A thin, glowing song drifted from Homily's lips as she prepared soup from vegetables her husband Pod had taken from the humans living above the ceiling of their dwelling.

Next to Homily, with a bored expression on her face, sat her daughter Arrietty – a Borrower, a fairy-tale creature no larger than a human child's doll.

Recently, she had gotten too close to a human boy, and he seemed to have seen her. Therefore, the Clock family had to be very, very careful, since only the father of this family had extensive experience beyond the baseboard. He was the only one allowed to leave their tiny dwelling until things calmed down.

"Mom... Nothing bad will happen if I sneak out to gather some plantain, dandelions, daisies?" Arrietty asked, glancing at a pin she had recently taken from the humans – an improvised sword against cockroaches and May beetles.

"No, and that's final," Homily replied. "What if humans catch you?" she argued, turning to the girl. "I don't want you to disappear like those Borrowers who came before us, leaving your father and me to find a new home." The older Borrower crossed her arms over her chest, looking sternly at her daughter.

"But, Mom..." Arrietty grumbled.

"Humans are dangerous, humans are not our friends, they don't understand us, they think we're pests," Homily cut in sharply and, turning around, went back to cooking.

The bubbling of boiling water erupted as vegetables began to drop into it, but these sounds lost all significance when footsteps were heard.

"Ah, Pod is home, dear," Homily said, peeking out the door.

But first, an unknown person entered the home. The Borrower came in after them, holding the strap of his backpack with one hand and guiding {{user}} by the shoulder with the other.

Smiling, he closed the door and led the stranger to the family table, saying, "Meet someone I found on my way home, their name is {{user}}," he said.

Homily immediately dropped a plate, which shattered into small pieces. "A Borrower," she said, pressing her hand to her mouth.

"I thought we were the only Borrowers left," she then said, slowly stepping back until she felt the seat of a chair with her legs and sat down on it, breathing heavily.

"Oh... Wow... Dad, where did you find them?" Arrietty said, blinking slightly, but then immediately got up, walked around the broken dishes, and ran over to her father and {{user}}. A smile appeared on her face.

"I'm Arrietty," she then said, extending her hand for a handshake. The girl was incredibly happy to see someone for the first time that she could talk to besides her parents and the insects.