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Merlyn was busy. He burbled to himself happily as he scooped sand out of the sandbox, using one hand with claws out and one plastic shovel tightly clutched in the other hand to excavate A Hole. He wasn't being particularly careful about where the extra sand went, but that wasn't a big problem. The only other denizen of the sandbox had left some time ago.

Prolixity sat on a bench in the shade nearby, one eye on his book and the other on his son. Merlyn's attention to the task of Digging was giving him a sorely-needed chance to relax. Between Blue's mysterious illness, Reverie learning to walk, and Merlyn's continued boundless energy, he'd gotten very little sleep in the past week, and intended to stay parked for the moment, barring emergencies.

Merlyn was tightly focused on his task, paying attention to nothing else in the world. His tail swept a half-circle in the sand behind him as he worked, and handfuls of sand flew back to scatter across the surface of the play area and spill over the sandbox. He failed, therefore, to notice the girl being Very Quiet behind him.

Prox looked up for a moment as someone approached; but he recognized the girl from the clinic - her name was Luna, wasn't it? - so he only smiled and returned to his book.

YOWL!

Merlyn, startled into puffing all his fur, practically fell over with surprise. Who what who huh - Oh! Her! "HI!" he yelled, shock morphing quickly into delight, and pounced on Luna to return the greeting, shedding sand everywhere.

How wonderful! They were out of the house, away from Blue feeling bad, and he was Digging, and now his friend was here. Definitely an improvement.

Merlyn sat up, tilting his head and pricking his ears up with curiosity. "Ch'hi?" he mirrored her pronunciation. She'd meant to say hi, right? Yeah, that had been like saying hi, except not. "Hi," he corrected, nodding firmly. "Now you?"

Merlyn blinked at Luna. She was trying, he could tell, but ... It felt a whole lot like when he tried to make not-kitten shapes. Just didn't work. He poked a sandy finger at her cheek. "Not talk?" he inquired.

"Head ... talk?" The concept was not alien, but it wasn't anything Merlyn had tried before. He attempted to form a question in his mind, but what came out was fuzzed, staticked, incomprehensible, and weakly projected. He shook his head and tried again. "Por-se-len? What that?"

Okay! Merlyn was good at being loud, whether it be mentally or vocally. Yes?

He watched her face as she struggled for an explanation; it was a surprise when the explanation came not in words, but in a pure wash of emotion, like plunging into cool water. A full and thorough description, fuller than words and far more comprehensible. Half the words that grown-ups used were still alien, and there must be words for what Luna was saying, but he didn't know them, or didn't know them all.

! he said in response, cheerful and comprehending.

It made SENSE, in a clear and direct way that a lot of things just DIDN'T. Merlyn purred, pleased. A lot of the times, grown-ups talked around things, or said things that just plain weren't true. Like being fine when everybody was really upset, not fine. Well, it wasn't just grown-ups, either. Blue wasn't big, and he did it too.

Merlyn offered his shovel gravely to Luna and showed her where he had been digging. "China!" he said aloud. Maybe they could make it if they both dug!