Noroa gestured to her left side, and as Mericlou turned in that direction, she was greeted by an unusual sensation on her cheek.
And in her peripheral vision, she saw an equally unusual, but not at all unpleasant face. As a matter of fact, it was rather cute, with two button eyes, a tiny red nose, and the handsomest whiskers she had ever seen.
It had been licking her face.
Mericlou giggled, and held out her right arm for it to climb on top of.
"It's a ferret!" She squealed, laughing at the proud way it carried itself, all the while, sniffing at her leather glove, as if expecting a piece of food to be hidden beneath it.
"We thought you'd like her," Garen said, folding his hands across his wide chest. "They're all the rage back in Rogart, but that makes for a lot of strays on the streets, so we adopted this one from the animal shelter."
"So it's a girl?" Mericlou said, gingerly stroking the ferret's sleek white fur coat. She looked up at her, and squeaked. It was a pleasant little sound.
"Sure is," Noroa said. "There's also a book for the care and feeding of ferrets in the box. I only hope she didn't do her business on it, though."
"A book?" Mericlou breathed, and then dived into the box, the ferret scurrying back up to her shoulders, chittering in mild protest.
"Here it is," Mericlou said, removing a leather-bound book from the box. "Oh, my god! It's a book! A real book!"
"You have no idea what we had to go through for that," Noroa said. "So guard it well."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Mericlou said as she quickly flipped through the pages, and then placed it upon the coffee table. She held her right arm outwards for the ferret to climb back on.
"She's so sweet!" She cooed, petting her on the bridge of her little red nose. The ferret began to gnaw playfully on her finger.
"Got a name for her?" Garen asked.
"Needles," Mericlou said after giving a moment of thought.
"Why 'Needles?'" Noroa asked, slightly puzzled.
"Because she's straight and pointy, like one," Mericlou said, stifling a giggle as the ferret crawled up her neck, and sniffed around her green ringlets of hair. "Sorry," she said, and took her into her arms once again. "You won't find any food in there. I keep myself pretty clean."