Alvin had gotten the pony to follow along at a slow pace, back toward where she belonged. He hadn't checked to see if the little marten-esque creature had scampered off. Turns out, it was following along. Maybe he was having some strange out-of-body experience, but normally he was not surrounded by creatures like this.

"Coming along, hm?" And he was talking to it why? He'd been hanging around with Sloane too much. She talked to and about every creature she'd met since returning to the zoo and while he was glad for her, he was still mostly baffled when she talked. "I should find my sister, she'd know all about whatever you are." He chuckled. Was it a magical creature? Come to think of it, Alvin wasn't even sure he'd ever seen such an animal around here before. Was it somebody's pet? What a strange experience this was.