Smurfs Forever Chapter 14: The Calm

Papa looked around the cave.

Whatever spell that Gargamel had used set off a chain reaction within the magic of the clay itself. The resulting explosion had sounded like cannon fire or a loud peal of thunder. He ran his hand along the stone of the floor. There didn't seem to be any trace of the blue clay left.

He was very glad he'd been able to cure Sassette in time.

Only Brainy knew of the near-disaster, he'd been in the lab at the time when the small bit of clay had exploded. Then there was the rush to come up with a cure to ensure that the little redheaded smurfling wouldn't suffer the same fate.

"Wouldn't the True Blue spell have smurfed that effect away?" Brainy had asked.

The short answer was no. It was part of what made up Sassette when she was created. He could no more pull that magically from her than he could an individual ingredient that was used in her creation. He'd had to remove a loyalty spell from Smurfette before he'd used the spell on her, lest the spell become a permanent part of her being as a smurf. He was thankful that he'd seen no such signs of the same loyalty spell in Vexy or Hackus, though why Gargamel hadn't included it he wasn't sure.

He didn't tell his lab assistant about the spell on Smurfette. He viewed that as a private matter.

The elder smurf made his way to the back of the cave. Most of the cave structure was undisturbed, only missing the floor where the clay once was. It was already filling in slowly with water, covering the damage there.

The bearded smurf was looking for any traces of the blue clay left. Surely that spell wouldn't have affected all of it.

But it was the same all the way back. Gargamel had outdone himself with that quick spell and likely hadn't realized it.

The trigger of the noonday sun caused the magic within the clay to expel violently and trigger other nearby concentrations magic to do so as well. It was a simple domino effect.

If he hadn't been cleaning that cauldron at just the right time... He'd felt the sting of his own magic as the small bit had exploded. A large amount could have set off a chain reaction in a smurf. Papa shuddered. A vision of exploding smurfs conjured in his head and he had to rub his arms to get rid of the phantom feeling of quake in his magic. If it had been another smurf, one not versed in controlling their own magic, they may have had burns at the very least on their arms. From the lack of any clay, it seemed the domino effect had eliminated the entire cave.

Yes indeed. They had been lucky.

Inspection done, the bearded smurf headed back out of the cave. At least now he knew what had become of this cave.

And what sort of calamity they'd avoided.

00000

Suspicious paced the floor of his basement. This was not good.

This was not good at all.

An entire new village full of strange smurfs. Their first action? To attack and capture two of his brethren.

He stopped by his desk. It took up a large part of one wall of the basement. A framed cork board which held up papers tacked on by thorns. He studied a large mop of the area. From what he'd heard while out at the the farewell gathering for Johan's group that village was northeast of his village.

The paranoid smurf squinted. That may put it directly north of Gargamel's.

Coincidence? Oh no. It couldn't be.

There was a connection then. It all lead back to one human. But how did that thrice blasted mage get so clever?

The smurf pulled out a paper from a nearby stack and dipped a quill into his ink. He had to organize his thoughts. Writing it all down usually gave him better insight into the big picture.

No matter what Papa said that morning, the two strange females were still on his list. They couldn't really be accounted for before they came along. It was Smurfette all over again. Sure, she eventually reformed, but he kept tabs on her on principle.

He didn't watch her because he liked her or anything. That was ridiculous.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Suspicious started writing.

-Huntress:
Arrived 1 day after the creation of Sassette, 2 days after Baby's arrival.
Claims to have been created by a mage in Castellac.
1 day after her arrival the True Blue spell is acquired by Gargamel.
Has no trouble killing things. According to rumor she enjoys watching headless birds in their death throes.
Has attached herself to the wilderness crowd, especially Tracker. Also seen at Tailor's.

Purpose? -Limiting outside resources.
-Compromising search and rescue.
-Assassin? (Who is she after?)

-Medic:
Arrived with Maple and Slither but was not an animal previously, 3 days after Sassette's creation, 4 days after Baby's arrival, 2 days after Huntress's arrival.
Claims to be from another dimension, a former human, and a former Dryad. (According to Brainy via Smurfette)
Has knowledge of magic. Seems to be at least some healing magic (According to Smurfette and Slouchy).
Is teaching Dabbler magic (Source: Dabbler)
Has attached herself to Greedy and Dabbler.
Knows of my presence (Stupid Mistake!!!)

Purpose? -Compromising food preparation. (Start rationing food stock)
-Compromising medical treatment.
-Spells on those treated? (Borrow books on healing from Brainy!)

Suspicious stopped and read over what he'd written. Coupled with the discovery of the other smurfs, his mind leapt to a conclusion.

Hastily he jotted it down.

The two females have infiltrated the village in order to weaken it for the eventual attack of the other smurfs!

This. Was. BIG.

He had to go to Papa about this, thank smurfness the elder had stayed!

Like most of his notes, Suspicious copied the list over to his book. The original he'd take to Papa. He had to get Papa to listen. Had to figure out a way to save himself and his family from this newest threat.

If only they'd listen.

The paranoid smurf meticulously set up his usual tells to ensure he'd be alerted to a breach in his security. The door to the basement ladder was carefully concealed under some false flooring, he'd even attached a small table to the flooring that had a vase with fake flowers attached to that.

With a final check, the smurf headed to Papa's house. He took a long, winding route to spot any smurfs tailing him. The conspiracy theorist slunk up to the door of the house and knocked.

"Who's smurfing?" That wasn't Papa. Brainy opened the door.

"Is Papa in?" Suspicious asked. He tried to look around the bespectacled smurf.

"No, but he should smurf back soon." The smurf opened the door. "You can smurf for him here." He knew if his crackpot brother deemed an issue important enough to actually leave his house, it was better to accommodate him. He walked back over to the potion he was working on.

The paranoid smurf headed slowly into the room, eyes darting around as if he expected to be attacked at any moment. Finally deeming the lab safe, he settled into a chair. "So what are you smurfing?"

Brainy looked up from the potion at the question. "Just a simple healing potion. With smurfs smurfing out in Farmer's fields, there have been some minor injuries." The intellect waved a hand at a small glass jar that was cooling on the table near the large cauldron. "If Dabbler would just have enough smurf to brew his own potions, it's not like these are difficult. At least not for me." He added pompously.

This was a good opportunity. With Doctor compromised, learning to brew his own healing potions would be immensely helpful. "If it's easy, could you smurf me how to do it?"

"Of course!" The bespectacled smurf began, taking on a lecturing stance. "Most of the potions and salves smurf with Smurfroot to make a magical base, then other ingredients are smurfed at various temperatures for different lengths of time smurfing on if you want a liquid or a salve."

"Wait, I need to smurf a paper and quill for notes." Instead of searching, Suspicious pulled the items from his hat. Always be prepared! It was a pity his hat only held so many items.

Brainy puffed out his chest, hands busy stirring the current potion. This is why he liked Suspicious, the smurf might be crazy, but he knew genius when he saw it. He started extolling his vast knowledge of healing potions, the sitting smurf jotting down notes diligently.

Papa heard Brainy's voice before he opened the door. From the familiar lecturing tone, he may have come just in time to keep his lab assistant from getting smacked in the head. Unless it was Clumsy. That smurf had the patience of the stones he collected.

To his surprise, he opened the door to find Brainy leading Suspicious in making a potion, lecturing all the while.

"It should be exactly 9 poppy seeds, any more smurfs the potion too strong. Less would smurf the potion weaker depending on how many you didn't add. Hello Papa." The know-it-all didn't miss a beat as he switched from lecture to greeting.

"Hello Brainy, Suspicious. Good to see you two smurfing along." While the elder was glad the paranoid smurf had gotten out of his house, he was worried that the smurf had worked himself up over something once again.

Currently the conspiracy theorist had a look of concentration on his face as he finished stirring the potion he was working on. He didn't speak until he deemed it done. "Papa, I have something important I've smurfed on. You need to smurf at this." From under his hat, he pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it over.

The bearded smurf read over the short list and the written conclusion at the end. Oh dear. He was working himself up again wasn't he?

"I smurf you're worried about the new smurfettes." Papa started. "And I am keeping an eye on Huntress, but I haven't smurfed anything that makes me smurf Medic isn't who she smurfs she is." It was good news that the dryad turned smurfette was teaching doctor how to do magic. Running herd on so many smurfs he barely had the time to teach Brainy, let alone others interested like Alchemist.

"Smurfing an eye on?" Suspicious's eyebrows raised. "So you smurf who she really is." He wanted to know, oh how he wanted to know. But what if he was captured?

"Well..." The elder hesitated, but the smurf held up a hand. Brainy angled himself around and started reading the paranoid smurf's notes.

"Don't smurf me if it's a need to smurf basis. I'm just relieved you're already smurfing her." He'd trust Papa, the elder was always ahead of both him and their enemies. He made the decision to watch Medic better. That one had to be up to something.

"Papa." The bespectacled smurf started. "Suspicious does smurf a point about those other smurfs. They've not smurfed very smurfy if you ask me." There was so much he'd noticed when they retrieved Camper and Traveler.

Suspicious resisted the urge to start working his brother for information. He may learn something by keeping his mouth shut.

"I know they smurf odd, Brainy. But even while odd smurfs wouldn't be smurfs if they acted unsmurfy all the time. I'm sure smurfing Camper and Traveler was just as misundersmurfing." The bearded smurf dismissed the concerns with more confidence than he felt. It was likely just the shock of discovering so many other smurfs, he told himself.

"But Papa, I just smurf that something's wrong." Brainy began, taking a deep breath that usually precluded one of his lengthy explanations. "I smurfed a few smurfs that looked really familiar, and then there was their Chief." He'd been thinking about the similarities since they'd gotten back, if it wasn't for that other leader's clothes and eyes, he could be as close of a twin as Spinner was to Tailor.

It was clear the know-it-all was distressed. "That Chief smurfed just like you. And not in the way that humans usually smurf that we all look alike. Did you also smurf that they all had red in their eyes too? That's not a very common color for smurfs to smurf." In fact, that he recalled, only Jokey had red flecks in one eye. Though Marco had pink. Much less common than the various shades of pure blue, brown and blue, or green and blue that many smurfs had.

"Now Brainy, outside of our village, we haven't smurfed any other smurfs aside from those Gargamel created. Perhaps there are differences in smurfs from different smurfs of the world. Resmurf that they did let Traveler and Camper go and we only had to talk." The similarities between himself and their Chief had disturbed him, but he wasn't about to judge on appearances. He wished his own father had returned, perhaps he knew of other smurfs.

"What if they aren't really smurfs?" Both Papa and Brainy looked at Suspicious. They looked like he was on to something. "They could be an army of transmurfed humans!" Annnnd he lost them.

The know-it-all rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt that humans would transmurf themselves into smurf if they were going to attack us. They would need to smurf up a transmurfation spell that wouldn't smurf off after a few days and smurf a village to keep up with the act. Even if they needed a smurf to find the village and smurf the rest to it they could just transmurf a single human to do that. Also why would they smurf back Traveler and Camper so easily?" He took another breath.

But the paranoid smurf interrupted. "For the smurfxact reason that's smurfing on now. To make us smurf their motives, to mislead! And are the Traveler and Camper they smurfed back really OUR brothers? If they could smurf a smurf that looked exactly like Papa, who's to say they couldn't smurf the same with those two?"

Papa stopped paying attention at that point, letting the two smurfs bicker at each other. Could they be some sort of trick? Was that what was bothering him about the other smurf's presence? It seemed far more likely to him that he was just shocked at the existence of other smurfs. When his father had left him apprenticing with Palidore and started that journey to find his mother, the older smurf had told him that they were the only smurfs in the world. He could have been wrong, though he sounded so sure of himself. Well, he could at least check up on Traveler and Camper to make sure they had been well treated... and to ensure that Suspicious's suspicions weren't true.

Finally he cleared his throat, both Suspicious and Brainy were still standing apart, and it looked to be the paranoid smurf's turn to rebut whatever his assistant had said. He got their attention again before he spoke. "I'll smurf to Traveler and Camper, if they are smurfy and themselves, we'll wait and see what the other smurfs smurf."

The conspiracy theorist relaxed some, unfolding his arms. "Thanks Papa." He glanced back at his younger brother. "You smurf some good points, but you need to smurf at the bigger picture."

Brainy scowled, how could this crackpot lecture him?! He opened his mouth but Papa's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"I'm sure things will turn out smurfy." The elder chuckled. It was amusing to see those two argue, since neither were the type to turn violent. At most the paranoid smurf would storm off in a huff. "Now! Where'd I smurf that mirror of mine..." He knew exactly where he put it of course, but sometimes he had to let his sons work out things for themselves.

The know-it-all took a breath. It really wasn't bad debating with Suspicious. He was one of the few smurfs that didn't hit him on the head or boot him. Finally he decided to change the subject. "Smurf of those other smurfs aside... Do you smurf any other questions about potions?"

The paranoid smurf had about three dozen pages to go over under his hat. What he really needed was time to absorb all the information thrown at him. "I might smurf some later, after I study what I have already. If you don't smurf."

"Not at all! Feel free to smurf by any time you have questions. I'm sure I can smurf anything you need! In fact if you have any other issues you can smurf to me for advice and assistance." The pompous smurf stopped when he realized the other smurf was chuckling silently.

"And there it smurfs. I'll smurf out of here for now." Suspicious chuckled, amused. It was always easy to really know if it was Brainy or not. Any tidbit of praise and he was extolling his own greatness. "You are smurfing better at smurfing your ego in check." The smurf quipped as he headed out the door.

"Um. Thanks." The urge to shout about how of course he was able to keep himself in check was strong. He couldn't help it and he knew it. His ego was part of who he was. "Um... thanks for not smurfing me on the head when things got heated."

"That's something I could never smurf." The paranoid smurf said with enough conviction that his younger brother looked surprised. Then again, even Papa didn't know of the pledge he'd made to himself. To watch, to monitor, to keep his family safe. He wasn't about to do something as trivial as smack his brother for being who he was. Sure, it got annoying, but so did Sloppy when he forgot to bathe. Or Harmony's off key playing. He was sure he'd thoroughly annoyed Gutsy with his antics. He'd have to be extra quiet tonight to make up for that.

But for now... to the infirmary!

00000

"So, where are we goin?" After lunch, Greedy had picked up a backpack leaning on the wall near the door before the farewell meeting that had gotten derailed. "And should I go pack somethin?" Medic had asked.

"Nope, I've smurfed everything we'll need right here." It wasn't a large pack, but it wasn't a long trip. They headed north, this time over picnic hill completely. It wasn't long until they were following the River Smurf on its winding path northward. He was sure that if they ran into the other smurfs, they'd be a bit more friendly than they had to Traveler and Camper. Papa had said it was a misunderstanding after all.

Apparently Medic's mind was on the other smurfs as well. "So before those other'ns showed up, it seems like ya'll thought ya were the only ones. Could there be other villages out there though?"

"I never really smurfed about it. But now that we smurf there's another village, there may be more out there." The plump smurf admitted. "I wonder what the other smurfs are like though. Where they smurfed from, that kind of thing."

"I wonder if they got delivered by stork too. And if their gender ratio is mostly male. Smurfs are really confusin as a species." The brown haired smurfette wondered out loud. They certainly reacted to females, but didn't seem to have any they considered naturally occurring except the newest delivered child. Did they just pop up out of the blue then?

"It'd be nice if they were mostly smurfettes." He didn't mention his ulterior motive, that then he wouldn't have to worry about some other smurf trying to woo the healer away from him. The terrain was getting more rocky and steep, they were getting close.

Medic laughed. "That'd be funny if ya'll acted like elephants or somethin. Stayin in gender segregated groups until it was breedin season."

Greedy edged closer as he walked until he could take her hand in his. "I don't smurf that's it. I want to smurf near you all the time." The healer blushed, looking shyly down at the ground.

She squeezed her date's hand. "Tha feelin's likewise, darlin."

Elation gave the plump smurf a burst of energy and he hurried on, still holding her hand. "Not much further to smurf!"

The healer rushed to keep up, sometimes being towed along. The smurfette noticed a distant roar becoming louder.

Finally they rounded a large rock and could see the waterfall ahead. The water cascaded down in a large white sheet to churn the pool below into a froth. The spray from the water had a small rainbow appearing in the sunlight. It was impressive if one was human sized.

To a smurf sized being it was massive, magnificent.

"Oh wow." The area reminded the former dryad of a naiad friend's home, so much that it set off a feeling of deja-vu.

"It's really smurfy." Greedy smiled. "We could smurf to the top. You can see for smurfs from there."

"It's amazin how much it looks like Dia's home. I'd like ta see the view, there might be more things that're similar between tha worlds." Now excited herself, she followed as they picked their way up the craggy rockface near the waterfall. The couple's shouts were drowned out by the sound of the water, but they figured out how to point out the safer routes. She was impressed at how high they could jump.

It still took them a while to reach the top. They finally crested near where the waterfall ran, the booming roar of falling water was somewhat muted here. Greedy put his backpack down near a rock and motioned for his date to follow him.

He led them to a jut of rock that hung over the water, centuries of the river wearing down the stone until the waterfall was behind it.

"Over there, on sunny days you can smurf the shimmer of the veil. You'd be able to smurf the village if it wasn't for the magic." The gourmet pointed as he spoke, glancing back at the brown haired female.

"This is beautiful." Medic saw what she was sure was Gargamel's in the distance, but even it looked good amongst the expanse of wilderness that stretched out before them.

The smurf put his arm around her. "It's not as smurfy as you." He murmured, leaning in and kissing her. Almost immediately the healer started her breathtaking way of kissing and the plump smurf hummed in pleasure. He wrapped his arms around her, getting lost in their closeness. She responded in kind, her arms warm against his back.

How long they kissed he wasn't sure, though the healer's hands had started wandering. Suddenly she squeezed his rear and he broke the kiss in surprise.

"Too much?" The former dryad asked breathlessly.

"Just, surprised me." Greedy blushed. His pants were getting tight and he didn't know if that was proper or not.

It took a lot for the former dryad to step back, taking the smurf's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Sorry fer surprisin ya." She looked at the river running up to the waterfall. "Do ya come up here often?"

He wanted to say it was a good kind of surprised, but something told him she wasn't talking to him when she apologized. He shook his head, answering her question instead. "I'm usually too busy smurfing out with the meals. Or smurfing food with Harvest."

"Let's explore a bit, if ya don't mind." She smiled at him before looking at the pines and ferns that surrounded the river.

"Ok." He wasn't sure exactly what they'd find, but let the smurfette lead the way. They wandered through the ferns, stopping occasionally when Medic spotted something that captured her interest.

"Look at this." The former dryad said. The pine was bushy, small twigs growing right from the trunk with new green needles.

"That one's really smurfing. Why is it growing like that?" He wasn't quite the survivalist as Tracker, maybe the wood smurf knew. Timber definitely would.

The brown haired female made an apologetic face. "It's stressed, it might be dying. Trees grow out from the trunk like that when something's wrong." She ran her hand down the bark as if trying to comfort the tree.

"Can you smurf anything for it?" The plump smurf asked.

"I could if I were still a dryad. I used ta walk through my woods, just checkin up on my cousins." She stared up at the tree, lost in memories.

Finally the silence worried the smurf. "Medic?"

The question seemed to break the female from her reverie. "Ah. Um. Got hit with nostalgia there."

She could use cheering up, he could tell. He thought about a last minute item he'd put into the backpack. Now or never, Greedy. He mustered up the courage. "Let's smurf back, I want to show you something." The male held out his hand invitingly.

She took it with no hesitation, looking at him curiously. They took a more straightforward route, coming back to the rocky ground near the waterfall within minutes. Excitedly and nervously, the gourmet pulled out a small wooden box from the pack. He turned it on it's side and turned a small silver knob until he deemed it fully cranked.

Opening the small box, a twinkling melody started. He placed the box on a rock and held out his hand to the smurfette. "Dance with me?"

Medic blushed, stepping toward him hesitantly. "I'm not that good at dancin." She confessed.

"Then we can practice." He assured her. "And nosmurf can see you up here."

Greedy took the lead, coaxing her through the steps and not complaining when she accidentally stepped on his foot. The healer hadn't been kidding when she said she wasn't good. If stumbled any more, she would have fallen down.

The music box wound down and the couple slowed to a stop. The brown haired smurfette looked at him, blushing again. "That was wonderful." She murmured.

"Very smurfy." He agreed, pulling her close to him. They kissed, tongues dancing.

A loud growling made them both jump, immediately the plump smurf blushed. "S-sorry, I smurf it's almost dinnertime."

Medic laughed. "If it's any consolation, I'm hungry too."

Greedy picked up his pack. He pulled out a small bag of slightly bruised smurfberries. "I did smurf these." The duo shared the bag, though he got the lion's share. The healer picked up the music box and looked at it before handing it over. It was intricately carved with musical notes and she wondered if showed the song the box played.

Once done with their snack, the two smurfs headed back down the slope towards the village.

00000

Jokey chuckled as he knocked on Traveler's door. It was the simple things in life that made things really enjoyable, the smurf thought as he gently tossed the yellow wrapped package in one hand.

The joke was apparently on him when Papa opened the door. The prankster squawked in surprise and hastily hid the gift behind his back.

"Oh, hello Jokey." The elder said, smiling. Was it Jokey's imagination or was there a knowing look in Papa's eyes?

"Hey, Papa." The trickster chuckled. "Just smurfing Traveler back to the village."

The cartographer came out then, looking warily at the bomber. First Papa's questions on how he was treated and now it was likely he'd get an exploding present from Jokey. He'd never get to his maps at this rate!

The bearded smurf was relieved. Traveler was himself and aside from being treated a bit roughly by the other smurfs, he was fine. He was sure he'd get the same result from Camper. The relief had him feeling a bit more jovial than usual.

"Well, that's smurfy of you Jokey! You two have a smurfy time!" The red-clad smurf walked off, heading towards Camper's house.

Traveler groaned inwardly. Now he was left alone with the prankster too. Quickly he closed the door, leaving himself outside with the other smurf. Better to get a face full of soot than have him mess up one of his maps.

"Don't smurf so worried!" The bomber laughed, tossing the package at the mapmaker. "It's just a little welcome smurf present." Like he expected, the other smurf caught the box on reflex. He saw the wince as the compulsion spell kicked in.

"Jokey." The cartographer ground out even as he grabbed a ribbon to untie it.

The comedian was already running and laughing. The bang of the exploding present had him glancing behind him. The soot-faced smurf was glaring, but retreated into his house instead of giving chase.

Well, that was no fun. That left him with nothing to do at the moment. He could head to Alchemist's but he didn't want to get on his-well... her nerves too much. Like when he'd tried to kiss in the dining hall. She'd tickled him into submission and he'd had to promise not to kiss like that in public. At least hugs were ok.

That train of thought gave him an idea. The smurf turned and headed to Tailor's. He knocked, waiting for one of the twins to answer before he walked in.

"Ah, Jokey, to what do I smurf he pleasure?" The seamster smurf asked warily as his hands moved along the shirt he was making. While four out of five of the smurfettes asking for shirts and pants instead of dresses made his life a bit easier, it didn't make it any less busy. He could practically make pants in his sleep after all.

"I was smurfing if I could smurf something." Jokey started, heading over to the bolts of cloth and looking over them. Weaver was nowhere in sight, likely making another materials run.

"If you're smurfing about making another costume, you'll have to help smurf the cloth first." Though he really didn't feel like helping the prankster out, Tailor knew denying the smurf would only mean he'd find the cloth gone anyway. At least agreeing with him meant he could keep tabs on the project.

"It won't be a costume I'm smurfing this time." The comedian grinned. He liked how a particular bit of cloth felt, it was a pale yellow. "What's this one smurfed out of?"

Now what was he up to? "It's spider silk. Very hard to smurf by, but it's very smurfy material." He paused, inspecting his work. "So what exactly are you smurfing?"

Jokey grinned. Comedic timing was everything. "A wedding dress."

"What?! Ow!" The clothier jerked his wounded hand away, worried that he'd gotten blood on the shirt. He picked up a scrap of cloth and held it against the needle wound. "And just who are you smurfing this dress for? Did Smurfette..." He trailed off.

"Nope!" The prankster laughed. "It's for me." He looked thoughtful. "Well really it's a surprise for Alchy."

Tailor tried to follow that and failed. "Would you mind smurfing that from the beginning?"

"I smurfed Alchy to marry me. I don't think I'd mind smurfing the smurfette for the day, so I'm gonna smurf up a dress to surprise my smurffriend." Spiders huh... He wondered just what kind of spiders. Could he just go around grabbing cobwebs?

"Oy vey." He couldn't be serious, could he? The clothes maker looked at the shirt. Well, there was a small miracle at least. It was still clean. "Are you really serious, then?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to say he didn't joke about love... but the smurf had played pranks that had gotten dangerously out of hand. Anonymous love letters, costumes, dressing up as a smurfette. The truth was he didn't take much at all seriously and he knew it. It was better to laugh anyway. But how to convince Tailor that he really, honest to smurfness, was serious this time?

"As serious as a smurf attack." He finally answered. The seamster didn't look very convinced. Jokey sighed. "Look, a lot of smurfs might be scared of Alchy, just like they smurf with Grouchy. But really they're not unsmurfy at all. I don't mind one smurf that Alchy's got a dragon in his head. He's still fun. ... And I really don't think I could smurf a joke at Alchy's expense. Not for a while now." There were a hundred other reasons but he really didn't want to start listing them. It felt strange talking seriously to somesmurf aside from his smurffriend.

The sewer stared at him like he'd grown a second head. Yup. The prankster thought, it was too strange. Now Tailor would think he'd gone mad. Or worse, sane!

Finally the clothier's brain seemed to restart. "That..." He trailed off and tried again. "We'll need a lot more silk if you're smurfing to make a dress from it."

The prankster hopped a bit. "Smurftastic! What do I smurf then?"

"You'll have to smurf until Weaver's back, he's better at smurfing the webs. The spiders are the bigger ones that smurf up in the trees. So we'll need to smurf up some presents for them, bugs."

Jokey listened intently. Even if it took weeks, this would be a grand surprise for Alchemist.

00000

Vexy finished tightening the bolt on the boiler. She was glad she was trusted to do the more simple repairs around the village, Handy was allowing her to work on her own more every day. It was something that perplexed Smurfette, how she actually liked to work on things.

It was more than that, it was breaking things down, seeing how they worked, and putting them back together that motivated her. The dark haired smurfette wiped her brow and tossed the wrench back into her toolbag.

She was certain if she'd been born in the village they would have named her something like Curiosity or something similar. But then, she might have wound up with 'ette' tacked onto her name for no apparent reason. Vexette just did NOT have the same edge to it as Vexy did. Curiosette? Ew. No thanks.

She'd bothered Gargamel with incessant questions after her creation. It was how she'd gotten her name. "Quit vexing me!" He'd said, still on the phone with customer service over how the mail order clay was neither magical nor did it stay blue after being subjected to alchemical processes. ClayMagic's representative didn't know what to think and kept assuming he'd tried to glaze the clay before placing it into a kiln.

The former naughtie picked up the toolbag and headed out of the bathhouse. With that job done she was free unless she started looking for things to do. Right now, she wanted to look for a particular smurf. She dropped the toolbag off at the workshop before she started asking around.

She asked the first smurf she saw, not noticing the besotted smile. It only hit her after the smurf took her hand in his.

Oh. Oh no. Yeah, he was getting down on one knee. "Vexy, would you smurf to the dance with me?"

At least it wasn't a marriage proposal. "Sorry, I've already got a date." The dark haired female pulled her hand away, trying to recall which smurf this was. The scarf around his neck rang a bell, but her memory wasn't cooperating.

The male stood hastily, embarrassed. "I see, sorry to smurf you." The scarf wearing smurf walked away, not answering the question.

At least he could take a hint. It was hard to tell which smurfs had their eye on her until they approached her. Some were smitten with Smurfette, while others had moved on to her or one of the newest females. A few seemed to play the field, announcing their enamoration with any smurfette that happened to be close by. She glanced at a few other smurfs making their way to wherever and wondered if she should tempt another outpouring of affection in order to locate the smurf she was really after.

"Spring Fever sucks." Vexy couldn't wait until this insanity was over.

Wait, there was Vanity! She hurried over to talk to him.

"Vanity, have you seen Grouchy?" The former naughtie asked.

"Oh I have indeed, Darling. Follow moi!" The smurf led the way, somehow avoiding obstacles while still gazing at himself.

The village was being decorated for the party and Party Planner had enlisted the help of several smurfs to put up lanterns and set up for the festivities. Grouchy had been conscripted, the grumpy smurf helping Hefty, Gutsy, and Tuffy move tables. Even Vanity and Hundred were helping, decorating and ensuring the soiree would be properly fashionable.

Vexy had to dodge Carpenter and Blacksmith as the two hardworking smurfs hauled a shoulder load of lumber over to where a game stall was being built. She spotted her sister arranging flowers into over a dozen vases and waved. Finally she made it as Hefty and Tuffy sat down a table.

"Hey, need any help?" It never ceased to amuse her how surprised the smurfs were to hear a female offer to do heavy lifting. Apparently her blond sister preferred to let the men doing the lifting.

"Ah, we don't smurf no help." Tuffy scoffed. "I could smurf this all by myself!" The overconfident smurf didn't notice Gutsy and Hefty rolling their eyes.

Grouchy scowled. "What's the smurf, Tuffy? Afraid of letting a smurfette outsmurf you?"

"I'm not afraid of nothin!" The brash smurf boasted.

"Well, we still need ta smurf out four more tables and some of tha chairs. Let's smurf to it." The scotsmurf certainly hoped that Grouchy's defense of the former naughtie wouldn't start some kind of contest.

The five smurfs headed back to the large log-shaped storage shed. Vexy looked longingly at the stored airplane. She wanted to look it over, take it apart, put it back together. Improve it! It ran with gears and had to be cranked from the outside, that much she knew. If they could rework the gears to make it windable from the cockpit, the little machine could run for as long as the pilot could keep winding.

Absently, she picked up a chair and stacked it onto another. When she had three stacked she headed out, following behind the four smurfs.

"See, she can't even smurf with the tables." The reckless smurf said smugly.

The black haired smurfette didn't know she was mirroring one of Grouchy's famous scowls. "Oh yeah?" She challenged as she sat down the chairs.

"Yeah!" Tuffy countered. The two didn't notice Gutsy facepalming over their childish antics.

Vexy smirked. "I bet I can get the last two tables by myself."

"What?" Hefty raised an eyebrow. They were solid oak tables. While he was sure he could do it (he'd have to do so carefully to keep from straining something), he really couldn't see how the female could. Why, she didn't even have any muscle definition!

Tuffy crossed his arms. "Well? Let's smurf this then." She couldn't do that. It was impossible.

The created smurfette laughed and headed back to the storage shed, four curious smurfs following. Already ideas were running through her head. If she could find some wheels this little challenge would be extremely easy.

Unfortunately, unlike Handy's workshop there weren't any creepers or rolling seats in the shed. There were a few sleds though. She pulled two from a large stack and looked them over. Yes, these would do nicely.

"The thing about work." Vexy ground out as she lifted one corner of a table and slid the sled under the leg. "Is that you've always got two options." She repeated the process. "You can work harder..."

The female walked around to the other side of the table and started pushing, the runners giving her just enough lessened friction that she could get it going. "Or you can work smarter!"

Grouchy watched his smurffriend as she pushed the first, then the second table out to where the others were set up. The defeated glare of his brash brother amused him to no end. Especially when the smurfette stood on the last table with a triumphant laugh.

The chairs were brought out quickly, the grumpy smurf following the dark haired female back to the storage shed for the last few chairs.

"So Tough Guy, what are you doing tonight?" Vexy asked.

The ornery smurf mentally smacked himself for thinking something inappropriate before he answered. "Nothing."

She stopped him from picking up a chair, pulling him into an embrace. "Good. Because I've got plans."

As if his head was drawn to hers, he leaned in, murmuring. "What kind of smurf?"

"Just you..." She started leaning in. "And me..." Their lips almost touched. "And a whole lot of this."

They kissed.

00000

Tracker dropped the last armload of wood near their camp, glad the chore was over with. They'd caught nothing that day. Hunter's shot at a mouse went too far wide, letting the rodent escape. It wasn't only Hunter though, he was sure given his wandering mind he'd missed more than a few trails.

The bowsmurf already had the fire going, it was just large enough to keep the chill off (and animals away) so long as they fed it. The canopy had a break above them that would soon be covered by the full summer leaves. Currently the small bright green foliage of spring could be seen everywhere in the daytime.

The natural light was almost gone, only stars and the waning moon lit the sky. Their final meal of the day consisted of the tasteless meal bars and a few smurfberries.

"Ven, you have been presmurfed all day. Is it your dame?" Hunter started, stabbing a smurfberry onto a stick to roast it.

"Mostly." The woodsmurf answered after a moment. He had so many different questions he'd pondered, to the point of missing trails. "I know my heart, mate, it's smurfing me that I love her. I seem to have fallen faster than we all smurfed for Smurfette." He prodded the fire with a stick. "Perhaps it's because she smurfs me affection in return. But I don't smurf she knows what love is... and in the end..."

The archer realized where his best friend's thoughts had lead him. "You smurf after spring is over she'll forlade. She'll leave?"

"Perhaps." Tracker admitted. It wasn't a pleasant thought. "She smurfs me like I'm a cat sometimes, I think. They're not exactly known to keep their mates." The pair lapsed into silence.

Above them, lying along a branch, Huntress frowned. She watched as the two smurfs got into sleeping bags and shivered again. It was stupid of her to run off without anything but herself and her sword, but currently her mind ran in circles. Did she know what love was? Did she love Tracker? She certainly liked him. It wasn't just the mutual attraction, she decided. She wanted to climb down and cuddle him, comfort him. Was that love?

And was it enough?

She certainly wasn't going to leave. Though she did want to get warm. He'd be mad, she was sure.

Oh well.

Quietly, the former feline climbed down the side of the tree facing away from the two smurfs.

Hunter stared up at the stars. "Ven?"

"Hm?" Tracker was still awake as well.

"I think things will smurf out for you. Huntress, if she doesn't smurf what love is, she's learning from you."

The words soothed him, gave him hope. "Thanks, mate." He shifted in his sleeping bag. "It's strange, I'm almost sure I can smurf her scent." He inhaled deeply.

The woodsmurf's eyes widened and he sat up. Less than a second later he was tackled back to the ground, arms wrapping around him in a hug as familiar as her scent. "Azzy?!"

The smurfette nuzzled her face into his neck. "I'm not going anywhere."

Tracker managed to get his arms free and returned the hug. While it wasn't a declaration of love, he still felt elated. Hunter was right.