Polaris' Smurfy New Life/Part 6

Sometime later, Papa Smurf was walking around the village with Empath, having a private discussion among themselves. "So how's Polaris dealing with the side effects of the cure that we have smurfed him, Empath?" Papa Smurf asked.

"So far, Polaris seems to be taking the whole matter of what he's been turned into for the time being all in stride, Papa Smurf," Empath answered. "However, he is concerned about his minds-eye abilities not being restored along with his health. But that's not the only thing that weighs heavily on this smurf's mind right now."

"I know, you're worried about him being accepted by all his fellow Smurfs," Papa Smurf said.

"This smurf senses that it was a struggle for him to deal with being around those who consider him an outsider just as much as they once considered this smurf an outsider, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "But now that he appears as one of them...or almost like one of them...he's going to be scrutinized more closely by those who are out to make him as nothing more than an imposter disguised as a Smurf."

"I can't say that I fully know what's smurfing on with Polaris since I'm not him and I don't know him as well as you do, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "But I do know that smurfing the right thing when it comes to smurfing with outsiders is not always the easy thing to smurf, especially when we don't know too much about the outsider to begin with."

"You've taught this smurf much about how we should treat outsiders, and this smurf takes those lessons to heart so that this smurf would know how to deal with them in any sort of situation, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "This smurf can only aspire to have the same wisdom and experience that you have in your many years of living when it comes to those situations."

"We all have to learn from our own experiences in life, Empath," Papa Smurf said.

Just then, the two of them heard Harmony going about the village using his horn as a signal. "Hear ye, hear ye, my fellow Smurfs," he cried out. "The first meeting of the Order of the True Smurfs will commence at the Smurf Theater, by the proclamation of Hefty Smurf. All who are interested, please attend at once."

"The Order of the True Smurfs?" Papa Smurf said.

"This smurf senses that there's something not right about this gathering Hefty is calling for, Papa Smurf," Empath said with some foreboding.

"Then we must smurf for ourselves this meeting," Papa Smurf said, agreeing with Empath's sentiment.

They both headed for the Smurf Theater, where there was a small gathering of Smurfs sitting in front of the stage, while Hefty stood at the front, with red banners having the Smurf head symbol in a white circle flanked him on either side.

"The time has come for us to stand as True Smurfs, my fellow Smurfs," Hefty said as he began his speech. "For too long we have allowed a pale-faced star-marked pretender to smurf among us as though he was one of us. But he's not one of us and he never has been one of us. He's smurfed with pale skin, and he never smurfs the clothes of a True Smurf, and he's been smurfed with a star mark that lets him smurf into our minds when we don't want him to."

"But Empath also has a star mark, Hefty Smurf," one Smurf said.

"And he never smurfs into our minds without permission," another Smurf added.

"He's just one special Smurf among us, my friends," Hefty said. "But even he has allowed this outsider to influence him and let him smurf among us, this smurf who will destroy your way of smurfing and mine by making us smurf the kind of life he wants us to smurf. And do you think he will be the only one from among the outsiders who will smurf this? No, he won't. Because there will be others who will smurf from that place to smurf the same thing, and they won't stop until they either destroy us or we submit to them."

"You tell 'em, Hefty," a third Smurf in the crowd shouted.

"This is the time that we need to smurf up a new order in the village, the Order of the True Smurfs," Hefty said. "This order will make sure that we Smurfs are the only Smurfs that will smurf in the village, and that pretenders like Empath's friend are not welcome here under any smurfumstances. This is our village, our way of life, and no one will make us submit to anything that isn't of a True Smurf. So who's with me in forming this new order?"

Only a few Smurfs raised their hands while the rest just got up and decided to leave, grumbling among themselves.

"This hatefulness has got to stop right now, Papa Smurf," Empath said, sounding a bit offended by what he heard.

"I agree," Papa Smurf said. They both approached the stage and confronted Hefty. "Who smurfed you permission to smurf this assembly of Smurfs, Hefty Smurf?" he demanded.

"Are you saying that I don't have a right to assemble a protest, Papa Smurf?" Hefty asked.

"Every Smurf in this village has a right to assemble a protest, Hefty, but the kind of protest you're assembling seems to be one based on hate and prejudice against those who are different than you," Empath said.

"Well, excuse me if I offended a precious little snowflake like you," Hefty said sarcastically. "If you care so much about your friend Polaris, why don't you both smurf everyone a favor and leave the village together?"

"This smurf is not leaving, and neither is Polaris, Hefty," Empath stated boldly.

"No Smurf here is going to harm any outsider who smurfs in our village as either a guest or a permanent resident, Hefty," Papa Smurf said. "If I hear that you or any Smurf here smurfs any harm to Empath's friend, I will personally smurf to it that you are adequately punished. Do I make myself clear?"

Hefty just glared quietly at Papa Smurf for a moment before he said, "Yes, Papa Smurf."

Then after Empath and Papa Smurf walked away, the few Smurfs who listened to Hefty gathered closer to him. "What are we going to smurf about this new order now that Papa Smurf knows about it, Hefty?" one Smurf asked.

"Don't worry about him," Hefty said. "The less he knows about what we smurf in private away from his ears, the better."

"But Empath's going to find out about this, and then he's going to let Papa Smurf know for sure," another Smurf said.

"We're going to smurf this as secret as possible," Hefty said, speaking very low. "We'll smurf more about this at my house, where I will smurf about what we will do."

Meanwhile, Empath and Papa Smurf were still talking to each other. "This smurf has a feeling that Hefty's not going to obey your orders, Papa Smurf," Empath said.

"As much as I would like you to keep close smurfs on Hefty and what he's planning on smurfing with this new order, I would rather you focus on keeping your friend safe in case something does happen in the village," Papa Smurf said.

"You think Hefty has a right to protest against people like Polaris, Papa Smurf?" Empath asked.

"He just doesn't have the right to smurf his protest into a violent one, especially when your friend hasn't smurfed anything to us that requires a violent protest, Empath," Papa Smurf said.

Empath nodded. "This smurf acknowledges, Papa Smurf."

To be expanded on.