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With my arms squishing against my breasts, my brain jumped instantly to chakats, despite the fact that I lacked an additional pair of limbs and probably a few hundred pounds of body mass. What even was I? Jumping the track from 'woe is me' to 'what is me', I cautiously poked my muzzle out from behind the board. With dismay, I noticed a very visibly track of ash leading to my hiding place. Apparently, dusty grey-black wasn't the natural coloration of whatever I now was. I needed to stop wondering what species I was and focus on finding an actual spot to get my shit together. Using my hand claws to scrap together some dirt, I quickly rubbed it against my feet in an effort to clean them of the soot. My feet were very much like hands, making me wonder if I was some kind of arboreal animal. I didn't have time to worry about the rest of my body, as I could hear the pair of humans regrouping as they uncovered themselves from the collapsed house. Looking out of either side of the board sheltering me didn't show me any immediate options for another hiding place. After taking a deep breath (which resulted in a tiny, high-pitched 'heeeeee' sound), I unsteadily crept out from under the board. The burned building was behind me, and it seemed like I was on a little-used street edged with dingy stone buildings. The street came to a T-intersection with a road going to the left and right of the burned building, but I didn't want to risk going back that way.

Tottering down the street, trying to stay close to the buildings, I realized that I was getting used to this body pretty quickly. Tensing my lower back muscles pulled my tail straight out behind me, and provided a counter-weight while I tried to trot. Was it because of how often I'd imagined being something other than human, or because it was a quirk of this transformation? I doubted I'd ever get an answer. Unless it was a mainstream video game, transformees were often depicted settling happily into their new lives after a period of getting used to it. I turned into an alleyway, focusing on keeping my balance and looking ahead. It looked like the alley opened up at the other end, so I wouldn't have to worry about trying to learn to climb in a moment of desperation. I scanned it for a place to hide as I went through, but unfortunately, there wasn't a dumpster in sight. There was plenty of trash, and even some human waste that curled my muzzle with disgust. Coming to the other entrance without finding a place to hide, I carefully scooped my ears forward, trying to listen for anything before I emerged onto the new street. A faintly seagull-like cry. The sound of human voices, but far away. A tiny tip-tapping of footsteps, perhaps from the bird that cried. Then, a distinctly non-human voice. "Ah, are you sure? I zink zat you're going crazy, Bekki."

Another voice squeaked in response,"Yaya, I'm SURE-SURE. I heard a female yellin'! Don't you want a female?" I blinked, and poked my head around the corner, and my jaw dropped. One of the things was blue. Not the blue of a Russian cat, or the slate grey of certain dogs. This guy was straight-up blue. Light-blue on the undersides, shading to a darker blue-grey on his back, broken up by greyish-white spots. The most stunning coloration was the slightly longer fur on his scalp, chest, shoulders, and legs, as well as his tail tip. It was a bright, robin's egg blue that defied all my expectations for what I'd see on a furred mammal. Nothing was naturally blue. His big yellow eyes met mine and his jaws popped open. If I wasn't in shock from his coloration, I probably would have laughed at how suddenly he stopped to stare. A slight reddish tinge came to the fur on his cheeks (how did one even blush with fur?) and his ears tilted forward with interest. A mild rush of euphoria filled me, like the sensation of recognizing a friend from my childhood. Was he what I now was? I felt my own face warm, and a coy giggle escape me. Why did I just giggle, and why was I pulling my head back around the corner as though to tease him? It must be this body's instincts telling me to get his attention and hold it, and make him take care of me..."Hey, pretty female! Don't run away!" His feet came tapping towards the entrance to the alley, and he smiled at me. I noticed then that he had two big teeth in front instead of one, but one was off to the side. "I haven't seen you before! Did you come from ze enclave?" I shook my head slightly, and found myself melting into a vulnerable pose, crouched down with my tail looping forward to be held in my little hands. He called me a pretty female! My new heart skipped a beat, and I flicked my ears at the sensation of validation I was getting.

"Where do you come from, zen? Me and Bekki are the only ones left. Zey got Hairo today." An expression of sadness crossed his features, giving me the urge to lick his muzzle to comfort him. I shook my head. Can't catch me, yiff thoughts! I had things to do! "Iiiiiiii'mmm Bekki."His companion, a blonde-topped male with a short muzzle, declared as he nearly fell gracelessly next to the blue one. He shook his hand at me in what I'm assuming was a greeting, and I returned the gesture. Oh, his front tooth was very big and sharp...He could defeat many enemies for me, and make strong babies! "Paaaaah! I dun wanna dink about BEEBIES!",I yelled as I threw myself dramatically onto my back, all four spindly jutting into the air in a gesture of utter defeat. The two males looked at one another in confusion as I continued. "I dun even like beebies! I don't even know I have FEET n' HANDS 'n dose human-guys wanna KILL me 'n I don't EVEN!" The blue male approached solicitously, followed by the coffee-colored Bekki. Bekki lay on the ground next to me, and then began nuzzling my cheek. I felt my mouth crinkle in warning , and then suddenly, I was rolling over to grasp him with all of my limbs, tears streaming out of my eyes. The reality of the situation was hitting me, and even though a part of mind mind was detached and wondering why I was showing this much emotion, it was very comforting to cling to someone else. Bekki's hand papped my cheek. "Don't worry, Miss Pretty-Fluffy! I like ya hands 'n feet." I gave him a watery smile, then turned my head to see what Blue was doing. He stood atop a loose cobblestone, ears rotating as his brow furrowed. He hopped off of it, and came over to us.

"I zink za humans are trying to find you, zey will probably be down zis way soon. We don't have an enclave to bring you to, but we need a female to be our Matriarch. You will come with us, yaya?" Judging from the rush of endorphins, I thought that being a Matriarch was probably something positive for the species, so I nodded. Untangling myself from Bekki, I stood and leaned briefly against Blue. "I will come wid you. I am all alone. I came down from da staaarrrrssss." The last part came out in a sing-song, and I wondered how more hyper-active I was going to get, or if I capped off here. To their credit, the males manage to look slightly incredulous. Without bothering to wipe my eyes, I hopped to the mouth of the alleyway and gave a tail-flick. "Well, boys? Show me da way home. An' Blue-boy, what is your name-sound?" Well, I was about as coherant as I was as a human. Nothing much lost in the speech department.

The males quickly fell into position on either side of me, and Blue took the lead as he answered. "Zis one is named Nurln, your Matriarch-ness. I build zings, I can make zem good so zey not fall down! Bekki is a scavenger, he finds ze foods for us. Hairo is...eh, he's dead now, but he was a scavenger too. Smarter zen Bekki, zough." Bekki didn't seem to mind the slight on his brain-power, instead nodding happily. "What is your name, Miss Matriarch? Is good to know names.", Nurln asks.

That gave me pause. I hardly wanted to use the name my parents gave me. That name was associated with only bad memories. Perhaps some form of my online name world work? Taco...Taxo....Tacci...Tacci! "I am da best Matriarch Tacci! I came down from da stars to give ya letters 'n potato chips."

"Letters? Oh, you ARE ze best Matriarch! Only zree of ze enclave's females could read." Nurln seemed happy about that. I marked that down as something to remember. My new species, or at least the ones from 'the enclave', were apparently largely illiterate. I didn't want to fall into the white (at least some patches of my fur seemed to be white, now that the soot was rubbing off) savior trope, but I wasn't going to sit around and let people...weird birdy rodents...be illiterate. Reading was cool!
I followed Nurln and Bekki, trying to study them both as well as my surroundings. Bekki was taller than both Nurln and I, with an extra-long torso that seemed to be the cause of at least part of his balancing issues. His tail, though it started out in similar width to ours, quickly became a thin string of an appendage. It wobbled and waved outrageously as he moved. Besides his cheeks and the tips of his ears, he was very smooth-coated. He had various patches of softer fur matching the blonde fluff of his hair, but they didn't grow any longer than his regular fur. The fur on his arms extended all the way down, rather than cutting off at the wrists like mine or the elbows on Nurln. His eyes had a visible iris, a vivid orange against peach sclera. Although it didn't set off a sense of what my instincts thought was attractive masculinity, Bekki's rounded snout was adorable. I couldn't tell much about my own coat, but the boldness of his patterning was a big difference from the muted shading of his friend's coat. His cheeks, lower jaw, and most of his body were a medium coffee-brown, with dramatic, clear-cut patterns of tan and chocolate that included a striped tail. Finally, his brow whiskers made a cute curly-q back towards his head, while Nurln's swept forward in a gentle arch.

There was also the difference between his and Nurln's speech patterns, and the blue male's comment on his evident lack of brains. Nurln seemed fairly focused on getting us to our destination, looking carefully around corners and turning us if he thought he heard humans drawing closer. Bekki was distracted by me, frequently flashing me a smile or brushing up against me. I didn't mind too much, as without his accidental herding, I might have lost track of Nurln. The buildings all seemed huge and impressive, but it might just have been my reduced stature. Most of them were made of stone, with some sort of grassy thatch on the roof. The few wood structures tended to be awnings or doors. Rising up above the forms of the smaller buildings were clusters of tall, conical buildings. I wondered if those were the administrative centers or the housing for the rich. I was distracted by a particularly decorated awning as we snuck around the edge of a small plaza when Nurln stopped. "Zere's Hairo. Wurney and Lommi, too. I like to pass by to give respects." Despite all the atrocities I had seen documented in my human life, what I saw froze me to the spot.

Nailed to the bottom of a board were three sad scraps of fur flapping in the slight breeze. The freshest, as evidenced by how it hadn't shriveled like the others, sent my head into another information spiral. The lower limbs of the pelt were still thick, indicating that the meat and bones had been left in. I recalled from the years I had been really into taxidermy that birds were often skinned that way, the withered limbs rehydrated later with a saline solution. No blood dripped from it, indicating that the corpse had sat long enough for the fluid to coagulate before it was skinned. There was a streak of blood around the neck of the pelt, dried to a crust that several small insects buzzed around. The coloring was a mix of something close to Nurln's, with patches of orange thrown in like a calico cat. The second pelt was tan with lighter striping, and the third was little more than a twisted curl of yellowish fluff. Tearing my eyes up, I barely parsed that the words on the notice board were written in English.

"In order to finalize the yinglet extermination efforts, the town of Saltden will award any person who captures and dispatches a yinglet 10 copper pieces for a male, 20 for a female. Killed vermin must be shown to a Saltden administrator for person to receive reward."

I had only seen a dead human once before, and in that case, they were prepared by a funeral home. Not pinned up and left to rot. There had been a certain disconnect until that point. Sure, humans were chasing me, who was now a weird little rodent thing, saying they were going to kill me. Actually seeing what was now my species strung up like hams in a butchershop left my tiny body gasping for air. Both of the males turned to me, and Nurln opened his muzzle to say something. Before he could, I focused my eyes on him, and whispered,"Well, ain't dat a kick in da just bein' how it is on dis bitt of an Earff?"
---
In which the hero(?) meets her two new best friends. Nurln thinks that this Tacci might just be a bit crazy, even for a Yinglet, but a crazy female is better than no female when your population has reached two. Bekki is over the moon to have a new female bestie, but is kinda thinking that if enough of that dust rubs off on him, he might turn into a female. That's how it works, right?

As mentioned, Hairo (calico) was a scavenger. He was higher-ranked than Bekki, and specialized in finding small bits of scrap metal to bring home. Wurney, the yellow yinglet, was something resembling a medic, though his contribution was largely slapping some mud and plant-juice onto a wound and declaring it fixed. Loomi (tan-furred with stripes) was unfortunately not at all prepared for life outside the enclave, as he was a nurse for the younglets. He escaped death once by not being in the nursery when it was razed, but his lack of experience outside of the enclave made him an easy target for a young woman who needed a few coppers to buy a pie.