Ozette's Heartstone

by Judy Pierce

  “While Gizmo naps, let’s whip up a batch of harness-the-wind-fairy dust and some fanciful-fairy-flood dust just in case. You never know when we may need it. Timing is going to be everything when we have to defend Farlandia,” the princess said.

  She opened her pantry and pulled out jars of burdock root, basil leaves, birch bark, angelica, mistletoe, holly and a pinch of marjoram. “We can only do what we can do,” she said, setting the jars on the table.

  Ozette’s arm was tired by the time they had ground the herbs together and perfumed them with a special blend of oils Princess Abrianna kept in a cut-glass vial with a flower-shaped stopper. Ozette sniffed the delicate fragrance of the herbs, then spread them evenly in squares of red silk. She folded them and tied them with white ribbons.

  “I think we have a great start,” the princess said, tucking the various fairy dusts into the squirrels’ new pouches.

  The princess slipped outside to check on Gizmo and carried the barely awake squirrel into her cottage. She made a pot of strong rosemary tea, sweetened it with honey, pulled out a book and sat at the table.

  “Okay. Now I’ll teach you how to use the various fairy dusts,” she said. All afternoon they experimented with different fairy dusts–formulas that helped them see water sprites, wind sprites, and all kinds of nature more clearly. Next, the princess taught them how to harness their energy when needed.

  As they practiced their skills talking to creeks, rivers, plants and stones, Farlandia became more alive to the squirrels.

  “These are powerful forces we’re dealing with here,” Princess Abrianna warned the squirrels. If they’re misused, who knows what could happen! Be sure you use them exactly like I have taught you. The fate of Farlandia is at risk if you don’t follow the rules.”

  Ozette and Gizmo nodded solemnly. The squirrels placed their paws over their hearts and vowed to be respectful of all forest magic.

  It was late afternoon when the exhausted squirrels headed home. Ozette’s head was swimming, and in her mouth she held a “cheat sheet” the princess had made for them, so they could memorize formulas and how to use them. Soon both squirrels had confidence that they could use the fairy dusts correctly.

  When Ozette tucked Gizmo into his moss-lined bed, the baby looked thoughtfully at Ozette and said, “I wonder what would happen if you mixed all the fairy dusts together?”

  “Gizmo, remember what we promised Princess Abrianna,” she said sternly. “No experimenting, Gizmo. Who knows what could happen. This is powerful magic, and nature cannot be entirely controlled even using the fairy dusts. No fooling around with it–ever!”

  Gizmo nodded, yawned and fell asleep.

  Chapter Nine

  Squirrels Just Wanna Have Fun

  Loving Gizmo was easy for Ozette, and she was relaxing into her role as mom. They spent one lazy autumn morning cleaning the nest. It did get messy with the two of them sharing a small space. She taught Gizmo how to gather fresh leaves and bits of moss, as well as what to keep and what to toss onto the ground to provide mulch for the earth. Spending time with Gizmo on homey tasks helped keep her mind off the threat to Farlandia.

  Later that morning, Ozette was teaching Gizmo to bury acorns. He was a little young for such work but was eager to learn. Ozette smiled as she watched him drill the acorns into the ground, looking from the back end like a squirrelly jackhammer.

  Hearing a noise, Gizmo looked skyward, his mouth open, his paw pointing eastward. Ozette looked up in time to see Baby Fiona sailing through the air, wearing her spider web parachute and the walnut-shell helmet Ozette had created for her that spring. The young gray squirrel landed with a thump on the ground near them, picked herself up, and sauntered over.

  “Ariel and Sydney told me all about your new baby squirrel, Queen Ozette,” she said, shaking Gizmo’s paw in welcome. Ozette could have sworn that Baby Fiona batted her eyes at little Gizmo. She would have to watch those two! Gizmo was delighted to meet another young squirrel and gave her a grin, showing his sharp baby teeth.

  “I thought we could all go skydiving,” she said. “Have you been practicing, Queen Ozette?” Baby Fiona asked.

  Gizmo started jumping up and down chanting, “Sky diving…sky diving…I wanna go sky diving…What’s sky diving?”

  “Baby Fiona,” Ozette said, not answering either question. “You can just call me Ozette.” Ozette straightened her tiara, which liked to slide over one ear.

  Baby Fiona nodded, saying, “I thought Gizmo could wear my parachute. My helmet might be a little big, but it should work. Did you make yourself a helmet yet, Qu…I mean Ozette?”

  Ozette grimaced. The truth was that she had forgotten all about the parachute. Sydney had created it for her out of the spider webs that Ozette’s spider friends Gertie and Abby had spun for her and dyed with violet flowers.

  “I’ve been too busy to use it, and I’ve not made a helmet yet, so I guess we’ll have to pass,” Ozette said. “And I think Gizmo’s way too young to sky dive.”

  Gizmo tugged at Ozette’s paw. “I want to sky dive, Ozette. Pleeeeease.”

  Baby Fiona thought for a minute then said, “You made my helmet from walnut shells stuck together with pine pitch. It’ll just take a few minutes to make you one, and Gizmo can use my parachute and helmet,” she said, starting to remove her helmet and parachute.

  Gizmo looked at Ozette with pleading eyes. She started to remind him that he was too young; it was too dangerous. Then she remembered her grandmother, the Divine Miss Piddlewinks, telling her to not take foolish chances but to always be on the lookout for life’s “delicious opportunities,” as she called them. For the first time, Ozette truly understood her grandmother wanting her to be cautious but also wanting her to experience life’s sweet moments. Plus, teaching Gizmo to sky dive would take her mind off of the brothers’ plan. Ozette nodded. She would be with Gizmo, and she wouldn’t choose a tree that was too high for their first jump.

  Ozette scurried into her nest, placed her tiara in the moss and found the parachute tucked behind her stash of nuts. Pulling gently, she gathered the filmy fabric and held it to her chest. She snagged three walnuts, figuring that would be enough for a helmet to fit her head. She scrambled down her tree, and they each opened a walnut, being careful to crack each one into a neat half. Of course, they had to eat the tasty nutmeat. They found a nearby pine tree and got enough sticky sap to bind the shells together. This was tricky, as it would take forever to get the sap off their fur if they were careless.

  After giving Gizmo some instructions, Ozette and the baby put on their skydiving outfits. Waving their paws at Baby Fiona, who stood below to watch, the squirrels climbed a chestnut tree that was tall enough to give them a good ride but not so tall that Ozette was terribly uncomfortable.

  The two of them climbed onto a sturdy limb. Gizmo wanted to jump first. Ozette, trying to still her pounding heart, forced herself not to close her eyes as the baby squirrel let go and started gliding toward the ground. She quickly followed him, so concerned about Gizmo that she had to remind herself to savor the moment. She glided past tree branches, and nesting birds waved a wing at them. Ozette and Gizmo hit the ground at almost the same moment. Gizmo was grinning from ear to ear and jumping up and down. “I want to do that again! And again! And again!” he yelled.

  Baby Fiona came running over. “Ozette, you two can sky dive again. I don’t mind just watching,” she said.

  Ozette shook her head. “You youngsters can sky dive. I’d love just watching you two. Do you think my helmet will be too big for you?” she asked, taking it off and placing it on Baby Fiona’s head. It slid over her forehead and almost covered her eyes, so Ozette stuffed some dried moss into her helmet for padding.

  The two little squirrels skittered up a tall chestnut tree, chattering nonstop while Ozette watched from the ground. After spending much of the afternoon sky diving, Ozette decided it was time for the baby squirrels to rest.

  “Just once more, Ozette,” Gizmo begged. W
ithout waiting for her reply, he scurried up an oak tree after his friend. Baby Fiona expertly climbed to the end of a fat limb, let go and slowly drifted downward. Ozette watched as Gizmo navigated a limb a little higher up the tree. As he jumped off of the branch, a gust of wind grabbed his parachute and catapulted him onto another branch. The parachute was stuck on a thin branch with Gizmo hanging suspended in air, his little feet kicking uselessly.

  “Help! Help!” the scared baby squirrel yelled. Hearing his cries, Baby Fiona looked up as Ozette scurried up the tree to Gizmo.

  “Don’t move, Gizmo! Don’t even breathe hard!” she shouted. She knew that spider webs were strong, but the parachute probably had some tears from snagging on the branch. If Gizmo fell...she couldn’t finish that thought and just climbed faster to reach him.

  There were no branches above or below him that she could climb to reach down and grab him. She looked down and groaned. It was a very long way to the ground, and he would be badly injured if he fell.

  She put on her thinking cap then flagged her tail and called, “BWACK!! BWACK! CWACK! CWACK!” which in squirrel code means we have a real problem here. She told the fairies, elves and squirrels what she needed and hoped they would rush to help Gizmo.

  After hearing several replies to her desperate calls for help, Ozette climbed down the tree. She called words of encouragement to Gizmo, her heart beating so fast she thought it would burst through her chest. She placed her paw over the Heartstone, and it seemed to calm her. She didn’t want Gizmo to know how terrified she was, as he continued to hang from the branch and swing in the breeze.

  Ozette heard a noise, and then her fairy friends Sydney, Ariel and Annika came flying through the sky at top speed, carrying something between them. Four of Ozette’s gray squirrel friends were barreling through the branches as fast as their legs could carry them.

  “We have it, Ozette,” called Sydney. They stopped underneath Gizmo’s tree and unfurled a large rectangular pale green cloth that Sydney wove last summer from sweet grass fiber. The four squirrels each grabbed an end and stood under the tree, waiting with great anticipation for what was going to happen next.

  “Gizmo, undo the little straps on your chest that are holding you into the parachute. We’ll catch you in this cloth when you fall,” Sydney shouted.

  “Fa...ll?” Gizmo asked, looking even more frightened than before. “You want me to fall from the tree, and you’ll try to catch me?”

  “It’ll be fine, Gizmo,” Ozette said, hoping her voice wasn’t shaking. “It’ll be fun. Just like a trampoline!” Gizmo had no idea what a trampoline was, but he trusted Ozette.

  Baby Fiona had tears in her eyes. She put her paws together and bit her bottom lip as they all watched Gizmo unfasten the straps holding him into the parachute. He held onto them for a few seconds, shut his eyes and let go. The squirrels watched his fall carefully, adjusting their stance so he would land in the middle of the cloth.

  Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. The little squirrel hit the cloth and flew several feet into the air. With each bounce, he laughed with joy. Finally, he stopped bouncing and hopped off of the makeshift trampoline.

  Ozette hugged him to her so tightly that he squirmed, saying, “I can’t breathe, Ozette. Thank you so much for saving me. How could something so scary turn out to be such fun?”

  They heard a noise and looked up to see Baby Fiona at the top of the tree. “I’m next!” she shouted. The squirrels rolled their eyes and positioned themselves underneath Baby Fiona while she dove from the tree onto the cloth. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Gizmo pulled away from Ozette and scrambled back up the tree yelling, “I want to do it again!” Each of the baby squirrels dove from the top of the tree four more times.

  “Our shoulders are getting tired,” Rowdy, one of Ozette’s gray squirrel friends, complained, “and my paws are getting cramps in them.”

  Ozette clapped her paws. “Okay, kids. That’s enough.” She turned to her friends. “Let’s have a snack, and then you can all be on your way home. I’m so grateful to you all for helping.”

  Sydney flew to the tree where Ozette’s parachute was stuck. “I’ll take this home and mend it. It’ll be as good as new,” she said, carefully gathering the delicate spider webs.

  Ozette dished out some pumpkin crumble and served each of the squirrels and fairies a generous portion. The fairies gathered the now-rumpled cloth and waved farewell as Ozette, Baby Fiona, and Gizmo called “Thank you” to their friends.

  Ozette loaded Rowdy, Dooley, Grayson and Grady up with bags of nuts, and the squirrels bounded off, shaking their heads at the antics of the baby squirrels.

  “It’s getting late, Baby Fiona. Time for you to head out too,” Ozette said. Gizmo stuck out his lower lip. Ozette could tell he was tired and getting cranky.

  “Can’t she stay with us tonight?” he begged.

  “I would love that,” Baby Fiona said, and Ozette could have sworn she batted her eyes at Gizmo once again. “I won’t be any trouble.”

  “A sleepover! Please, Ozette,” Gizmo pleaded.

  Ozette knew when she was outnumbered. Besides, she was glad for Gizmo to have a new friend, even though Baby Fiona tended to be a bit foolhardy at times. She nodded and ushered the baby squirrels up the tree where she prepared a healthy dinner.

  “Unicorn milk?” Baby Fiona asked in amazement. “You still have to drink baby milk?”

  Gizmo shoved the walnut shell cup filled with the milk away from him. Ozette pursed her lips and poured herself a cup of the milk. She drank it with relish.

  “Unicorn milk is so yummy and nutritious. Helps keep us strong and healthy and ready for all kinds of adventures,” she said, finishing the cup and pouring more. Baby Fiona held out her cup and Gizmo eagerly followed suit. Ozette hid a smile behind her cup. Maybe she would do all right with this mother business after all.

  After dinner, Ozette tucked the squirrels into some soft, clean moss, kissed their little noses and told them to get some sleep. Gizmo yawned, and Baby Fiona snuggled up next to him. They giggled and tittered for a few minutes, then they closed their eyes, and they fell sound asleep.

  Ozette cuddled next to the squirrels and pulled the moss over them for warmth. She awoke in the early hours of the new morning and found herself worrying about Farlandia’s future. She put her paw over the Heartstone. Its soft vibrations comforted her and lulled her into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  The Season of Dancing Leaves

  Baby Fiona became a frequent visitor to their nest. Ozette had worried about her spending so much time away from her family, but when she met Baby Fiona’s parents, she realized that they had their paws full with three other young, active squirrels. They were honored to have the Queen of Farlandia watching over their daughter.

  One by one, the days shortened, and the night air sported a new crispness. The fairies and elves were busy making warm hats, mittens, sweaters and scarves. The animals grew thick fur coats and were harvesting the last of the forest’s bounty. The season of falling leaves, cozy fires and heartier meals had arrived.

  Ozette, Gizmo and Baby Fiona were dazzled by the autumn dance of leaves. The baby squirrels often amused themselves for hours by guessing which leaf would reach the ground first. Would it be that scarlet beauty twirling downward from the branch below them or that brilliant gold gem slipping soundlessly from the neighboring tree? Ozette smiled when she heard their good-natured teasing about which of them guessed right the most times. Ozette loved how the leaves provided a warm coat for the ground, kept the plants cozy and then nourished them for the next growing season. Except for her concern for Farlandia, life was perfect.

  On still, cold nights when she was snuggled in her nest next to Gizmo, Ozette thought about her life in Earth World and how difficult it had been for her before she came to Farlandia. Yet her mind had clung to Earth World. She remembered how hard it had been for her to leave the home of her birth. Now Farlandia was her home, and she never wanted to leave it. />
  “The mind knows not where the heart wants to dwell,” the Heartstone seemed to whisper as she settled deeply into her new life in Farlandia. If only she felt completely sure that they would be able to stop Boardmore and Smiley from continuing with their plans. Nothing was for sure, but she knew she must trust in the goodness of Farlandia and have faith that she and her friends would be able to save their home.

  Ozette awoke early one chilly morning. The sun was peeking over the horizon, shedding streaks of azure, gold, pink and salmon. Ozette was restless and wanted to do something fun with Gizmo on such a glorious day.

  Two groundhogs, who had burrowed near Boardmore and Smiley, stopped briefly to tell Ozette that all was quiet. Although the carnage was not to start until after the new year, Ozette always felt a sense of relief when she heard that nothing was in the wind–yet. She was pondering how to entertain Gizmo that day, when Baby Fiona came scampering through the branches and plopped down on the limb beside Ozette.

  “Is Gizmo awake?” she asked in a stage whisper.

  Ozette put a paw to her lips and peeked into the nest. Gizmo was lying on his back, snoring softly with his tail tucked between his legs.

  Ozette shook her head and drew Baby Fiona closer to her on the limb.

  “It looks like it’ll be a beautiful day–sunny, calm and warm. I’m thinking we should do something special today since the days are shortening and cooling,” Ozette said as she lifted a paw and tested the light breeze.

  “When I was coming here, I saw Rowdy, Grayson, Grady, and Dooley rafting down Serendipity Creek. It looked like such fun. Can we raft?” Baby Fiona asked.

  Just then Gizmo hurried out of the nest, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Please, Ozette. I’d like to go rafting,” the baby squirrel said.