Chapter Three

It was many hours later, in the odd hours of the darkest night, when the littlest otter was startled awake by a thunder clap. Many nights spent in the wild by himself had conditioned him to be a light sleeper who woke at the slightest sound. There was a window across the room, and he saw another flash of lightning through the glass and shuddered. The thunder followed a moment later, though he noted that there was not yet any rain to accompany the coming storm. He looked around and saw that Small Otter and Starfish Otter were still fast asleep, and didn't want to wake them. But he felt restless, and knew that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again until he explored his surroundings and felt safe again. So he carefully worked his way free and hopped over Starfish Otter's back paws. He worked his way downstairs and out the flap in the back door. 

There was static energy in the air, and it made his fur stand on end. He shivered. No matter how he licked the fur on his shoulder, it refused to lay flat again. Finally he gave up. A strong gust of wind blew out of nowhere, and in the dim light the littlest otter saw the sides of the tents down the hill pushing against the metal rods that supported them. The entire assembly strained uncomfortably. He could see two doors in the side of the tent clearly when the wind blew, and that bothered him. It meant that the flaps which should cover the doors were unsecured, and wind could get into the structure and disturb all the hard work that everyone had done. 

He decided that it would be a good idea for him to go down to the tents and tie the flaps together to close the door. He exited through the dog flap in the back door, and made his way down the porch steps. Just as he reached the bottom, another bolt of lightning snaked out from the clouds, tracing four different branching paths to the ground and flashing for almost two seconds. He scurried over close to the bushes and the fence so as not to stand out in the open. He wished he was secure in a cave somewhere next to the safe and familiar river. But there was something that needed to be done, and it was Important. So he continued down the hill.

When he was half way down the hill, it started to rain. It was not the gentle increase of drops that happened for a pleasant summer shower. Rather, he heard the torrential wall of stormdrops hitting the leaves and the ground as it approached faster than an otter could run. The large drops pounded against his fur, which had still been standing on end. But the dousing rain quickly plastered his fur down onto his sleek back. Otters have very thick and oily fur that repels water, so the littlest otter was not terribly uncomfortable with the sudden rain. But he had never before seen such a sudden change in the amount of precipitation, and the wind continued to lash the bushes to his left.

Once he made it into the tents, he finally paused to shake himself off. It felt like shaking off right after coming out of the river. Then he took a moment to groom his fur. He knew that no matter how much of a rush one was in, it was always important to take care of one's fur. His mother always taught him that “if you take care of your fur, your fur will take care of you.” He found the first door flap, and grasped the corner of it. As he remembered, there was a cord near the bottom. He grasped it in his teeth, and when the wind subsided, he darted across the opening of the door and grasped the pole on the far side of the door with both paws. The wind gusted weakly this time, and as soon as it subsided, he looped the cord around the tent pole twice so he wouldn't lose it even to a strong gust, and then began to fashion a knot that would hold it.

There was, of course, no moonlight showing through the clouds, but otters have very sensitive and dexterous paws that are used to working in the dark, and he could see well enough by the frequent flashes of lightning. After securing the door flap, he looked at the interior of the tent. The littlest otter was glad he had come to close the doors. Wind had blown fiercely through the structure, and knocked one or two flower stands over. The tables were ruffled, and if the otters had not secured the tablecloths earlier that day, most of them would have blown away and knocked over even more of the table decorations.

The littlest otter repeated the door tieing process for the other door he had seen from the window in the house, as well as for two other doors that had been hidden. He then made a patrol around the tent to make sure everything seemed secure. He was about to venture back out into the maelstrom, when he heard the entire structure groan from the corner closest to the house. He rushed in that direction. It was too hard to see what was going on in the shadows by the ceiling, but he could see a crack of dim light by the ground where one edge of the tent was starting to lift higher. He flattened himself to the ground and worked his way under the crack. Immediately he was pelted by the heavy drops of rain. It was a chilly night, and the littlest otter was glad he had a full coat of clean fur to keep him warm from the wind.

Since his eyes were adjusted to the pitch black of the inside of the tent, the dim ambient light outside was sufficient to see his surroundings. He spotted the problem with the tent immediately. The tent pole nearest him was leaning ominously in toward the center of the tent. The rope coming down from it was hanging slack. All the other poles had taught ropes coming from their highest point down to pegs secured in the ground. But the stake for this pole had come out of the ground, and the weight of the tent roof was pulling the pole down. It was starting to put strain on the two adjacent poles as well. The littlest otter wasn't quite sure what to do, but he knew he had to move fast. The strain on the other poles might start pulling their pegs out of the ground as well, and then the whole tent might collapse. He rushed over to the loose stake and tried to shove it into the ground again. But it refused to go any deeper. Maybe it had never been sunk as deep as the others to begin with. Maybe it was just under more strain. Either way, the ground around the top of the stake was muddy and loose from the intense rain, and would not provide any support.

He took a few steps back to look at the tent, the rope and the peg. The rope was still tied around the peg, but there was also plenty of length past the knot. He estimated at least three dozen otter lengths (measured from his nose to his tail) all coiled up next to the peg. Since the peg wouldn't go any deeper in its current spot, he considered trying to put it out further away from the tent and push it into the ground again. But really, he was just too small. The entire tent peg was almost as long  as he was, and thicker than his arm. He didn't have the weight or the leverage to drive a peg into the ground enough to be stable. Not without help from his pod... or, he reminded himself, not his pod but "The Pod." They had asked him to stay, but he wasn't actually part of it officially.

He continued looking for some other way to support the sagging tent pole. He investigated the tent peg of the next pole over to see if he could secure the rope there. But it was driven all the way into the ground, and a small lateral protrusion held the rope firmly against the earth. He couldn't add another rope without first pulling the peg up, and that was certainly not a good solution. The only thing he could see that might be useful at all was a sapling near the tent peg two poles down. It was definitely not ideal, but if he couldn't get a peg into the ground, the best he could do was to pull the rope taught around something that couldn't get pulled out of the sodden earth. He quickly untied the simple knot that held the slack rope around the useless peg, and grasped the end of the rope in his teeth. The tree was slightly farther away from the wall of the tent than were the tent pegs, so his slack rope didn't interfere with any of the still functional ones. Fortunately there was enough rope to make it to the tree, though only just barely. 

He didn't have the weight to pull the sagging pole upright, so he just ran a circle around the tree to stop it from dipping any farther. There was only enough rope for just that one pass, and the littlest otter knew that he wouldn't be able to fashion any kind of knot even if he did manage to coax some more length out of the line, but he tried anyway. He held the loose end of the rope against the tree with his paws, and when the wind subsided he pulled as hard as he could on the tight end with his teeth to get a tiny extra bit of length. Then he quickly pulled that length into the slack he held with his paws. He continued the process many times, gaining enough for a half turn more slack around the tree before his jaw became too tired to pull any more. He decided it would have to do. At least the rope was now wound enough around the sapling that the friction mostly held the weight of the sagging tent pole.

Now, otter fur is very good at keeping a little otter warm even in icy water, but the biting wind nipped at his ears and his paws. He even pulled his ears back close to his head... something he only ever did when he was in the water. And he huddled close to his paws, both to keep them warm and to give himself better leverage as he held the rope down. Sometimes a strong gust of wind would blow at the tent, and he would have to push down on the rope to hold it against the tree. He continued trying to think of a better solution, but he didn't see anything to work with. And he was so tired. He even thought about just letting the rope go. But he was certain that the tent would cave in at the first strong wind, ruining all the hard work of the humans and the otters. He reminded himself it was very important that the humans have a big ceremony the next day, otherwise they would forget that they were a pod. 

The wind continued to lash him with rain, and it grew even colder. It was both terrifying and boring all at the same time. He grew sleepy, and was struggling to stay awake when something hard thwacked him right between the ears! He started awake, and heard a few more thumps nearby. In the dim light he could make out an irregular shaped lump of ice bigger than his fist laying on the ground next to him. Another one cracked off of the tree just above his head. And they were falling from the sky!

He sidled around the tree so that he was on the lee side from the wind, but this meant that he didn't have as as much leverage on the rope and he had to hold it harder with his paws. On the strong gusts of wind he even had to hold on with his teeth so the rope wouldn't slip. The chunks of ice got bigger and more frequent. He lost all track of time, only paying attention to each moment and his fight with the rope and the storm. The littlest otter had fought many times with the swift currents of raging rivers. But even in the worst flood an otter can always find a way to get out of the river if they want to. But this storm surrounded him, and he couldn’t just escape without letting something valuable go. So he steeled himself, and determined he would not let go of his rope no matter how cold or sore he might get.

Eventually ice no longer fell from the sky. The littlest otter adjusted back to a position with better leverage, but by that time his teeth ached and his paws were rubbed raw. But he couldn't give up. It was important for the humans, and the humans were important to his friends The Pod. Even though it was only a day, he cared about the other otters, and even for the humans.

The littlest otter didn't remember when the rain stopped. He was so sleepy he had been drifting in and out of consciousness. His ears and all four paws were numb, and it hurt to touch anything with his front paws. The ground was soaked, and the littlest otter had mud, tree bark, and strands of jute fiber stuck in his fur. But everything was starting to turn funny colors, including the sky. He drearily noted that the sun must be dawning off in the east, but was still masked by the clouds. Tired as he was, he almost didn't care when he heard an alarmed chatter off in the distance. It was the kind of cry that an otter would make when there was a danger or an emergency, and was calling for the help of other otters. Usually he would try to investigate, but at this point the littlest otter was in need of help himself. As muzzy as his brain was, he still thought it was strange that an otter would be calling for help. There was no one around to hear, and no reason that any sensible otter would be around at this time of morning. And then all of a sudden he was being lifted up. He started to struggle, reaching back for the rope! He had held on for so long, he couldn't let it fall now! But... Medium Otter was in front of him. Holding the rope for him. And Small Otter was standing on hind legs, looking very concerned. He relaxed just a bit, and realized that he had been scooped up by Starfish Otter, who was chittering comfortingly in his ear. Once he stopped struggling and let himself be carried, Starfish Otter informed him that they were going to get the humans and fix the tent, only first they had to make sure he was alright.

He didn't have energy to argue or to try and look dignified. So Starfish Otter cradled him into a big embrace and slowly carried him up the stairs and into the house. Small Otter quickly made a nest of dry blankets by the fireplace, and they deposited the littlest otter onto the softest part. They helped him to groom his fur until it was merely shabby and no longer disastrous. Then Small Otter went to fetch the humans and deal with the tent pole. The littlest otter was too exhausted to even lift his head, so he just wiggled deeper into the warm blankets. Then Starfish Otter curled up next to him and held his paw so he could drift off to sleep without floating away.

The humans had their Big Event later that day. Since the tent was still standing, the woman liked the spot very much, and so she gave the man a ring, and promised to remember that they were a pod. The otters never mentioned to the humans about that night's events, because the humans were very stressed as it was, and the otters were afraid that introducing any other complications might tax their mental faculties to the point where they couldn't remember the important things they were doing the Big Event for. Still, once the littlest otter woke up, The Pod did introduce him to the humans. The woman thought that he was a delightful and adorable otter, and she would very much like him to stay with their other otters. The man chatted with him for a while, and decided that he was a respectable otter, and would love to have him around.

That night after the humans were in bed, The Pod gathered around the littlest otter to thank him in their own ways. They groomed his fur, scampered around, talked about the big human event, and got the entire story of the tent pole from the littlest otter. After hearing his story,  they told him that they woke up at dawn, and were immediately surprised that he was gone. None of the otters thought he would have left without saying goodbye, and they were very concerned that he was missing. So it was generally decided that they would search the surrounding area to see if he had gone for a walk and gotten lost. Medium Otter had found him, and immediately called for help. It was obvious that something had gone very wrong, and the littlest otter needed help. They realized that he was holding the rope, and that it was Important. Medium Otter took over the task so the others could look after the littlest otter and make sure he was alright. Later while he was asleep they discussed and analyzed the entire situation.

It was generally agreed that the littlest otter was not the most sensible of otters. However, it was most definitely agreed that he was the most loyal, heroic, and even the most practical otter they had ever seen. They would be honored if he would stay with them and be part of their Pod. They also generally acknowledged that even if he decided that he wanted to continue on his way, he would always have a home there whenever he wanted to stop by. At this point, Starfish Otter needed to go hold the woman's hand so she would not float away during the night, but the other two otters of The Pod started making their nest for the night. The littlest otter curled up between Small Otter and Medium Otter, and as he fell asleep for the second time that day, he told them that he very much liked the idea of being in their Pod, but that in the future he hoped to avoid falling ice from the sky.