"Do not be afraid, hatchling. Come a little closer so I can have a look at you. My eyes are not what they once were." The mound of debris sounded tired, and kind, and not at all vicious. Don crawled out of the tunnel and took his first chance to stand up in far too long. He still had to bend forward to avoid the ceiling at the edge of the dome but after a few unsteady, shuffling steps, he was able to stretch out his abused back. It popped in a gratifying way. Don settled down, cross-legged, next to the pile of debris.

A head poked out of it. It had similar features to Dons guide but besides being about half again as large, there were a few notable differences. One of its eyes was milky, its whiskers drooped instead of standing proudly out to either side of its face. Some of the flaps were missing and those that remained were pale. It peered at Don, its head tilted to one side, favoring its good eye. The tilt made the little monster appear pensive or even a little suspicious.

"Good, good" It started, nodding its head slightly "You seem to be healing up nicely." Then it made a clicking noise "You really shouldn't remove the healing ointments I give you until they've done their work."

A gnarled stick reached up from the pile and tapped Don on the injured shoulder. He winced in response and shied away from the monster. It didn't make any attempt to chase him. Instead, its head disappeared back into the pile of debris it was buried in. Don could hear it rummaging around, shifting items and sometimes the sound was accompanied by a small collapse of the detritus. All the while, the monster chatted to Don in a slightly muffled voice.

"I am dreadfully sorry about the way you have been treated. The children didn't know what you are. Quite lucky they were out scouting so close to the tower. I gave them a good scolding for breaking the rules but they are getting more willful as they grow and I just don't have the energy to chase them around the forest anymore. Now, where did I put, aha!"

There were a couple of meaningless squeaks, then a third, and a far corner of the pile collapsed. The face popped back out and this time it pushed a package of woven vegetation out of the pile, It rolled once, clattering down the small slope, then came to rest between the two monsters. Grey looked at Don expectantly for a moment before piping up again.

"Don't be shy dearie, you must be famished. Go ahead, we don't have much laid away but you can help yourself to what we do have." Grey indicated the package and tapped it twice with her gnarled stick, producing a hard rapping noise.

Don hesitantly reached for the pack and pulled it into his lap. He looked back at Grey for confirmation before carefully peeling back some of the wrappings. It was filled with roughly shaped spheres. Don picked one up, it was hard but much lighter than he expected. A displaced rock clattered off the ground behind him and don looked back to see several of the monsters squeezed into the tunnel watching him. The moment he spotted them, they wriggled back until there was enough room between them for them to turn and bolt back into the dark.

Turning back to Grey, Don asked: "What are these?"

"Kaeru nuts, they're good. Don't hold back, you will need the energy after healing so much."

"This is, food?" Don asked. Finally understanding the lumps were a source of biological energy. He never got the chance to try any himself, or at least he didn't remember the experience. From what he remembered, food goes in the mouth, gets crushed, then swallowed. He popped the orb into his mouth and bit down. The shell resisted his bite and he bit harder. When he was just about to give up, his teeth penetrated the hard shell, splitting it open in a satisfying crunch. The moment the buttery, rich nut was exposed, something primal took over and don began chewing as naturally as if he had been doing it his whole life. That didn't stop him from choking on the mouthful a couple of times before he could get it down.

His stomach gurgled, demanding more and he reached out for the pack only to have it lifted away by that gnarled stick. Don hissed at Grey only to get smacked in the head with her all-purpose reaching tool. Don sat back sheepishly and finally noticed the huffing noise coming from behind him. The crowd of monsters was back, observing him. They all had their mouths hanging open, revealing two pairs of broad, flat, large teeth. The lower pair fitting neatly behind the upper set when their mouths closed. It took a few seconds for Don to realize they were laughing at him. A gourd flew over Don's head and shattered above the tunnel. The contents splashed over the little monsters and they squealed in discomfort before retreating back into the tunnel. When Don looked back to Grey, she was pushing a stone out of her pile.

"Hatchlings," she muttered before fixing don with her one good eye. "You are going to choke to death if you try and eat like that." She admonished "First, remove the shell" She pinched the rock between her front paws and hoisted it into the air. She brought it down on a Kaeru nut with a crack. She repeated the process until the shell split, Then she pawed at it and used her bucked teeth to free the flesh from the nut. Don's stomach rumbled and he unintentionally reached for the food, only to retract a stinging hand after Grey thwacked him again with her stick. She then pulled on a seam in the fruit and it split neatly into four pieces. She took one and held it out for Don.

More slowly this time, Don reached for the nut, but when he had it, he wasted no time in stuffing it in his mouth. His eyes rolled back as he chewed. It was much better without the hard shell. Before he knew it, his mouth was empty again. He looked back to Grey who pushed the satchel back towards him using her stick. Don snatched up a nearby rock and began frantically dismantling the shells and gorging himself on the flesh within. All too soon, the sachel was empty and don was rooting around the shell fragments scattered around him for another intact nut. Now that he had broken his fast, his stomach was greedily demanding more food. When he didn't find any he looked back at Grey, a predatory glint in his eye.

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"More." He demanded without thinking. Don was well past thinking, he was gripped by primal urges he never had to contend with before. Obligingly, Grey got out her stick and used it to pluck a gourd from the ceiling. She proffered the gourd with a simple command.

"Drink."

Don took a rock intending to smash the gourd open but the rock was knocked out of his hand. Grey pointed at the top of the vessel using her stick.

"You don't need to open it, there is already an opening here" She explained

Don tipped the gourd up and emptied it into his mouth. He immediately spat out the vile sludge. He spent a few seconds sputtering, trying to get the bitter taste off his tongue. His appetite was rapidly fleeing but Grey was insistent.

"Drink it all up" She prompted him by tipping the gourd up again by pushing on it with her stick. Don did his best to down the chunky liquid. It splashed into his stomach and refused to settle.

"Blegh" he exclaimed after he finally finished the drink to Grey's satisfaction "What was that?"

"Just a little healing potion" Grey explained unhelpfully. She gave an exaggerated yawn before continuing "and a mild sedative" Don understood that part at least and he was a little worried by it.

"Why?" The rest of his question was cut off by a jaw-stretching yawn. Grey fixed Don with her good eye again before retreating back into her pile.

"Because I am too damned old to stay up all day long just because we have an important guest. Besides, you still could use the rest." That was clearly the end of the conversation. Don had just enough time to situate himself on a bare patch of rock that was mostly free of discarded shells before the sedative pulled him under.

----------

As Don came to, the first thing he noticed was how warm he was. Irregular cracking and popping sounds echoed through the dome. The next thing he noticed was an indescribable smell wafting through the air. His stomach responded to it by gurgling expectantly. Don pushed himself into a sitting position and sniffed at the heavenly scent before blearily opening his eyes. Then he was fully awake in an instant. He scrambled back, as far away from the flames as he could get. He hardly registered the monsters he trampled in his haste.

"Fire!" he shouted in warning. His panic drew the attention of scores of black eyes, gleaming in the firelight. Before long they all turned back to the flames. Grey was tending to some sort of rack above the flames and the large shadow she cast onto the wall warped into crazy shapes as the flames shifted. The smoke streamed upward and through the many cracks in the ceiling but a good amount still filled the dome. Don got low and repeated his warning.

"Yes is fire stupid." said a nearby monster "Grey cooks rabbits."

The monster turned towards Don and a few others followed suit. It pushed off the ground with its front paws and balanced on its hind legs, sniffing and twitching its nose in don's direction. With the firelight, Don finally got a good look at the flaps covering them. Green panels swept back from the monsters face. They were clearly flexible as they conformed to the monster's movements. They were a bit like hair, one large strand would sprout from their skin. After that, they were very unlike hair. Each primary shaft bristled with smaller filaments. The strangest oddity was how the filaments only grew along a flat plane so they could lie against the monster's streamlined body. Satisfied with its inspection, the monster settled back down to the ground. When it did, Don noted how it was slightly larger and much more muscular compared to the others. He also noted that this group of monsters didn't have tails like Kat did.

"You is wanting rabbits?" it asked. Don responded with his own question.

"What are rabbits?"

The monster looked to its fellows.

"Stupid does not know rabbits." The listeners huffed in their strange approximation of laughter.

"Stupid does not know how eating, almost choke on Kaeru shells, remember?" It got more laughter from his fellows before turning back to Don.

"Did stupid like our foods?"

"What do you mean?" Don asked

"Our foods, we find it, we bring it, you eat it. did you like?"

"Oh, yeah, it was really good. Do you have any more?"

The monster didn't like Don's response very much. The panels along its body flared outward making the monster look bigger, but also softer at the same time. Its tone was anything but soft, however.

"Stupid wants more foods? stupid should find and bring, not just eat. Stupid is too big, eat too much, should go away!"

"But, I got the food from Grey, not you." Don was starting to get confused. The monsters broken speech wasn't making matters any easier either.

"We give old Grey. Give Keru and rabbit, get cooked rabbit. Old Grey bad for give foods to big stupid. Foods for us. Now go. Go, go, go, go." The monster leapt up to Don and started pushing him with every repetition of the directive. It wasn't long before the three other monsters joined in on the pushing and chanting. They ended up surrounding him and pushing him in opposing directions though and didn't make any headway. The group of tiny monsters trying to move the much larger Demon would have almost been funny if they were not also sinking their sharp little claws into his skin with every push. Don did his best to shy away from them but he was already pressed up against a wall and he was left just trying to keep them from getting to his face.

Just when it was getting unbearable, an excited squeaking filled the dome, echoing off the dome enough to make the two or three dozen monsters sound like hundreds. The sounds distracted Don's assailants and they leaped into the boiling mass of monsters as they alternatively rushed towards the flames and then rushed back when they were pushed too close by their nest-mates. Grey stood on her hind legs, leaning on her knobbled stick. Her superior size letting her stay above the general fray. She was tossing chunks from the rack she was tending earlier. One chunk came sailing over the crowd towards Don. A few monsters peeled off from the pack to chase it. When it disappeared into Don's mouth, they turned and leapt straight back into the fray.

Don closed his eyes and tried to savor the taste, but the meat was already gone. His long, serpentine tongue licked the grease which had dribbled down his chin. He didn't even remember deciding to eat it. One moment it was in the air, the next, he caught it and shoved it into his mouth. An intense heat stoked itself to life in Don's gut and he too jumped into the teeming mass of monsters, pushing, kicking and scratching in order to get another morsel of rabbit.