“Remember Popkin! Keep flying west. That’s where home is!”
Popkin nodded, “I know Zo! I remember where home is!”
Zoë repeated it anyway, “Go west until you reach Sunnyvale or the Cross.” Popkin was simple-minded enough that he forgot even the simplest instructions unless they were repeated multiple times to him. “Then go to the nearest Mouse Wing hangar and get help!”
She hoped there would be help to find. The whole Wing had scrambled yesterday. Who knew where they could all be today? She shook her head. That was silly. Surely some mouse would have returned. They probably had found the younglings already, instead of flying into a storm cloud and crashing.
Popkin looked blankly at her as she talked to herself, “Are you okay, Zo? Does it still hurt really bad?”
Zoë’s head snapped up. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She was crying! She wiped them away with the back of her paw, “I’ll be fine, Popkin. It hurts a little less than yesterday.”
Popkin stared at her for a moment, then nodded, “Okay. I’d better go then.”
“Remember! Fly west!” The mouse pointed the way with her scope. “WEST!”
Popkin nodded, “West! I won’t forget, Zo!” He started to run and flap his wings. In seconds he was airborne. “I’ll be back soon!” And just like that, he was gone.
Zoë looked around her. The Forlorn Forest was gloomy even in the daytime. And it was cold. If only she hadn’t lost her backpack. The supplies she’d been carrying with her, would have come in quite pawy right about now.
“Nothing I can do about it now“, she thought to herself. “I might as well, take another nap. I can’t worry if I’m asleep.”
And so she curled up as best she could to conserve heat and dozed off.