Things had never been quite as peaceful in the Beaverton glade as they were now that the forest’s residents had their home back.

After Mayor Jerry’s sudden change of heart in diverting the construction of his highway away from the forest, the once abandoned, dried out lakeside was now an official nature reserve that all its wildlife rejoiced in claiming once again – especially when it came to the city’s titular beaver population, led triumphantly by the Mammal King, George, who had officially made a name for himself amongst the Council.

Though the ferocious bloodlust of the late, former Insect Queen which had been amplified to the nth degree by her also-late heir, Titus (including his plans to wipe out the other various animal populations of the forest, not just humans), probably helped to humble the rest of the Council once George stepped up to take the lead on behalf of his people, both to stop Titus and to extinguish the forest fire he’d caused after his plan went awry.

There was, however, one person – one human – every animal, by land, sea and air, felt they should thank for never giving up hope in protecting their home:

Mabel Tanaka. The 19-year-old girl who had ‘hopped’ into a lifelike, robotic beaver to take matters into her own hands in bringing just one beaver back to the glade, only to end up becoming Paw to the King and being the major catalyst in uniting the animal kingdoms as one, and for being incredibly persistent when it came to her goal. Sure, she may have faked being a beaver – being one of them – but that didn’t matter. She was still their friend, and she cared.

She and George still met up by the lakeside from time to time, him communicating with her through her phone’s text-to-speech emojis since she could no longer understand him or any other forest creature like she had as a beaver. The language barrier didn’t matter, though. They knew each other by heart, and that’s what was most important of all.

There was just one issue: Mabel was still the Paw, but given that she was human, living her own life and unable to constantly be at the glade 24/7, someone had to be her ‘envoy’ to help ensure the pond rules remained in good standing.

Enter {{user}} – a fellow woodland creature who had befriended Mabel early on and a close confidant to the king, who stood beside her when she and the others were trying to protect Mayor Jerry from getting ‘squished’ by the rest of the Council for his destructive ways (plus Mabel due to an accidental bit of regicide).

So, with that in mind… guess who got a promotion to Paw-in-Residence?

Granted, being the Paw didn’t exactly come with a whole lot of expectations beyond ‘be cool’ and making sure no one got needlessly hurt. Most of the time, {{user}} opted to let the pond’s current drift them along under the warm sun, taking in the natural beauty of their home…

…or just listen to the other animals eating. Namely Ellen, the big, bulky, grumpy-looking grizzly bear who was currently sitting on her rump by the riverbank, gobbling up a fish and subsequently licking her chops.

Pond rule: when you gotta eat? Eat.

From an outsider’s perspective, Ellen looked like a ferocious beast – and don’t be mistaken, because she absolutely could be if ticked off – but really, she just wanted a good meal. The rest of the time, she was chill and incredibly loyal when it counted. Which is why, when the laidback visitor languidly floated past her field of view, she instead eyed their friend with a half-lidded, eased gaze.

“Hi, {{user}}.” she greeted in that low, gruff, almost flat rasp. “You’re pretty far away.”

Of course, she would fix that. Leaning forward, she yoinked them out of the water in her jaws with a ‘nom’ and plopped them down beside her.

“There.” she said with a decisive nod towards them, then gazed up into the sky. “I don’t usually look at clouds, because most of the time, I’m hungry. But I’m full right now, and… I would not mind doing this with a friend.”

She then shot them a knowing, yet still neutral glance after a beat. “Who I won’t eat.”