The otter babe asleep in the gatehouse stirred impatiently. He looked about him slowly, expecting to see Craklyn at her desk working. He teetered dangerously off the edge of the chair. Trying to regain his balance, he clawed at empty space. Strong paws caught the otter babe just in time.

"Naughty dibbun!" a big voice boomed and the otter babe recognized it instantly. "What are you doing here, Young Sea?"

"Naughty Badgermum!" the dibbun replied in a voice that was supposed to be that of the Badger mother's. "What be you doin' in hea?"

The Badger mother Wren hugged the dubbin tightly. "No one knew where you were hiding, little Sea! You should have told someone where you went."

The dibbun became indignant and poked the Badgermum's cheeks. "I didn't hafta tell nobody because Crackiling was here."

The Badger mother set Sea down on the ground and took his hand. "Craklyn was here, eh?" she asked as the walked toward the Dining Hall. "I wonder where she went? She's not in the Dining Hall or in the gatehouse." She mentally reminded herself to check Abbess Tansy's room and the North and South Walls after dinner.

When they entered the Dining Hall, they saw mass chaos. Dibbuns were running up and down the tables although their parents were telling them sternly to get down. "Thank goodness they haven't served the food yet," Badger mother Wren thought to herself.

Walking briskly for a badger of her age and stature, the Badger mother set the dibbun on the table by the Abbess' chair and whispered something in his ear. On the count of three, they both shouted the same word: "SILENCE!" The Badgermum nodded, satisfied, and thanked the dibbun for being so helpful.

"Abbess Tansy, it seems, would be greatly missed in our Abbey at dinner time," she looked accusingly around the room and then continued, "among many other, more important, times of need. But since the Abbess is probably doing something more important than watching her precious dibbuns, we will eat dinner without herâ€"as civilized beasts, mind." The Badger mother smiled at the dibbuns, whose faces were covered with shame. "It is undeniable that the Abbess will eventually get a hunger and come downstairs, but until then, please, my dear Dibbuns, act as your parents do!"

The dibbuns took this literally, and acted exactly like their parents, mimicking their voices and actions. Soon after the Badgermum said her piece, the food was served. After a few hours, the dibbuns were sent off to bed and the elders called to Cavern Hall.