It was official. Surrender was the best word she’d ever heard. It had only been the once, one little goblin tribe fighting another and the chieftain shouting it. It was a magic word, her favorite word now. So she decided it was also her name.

  She was Surrender, a gremlin not a goblin and she would chew the face off anyone who made that mistake. There was a big difference, the tail for one. Goblins could grow tails true, but that was only in sandy pces or marshes, pces where it would help their bance. They couldn’t use theirs like a third hand. Not like Surrender and other gremlins could.

  Also, goblins were stinky. Surrender, like any proper gremlin, prided herself on her hygiene. Something else very important is that goblins are stupid. I mean sure they could learn, but not like Surrender, or other gremlins for that matter. Last, goblins were weak!

  Okay, okay so is Surrender, she probably couldn’t take a goblin herself but she wasn’t a fighter. Any half assed gremlin could take on a dozen goblins! Or so she believed, that’s what mom had taught her growing up, her mom had taught her most everything she knew about their people.

  For instance, unlike goblins, gremlins are isotionist. Goblins could breed like crazy and had no compunctions about who or what they bred with. Gremlins picked their mates carefully, and stuck with the one partner until that partner died. This was due to gremlin physiology on the whole.

  For starters, unlike goblins who could be men or women, gremlins were an entirely female species. So they needed a male of another species, and how they had their children changed depending on who they bonded with.

  Second, unlike goblins, kobolds or imps or… whatever the third person sitting around the campfire was, they couldn’t evolve. They could empower like other intelligent races though, again much unlike the evolving species.

  Finally, they were adaptive, they learned quickly from other people, especially the person they bond with, but they only did so once they reached maturity. Sure they learned as a youngling, but only in the same way as any other kid would. A mature gremlin, like Surrender? Well, this situation is a good example.

  Surrender was currently tied up and sitting next to a campfire. The rope wasn't tied well so she could escape it, but not the other three people around the fire. Well, maybe she could escape the small... human? Was that a human child? It was hard to tell, they were as small as any other gremlin or goblin which Surrender knew meant they were young. If they were a human. Yet they talked and acted like an adult.

  The other two definitely humans sitting around the campfire were more likely to stop her. The first, the human female who'd caught her, she was strong, even if she looked soft and squishy and made Surrender want to hug and squeeze her. She was the one who'd captured Surrender in the first pce, and her name was Toni. She'd figured the name out by slowly — for a gremlin at least — deciphering and learning the nguage they were using.

  The third was the more concerning. Temate was his name, and he was huuuuuuuuge. She would have thought he was a troll with how big he was, except he stood even taller than that! He also was not stinky or dumb, which trolls were being evolutions of goblins. He was scary though, his face seemed persistently angry like a trolls and his strength... It was sheer luck her screech had made him drop her earlier.

  Surrender was excited though, she'd said her namesake and they hadn't killed her. Which her mother swore up and down anything in these woods would do if she approached it carelessly. Then again, her mother also refused to go to a city or town, or look for a new mate to protect them. It didn't matter to Surrender much, she had reached maturity and left home in search of a mate of her own, as all gremlins did.

  Now she sat around a campfire, not having been killed despite her mothers warnings, and listened to the three others talk about what to do with her. She thought, she was still figuring out the nguage, but she was a gremlin, she learned quick. She had learned enough to hear the big man say something about her being a goblin and bristled.

  "NOT Goblin, GREMLIN" she snarled at the three instinctively, then realized she'd given the game away as all three turned towards her.

  The human female, Toni, smiled broadly at her and Surrender winced at the next few words she said.

  "So you understand us? Oh I have soooooo many questions then!"

  —

  Toni was sitting by the campfire, tired as all get out but happy. Sitting in her p was a gremlin! An actual fantastical species! It was real! A magic world! Okay, sure maybe it was just one gremlin, and maybe there was no magic happening yet but. Surrender – apparently that was her name, Toni had asked – was so fluffy. And Toni was petting her! Most importantly, Surrender was liking it, and she was purring!

  “So let me get this straight,” Toni started, “your name is Surrender because it’s your favorite word?”

  Surrender nodded, “Yes! Just choose, good word.”

  Toni ughed as she pet the gremlin. “We’ve only been talking for like an hour and you’re already so much better!”

  Surrender smiled proudly, puffing out her chest, “Yes! Gremlin learn good, word easy.”

  “Is it just nguages you learn quick or?” Toni looked at Surrender.

  She shook her head, “learn lots good, like make thing but…” Surrender looked thoughtful and got up, kneeling in Toni’s p as she looked down into the big, blue pools of the little gremlins eyes. “But only learn what like, I like words, all gremlin like words.”

  “What else do you like?” Toni asked. Surrender brought her tail up to scratch her own head, then shrugged. “You don’t know?”

  “Not know but.” Surrender sat back down in Toni’s p and used her tail to push the human girls hand back onto her head.

  “Like this” Surrender melted in Toni’s arm as she began scratching her head and ears.

  “Awwww, you’re adorable.” Toni smiled, “Can we keep her big T? Pleeeeeeease.” Toni looked over at Temate who sat watching them. His face was completely straight but for a slight narrowing of the eyes.

  “I’m not your dad Toni, and she’s not a pet.” Temate replied.

  “Pffff, not with that attitude.” Toni said, “Would you like to come with us Surrender? We’re trying to find a town or city OH! Do you know where people live?!”

  “Yes!” Surrender’s ears began shaking as her tail made little circles on the ground. “I know! I take!”

  “Wait, are they other people like you?” Temate asked.

  “No no! Big, fuzzy! Very scary! I no go alone, scary but you come, you big and scary too!” Surrender beamed at Temate, her tail wagging wildly along the ground, kicking up dirt and Toni watched the big man melt. Well okay, he didn’t melt like most people where he pouts with his lips and eyes. His shoulders don’t slump as he csps his hand and goes awwwww but. He melted, she could tell, it was just the way his eyes looked, they softened. That was about all the reaction you’ll get out of him most of the time; that and the little sigh he let out.

  “Alright alright, your new gremlin gal pal can stay.”

  “Yes!” Both girls shouted at once.

  “But.” Temate rose to his feet, staring down at them both “Be careful okay? You have no idea what she’s capable of or interested in or anything.”

  “She’s interested in headpats” Toni said, patting Surrender's head who purred slightly, ears twitching wildly as her tail shed about.

  “Sure, and you” Temate leaned over pointing down at Surrender who squeezed further into Toni's arms. “Shouldn’t just go along with strangers, it’s dangerous. Stupid. Reckless but…” Temate reached out and scratched one of Surrender's ears. “You are cute.”

  “Awwww, he likes you Surrender!” Toni said holding Surrender who let out a strange low growl.

  “I like Teh-mah-tay too!” Surrender smiled broadly.

  “Look a' tha', lil ss 'as a liller ss!” Pipuck added cheerfully.

  “Shoosh you, you’ve been over there meditating for the past hour, surprised I didn’t hear you ‘ohm’ing.” Toni huffed at Pipuck, who was sitting in a meditative pose. Feet pressed together in front of themselves as both hands were csped together before their chest. One eye popped open.

  “Oh excuuuuse me, jus’ over ‘ere tryin to figure ou’ importan’ elements of this world so ya lo’ can power up an be the bes’ ya can be.”

  “Power?!” Surrender hopped up and walked quickly towards Pipuck. Pipuck opened one eye at that and slowly leaned away from the gremlin as she approached.

  “Aye, I discerne' there's a way to do somethin' like tha' bu' I'm still figurin' tha' par' ou'” Pipuck said carefully

  Temate stepped towards the two as Surrender got closer to Pipuck. Surrender sat down with a thoomp in front of Pipuck and grinned. She never really stopped smiling to be fair, not since she'd been untied. Toni walked over and sat next to her and Pipuck.

  “I know how power. Mother teach!” Surrender crossed her legs and rested both of her hands on her knees. She coiled her tail around her body and nodded towards Pipuck.

  “You do like this.” She motioned towards her posture. “Then breathe and listen heart.”

  Toni began to imitate Surrender, with Temate grunting to sit and follow suit a moment ter. Pipuck made an exasperated gesture.

  “Tha’s wha’ I was doin’! An’ I jus' abou' figure' i' ou' when you lo'-”

  “Shhhh!” Toni made a shooshing gesture at the spiras and gred. “I’m trying to listen to my heart, not a grumpy old fairy.” Pipuck sputtured as Toni chastised him.

  “I was jus’”

  “Shhhhhhh” Surrender mimicked Toni. “They listen, they learn!” She nodded her head with exaggerated seriousness and waited, watching.

  Toni closed her eyes and listened, listened to her heart. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, sure she knew what a pulse was. She even knew the rhythm of a heartbeat, but how do you listen to your own heart? Not literally, obviously, probably meant to be metaphorical but she didn’t know how. Okay, what was a heart.

  The human heart, the organ in left-center of chest responsible for pumping blood throughout your body. It goes thumpa thump and is roughly the size of a closed fist. It's dividend into four chambers; the atria and ventricles, two of each. The right side pumps deoxygenated blood, the left pumps oxygenated blood. It has four valves, tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral and aortic.

  After a while of unsuccessfully trying to ‘listen to her heart’, Toni opened one of her eyes. She peeked at Temate and Pipuck and found the two both looked peaceful. Alright, Temate didn’t look very different, he was always pretty straight faced and grumpy looking. Though Toni knew that was just a resting, peaceful, face for the big man. Pipuck was the surprising one.

  Their face was calm, pcid, completely unbent and straight. Which was shocking since Pipuck was usually smiling, ughing or rarely very serious. As they had been on the groups arrival into, and subsequent trip through, this forest. Toni sighed and let herself fall back onto her back.

  There, she saw their tent and suddenly felt very tired. She also saw Surrender, looking at it, lifting one edge to examine it with curiosity. Toni smirked and began carefully trying to sneak up on the gremlin girl. Toni was right behind Surrender, about to pounce, when the gremlin looked at her, blinked, and waved.

  “You power?” Surrender asked, “very quick, most take much time!” She looked excited, Toni grimaced a little.

  “No I-” she lowered her voice to a whisper “- I couldn’t hear my heart or whatever, I just must be tired. Did you want to see our tent?”

  At first, Surrender looked disappointed, but when Toni said the word tent and pointed at it, she perked up. “Teh-nt, I like word, is sleep pce?” Surrender turned back towards the ptform lifted between some trees, looking at it dubiously.

  “Yeah!” Toni said quietly, “Here let me show you how it works, we can get some rest and I can try that power thing again in the morning.” She opened the tent entrance and motioned Surrender inside. Surrender leapt up into the space and immediately her cws scratched and tore some of the interior.

  “OH Wait, careful with your cws, this is very expensive and we can’t fix it!”

  “I careful! Cws sharp, hard to work.” Surrender pulled at the tunic she wore carefully.

  “Okay, but…” Toni shivered looking at the damaged floor of their tent. “Wait! I have an idea!” Toni stepped out of the tent and got under it, followed closely by the gremlin. She started digging through one of the bags before making a noise. She pulled out a small spindle of orange red thread.

  “The Barr thread! Aaaaand needle!” She pulled out a small kit with various needles in it, apparently another thing in one of the bags for emergency repairs. Temate really did prep for this trip, it might have even been overkill. It helped them now though.

  Quickly Toni set to work stitching the holes closed with as little thread as she reasonably could. She wasn’t great at sewing, though she had tried to teach herself when she was younger. She’d wanted to make a princess dress herself once many many years ago. After a very short maybe 15 minutes Toni sat back and admired her work. Good, and very little thread used.

  “Now fix top?” Surrender asked, Toni looked out at the gremlin who’d refused to jump in again.

  “What do you mean?” Toni asked back.

  “Top.” Surrender pointed to the top of the tent, “I tear when jump, you fix?”

  “What?” Toni stepped out and tried to find any damage on the top of the tent and sure enough, there it was. It was hard to see but there was a long stretch of the rainfly which had been torn by something sharp.

  Toni sighed, “I don’t think I can get that tonight, I’ll have to do it while we walk tomorrow.” She put the thread away and then climbed back into the tent motioning towards Surrender who shook her head.

  “What’s wrong? Come on in, it’s cozy.” Surrender shook her head again.

  “No no, I break, make fix. I sleep up instead.” She pointed up one of the trees.

  “What, thats crazy you should sleep in the tent with Temate and me.” Surrender shook her head again.

  “Cws sharp, break tent, you need tent I not need tent. I sleep up, safe and I not break tree.” She smiled and cwed the tree to make her point. They dug in but didn’t do much real damage.

  “Awww, but I wanted to pet you while we slept.” Toni pouted, which turned into a real frown. “I don’t…” she was about to say she didn’t want to sleep alone but Surrender was walking back over to Pipuck and Temate. She’s not alone, Temate will join her when he’s done, and Pipuck will be awake, and now there’s Surrender. She’ll be fine, she can just start sleeping and be fine. Toni id her head down and, despite feeling like she was lying through her own teeth right at herself, she did indeed fall asleep.