumed that, in time, he would know what she was going to say.

* * *

After another week, Skokey looked a little better. He had regained most of his weight, and he looked pretty healthy as far as eating goes. But Fenqua saw that he was not only gaining lost weight, he was gaining a little extra weight. So, she decided to take him for daily walks to regain his strength.

It had taken him a few days, but Skokey slowly regained his strength. He had less difficulty walking and needed to take fewer breaks. But he was still a little weak, and he couldn't run very far without burning out. Fenqua had a remedy for this. She took him to a steep hill every day, and told him to climb it with her. The first day she did this was a little frustrating.

“Oh, Fenqua, I have to climb that?” He said, looking up at the top. “Are you sure I'm ready?”

“Yes to both. Come on, Skokey, it's only a little hill.”

“Yeah, easy for you to say. You're not the one with sticks for legs.”

“Skokey, you don't have sticks for legs.” She said, chuckling loudly at his remark. “Now come on, chop chop!”

He rolled his eyes and started to mutter to himself how stupid this was. He put one hoof in front of the other and started to make his way up the hill. Fenqua was following him the entire way with a smile. She didn't seem to get tired, though, because his pace was slow. About half way up, he stopped to rest. She gave him a few minutes, then started to push him along again.

A little while later, he was at the top. He turned around to see the view, and sighed. “Man, this is a nice view. I can see all the way to the pond from up here.”

“Yeah, it's a big climb, but it's worth it, isn't it?” She looked over him with the same smile, but the smile quickly disappeared. She saw that Skokey wasn't smiling. In fact, he hadn't smiled once since she found him. It made her a little disheartened. He seemed to be getting happier, but he still wasn't smiling.

* * *

So, soon enough, Skokey's strength was completely back. He could run for a long time and climb the hill without stopping. But the problem still remained, he never smiled.

Fenqua, after much thought while he was sleeping, found the perfect way to get him to smile again.

The next day, she decided to talk to him in a flower patch. She knew it reminded him of his father, but she also knew it made him feel a little more comfortable. She did this once or twice every week, just to see what to talk about. After being separated for so long, it was only natural for her to want to catch up.

Fenqua started, “So, Skokey... Remember when we used to play around at the Playground? When we were still fawns?”

Skokey looked at her, “Yeah, I remember. Those were pretty fun days. I remember how I used to always run to the Pond to look for you.”

“And then when I found you, you'd jump around a little before we ran off.” She smiled at him.

His face still had the same expression, “Yeah... Those were the days.”

There was a pause, and Fenqua started to chuckle, which turned into a laugh, “You remember the time when I made you try mushrooms?”

Skokey was caught a little off guard by this, and he thought about it. “Yeah, I remember. I still hate them.”

“I remember when you took the first bite, and you made the funniest face! I thought I'd never stop laughing!” She laughed some more, “It was.. It was like this.” She distorted her face and showed it to Skokey.

He shook his head, “No, no, I believe it was like this.” And he made a very disgusted looking face.

Fenqua laughed even more, “Yeah, yeah that's the one!” She rolled onto her back, thinking back on the memory.

Skokey looked at her with the same expression he always had. But, upon thinking of the memory, and how Fenqua laughed at him, he broke into a small smile. Thinking about it more made the smile wider. Pretty soon he was chuckling with her. He remembered something else, “Hey, you remember the time we kept casting antler spells on each other?”

Fenqua regained her composure enough to answer him, “Yeah, I do. And then I got that really huge pinecone.”

“Yeah, and I said how funny you looked, because it was almost too big for you to eat.” He started to chuckle again, “And then you did something that made me crack up-”

He turned his head to find her with puffed out cheeks, her tongue stuck out, and squinted eyes. For a second he studied her, and then he burst out laughing. He laughed for a few minutes, not as much as she did, but it was still pretty long.

She laughed with him until they both calmed down. They looked at each other, and almost instantly they made their silly faces at the same time, and they both started to laugh again.

Skokey calmed down again, “Oh man... Those were good times.”

Fenqua nodded, still chuckling silently. She looked at him again, and he looked at her. This time, with a big grin on his face. But not a normal grin, a mischievous grin.

She gave him the evil eye, “What are you thinking, Mr. Skokey?”

He returned her evil eye and got up slowly, “I'm thinking that...” He got a little closer to her, and then poked her with his hoof, “YOU'RE IT!” After that he darted away, laughing.

“NO! You can't do that!” She chased after him, laughing at the memories of how they used to play tag together.

Skokey fled all the way to the Playground and jumped up onto a large stone. Fenqua stopped when she saw where he led her. It almost got her down, but pretty soon Skokey started taunting her. She put a smile back on her face and chased after him. After a long while, it started to rain again. They continued to play around for a while, but they stopped after Skokey fell on a slippery stone. They soon took shelter under the slab and continued to talk about the past. They spoke until they were too tired to continue.