Spiller's family had always been outies, Borrowers who lived and borrowed in the outside world. Oh sure, his family were one of the exceptions, being they lived close to a farmhouse so his childhood had been spent going in and out of a house although his family weren't like Inny Borrowers, who spent their entire lives outside, something he couldn't understand because it was strange for him, but he'd preferred being outside which was where he had done most of his Borrowing since there were fewer chances of being Seen.
While he had Borrowed inside a house from time to time, and he understood the dangers, the majority of Spiller's training had been outside. Thanks to his father and grandfather and uncle, he had learnt how to build ladders, throw grappling hooks, learnt how to swim, how to climb, and how to collect his Borrowings to live on; while that was basic stuff for a Borrower to learn, outies learnt how to sail a boat, how to hunt down and collect their own food by making spears, bows and arrows or whatever improvised weapons they could get their hands on.
As a child, Spiller was taken out on many trips to lakes and ponds and to the nearby streams and rivers, where he went fishing, and he learnt how to avoid foxes and collect things like sheep wool to make clothes; such lessons were important to an outie, and Spiller had found a large territory where he had the place to himself which he got when he was old enough, Spiller left his home and made his way into the world.
On top of that, he preferred the open, but he was equally at home in both when he had a chance. Like most like him, Spiller found far greater pickings out in the wild than he had ever done in a house.
The woods he had to himself gave him everything he needed; he had food in the form of meat, fruits, nuts and vegetables, he had sheep wool, and with the Beans living here, he could get inside their homes and Borrow from them.
Spiller had met a few innies over the years. Several Beans were living in the same place he was, and occasionally he Borrowed from them to build up his stores and keep himself alive. In one of the old houses, a place called Fir Bank, the house had once been full of Borrowers but over time their pickings had dried up, and family after family had left.
One of the cardinal rules of Borrowing was if there was nobody to Borrow from, you had to leave and emigrate somewhere else. In Spiller's case, it gave him another reason to see being an outie was better; in the wild, there were few chances of being Seen, although it was dangerous regardless. And when he got inside, he was only in and out, so the chances of being Seen were also reduced.
Spiller had met a family from Fir Bank already, the Harpsichords. He didn't like them much, although he did like Hendreary, their patriarch as he was an easygoing type, but Lupy rubbed him the wrong way with her arrogance. Hendreary had been Seen when he had been forced to pretend to be an ornament; a kitchen maid had been dusting him when he sneezed and he was Seen. The human beans hunted him and his family down, and while that was bad enough, what made it worse was the room they were living in was losing Borrowings, so they had to leave.
But what made their departure tragic was how their daughter, Eggletina was nearly killed by a cat.
Fortunately, she had survived when the monster dropped her, but it was a close call, and now Eggletina was forced to stay indoors when she had been allowed to go outside.
Spiller and his father had met the Harpsichords and took them to a cottage lived in by two shortsighted sisters, and they'd helped train Hendreary and Lupy's sons, Ditchley and Ilrick, as Borrowers, but they'd turned on him and started stealing from him and other Borrowers. As a result, Spiller rarely met the Harpsichords.
It had been a long time since Spiller had seen any innies who weren't Harpsichords and he'd been forced to move his stockpiles from one place to the next, but it hadn't taken him long to realise this new family was here. They made so much noise it was easy to pick them up.
They were father, mother, and daughter.
They'd already nearly been caught by a bird, and then one of them had gotten lost and had lost her footing and fallen down a hill into a road.
Spiller ran down when he heard the tell-tale sounds of Mildeye's caravan. He pulled her away and after quickly checking her over as the tinker passed by without noticing anything, Spiller saw she was alright. He was about to wake her up, tell her everything was going to be alright and he'd help her find her family when he heard something nearby, and he rushed off to hide.
It was the father and the daughter, they'd somehow found the mother, and they rushed towards their missing family member. As they embraced her as she woke up, Spiller got a good look at the girl.
And he gasped.
Spiller had met Eggletina, and while he thought she was beautiful, she was not his type. But this girl…she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen before in his life.
As the weeks passed, Spiller kept his eyes on the family. He saw the father - Pod - had a good mind in his head, and he came up with dozens of ideas to help them survive, like rubbing candle wax on a borrowing bag, and he and his daughter Arrietty both seemed to be thriving out here and while she was coping, Homily had a mild breakdown but she quickly got over it.
When he showed himself when Arrietty made the mistake of walking into one of his traps, Spiller found her funny when she was angry.
Author's Note - I loved the 1990s The Borrowers with Ian Holm and I feel there was a special bond between Arrietty and Spiller. This is how it started.