Here's Odu and Tan's reunion finally!
With this, I planned to expose Oduvanchik.
You'll either love him or hate him.
Please tell me what you think!

I really like this story. I don't think I could draw any of these scenes very good. I wanted it to be a comic, but I'm afraid I wouldn't do it justice. I might try it later if I'm feeling particularly brave.
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The sun was beating down hard on the dry grass and hollow log, where the colorful hindquarters of a struggling fawn kicked out as she tried to push her way deeper into the tree. The red and yellow of her pelt made it easy to spot her even through the tall brush.

The squirrel Tanpopo was chasing moved away only every few inches as she got closer. The tease had been playing tag with the overexcited fawn for several hours now and this was the only time they had to rest.

With one final huff Tan dropped to her belly, half sticking out of the log, and rested her eyes.

The squirrel hopped over her head and ran down her back to escape, only to let out a short squeak as another creature snatched it.

Tan froze, sensing danger, and squirmed a little farther inside but she was yanked back roughly.

"There you are." Oduvanchik said with subtle relief. Tan peered up at him and beamed when she recognized her first friend. The black pelt he wore last time had receded to his hooves and his hair was swept back with the two long feathers that twitched like a cricket's. She leapt up and nuzzled his legs, traipsing underneath of him happily. "I missed you." she said quietly.

"Really?" he smiled. Considering he only use to appear when she was frightened or lost, he thought it quaint that she kept her memories of him fond.

"Mm-hm." she answered, wandering around in search of the squirrel. She circled a tree three or four times and went back to inspecting the log.

"What have you been up to?" Oduvanchik asked as he sat next to the tree and watched her search.

Her tail flickered quickly as she turned around with a happy grin. "It snowed!" she exclaimed.

"I saw. How bothersome..." he groaned. Life was cold enough without that yearly visitor.

"You know about snow?" she asked, clearly thinking snow was as rare as eclipses. "It's water! But not dangerous!" she trotted up to him and nuzzled his face. "And it's fluffy, like you!"

Odu tried his best not to laugh. "I am not fluffy."

"Mm. Yes you are. You have feathers!" she said like he needed to be reminded.

"You have feathers." he said, blowing the hair on her forehead. She stopped grinning and watched them until they stopped moving. When he tilted his head, drawing her attention again, she smiled and started hopping around.

He watched her and thought about telling her what he had been doing with her friends just to see the expression on her face...But no.... As tempting as shocking the poor thing out of her bliss, he rather liked being.... well... Liked.

"Tanpopo?" he said, startling her for a second before she happily came closer.

"Yes?" she said. She seemed amazed to hear her own name out loud.

"Would you like to learn how to use your favorite flower's magic?" Odu asked, grinning ear to ear with a scheme brewing.

"Whaaaat?" She looked at him in amazement. She only knew about water, mushrooms, and pinecones. The thought that dandelions also had a magic of their own made her so excited, her ears flexed and her back legs twitched.

"For instance..." he started, gesturing to a white dandelion. "If you blow on these puffballs, how many seeds are left is how many years you have left."

She could hardly contain herself as she leapt forward and blew at it, not noticing Odu's tail waving frantically until all the seeds were gone.

Tan opened her eyes to a naked flower. She gasped, wide eyed at him, and whimpered.

"Oh dear. How dreadful." he laughed.

"What does that mean, Odu?" she cried. "Am I going to die?"

He shrugged, trying not to laugh too much and let her catch on.

"A year is still a long time." he assured her. Tanpopo bit her lip and hung her head in silence. Oduvanchik rolled his eyes and stood up. "Come on..."

She followed him to a patch of bright yellow dandelions and she instantly started frolicking, munching here and there on the sweet little heads.

"Now for these..." Odu continued his lesson. "If the yellow of these flowers marks your chin, it means you are loved."

Tanpopo gasped happily and looked at all the flowers she could pick to try it out and went for a low growing one that wouldn't be too hard to pin down. She smushed her face into the dirt, trying to get the whimsical flower to cooperate. Her ears fell flat to her head and her hooves dug into the ground.

The demon-stag chuckled as she made frustrated squeaks and kept spinning around as the flower moved away from her. She finally lifted her face and inhaled. A small dandelion stuck to her chin for a moment and she shook it off.

Tanpopo skipped over to him with her chin upwards. "Is there a mark?"

He smiled at her. She stood there expectantly, with her eyes closed and dirt falling from her cheeks still. If it was even possible for her face to get anymore yellow, this certainly didn't do it; Though Odu leaned down and licked the bridge of her nose tenderly.

"Of course there is..."