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"Here, bite on zhis. It will make zhe crossing easy."

Seeing as Bekki already had his big tooth stuck through one of the things, I took the plant that Nurln was offering me. A silvery-white, stringy tube that seemed to be filled with some sort of air. About a foot long, it had an additional few inches of flattened fiber where I was supposed to stick my tooth. Standing on the bank of the river surrounded by the grey reeds, I carefully bit down, sliding my tooth into it. Nurln turned to get his own reed, stretching up to bite the second segment from the top. Air released from it with a quiet whoosh, and he tore it from the rest of the plant. "Zhe greyleaf reed will keep your nose above water if you get too tired, ya? Just remember to breazh zhrough your nose, not your mouzh." With that, he fixed his own reed into place, and stepped into the water.

Bekki and I followed. The water wasn't so cold as to shock me, so I confidently strode in after Nurln. The river looked a bit too wide for comfort, but I decided not to worry about it. If the others were sure we could make it, then we could. I glanced back at the lights of the town to the north. We hadn't encountered any humans on the way here, and hopefully there wouldn't be any in the old enclave. All three of us hit the deeper water at about the same time, and I shivered at the unfamiliar feeling of water rushing over the fur on my back. My head nearly dipped underwater when my feet failed to touch sand. Luckily, the reed prevented that. I was more comfortable in the water even as a human, but it still took me a few tries before my uncoordinated little stick limbs settled into a rhythm that propelled me forward. I quickly found that I did not enjoy swimming as a yinglet. My body was stretched horizontally, and I couldn't raise my head to see the others without disrupting my pace. The current gently but surely pushing me combined with the sounds of water rushing preventing me from hearing Bekki and Nurln was starting to make my heart pound. Where were they? I was still by them, right? They wouldn't leave me out here, would they? Where were they?!

I kicked out behind me desperately, and my arms flailed in an effort to try to find something to grasp. I was going to drown. I was going to die all alone in the river. They left me. They left me. I was going to die. The rush of the river turned into a frantic cacophony of splashing as I tried to lash about. If my jaw wasn't clenched from fear, I probably would have lost my reed. Just as I felt my body about to lock up, I felt a slick, warm body press against mine, bolstering me. Managing to glance to the side, I saw the blue of Nurln's fur, and realized that he hadn't left me. Why did I think he left me? Why would either of them do that? With his reassuring presence by my side, I managed to steady myself out, and tried to copy what I felt him doing. He undulated a little as he swam, like a crocodile or snake. I wriggled my body, finding that it helped me out quite a bit. With one of my fellows close to my side, I remained calm, and even felt embarrassed over how I had freaked out. Something to think about next time we were somewhere safe. Slowly but surely, with the river pushing us south, we made our crossing.

While it took a bit, the rest of the swim was smooth, and with great relief, I finally felt the bottom at the other side. Once I could firmly stand, I found that both of the males were standing close by. Tossing our reeds into the water as we waded to shore, Nurln motioned for me to let Bekki take the lead. "He knows zhe pazhs to zhe enclave, so we will follow." I had almost expected this side of the river to be deathly quiet after the tragedy that took place here. Instead, night animals sang out, the river rushed, and the breeze rattled the greyleaf reeds as we passed through them. Life went on, it seemed. Following in Bekki's erratic footsteps, I found the surroundings more comforting than the city. Plenty of places to hide, even with the starlight illuminating everything. As I took it in, Nurln softly spoke up. "My Matriarch...at zhe river...what happened?" I drooped. I was hoping that my mid-river freakout would be forgotten by my companions so I could contemplate it on my own time.

"I...dunno...I couldn't not do a see of you....I dought...maybe you leave me...It was like my head scared me for no goody reasons." I was surprised when instead of berating me, Nurln laid a sympathetic hand on my back.

"Ya, zhat's what I zhought. It can be hard when zhe instinct-voices start to yell at you." He gave the fur along my spine a good scritching, then pulled ahead slightly. "I won't leave you, my Matriarch. When zhe voices yell at ya again, remember zhis, and quiet zhem if you can." I watch the silvery spots on his pelt glimmering in the faint light, and realize that he's just as caring as Bekki is. While Bekki expressed his feelings through touch, Nurln was more reserved. The reeds gave way to brushy plants atop spongy-wet ground, and soon enough, Bekki pulled us to a halt.

"Is almost right here! Now, bozh'a you! You guys is not scavengers, so I gotta tell you. Now zhat zhere's no-body-one here, it could be a Sicky-Touch in zhe village. If you sees a Yinglet zhat is not Bekki 'r Tacci r' Nurln, YOU DON'T TALK-A TO ZHEM unless we's all zhere. And especially, no humpin' anybody zhat's not us!" Bekki wriggles his tail and waves his hands while he talks, somehow managing to look deadly serious. Not knowing what a Sicky-Touch was but not about to argue with someone who grew up here, I stole a glance at Nurln. The blue male's inner ears had gone pale, and he was looking about nervously. The demeanor of my companions put a chord of fear into me, and I nodded. No talking and no humping, but I doubted that any of us would be in the mood in the desolate enclave. With his warning issued, Bekki led us onto a raised patch of drier ground, and into the former Greyleaf Enclave. We encountered our first corpse nearly right away. Scavengers had taken the eyes, and all I could tell about their fur color was that it might have been a blue-grey before the maggots started to worm through it. If Bekki or Nurln recognized the unfortunate, neither of them acknowledged it verbally. The corpse still clutched a spear, and without ceremony, Bekki took the spear and the hands still holding it. I waited for him to remove the grasping appendages, but he seemed content to leave them on his new weapon.

A harsh smell of ash and rot soon suffused the air. Scattered patches of blood and fur indicated where corpses used to be before something dragged them away, but there were plenty still laying around. Nurln quietly told me that this open area had been the main route for those who tried to escape. At each corpse, we stopped, and Bekki would see if there was anything we could use. A canister sort of holder for the spears was strapped to his back, and we collected any unbroken spears we could find for him. Even broken ones weren't useless, as Bekki showed us how to remove the spearheads and add them to a looted pouch. All the dead around weren't doing wonders for my psyche, but my companions remaining calm was enough for me not to freak out. Bekki, though devoid of his usual cheer, moved about with brisk productivity. Nurln's sadness was more apparent, but he worked just as hard. I followed and helped where I could, and tried not to eject my lunch when I was offered a handful of maggots taken from a corpse's open stomach. When we reached the burnt husks of the village proper, we were kitted out with two pouches and a spear each, with Bekki having more in his canister. The bodies here were more burned, some so badly that not even the insects had touched them. We spread out a little, each of us poking our noses into something different. I found some pottery under some of the ash, but only one small cup remained unbroken. It had a small, blue flower design on the side. I threaded the handle through my pouch-strap and pocketed some of the shards.

While I tried to avoid the corpses and focused on rummaging around the building remains, Bekki seemed to zero in on each one. Occasionally, he'd run over to me or Nurln to press something into our hands before returning to his search. I was gifted a bone-handled bronze knife and a weird bug. Not having a sheath for the knife, I plopped it into my pouch and the bug into my mouth without really thinking about it. This one looked more appetizing than the slug, at least. As I fought to get it down my throat, Nurln approached. "My Matriarch, can you help me wizh zhis over here?" My response came out as a garbled grk, but I give him a thumbs up and follow him over to a small log. "Zhis used to be zhe top of zhe doorway. Please, help me roll it." Wondering why we'd move a log over what seemed to be a burned floor, I threw my back into helping him anyway. With our combined power, we're able to roll it away, and I blink in surprise at an opening in the ground. I started to go into it even as Nurln called out. "Bekki, we're goin' down. Don't die." The tunnel was a bit of a tight squeeze, but I didn't feel any claustrophobia. We went down the gentle slope for what seemed like a few minutes, where it finally opened up into an open round chamber. I made myself useful by ramming my nose directly into a wall while Nurln took the initiative to somehow illuminate the place. Rubbing my sore muzzle, I looked at the odd lamp he had. It emitted a faint blue glow, but the light was more than enough for our big eyes. "I'm going to check somezhing, my Matriarch. Will you look at zhis room? ...Oh! If you need more light, shake zhe ozher lamp."

He vanished behind a curtain, and I grabbed the other lamp and shook it hard. The same glow appeared, and I looked at the slitted metal tube. It seemed to contain a good deal of...moss? I wasn't even going to try to understand that at the moment, and lifted it to examine the chamber. The dirt walls were well-packed, with a few woven pictures hanging up. One depicted the front view of a yinglet's head, done in a light blue color. Another seemed to show eggs, with lines of color radiating from them. There was a shelf with a few seashells and a spoon. I took the spoon. A good portion of the floor was covered by a rug woven out of tough fiber. Cushions sat atop it, along with a low table. I was struck with the urge to put my cup and spoon on the table, but before I could carry it out, I heard a sharp yap from the next room. "Matriarch! Matriarch!" Fearing the worst, I burst through the curtain ready to kick some ass. My adrenaline didn't fade when I saw Nurln crouched on the ground, clutching something to his body, tears streaming down his face.

"What it is?! What's happening?" My frantic questions led to him uncurling, revealing...eggs. Three eggs. "Uh. I see?" Given the egg tapestry in the room, I had just figured that maybe my new species really, really liked eggs. He stood, picking one of them up, and without saying anything, pressed it to the side of my head. After the initial moment of 'what' passed, I realized that there was a tiny, steady noise coming from the egg. So...we had chickens now?

"Zhese...zhese are zhe last eggs of zhis enclave...zhe last children." Children. Thank every star in the sky I claimed to come from that I hadn't blurted out the chicken comment. "I didn't zhink...I...Oh..." He set the egg gently back down in the nest, and took a basket from a nearby shelf before piling the bedding from an empty nest into it. "I can't believe zhese eggs are here...If it's been zhis long, zhey must almost be ready for hatchings..." Despite his tears, he was smiling. I found myself smiling along with him, a light feeling in my chest. I knew where babies came from, and finding some tiny spark of life in this place of death seemed like a miracle. I helped him place the eggs in the basket, and watched attentively as he fastened a lid to it. I didn't like children as a human, but maybe it would be different now. After all, baby animals were always cute.

"Do we gotta stay here till dey hatch? I never had-a egg." Nurln shakes his head, looking up at me.

"Oh, you are younger zhan I zhought! I..I am not zhe nurse, so..I zhink it will be ok to travel wizh zhem, close as zhey are. We will just have to take cover if it storms." Picking up the basket and going out of the room, he leads me up and out of the den. He has to push it in front of us in the tunnel, but it didn't seem to be too difficult. We found Bekki waiting for us, a small pile of goods by him. When he poked inquisitvely at the basket, Nurln informed him of what we found. "Bekki! Is not just us! Zhere were zhree eggs left in Patriarch Ark's hatch-place! You can hear zhe baby-heart in each zhem, I zhink zhey will hatch soon!" Bekki's eyes went comically wide, and he squealed ear-piercing joy.

"Babies! Babies! I wanna meet zhem now! Come out, babies! Really soon!" The tan male gently tapped the egg carrier. Nurln looked happier than I had ever seen. Any part of me that was worried about the logistics of traveling with a basket of live eggs washed away in a flood of protective feelings. Babies! We might not have had a home, but we now had three little eggs that would come with us. I wondered what the yinglets within would look like. All three of us fawned over the basket for quite some time, giddy and excited. It wasn't until Bekki remembered that he had found a small doll made of leather scraps that we began to look at his findings. Though not as impressive as our tiny soon-to-be people, he had turned up several more pouches and straps, knives, another cup and bowl, some containers of dried food, and various other little useful things. We set about dividing it up and seeing how much we could actually carry between us without being over encumbered. It wasn't much, but it was much better than the three items we had when we left Saltden.

"Tacci, Bekki, will you bozh stay wizh zhe eggs? Zhere's one more place I need to check. I will be quick." After a chorus of affirmatives, Nurln went to complete his task. Bekki and I both tried to stay attentive, but we inevitably focused back on the basket, whispering to each other and giggling.

"What you zhink we should name zhem? Can we name one affer me? But..different? I don't wanna be confusin'." Bekki grins, clearly enjoying the idea.
"Ooh, yeah-yay! Dat's a good idea. How about Betti?"
---
For reference, it's been about a week and a half since the enclave was razed. Patriarch Ark took over sole responsibility over the enclave's eggs after two unfortunate incidents in the past. If the enclave had been razed even half a year earlier, Tacci's life going into the future would be so much easier.

Fun Fact: When this chapter was google-translated after being written, the name Tacci suggests at the end somehow became Electronic Marcus.