~~I liked to be out and about late at night. Odd thing for a Squirrel, I know. Most of us younger ones are scared into fearing the night by the adults, who tell stories of Owls trespassing on our territory to steal wayward young Squirrels who can’t control their form-changing yet. Old Man Roikester is the worst. He’s the one who takes off his crusty old eye patch to show us the empty socket, and claims his eyeball was plucked right out by the claws of a Wolf, when all of us know he lost it in a mishap while he was shaving. Let me tell you, I’ve been sitting out here in the dark for eons now, right out in the open, and I ain’t seen so much as a feather.
 My name is Emerald of the Squirrel Clan. Shiny name for a Squirrel. Dunno what my mama was thinking. Like all of my clan, I can form-change from a human to a beady-eyed, grouchy little rodent with a tail fluffy as fresh moss. Unfortunately, I’m not so good at controlling it yet, so it still comes on when I’m excited.
 From where I sat at the very tip-top of a tree, perched precariously even as a squirrel, I could see all the territories boxing us Squirrels in. Turn to the north, and there are the Wolves. Beyond them are the Deer. Northeast, there are the Cats. East, the Skunks.
 I twisted around. The branch under me, no wider than a human thumb, creaked and cracked ominously. I froze stock-still and felt it sway. Finally, it stopped, and I let myself relax.
 Southeast of the Squirrels were the Bears, a relatively small clan in population, but they still required twice the territory. South were the Horses—at last, neighbors who didn’t want to eat us. Southwest were the Owls, back to predators. West were the Rabbits, and beyond them, the Foxes. And northwest, the most revered territory of all, were the Lions. There might have been more clans, but it had been so long since we’d interacted on a regular basis, no one really knew anymore.
 A breeze rubbed my fur the wrong way. I froze again and clung onto the twig underneath me for all I and my cursed tiny paws were worth. The breeze grew into a stiff, chilly wind. I hung on tighter. I couldn’t feel my paws. It was no use. I let go.
 I fell back-first onto a thick branch and just about jarred my teeth out. Reaching out, I scrabbled for a grip but couldn’t get one before toppling onto the next branch down. When I hit that one, I realized I’d gone into my human form in all the excitement. The added weight only made me fall harder, and I bashed my funny bone, conked my forehead, scraped the back of my knee, and caught a branch in the stomach before hitting something soft that gave way under me.
 I’d stopped falling, so I shoved myself up, head spinning like a whirligig, hitched up my pants, and looked to see what I had landed on.
 Face down in the dirt, my betrothed blew his ebony-brown hair out of his face and stared at me with a peeved expression. “Squirrels aren’t supposed to fall out of trees, y’know, Emeri.”
 “Yeah, yeah. Anyhow, thanks for breaking my fall, Taikii. You’re a real friend,” I said, scooting off his back.
 He got his arms under him and lifted his front half. I heard a loud crack go all the way down his spine when he did it. He made a “Whoof!” sound, winced, and curled his legs under him until he was kneeling. “You’re welcome. Being a pillow is exactly what my dad raised me for.”
 “Aw, cut out the sarcasm, Taikii. You know I didn’t mean to.”
 “Yeah, I know. Still, I think someone who can perfectly balance the salt and spices in a pine nut and starchroot stew should be able to balance herself on a branch.”
 “Hey. Cook’s daughter. Not gatherer’s daughter.”
 Taikii smiled. He had a nice smile, but it wasn’t breathtaking or anything. “Don’t ever change, Emeri.”
 “I don’t plan to.” I smiled back at my betrothed and my best friend.
 “So…what in the name of Owl Clan’s talons are you climbing trees for in the middle of the night?”
 “Pfft. Beats me. I just think better at night. And a squirrel’s gotta climb trees, ya know. Anyway, why did you happen to be walking under my tree in the middle of the night, hmm?”
 “I was looking for you. I knew you’d be out here. I have to talk to you about something.”
 “All right, shoot.”
 “I meant to tell you this earlier, but it never seemed the right time.”
 “No time like the present.”
 “Yeah. You see, my old man’s been sick lately, and the doctor can’t seem to make him better. Emeri, I think he’s on his way out.”
 “Holy parsnips, you really think so? Gee, I’m sorry.”
 “Thanks, but you know what this means.”
 “Yeah.” I shifted my weight. Taikii’s father was the patriarch of the Clan. If he died, Taikii was next in line.
 “Well, he knows what’s happening, and he’s got this notion that he wants to see me married before he goes. Doctor says he’s got maybe a couple months to hang on. So he’s changed the wedding date to six weeks from tomorrow.”
 I stood up. “What?!”
 “I knew you’d be mad,” Taikii muttered under his breath. “I told him so.”
 “Taikii! I can’t marry you in six weeks! It wasn’t supposed to be for another eleven months! It’s too soon!” I shook one finger in his face and made wild gesticulations with my other hand. “With more time, I always figured I could—“
 “Weasel out of it?” Taikii said, his voice flatter than a desert plain.
  “N-no, that’s not what I was going to—“
 “Well, you weren’t going to say more time to adjust to the idea.”
 I hunched my shoulders and glared at him. “You don’t know that.”
 Taikii let out a long, shaky sigh. “Emerald.”
 I let my shoulders slump.
 “You don’t dislike me, do you?”
 “No.”
 “Don’t you like me?”
 “I like you. I really like you.” I stared at him meaningfully. “Just not like that.”
 His head sunk below his shoulders. “I know.”
 “If you knew, then why did you ask?”
 He was silent for a long while.
 Half of me wanted to storm off in an indignant rage, while the other half of me wanted to squeal, “Just kidding!” and give him a hug. I sat back down.
 Eventually he spoke. “If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” he said quietly, “then I’m as crazy as a Bear holding a Skunk by the tail.”
 I opened my mouth, and I tried to say something, but I didn’t know what to tell him and all that ended up coming out was “I’m sorry.”
 “Even if I felt the same way you do,” Taikii said, “what could I do about it? Can I deny my father his dying wish? And what would the rest of the Clan think if we all of a sudden broke off the betrothal? By the Lions’ fangs, we’ve been betrothed for six years, and you can’t have a patriarch without a matriarch.”
 “Yeah, I know.”
 He lifted his head and stared right at me. His normally soft, dark blue eyes tore into me like claws. “So what are you going to do?”
 I sniffed in a deep breath and dug a nail into my palm. “I’m going…to make a pie.”