Chapter 9: What Happened?
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     Umaro sits in a corner and watches an image of Tellah float
away.  The image flickers as it goes and it has a proud look on
its face.

     As soon as the image flickers out of sight, a green cherry
appears in Umaro's hand.  His other hand pops up and points at a
shadow of a man.  An echoed laughter comes from Umaro's mouth.
He laughs at the shadow so hard, his body starts shaking.

     He throws the cherry in his mouth and laughs at the false
sense of authority the shadow wished it had...

                             *  *  *

     Umaro's eyes opened suddenly.  He rolled onto his back and
stayed like that for a few minutes.  All his limbs felt stiff,
his whole body felt stiff.  He sat up and noticed the way his fur
floated around his body.  It had grown back!  The burnt ends were
still there, but other than that it looked normal.

     His cave felt a few degrees colder (maybe more than a few)
than what he remembered from before his sleep.  He was confused
for a minute (as he always was) but then realized he had been
hibernating for the past three or four months.  At least, it
seemed that way.  It could have been more or less.

     Umaro stood and walked toward one of the walls in his cave.
His favorite wall.  He had spent many hours, and days, carving
onto this wall.  Carving out all of his friends faces.

     Mog was the first he had carved, every detail of his face
perfected in the blue stone.  The eyes were sparkling rubies he
had molded in, using a glue he made from various vegetables.
Aligned with Mog, up and down, were Cyan, Setzer, Celes, and all
of the other Returners.  All their eyes sparkled with bright
stones he had picked up around the mine.  Out of all the small
square carvings, Umaro knew only Mog's name.

     After remembering the past, Umaro realized how hungry he
was.  There wasn't much food around, so he decided to hunt for
more.  He picked up his sack, let out a quick yawn, and started
for the door.