Acorn woke up with a start –

“Oh Jesus” –

He was still outside of his den. Thank fucking Christ.

And there was a puddle of water just a few inches in front of him! He managed to crawl a few inches forward, enough to plant his face in it.

Acorn drank deep from the puddle, his only tether to his hope of a future life to live. It was not nourishing, healing, nor replenishing, but it was enough. He would live.

Wait, why was there a puddle? Had it been raining recently? He looked up. The sky was gray, overcast. His face twisted into a scowl of anxiety – the last thing he needed was to get caught in the rain, not like this.

He was just going to have to keep moving, and maybe he could find help. He lapped up a few more drops of water and then got on his way.

“Just because you’re out doesn’t mean we’ll survive,” Cornflower said grumpily.

“I know,” he mewed. “It’s worth trying, though, isn’t it?”

“I doubt it. We’re gonna die out here if we don’t find shelter. Do you even know where you’re going?”

It was right – he didn’t know. He had no idea where anything was. He had been following his parents (and then Sap, who might as well have become his surrogate parent) for all of his life, never really bothering to explore outside of his world of knowledge; for more moons than he could remember, he hadn’t even left his chamber for anything but group meals.

The world around him was a great big empty space. He felt lost.