Sir Blueberry
Backstory
Glistening cerulean orbs littered the ground and grove like mammoth sapphires. The sweet smell and fruit and blood-slicked terrain made for a sickeningly slow advance through the clearing, but at long last the suave mousefolk bard had located his prize. Just one more. Just this last one, as he deftly pierced his single remaining foe. “The colony will eat for months,” he thought, almost pleading with reality. Barrigan returned to the Northern Reach with his prize, a bag of holding’s worth of giant blueberries, and was greeted as a hero. The colony would persist! And they could all dye their clothes a beautiful color for a couple of months, what a bonus! His tales of combat regaled the younger members of the colony for weeks to follow, and soon his friends and colleagues bestowed his moniker upon him. Enough moons had passed that only the Blueberry remains, the kind, quiet Barrigan being long forgotten. Barrigan missed his friend, Chatterfang the squirrel. Only by telling tales of his own bravery could he take away a small piece of the sorrow he felt. The colony needed it. His brethren were starving. The royalty of his den demanded he fight. His blade never would have pierced his squirrel friend’s heart for anything less than the survival of his family… Amidst the tales of heroic deeds and danger surmounted, Sir Blueberry the Brave found himself questioning his name. He never felt brave during those moments long passed. He felt hollow. But the colony thrived and he believed in that. Now it was time to actually be brave. Not for the colony, not for glory, and not even for himself. But for his friend, who had held Barrigan in the highest regard until the very end. Without judgment and without hatred, even as he breathed a final goodbye. Bravery would be joy. Bravery would be charisma. Bravery would be understanding when it was hard to. He made those promises over a large, carved, wooden blueberry. That grave marker would stand for all time, and Sir Blueberry set out to earn the second half of the name he’d borne for so long.
Children
