Haatha Chaas'-Eighth is an Mmsar poet, content to live alone though his brothers all have families of their own and think he should have apprentices, too.

Unfortunately, someone left a clutch of eggs in Haatha's back yard, and now he's got to deal with hatchling Mmsar, which are no better than vermin at that age. But one hatchling, despite its lack of sapience, has an intriguing cunning — and a bad attitude.

("Snips and Snails" is approximately 6,500 words long, and contains alien family patterns that may disturb humans.)