Mera took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and took off her jacket.  She dropped it in the floor and promptly left the outdoor garden.  She found an alcove by the rocks near the mouth of the caves she and Orya had passed.  She closed her eyes and let her breathing slow, then finally started the change.  She whimpered as the first bones popped.  Her muscles began to shrink, painfully, but she focused through the pain.  New changes were the worst.  Her body wasn't used to the change and it was slower than the ones she knew.  Mera dropped to all fours, breathing heavily, and finally screamed.  The scream turned into a squeal, which finally ended as she finished the change.  She scrambled, trapped, terrified, and finally managed to squirm her way out of the strange material that had tried to strangle her.  She ran toward the garden, knowing there was soft soil, something she could dig into.  As she reached it, she dove into it, upsetting a few carrots in the process.  Mera the prairie dog burrowed in the ground and cuddled the dirt, perfectly content where she was.  She heard voices above her, making strange noises, and they didn't sound too happy.  The prairie dog poked her head up out of the ground, causing a woman bent over the hole to scream and smash a newspaper over the hole.  Fortunately, the prairie dog dipped back inside before the old rolled up paper could hit her.  She burrowed further in the shallow dirt, leaving a trail of displaced soil behind her.  As he surfaced, the woman screamed again, running across the carrot garden to reach the prairie dog.  The prairie dog panicked and burrowed again.  This went on for an unknown amount of time before a deep voice called over the garden.<br/><br/>"Chimera, what are you doing?"<br/><br/>She recognized the voice.  She recognized her name.  Mera swam back up to the surface through the cloud of prairie dog.  She surfaced and skittered across the carrots, posing in front of a handsome young man with wild hair covered in tattoos.  He couldn't have been older than 25.  He probably wasn't even that old.  He glared at her, then walked out.  She followed him like an obedient dog.  He walked to the mouth of the cave and picked up her clothes, then lifted her off of the ground.  She snuggled into his arm and he walked back to the garden.<br/><br/>"Mrs. B, I am so sorry."<br/><br/>"You ought to get a better handle on that dog of yours, you hear!  She damn near ruined my carrots!"  Her accent was thick and southern.<br/><br/>"I apologize, Mrs. B.  I'll keep a better eye on her, I promise."<br/><br/>"See that you do, young man.  I don't need delinquents messin' around in<i>my</i>gardens!"<br/><br/>He turned and whispered to the rodent in his arms.  "As funny as that was, probably shouldn't do it again."  He set her down and shook his head, hiding a smile.  "Ready to do some work?"  The phrase perked her up, and Mera stood at attention.  "Let's put that prairie dog to some good use and dig some holes!"  He ran forward into the garden, using signals he'd taught her and trained her with to get Mera to dig holes where they needed to plant larger crops.  They made fast work of digging, and other farmers came behind them and planted, watered, and fertilized the area.  When they reached the opposite corner from where they'd started, Scrib clapped twice and held his arms out.  Mera ran to him and skidded to a stop, sitting at attention like a dog.  He scratched her ruff and praised her, then led her away to the showers.<br/><br/>"Now that's more like it," the older woman mused.  "Love a good day's work done quickly.  Y'all ought to find yerselfs a good mutant to pair off with who can do somethin' neat like that.  hat boy's got a good head on his shoulders."