And also something else.

"What the fuck shit?!" says a talking badger.

"I'm a rabbit! And you're a badger, and I dunno what the fuck shit."

"I think you're actually a hare but we have so many other problems I don't think that one makes the shortlist." They both look around, hoping their surroundings contain some clue to what the fuck shit.

They are in a forest! The plants and trees are, oddly, not gigantic, despite Bruce and Jennifer now being putatively small woodland creatures. In fact, their perspective seems to imply they've grown a foot or so taller. They're also still bipeds with opposable thumbs, despite neither badgers nor hares historically being any such thing.

"Actually it's more like we're some sort of hybrids, your head is a hare's but your limbs are different. And I can stand on my back legs fine even though by rights that should be a lot harder for me than for you. Weird."

"Well, let's wander around and see if we spot anyone who looks like a mad scientist. Or a mad wizard. One of those."

Wandering doesn't reveal any mad scientists or wizards, but after a few minutes they run into a rat, similarly bipedal, who is holding a crude spear.

"H-hey," he says in a mildly grating, high-pitched voice. "I-I don't want any trouble!"

"Neither do we," says Jennifer, displaying her empty let's-keep-calling-them-hands. "We're very lost. We were humans an hour ago. You in the same boat?"

“The fuck’s a human?” blinks the rat. “And I’m not lost, I live here. I just thought you were here to chase me out of Mossflower. Overstayed my welcome, or summat.”

"Hoo boy," Jennifer mutters. "Uh, we're definitely not trying to chase you anywhere. Can you tell us how to get to the nearest . . . town? Group of people? Somewhere it's a good idea for very lost people to go."

"Whatever a human is, you look like Abbeyfolk, so your best bet's probably, well, the Abbey. It's due west of here, just follow the sun. And don't tell them where I live."

Jennifer really wants to know more about whatever species or religious or land-use-related tension she's just stepped in. "I won't tell anyone where you live. But since we're going to be walking right into them, would you mind telling us what about the Abbeyfolk has you worried? We don't want to cause offense to them or to you." Bruce nods seriously behind her.

The rat sighs. "I'm a rat. They're mice - and badgers and moles and otters etcetera etcetera, but what they ain't is vermin. Rats, weasels, foxes - we're vermin. They think we're bad at the core, coming to take their land and food away from them."

"I've believed a lot of weird things in the last hour, but I'm not about to start believing anyone is bad to the core. Thanks for the warning." She wishes she could offer to help, but it would sound like an empty gesture--she can probably do something useful as a dimensionally stranded small herbivore, but it's not yet clear what.

"Cheers," the rat says. "They'll like you, hares aren't Abbeyfolk per se but there's good history. And they love badgers."

"Oh, joy," she mutters, "the racists will like us." She smiles at the rat. "I guess we'll be off, then. Hope to see you 'round again sometime. Good luck out there."

The rat laughs and waves goodbye. 

They set off in the indicated direction. After they've gone a ways, Bruce says, "I'm a bit worried about our reception."

"We'll be alright," says Jennifer. "Sure, their society has some problems, but so does ours. We'll find some way to settle in and make ourselves useful."

"I hope you're right--and you usually are. Though I wouldn't want to be an undocumented person dumped on Earth either. Say, I wonder what tech level they've got. Maybe we'll be able to import some inventions. Or they'll have cool sci-fi shit. Or both."

Hike hike hike.

"Yeah, most places on Earth are various levels of bad at handling unexpected people. But we got the local language, somehow, so we're already ahead of the game. And I'm definitely in favor of importing inventions or cool sci-fi shit or both."

Hike hike hike some more.

Eventually they come to a road continuing to the west. It's not paved, just beaten through the forest by countless paws. Following it takes them to a walled fortress of red sandstone, its gates standing open. A white mouse stands outside the gate, wearing a blue robe with a sword belted at his waist. He's significantly shorter than Bruce and Jennifer, maybe five feet tall, but he radiates calm authority. 

"Hello, strangers," he calls when they come within range, his voice surprisingly deep. "What brings you to Redwall Abbey?"

Bruce cannot exactly hide behind Jennifer given his bulk, but he can approximate it.

"We're very lost," says Jennifer. "We can't get home, so we're looking for a new place to live."

Now that she hears the term Abbey again, she wonders if this is a religious community. She's a lot less atheist and a lot more confused than she was yesterday.

The mouse nods. "Our gates are open to all those who seek shelter, provided they are able and willing to abide by our laws. If you wish to stay for more than a few weeks, then we'll want to find out what you do best and fit you into the work schedule."

"We're glad to hear it, and we definitely want to find useful work to do. Can you summarize your laws?"

"Do not harm another creature without cause. Do not take what is not freely given. There are other rules, but those are the two that really matter."

"Without cause" is vague enough to drive a truck through, and the second rule can only be really understood with more context on their economy than she has right now, but the spirit of the laws seems solid and they can pick up the rest of the culture by example. "Sensible laws, those," she says. "Can you tell us where to go from here?"

"I think that we should probably get you set up with rooms. Do you have any possessions?"

They both shake their heads. "Rooms would be good."

Bruce was previously too disoriented to notice, but now he's really feeling the lack of 1) his smartphone and 2) his pants.

The mouse nods. "You can just follow me, then. -my name is Jojo, by the way. I'm the current Warrior of Redwall Abbey."

The first person they meet having the title "Warrior" is less than reassuring, but on the other hand perhaps that means they only have one. "Pleased to meet you, JoJo. I'm Jennifer, and this is Bruce. What does a Warrior do?"

"Most Abbeyfolk are peaceful creatures, and do not concern themselves with the safety of their home; I make sure they can do that. I'm the Abbey's first line of defense in case of an attack - followed by the resident Badger-Mother, for obvious reasons."

As they follow Jojo through the gates they pass a large group of very young rodents who look at Bruce and Jennifer with wide eyes. These are shepherded by an elderly badger with one scarred and milky eye. She peers at Bruce with some suspicion. 

Bruce waits until they're well past the elderly badger before asking, "I'm afraid I don't know--well, pretty much anything. What are the obvious reasons?"

Jojo looks at him oddly. "Well, badgers are- large, and fiercely protective, and can go into a blood rage which enhances their physical strength when necessary. So the Badger-Mother is a semi-official combatant, at least partly because we have no hope of stopping her."

He doesn't seem to be able to formulate the sentence "you are a badger, how do you not know that" without being rude, so instead he does not say that.

It's not rude at all, honestly, it's a totally reasonable question. "I don't have any reliable memories from before earlier today. You should probably just assume I don't know anything about anything. Sorry. I'll try to keep the stupid questions to a minimum and pick stuff up as I go along."

"I'm in the same boat. If you have a library in the Abbey that would be really helpful."

Jojo wrings his hands. "Oh dear! I'm sorry for being rude, that must be very difficult. Do you know - well, I suppose you wouldn't know how it happened if you don't remember anything. We do have a library, and you're welcome to read anything in it."

"It's fine, really, you couldn't've known."

"And the library will help a lot, thank you." He is actually super excited to explore an unfamiliar civilization's library, even apart from how it will make him slightly more clueful.

The Abbey is - not well-appointed in a Catholic way, a "we have all the money to buy fancy things we want" way, but in a "generations of people have lived here and made art" way. Some of the walls are daubed with murals. There are many tapestries, mostly woven from dyed cotton or linen. There are only a handful of large metallic objects like candelabras, most of them looking at least a few centuries old.

Jojo gets them to some rooms which are - not large, especially at Bruce and Jennifer's new respective heights, but intensely cozy. There are quilts on the beds, rugs and tapestries on the floor and walls, and each room has a window which catches the currently setting sun.

"I apologize that the rooms are not quite appropriately sized," Jojo says a bit wryly. "We really only have one badger in the usual course of operations, and hares tend to be rather itinerant unless they're home at Salamandastron."

"I'm glad you're able and willing to take people in on short notice at all."

It's looking like this is going to be all "we invent a bunch of stuff" and no "cool sci-fi tech" so Bruce is trying to remember various ways to make steel. Also he should find out if germ theory is real or [only a thing in his universe of origin/a product of his large pile of fake memories of being a human]. But he should get a regular job and some more general clue first.

"What's the work schedule like? Where do we find out what jobs are open?"

"Well - hmm - if you're particularly eager to get started on something we can go check with Friar Bunfold, but for the time being it's fine if you'd rather rest a while. People are mostly able to do what interests them here, whether that's tending the gardens and fields, or working the wine cellars, or cheesemaking, or fishing - somebeasts just take on cleaning shifts, and there's special positions like the scribe or the Abbess, but - it really varies by what you're good at and what you like. If you don't remember anything I don't suppose you'd know, but we can set you on a rotation when you're ready to get started and we'll find out soon enough." Jojo's nose twitches. "I myself came to the Abbey as a young man without much idea of what I could do. Worked the fields until I became the Warrior."

"So--the thing I would most like to do is invent new things but I should probably also do something that's more short-term useful."

Are lawyers even a thing here? If there are law schools she should go to one.

"Scribe would be fun if you don't have enough already, or I could learn to cook."

Jojo smiles. "If you can read and write clear and well, I'm sure Scribe Barlom would welcome the help. Bruce, I'm not sure what you'd be inventing, but I have to admit I'm interested. Do you mean like - better farming tools, and the like?"

"Farming tools, easier ways to make metal things, ways to make a bunch of copies of a piece of writing at once instead of having to write it out every time, maybe better lights. I'll need to read a bunch of things first." Also how fast he can do things will depend a lot on whether the laws of physics are what he thinks they are.

"I can read and write, yes." She might have to learn to use a quill pen, from the look of the place--unless birds are also people and they use something other than feathers because using bits of people as pens is rude? Whatever they write with can't be that hard. And they speak English here, which is lucky.

Jojo's lashing tail betrays his excitement. "We'd be thrilled if you can manage even one of those things, really - what would you need to read?"

That's an odd way to phrase the question but she has an answer. "I'd like to read everything about history and government and how people work. Bruce is going to want to read everything you have about the natural world."

Jojo frowns. "We do have history and moral philosophy and natural philosophy, but... government isn't a word I recognize."

Gosh, are they anarchists, that'd be neat. "I mean the way people settle their disputes and prevent anyone from doing from doing someone else harm on purpose or by accident." If they're all perfectly prosocial with no extrinsic incentives that's going to come off as a weird question but also she's going to eat the hat she isn't wearing. 

"...oh, we do have treatises on the laws of the Abbey and records of infractions! It's, erm, a bit dry, but I'm sure you expect an amount of that when you go looking for records of that sort."

"Oh, of course. The boring records are the records of things that happen often and those are the important things to know about."

"Exactly why I could never be a scribe," Jojo laughs.

A mouse in a yellow habit enters the hallway, squeaks, scurries over, and says "Jojo! You didn't tell anyone we had guests!"

Jojo scratches his ears guiltily. "Oh - sorry, Bryony. I was trying to get them settled in before anyone could question them senseless, and I remembered these rooms were open... They're not travelers, though, they'll likely be staying at least for a goodly time."

"Well then it's even more important to - I'm talking past you goodbeasts, sorry," she says, turning to Bruce and Jennifer. "Hello, I'm Bryony, I'm Jojo's sister, it's lovely to meet you!"

"Lovely to meet you too. I'm Jennifer and this is my cousin Bruce."

Bruce waves and then gets distracted by his own paws. How much of his knowledge of anatomy works? Can he determine by wiggling his fingers and introspecting whether he has phalanges and the correct set of tendons? No wait he should be paying attention.

Bryony peers dubiously at Bruce but elects not to say anything. "Anyway. I came to tell you, Jojo, my beloved brother, that the feast is almost ready and if you miss it not only will Abbess Meriam be terribly disappointed in you, I will cry."

Jojo winces. "Just because I forgot to come to the feast?"

"There is a cake," Bryony says threateningly, "and I worked on it for hours, and you will have some." She turns to the cousins. "And of course you must come as well, travelers are always welcome at the table and if you only just got here you must be awfully sick of travel rations."

"Thank you. We expect to be staying here for the foreseeable future."

Bryony pauses to rewind in her head. "Oh - yes, he did say - but, well, residents are even more welcome, of course! And everyone will want to meet you, if you're staying, and it's best to get that out of the way when everyone is together!"

Jojo sighs. "I suppose it is. Shall we, then?"

"Sure." They can follow Jojo and Bryony to wherever the food is.

He wonders what badgers and hares and mice and so on eat. There was a mention of cheese. Do they keep cows? Are the cows people or are they just regular cows? Is there factory farming? Does he still need to be vegan? Can he keep being vegan in this economy? Can he keep being vegan in this body? He tries imagining various plants and they still sound like food, so probably yes. At least he knows he's not going to end up trying to eat people or they wouldn't've been willing to let him in.

"So where does the Abbey's food come from? Is it all grown here?"

Bryony hums thoughtfully. "Well, we have our fields, but we also gather from Mossflower Wood, things like berries and nuts. But the staples - the cereal grains, the tubers, the sugar beets, the milksap grass for cheeses - those we grow within our walls. And we fish out of the pond or the rivers and streams of Mossflower, depending on the season. And of course we can't grow all the spices we'd like here, it being so temperate, but the traveling merchants come by every few seasons and we get what we need."

"I don't know how much we need the spices, really," Jojo murmurs.

Bryony rolls her eyes but doesn't comment.

"Neat! Uh, incredibly stupid question, sorry: what of those can badgers eat? As far as I can tell from my memories I was a different species yesterday," he adds to Bryony.

Bryony looks increasingly concerned. "Um, you might want to ask Yenha? Yenha Wolfharrier, she's our Badgermother - I haven't known her to avoid anything in particular, but I wouldn't necessarily know if she can't have, you know, chestnuts or something."

"A different species?" Jojo asks. "What kind, if you don't mind my asking?"