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Hannah blinked, shocked, but she opened her mouth to try again: "Ahh-" She snapped her mouth shut, unsure of what to make of this, or what she could even say. "Am I - Am I dreaming?" "Nope," said a voice, and she turned in alarm, to behold a mule deer, a doe with a dark pelt, standing on the opposite side of the small hollow. "There now," said the doe, "don't worry, it's the magic of the spring. It makes it easier for us to understand each other. Where did you come from, then?" "I-" Hannah stopped, still more than a little weirded out by the feeling of words in her piggish mouth. "A-a farm. Not so far away. I had to... Well, I'm..." But the doe nodded. "Men do terrible things at those places. I'm glad you got out. Welcome to the forest." The pig hesitated. "Is... Is it safe here?" "For the most part. I will show you where to go. I am called Leaps and Bounds. Do you have a name?" Again she hesitated. She didn't really want to choose to continue to use the name Belboz had forced on her all that time ago, but she also wasn't Fred, at least not now. Eventually, she shook her head. "You have tiny eyes. I shall call you Littlesee." The pig blinked, but she supposed it could be worse. "Now," went on Leaps and Bounds, "you may come with me, and I will show you where is safe, where is not, where is good to eat. That pool is the best water in the forest, so you already have found that." Tentatively, she followed Leaps and Bounds, who took her around, pointing out areas of interest and introducing her to a variety of other animals who had been given the gift of language by the spring.
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