Otterly Fingal

We're pretty unique, us Mistmantle otters. Rivers, sea, it's all the same to us. So long as you can swim in it, it's good. But She of the Stories was telling me about these sea otters in some place with a funny name - what was it, Swanfeather? - thank you, Monterey Bay. They're very particular and only like the sea. Call themselves otters? She'd seen some on that magic box that she looks at.

These sea otters are stocky little chaps, and don't use any more energy than they absolutely have to. Something to do with keeping warm. They have very thick coats and carry a pet stone round with them for breaking into shellfish. (They also eat sea urchins. Can't wait to tell you-know-who about that!) When they're not hunting they just wallow about on their backs with their cubs sitting on their chests. (You can see them on the BBC website, whatever that is. Some kind of Threading, she tells me. A mostly blue one, called Big Blue Live.)

But those sea otters do have the energy to groom themselves. Just because you never do much, there's no need to let yourself go. So they scrub up. All the time, honestly! They wash their faces, their ears, and their babies. They must have itchy noses, because they rub them a lot. I'm impressed, we still can't get Tide to do more than lick his whiskers, and he only does that because they taste of whatever he last ate. Fish usually.

However, She of the Stories thinks these sea otters are a bit sweet and funny. They sound pretty boring to me. And eating sea urchins? What does that do to your insides?