Even though it's not mommy, the pretty grey lady is just as...well...pretty! I don't have too many words in my vocabulary just yet, but it's a word I hear often enough to remember. The lady turns and smiles at me, and I wiggle closer, happy to be acknowledged and given attention. I loved my family, but with Papa always off doing something and Talbot never wanting to play for too long, sometimes mother became very fretful and Wennie wandered off without me. It just wasn't any fun without more people! But the grey lady with the pretty dangling things in her hair seemed nice, wouldn't mother be so happy when I told her about my new friend? That thought sealed the decision for me, and I stared up at her with my green-gold eyes, smiling without an ounce of hesitation.

She doesn't move, but I don't mind, because I move enough on my own. Mother says I'm a handful, but I think she's silly. I'm much more than a handful! I'm growing every day! How dare she say I'm so small! I'm pretty sure Arwen and I were still the same size too! But I'm brought back to the real world when the lady speaks, and her voice is soft and kind, a lot like mother's. I flick my ears and smile as prettily as I can, because mother always tells Wennie and I to put our best smiles one whenever people come to visit us. Something about newborns being interesting, wherever it is we live. But I know nothing else aside from these glowing caverns, so I don't see what's so special about the outside world mother and papa keep speaking of. I'm not sure I even want to see it.

A cooing sound comes from my throat as I stand in awe, watching her mane tumble down like a waterfall, a cadence of tinkling music in my ears as the trinkets I have no name for click together. "Ahhh, pretty!" And I'm so excited I can't help but dance in place, swishing my fluffy little tail and bouncing to and fro, trying to get a better view of the eccentric baubles. My cocoa nose reaches out to try and tap at one of them, bouncing back immediately whether I touched it or not, wondering if it would touch me back. Was it alive?

Of course my play has to slow for a moment, and I tilt my head at the pretty lady with a curious look. "What's an 'abbit?" I coo, somewhat confused but taking it as a compliment. "But I wanna be an 'abbit!" I chirp, and I bounce around until I realize...oh wait. Hadn't she asked me what my name was? I feel a little embarrassed but I stop with a click of my tiny hooves and look back up at her with a grin. "Asch! What's yours?" That's a sentence I have perfected, despite how young I am, with all the visitors of something called the Basin that come to see Arwen and I. Mother is adamant we say it back correctly, if only to be polite, so I oblige. "And what're those?" I poke my nose towards the pretty objects that continuously catch my eye, eagerly expecting them to somehow magically make more noise, because how was I to know what they were or how they worked?