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He remembered how scared he was, freshly awoken and all alone. The broken crystal all around him, the shouts and screams and fire and ice and lightning everywhere as he cowered behind the intact crystals. The silence after the fish-people were felled. Relieving as it was to know they would no longer chase him, it made him fear for what may have ended them.
He wanted to cry, but he wasn't designed to - so he simply shook and cowered, hoping everything would just go away.
He remembered the small but heavy footfalls, speeding along, slowing down as they approached.
"Urianger - Urianger! Come here, look at this!" the smaller one had said, hunkering down to look at him. She was round and strange and her ears stuck out the sides of their head. It scared him, at first. Where was her mask? Her robes?
"Ohh, poor thing, it's shaking - it must be lost," she said, reaching into their knapsack for something round and brown, "Come here. Come here, little one. Are you hungry? Do you want a biscuit?"
Of course he was; he was always hungry. He scampered over to her, slowing down when he could fully see her face. Her eyes were so big and green and warm, and she had a very nice smile. He looked at the biscuit in her hands and took it, taking a very small nibble. Oh, it was so yummy. Tea and butter and sugar, all the nicest things in the world.
"Ohh, look at that," she cooed, "Poor thing must be starving. Well, let's see if we don't have some more."
Then the taller one approached, and he backed away. He was much, much bigger than the other one, but still so much smaller than the people he could remember.
"A mammet?" he had said. His voice was very warm and soft. He liked it.
"Well, obviously not, if he's eating," Beetle said, "Or she?"
He shook his head.
"Oh? So it is 'he?'"
He nodded. He liked that better.
"Ahh, so you do understand me?"
He gave an affirmative trill.
"...I think that was a yes."
"Hmm. Fascinating. He soundeth like an ancient, but decidedly underdeveloped."
"I know what you mean. Almost like…"
"An infant?"
"Yeah, or a toddler. Is it… an Amaurotine baby?"
"Hmm. I thinkest there to be more to this."
The tall one - Urianger? Yes, Urianger - knelt down in front of him, tilting his head. He had a very nice, friendly face; he liked it.
"From whence hast thou came? Where art thine abode?"
He spoke funny, but he understood him. He gestured to the broken crystal he emerged from.
"Ahh, a concept crystal," Urianger said, "As I suspected. Hmm."
The smaller one handed him another biscuit, which he happily took. Urianger fiddled with the crystal, standing it upright and scanning the information within.
"Mm, as I suspected," he said, "This would appeareth to be an educational tool, designed for adolescents to teach them proper methods of child rearing."
"You're smiling. Why?" the smaller one asked.
"Tis amusing. He is not dissimilar from the mammets we were given to care after in our own classes in Sharlayan. Although I believe the true aim of those was to discourage premarital relations."
The small one snorted.
"So, he is a baby?"
"The Amaurotine equivalent, 'twould seem," he replied, "Which I wouldst estimate to be far more advanced than any infant of ours."
"But… he was in a concept crystal?"
"Indeed. Upon further investigation, 'twould seem it gained a soul shortly after creation, but was found to be unable to age or create concepts of its own, which they found to be a cruel and unethical existence. Thus, they contained him here in stasis until a solution couldst be found."
"So… a forever baby."
"...In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Ohh, poor thing," the small one said, reaching for him. She pulled him gently into her arms, which he thought felt very nice.
"Well, we can't just leave him here," she said, "Someone has to take care of him. Doesn't seem a terribly difficult task, though, if he can understand us and walk and eat on his own."
"...Although I guess he's going to need a name," she said, placing him down, "Or, do you already have one? My name is Beetle."
He trilled excitedly. Beetle sounded like a nice name.
"His designation is--"
"Urianger, no, he needs a name ," she said, "A proper name."
Beetle thought for a moment, but came up with nothing.
"Hmm. What do you think, Urianger?"
The taller one gingerly picked him up, stroking his chin.
"Hmm," he said, "How doth… 'Prospero' sound?"
"Prospero?" Beetle asked.
"Tis a breed of eel that dwelleth in these waters," he replied, "Though for whom the eels are named, I know not."
The little one chirped happily.
"Doth such a name please thee? Prospero?"
It did - he liked it very much. He nodded.
"There we are then," Urianger said, "little Prospero. Wouldst thou desireth to accompany us?"
Oh yes, Prospero wanted that very much. Especially if it involved more biscuits. He nodded, joyfully leaping down to walk alongside them.
"Oh! Quite a distance he can hop," Beetle said, "I wonder if that was common for young ancients?"
"Mayhap so," he said.
Prospero didn't quite know what they meant by "ancient" - really, he didn't quite know what more than a few of the things they said meant - but he knew one thing: he was very happy to have met them.