Dihe usually won any disagreements between his siblings by the simple tactic of sitting on them. This was particurly effective on his white-furred sister, Jiu, who remained the smallest of the five. Yan, the red female, was the most likely to cause trouble, but she was also good-natured and energetic, giving in with a short squeak when Dihe began trundling forward.

  Mei watched her pups as they pyed, gaze still watchful but far less concerned than it had been in the beginning. They were past the age when others of their kind would have gone off on their own, but these five were still inseparable, which was very reassuring to her as a mother, even one who expected her young to leave soon after they learned to eat solid food. Of course, that very thing might be part of what kept them here, since the not-monsters brought them metal and meat daily, hoping that one of her pups might choose to stay with them as Mei remained with Ky.

  Tou squeaked as a not-monster with fur almost the same shade of blue as Tou’s approached. It seemed that Tou looked forward to this not-monster’s arrival more than any other, and Mei thought she might need to learn a name for the little creature soon. Was it Gra? Gran? Well, if Tou chose to stay with him, she would learn it then.

  She turned her head as she felt her brother-not-monster begin to ascend through the mountain again. He had been doing that a great deal tely, and while she had ignored it at first, he always seemed to end up in the nest of Mei’s oddest rodents, and she was curious what he was doing.

  Another gnce around confirmed that each of her pups was safe and being fed by one of their favorite not-monsters, so Mei decided it was time to investigate. Ky was dealing with the other monsters, as she did so often tely, so Mei doubted anyone would even miss her.

  Slipping back into the shadows as the Silent Monster had taught her, Mei began to eat a tunnel to where she wanted to be. Fortunately, she had learned that the distance from one pce to another didn’t always have to be the same, so it took only a few bites to leave the Deep behind. She hurried forward after Kaz-brother, and actually emerged slightly before he did. He still used the tunnels that existed in the real-here, though she wasn’t sure why, and it took much longer than passing through the between-here. The door to Kaz-brother’s favorite tunnel opened, and he gnced at her, sending a silent greeting, which she returned. Then he walked away, and she followed.

  There were not many of hers left here, but there were some. When she ate the core and the old-Rat taught her how to be the new-Rat, old-Rat said she should choose who she wanted to watch over. She saw them all, everywhere, and there were so many that when she saw these here, not-cimed, it made sense that they should be hers, too.

  She was still trying to figure out what to do to help them, which was what she was supposed to do if too many of them died, and since there were so few left, she thought she should do something, but nothing was actually being done to them. They were simply choosing not to have more pups, which was a very not-rodent thing to do, and made her wonder if she had been wrong to cim them after all. Most of them were only pups, though, so she was trying to be patient.

  “-won’t leave their rooms,” someone said, sounding frustrated. “We can’t just let them stay if they’re not going to contribute somehow.”

  Mei took a single not-bite from the door and passed through it, seeing the group of creatures Kaz-brother called ‘Council’ gathered around a table. There were two not-monsters and two short-monsters and Kaz, though Kaz said he was not-Council. There were too many nots and not enough reals here. Perhaps that was why her rodents weren’t thriving?

  “But we can’t just force them out,” an orange-furred not-monster said. To Mei’s surprise, he had a here-rodent with him, and it clung to his leg while he spoke. Was it like Mei and her pups? Did the here-rodents like to be with the not-monsters, rather than living alone? But then why were almost all of the adult here-rodents staying in their tunnels rather than finding their own not-monsters?

  “Why not?” demanded a short-monster. The other three real-Council members gave him looks of dislike, but the female short-monster rubbed her face.

  “They’ll die, Strem. You know that as well as I do.”

  Strem-monster folded his arms. “Which is exactly what happens to husede who refuse to follow the rules. Why should they be any different?”

  “They shouldn’t,” said the not-monster with the here-rodent clinging to him. “But if we force them out and they die, the mosui may well end as a whole. My round-pups won’t be enough to make a new tribe on their own. After a few generations, they’ll all be reted, and there aren’t any other tribes to trade members with.”

  Reaching down, he picked up the little here-rodent, and it squeaked, curling into him as he stroked its head. “I don’t want Vakhus to be among the st of his kind. Whatever the mosui did, their pups don’t deserve to be punished for it.”

  The Strem-monster gred, dark eyes fixed on Mei’s here-rodent in a way she didn’t like. “I’m not saying we kill them, just that they’re not outside the rules. If they don’t work, they can’t stay, and none of them have worked in months.”

  “And the st time one tried, it was nearly killed,” the female short-monster said. “I don’t like their attitude either, but we can’t force them to leave their homes and then ignore it when they’re attacked.”

  The here-rodent squeaked, but everyone ignored it. Everyone except Mei. The here-rodent squeaked some more, causing its not-monster to shush it, but the here-rodent was staring at Mei expectantly.

  So this was the problem. The short-monsters and probably at least some of the not-monsters didn’t like the here-rodents. That was something Mei was used to. It seemed that no one liked her creatures, though of course that was wrong, since her creatures were both very helpful and very lovable. Still, correcting it would take up all of Mei's time, so for the most part, she didn’t worry about it. Rodents were very good at running, hiding, and surviving without her help. Unless, like here, a group of rodents was reduced to too small a group. The orange not-monster was right. There weren’t enough of the here-monsters left for any more to be lost.

  Mei squeaked to the here-rodent in the not-monster’s arms, then left the room, passing through the between-space again until she arrived at the pce where most of the here-rodents lived. There were a few outside of this pce, but she would deal with those next. Right now, she needed to make sure these here-rodents would survive.

  Unlike most of her creatures, these seemed to prefer rge spaces, rather than small, defensible tunnels and dens. Still, since she began watching them, they had drawn in together, so now they all lived in one of the tall den-buildings. She remained in the between-space as she moved around, watching them.

  The first difficulty seemed to be that they couldn’t speak well. They understood each other, but the not-monsters and the short-monsters couldn’t even hear half of the sounds they made. Normally, that wouldn’t matter, but if they had to live with the others, it would be better if they could speak in a way others could understand. These were grown, however, and she couldn’t do anything about them. One of the females was finally carrying young, however, and Mei turned her attention to these small creatures, still forming inside their mother.

  The world liked small changes. In fact, it liked changes more than not-changes, because changes allowed for growth. It didn’t like big changes, though, so Mei would have to be careful to keep the world happy. She could, however, make it so the new here-rodents would have slightly different voices, and while she was at it, perhaps slightly longer legs, and more agile fingers. Their paws were suited to digging tunnels, not…well, anything else. They did have tentacles around their noses, though, and those were very useful, so Mei left those alone.

  Once the small changes were done, and she’d expined it to the world, Mei considered the adults. She couldn’t change the way they were made, that was not-allowed, but as the new-Rat, she could tell them what to do. The only problem was that while she could force them to understand and obey her, something told her that was not the right tunnel to make. No, they needed to decide and choose on their own. But how could she encourage them to do that?

  Then she remembered the little here-rodent with the not-monster. They liked each other and were happy together. If these here-rodents saw that, perhaps they would realize that they were making bad choices? Worse, they were making choices that were bad for all of the here-rodents, including the new ones that Mei had made small-small-changes to.

  She ate her way back to the Council room, where everyone seemed unhappy, including her Kaz-brother. Mei squeaked to him, sending a question through the connection she now felt to all of her new-family. He looked surprised, but caught the orange-furred not-monster by the arm and held him back as the others left.

  They spoke, but she ignored them, instead checking in on her pups and her other rodents. There were some big-tree-rodents who were struggling because the human-monsters were cutting down too many trees, so she might have to go and deal with that after this, but she wanted to see if this would work first.

  She led Kaz and Kaz led the not-monster and the here-rodent to the pce where the adult here-rodents lived. The not-monster stopped outside the building, holding onto the small here-rodent when he wriggled.

  “This won’t work, Kaz,” the not-monster said. “I tried taking Vakhus to them right after everything happened, and they refused to take him in.”

  “That was months ago,” Kaz said, watching Mei. “It’s worth another try. All these mosui have seen is adults trying to force them out of the only pce they feel safe.”

  The not-monster growled softly. “Like they forced all of us out of the pces we felt safe?”

  Kaz sighed. “I understand, but we don’t know what these particur mosui did or didn’t do. Give them another chance. For Vakhus.”

  Looking down at the here-rodent, the not-monster sighed. “All right.” He set the little orange pup down, and Mei chirped at it. It gnced at her, then waddled toward the door behind which the here-rodents - mosui? - huddled. With their sensitive ears, they had heard the newcomers arrive, and now they heard the shuffle of the young mosui’s paws. The little creature squeaked at the door, but none of the adults inside moved until Mei pushed at them. Then the pregnant female pushed at her mate, shoving him out of the way, and opened the door.

  The young mosui stepped back even as the not-monster stepped forward, until the little creature was pressed against his not-monster’s legs, nose-tentacles waving in agitation. He squeaked again, Mei pushed again, and the mother mosui came forward, reaching out to stroke the little pup’s head. Turning her head up, she tried to see, but Mei could tell that her eyesight wasn’t good enough to help her understand what was going on.

  “You…he-p?” she finally managed. “You. Not kill?”

  Hesitantly, the Council not-monster stretched out his hand, pcing it close to her nose-tendrils. The quivering pink tubes felt his fingers as the mother here-rodent sniffed deeply, taking in the scent of the not-monster, which was inextricably mingled with that of the little mosui. As her tentacles fell away, the not-monster said, “We’ve been trying to speak to you. There’s a new rule. You must help in the city somehow, or you’ll have to leave.”

  The female jerked back, clearly understanding more than she could speak. Kaz stepped forward, also offering his hand to the grasp of the soft tentacles, though he gnced toward Mei as he did so. “There are many young mosui here. Kobolds have been caring for them, but you could help. If you made that your work, you could stay here. Or you could work in the yumi fields, or the mines.”

  Mei sent Kaz a suggestion, and he looked surprised, but nodded. “We could have kobolds show you what to do. Maybe you could…make friends?”

  Mei leaned on the mosui, maybe a little harder than she should have, because she was changing things faster than the world liked. Still, this small-fast-change would prevent a big-fast-change ter when all of the here-rodents died. Mei had been teaching the world about them, just as Kaz-brother had been teaching about the not-monsters, so she would just include this in her teaching.

  The small mosui squeaked, Mei squeaked, the mother-mosui squeaked, and the tentacles tightened briefly on Kaz’s hand before releasing him.

  “I he-p. I go,” she said.

  Behind her, her mate squeaked, and she squealed back. “I go,” she said again, and when the small here-rodent waddled away, heading toward the moving tunnels, she, Kaz, and the orange-furred not-monster followed, as did Mei. It was a small start, but the world liked small changes.