Commission from the noble XanderShadow, who had the heart to give a downtrodden yinglet a cozy home.
 
Losing a shell-tooth is a complicated and dangerous experience for a yinglet. The teeth are mostly nerveless, and are made to re-grow if broken, but it still takes over a month for a new tooth to grow back. In this time, they lose their primary method of opening their main food source (shelled mollusks), and must rely on friends to help them in this time.
 
The tooth also doubles as their main argument-settler and/or defensive measure, so this is a very vulnerable period for them. Those who can afford cheap craftsmanship will often have a false tooth crafted in rock or bone to act as a temporary replacement.
 
However, many yinglets lack any coin or skills to offer in return, and some lack good enough friends to be their caretakers for so long. Like this unfortunate one.
 
After a week of swallowing unpalatable ‘foods’ off the streets, this yinglet finds himself starving, weak, and the color of his eyes turning dull and muddy; a very bad sign, indicating a yinglet is often past the point of recovery.
 
So when a well-dressed gentleman of unknown species approaches him, offering food and shelter, he is at first terrified, knowing he has nothing to offer in return, so the stranger is more than likely to demand a terrible price that he must work off for the rest of his life.
 
He is then confused when the stranger declines to demand a price, instead saying that his company is enough. He slowly begins to understand as the gentleman sees that he is fed, brushed and cleaned, and finally has a replacement tooth forged from fine silver, along with a matching collar.
 
Days later, the lucky yinglet hops atop his new master’s lap and lovingly nuzzles his head into his master’s massive tuft of neck fur, still almost unable to believe he has been found by such a kind, intelligent person to take care of him. As the fire warms them both, the yinglet vows never to take for granted his fortune, his new family, and his first true friend.