Alabaster and Myri watched as the cave was momentarily lit up by the bright radiance of lightning, which then dimmed to the ruddy red of the fire.  "Handy," Alabaster said simply.<br/><br/>"Something about me?" Myri repeated.  "Well... in the place I was before, I was very lonely," she said matter-of-factly.  "There were many humans around, but they threw things at me and shouted whenever they saw me.  The things they threw weren't very heavy, but the shouting bothered me, so I mostly hid or pretended to be a tree when they were around.  I watched them often, though I didn't let them know, and soon I figured out what 'language' was.  It wasn't really that hard," she reminisced.  "Humans talk a lot, so 'language' rubs off on you fast.  That's one of the things they say - 'rubs off on you,' she explained.  "It makes sense if you think about it enough, and I did.  I didn't really have anything else to do besides eat apples, and apples run out for a while if you eat too many at once.  I was looking for apples this morning," she continued, "but I didn't find apples.  I found Alabaster instead, and he said he was my friend."  She smiled widely.  "Isn't he nice?  Now I'm not lonely anymore, and I'm happy even if I have to stay here for ten years because it's not like I left anything important in the other place, anyway."  She stretched her arms and yawned then, as if she was tired from so much talking.