In the morning I was awoken to the sound of singing. Or rather, a humming? Something melodic that drifted and swayed and bounced. A gentle tune. Chipper.

Off tune.

I scrunched up my face, a mute grumble as it continued unabaited. Moving in and out of focus as whoever was making that noise moved about themselves. A minute or two I stayed there, simply trying to hear and feel nothing, and get back to that restfulness of sleep... But the humming stopped all of that.

Fine. I'll start the day then. Happy? Gegh. Couldn't even get to sleep in on my day off.

Opening my eyes though, when I was greeted by the dull darkness of the cavern, I remembered. This? It was a new world. New family. New life.

Off key humming included.

Arms fumbled about, reaching and finding nothing but a few rough blankets on underneath me. It was a struggle then, but I managed to roll on over, sitting up slowly. The world of my.... crib.

A little wooden post on nearly built into the wall, her bed of sorts was nothing more than a large spread of blankets in a little cupped bowl. A thin railing of wood reached on up and above her, preventing an escape into... Huh. Same room she hatched in. Large flat topped bed on one side, a cut out in the wall with a few spare baskets. Looks like the master bedroom, if the size of it all was something to go by.

Well, that and my new father coming to pick me up.

"Oh? Already up? And... no crying?" He smiled on back to me, a look both warm and confused. "Well, Come on then. Let's get you dressed, then get some food in you, mhmm?~" His deep rumble of a voice carried, and with it a surprising gentleness. Seems even despite his size had a warmth to him.

I lifted on up my arms to help him lift me out, and sat still while he fussed finding something for me to wear. He himself had changed on over to what seemed to just be a large off white near smock of cloth, the hood hung back as he fussed about. And, not even a minute later, a similar large whitish garment was pulled from beneath the little crib.

Seems I know what I'll be wearing then.

Putting it on, and then carried on over, my suspicions were confirmed as we wandered back to the living room, then to the bench in the kitchen.

The lady, still humming to herself, just grinned and winked on back to her husband, and softened at spying me.

Whatever she was cooking at least, it smelled nice! A little crispy, a bit crackly, and it fizzed and hissed. Like- Oh! Eggs. Eggs with something... richer to it? I sniffed on in the air, trying to catch it's scent... But it was... weird? Sorta that tangy sour smell from yesterday, but...

Well, wouldn't be long I'd have to wait. The skillet emptied out, and a few portions cut out from the clumpy yellowed mass, a few blocky chunks left in it. Portioned out to four small bowls. One which my new father dug into with gusto. The rest... well, she sat and tried to feed me piece by piece.

Listen! Listen. I tried to reach over and just eat it normal like! Or, at least with my fingers like her husband was! But just... My arms are still stupid!

They feel like they are full of cotton and just... numb, and weird!

Ugh. I think... that's the worst part of this. Knowing what I need to do, but just... not being able to.

Being a baby sucks.

Wasn't long before my new siblings rushed out too, similar off white and well worn smocks Mathis's hung a little lower, dangling just under his knees, where as Sybil's just barely managed to make it to hers, not covering the last goodly bit of her arms.

Still, with a quick good morning and more than a few pokes and prods given my way, they settled in and ate pretty quick.

But, only after a wordless prayer.At least, I presume that's what the folded hands were for.

From there, while I was left to sit on the edge of the table, the other kids cleaned up. Skillet and bowls all scraped clean as best they could with hands and small cloth alone, before.... rubbed in with dirt? And again with the cloth? What sort of.... cleaning?

Still, the father and mother seem unperturbed by this, both quickly heading to their room and changing before returning. My father looked more or less the same, just looking a little more puffy underneath his smock? Maybe under layers? My new, eh, mother, wearing something similar, though,

it seemed to lack sleeves, and now with a fair few extra cloth wrappings on around her shoulders and back.... ones she was only to happy to show me the use of!

Plucking me up from the table, she worked and struggled to stow me back in that nest of cloth! Riding on her back in that impromptu carrier of sorts, she offered only a small smile and kiss to my brow back, before addressing the rest of the family.

"Alright, kids? Going to be headed back to Kartha's after work, so don't worry if I'm a little late okay? Shouldn't be bad, just need to return the warming crystal. But! That doesn't mean I want you to slack off on your chores just cause I"m not here, got it?" Her voice, warm and tender, still held a touch of an edge to it there. Seems it may have been a more common problem than expected?

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The two sighed, agreeing before finishing up the last of the bowls with their.... cleaning? Geh, too much here I still don't know. Don't even know if that's normal! Maybe my family is just some bunch of weirdos?

I was tugged out of my musing as she moved now, a brief step on up to a stool to reach up, pecking my father's cheek, a small smile and wink given on back. Something whispered too... that I probably shouldn't have heard.

Now I've just got to dread going to bed tonight. Thanks for that.

Well, at least we moved quickly on after that. My mother heading on up the earthen slope and on around the corner. It went up a goodly ways before it opened out a bit. Earthen walls replaced with what looked to be adobe and brickwork. No windows, still minimal, if any light on out here.

Fortunately it looked pretty barren in the little landing area, mostly just some shoes and some rather foul looking buckets.

Found the restroom. Yay....

Only thing left was the doorway, a right and proper door this time! A lever like handle lifted as she swept outside..., and let me tell you! I was not prepared.

It was a new world! No more the high rises in the distance, no more the buildings over the hill. The rattle of cars, the swell of roads and gas stations and advertisements and restaurant billboards dotting the sky! It was clean, fresh, smelled a bit too fresh, but just...

Eye opening.

But it was more than that! It was bright! Not painfully so, not yet as the sun still was still rising just beyond the curve of the earth. It was Warm! A pleasant sort of warm, like a good day. But, I had no doubt it was going to get rough by midday. And the buildings! Those were...!

Well, pretty standard fair if I'm honest. A fair mix of short squat one story houses, and adobe little buildings like my family's own little place! Next to no windows though, though pretty commonly just wooden shutters functioning as operable holes.

Streets, what little streets there were, they opened up as my mother wandered. Sandy patchy earth, well worn turned to small stones, to earthen sandstone brickwork in the earth as the buildings grew grander by the step. On out to the main road too, there were people.

Humans! Er, Mahun, as they are called here. By far and away they were the most populace. And.... Jeeze, My mother stood nearly a head taller than most of them! If that's the case, my father must be.... simply huge! Jeeze!

There were others too! Nyarel, at least. Not near as many, but it wasn't hard to spy a few on each street, starting on about their day. Most seemed to be wearing pretty similar smocks like we were too, though not all were the same off white. A few with a hint of muted green, a tinge of yellow, one or two even with a muted grey...

The humans? Mahun, rather, were dressed pretty similarly, though there was a great deal more vibrancy too. Colors, buckles, belts, boots... The streets rung with the sounds of work and people beginning the day.

My mother though? She led us on towards the heart of town, the main road where ground turned to bricks, and joined a little entourage headed on up.... let's see, sun is over there, so that'd be... West!

Wait... Does the sun rise the same way here?

.... Concerns for later! For now, on with the entourage of other Nyrael! Looking carefully, I could piece out a few Mahun among them... and I almost swear one of them even had cat ears! Fantasy world after all, sand not withstanding. Either way, we all wandered off, walking on out of town away and off into the sandy dunes along a well worn path.

Oh, yes. I suppose I should mention that. Nyrael, by in large, are from a massive desert central to the eastern portion of the world, at least from what of the world the Horned God showed me. A Desert called Shendhala if I remember right. That desert, I am pretty sure that's where I'm at.

Either that, or a fake desert.

But who'd make a fake desert?

Either way, my mother got swarmed pretty quickly by a fair few of the other Nyrael and.... man, people are handsy here! I got poked, prodded, and tapped every which way as she got to show me off. I mean, I grumbled a bit at it, but didn't do much to it. Easiest way is to just let stuff pass you by, right?

... Right?

Well, seems that was the wrong answer.My mother got a weird look in turn from all that, watching me as she helped me back into the little carrier.

A few short conversations about the kids, hers and others though helped pass the time. I even learned something useful from listening in! Seems my mother's name is Myrtle.

Strange, old fashioned for sure. But... new world? Maybe that's normal?

A concern for another time. We're here!

Here being, the farms! Simple enough plots, each cordoned off in their own little square, butting on up against each other. Sure, it was sand more than anything, but... there were still crops there. At least, something of a crop.

Though.... eh? Only about half of them were filled? Sure, might be some crop rotation but... Wouldn't most plants that grow on this desert soil be fine with next to nothing anyway?

My answer.... was a plume of dirt though!

Spurting on from the ground, fussing and twisting on about a few feet into the air! A twirling buzzing and hissing sound that.... everyone else seemed to more or less ignore?! But it's a giant buzzing...

Bug?

About the size of a chicken, if you elongated it a goodly bit, that little beetle like bug landed back on the ground. A dull tan and blue carapace coating it as it fluttered those long wings on behind itself. Fanning itself by the look of it! A few moments emerged, and that shell closed back up, wings folding away as it dug back down, burrowing into the sands....

Those.... are way to big. Like, it's about me sized! I mean, sure, I'm not all that big right now, but still! Bugs ain't supposed to be that large! Especially not flying ones! I mean, did you see the size of those claws?!

"Oh, don't worry honey, they are just Heathbugs! Nothing to worry your sweet little head about." My new mother's voice called back to me. Seems I had given a little squeak of alarm as it emerged from the burrow.

And, again, I will take no blame for that. Like... Look at it! Way too big for a bug!

Gegh, whatever. Looks like she found whatever plot it looks like we are headed to. One of those plots on with the thin, scraggly looking plants. She vaulted on over the fence with just a slight hup, before nodding, moving to the corner and...

Hey! Baskets! Just like the ones back home! .... Wait don't tell me I'm gonna sit in one of those, am I?! Not being hardly able to move is hard enough, I at least want to see!

My prayers, my please! Please! Some stupid god up there and don't let this be nothing again! I want to see, I want to SEE!

Some fortunate god, or maybe just tradition though, answered. Unwrapped from my new mother's back, the cloth strung up on either side of the fence post, I still hung. Now just in a cocoon of cloth rather than on her back. As on her back... she set one of those baskets.

"You just stay there and rest, okay honey? I know it's a lot to take in, but you'll doing great!" She gave that same encouraging smile, that same warm and... relaxed look to me as before. And.... Well, fine, alright. I admit it.

It's nice a bit, yeah? Just... being looked at like you're doing the right thing. Affirmation. It's nice. If... a little much. And smothering.

.... and really wish I could walk.

Well, on from my perch, I'm pretty sure I got to watch the sun rise. On over and up, high on above as my new mother went on in that field. Each one of those scraggly plants she went on over, tugging handful by handful of that little, thin and dry top tufts off, stowed on in the basket.

Might have been, four, five hours? And she hadn't even filled up the one! Not very efficient is it?

Granted, was a pretty big basket, went on from just over her tail to over her shoulders... and with her height.... Gegh. Stupid Nyarel! This weird height comparison is just all sorts of screwing me over!

Bah. Still! I wasn't gonna let this time go to waste! No sir! I, you see, had a plan!

Yes, see, yesterday? I could talk! But badly. and slurring. Felt like I was trying to talk with my head stuck in a jar. Which, to be fair, is more accurate than not!

I might know what words sound like. I might know how to make my throat make those sounds even. But my mouth? That's.... that's a snout now! Right and proper! The resonance in my nose is all sorts of messed up, and my teeth and tongue? Totally different! Of course talking would be a little weird!

So, I got to babbling!

Apple, Babble, Scraggle, Finagle, Waggle... Words! At least the attempts at them. Ah' sounds needed way more room than I expected, on near the back of my throat.

Ought, wrought, fought, bought, knot... Ough' sounds, those were way more forward than where I expected! Like, past where I realized I had a face at first! Snouts man...

Th's T's and St's were way all the way at the tip of that snout! Tongue had to brush and flick the roof off that mouth of mine! And... man!

That tongue was something too. On around when the sun was beating too heavy, I wanted to see something. See, the entry on for Nyrael said they, er, we had long elastic tongues, and I wanna see what that meant! So, I just grabbed my tongue and pulled a bit!

It only started to feel bad when the tip was halfway down my chest, over my belly button! Felt like I was gonna gag myself, and very nearly did pulling it all back on up and in! Think it sorta folks back in on itself down my throat...

My new body is something else, I tell you.

Weirdly enough? I think doing that all might have set my new mom at ease at first. A baby finally making noise! Babbling and ambling along with sounds. Playing along with themselves and just... being a baby actually!

But, little did she know! Oh ho! Little did she know!

If I was gonna be stuck as a baby? Like hell I was gonna be stuck doing nothing!

You hear me world?! I ain't gonna take this lying down!