She didn’t find hunting all that exciting, and had often found herself wishing she could stay in a moment for a very long time, or just enjoying some sunlight through the tree leaves. Eventually though, all of this wandering had brought her to a more marshy area which had been very interesting, especially all of the time she had gotten stuck in something in the water. She had always gotten away, but had spend a considerable amount of time looking at the plants or the landscape that had tried to entrap her.
She found that by studying it that she could more easily navigate the marsh, and found herself near a cave. She was curious. It smelled like someone lived there, although she didn’t judge anyone who wanted to live there, she would like to ask them why they were here.
He had been working on a piece of pottery, moving the mud this way and that to form a work of art around the dried grass he had received in his most recent trade shipment. Kivati had asked that receive something in return for all the hunting she was doing for him – He definitely couldn’t argue with that.
Humming lightly and he used a claw to cut away pieces of mud, the soft scampering of feet caught his attention. It was one of the mice that made his studio a home for itself. “Aye, is there something you need little one?” Looking at the piece in front of him he made a small nod, appreciating what had been done to it so far.
A soft squeak again pulled his attention away from his work, brows furrowing he crouched down to meet the small mouse in front of him. “Is there something wrong?” Waiting patiently, the mouse alerted him of the visitor outside his studio. “Aaaah, what a brilliant mouse you are, thank you for watching the door.” Smiling genuinely, he lightly tapped the mouse on the head before heading to the entrance.
“Lost?”
One of her ears twitched in the direction she heard some noise coming from. However, it didn’t sound like anything mean, and so she didn’t feel like she was in any danger. However, she was still a bit surprised by the lion appearing and speaking. She had been admiring the cave.
She smiled at him. “Some would say that. Though I just went where I wanted. I don’t really have a place that I call home.” She looked at him. His coloring reminded her of the night sky, his pelt was quite nice really, she was slightly envious. “I’m Layla. I’m sorry if I’ve intruded in your home. It’s quite interesting though. I have never met a lion living in the marshlands.” With that she took another look at the landscape, following what looked to be some sort of dragonfly, before turning back to him.
“If it’s not too out there, may I ask what you do here?”
Two eyes popped out of the swampy waters behind the lioness, someone nosy was watching them. Sighing heavily, Seiki sat down at the mouth of the cave and nodded his head over in greeting at the large, obnoxious and strangely friendly crocodile, Dodger. “Decent day today, aye Dodger?” He felt slightly rude ignoring the lioness in front of him, however, ignoring the croc was far worse trade off at the end of the day.
Without pausing to wait for Dodger’s reply, Seiki averted his attention back towards the lioness. “My apologies, Dodger loves his attention… if he doesn’t get it now he will later when he scares the life out of you.” Rolling his eyes, Seiki replayed a memory in his head for a moment before starting up the conversation again.
“Ah, Yeah I am Seiki…” Puzzling for a moment, he furrowed his brows in frustration. She had just told him what her name was and already he had forgotten it. “…As embarrassing as it is, I’ve already forgotten your name.” Trailing off, the lion looked at a couple pots out front, along with the skulls, shells and other bobbles he had created for others to enjoy.
“As far as what I do here? I live here. Thrive actually. I am an artist and trader, many know of me and come to me, rarely do I go to them.” Smiling at his little inside joke he looked at the stranger again, smiling awkwardly. “I will take it you haven’t heard of the marshland artist Seiki.”
Layla turned around to greet the other one that was there. “Hello Dodger.” A crocodile, interesting. Though it seemed like this would be a better place for a crocodile than most of the rivers she had seen them in. It seemed that the lion new the crocodile at least. That meant that the crocodile was okay. It was always interesting to see what friendships formed in this world.
“Well, I can imagine that could be a little fun at least.” She replied to the lion. She felt for the crocodile a little. A crocodile like him might have a hard time with his own species if he was friendly with what could possibly be considered prey. “I’m Layla. And that’s all right, for some, names are harder to remember. For others it’s faces. Of course, it can be interesting what one does remember about someone else.” She mused, almost to herself.
“An artist and trader? Sounds interesting. And although I haven’t heard of you, it seems that you thrive well here and that there are probably a lot of materials you can’t find elsewhere here. I bet a lot of others would be willing to trade for it.” She had never even considered such a job such as that before, or well any job other than eating what she needed. She was much too inattentive to keep one and wanted to enjoy what life brought her in her own way.
“Ah Leiha, fantastic, I will remember that!” Pulling a determined face, Seiki almost beamed triumphantly only to have the side of his legs swatted by a large, scaly tail. “Dodger Ow!” Wincing in pain he turned to glare at the croc, only to meet a toothy glare.
“I don’t even understand how you can forget and botch a name as well as you can, Seiki!!” Dodger flashed a sympathetic look over at the lioness while Seiki quickly chimed in. “Come on, Dodger, I got it right. She told me her name was Slayah!” Seiki was met with another quick swat from the large lizards’ tail and a rather unamused face.
“Seiki. Focus.” Grunting, the gator rolled his eyes up at the sky, as though he was… “Are you seriously praying for me right now, Dodger?!” Dodger quickly shot back at the starry pelted lion, “Someone has to, ya damned fool.”
Growling, Seiki stood in front of Layla and smiled. “You are so definitely right about that Reighlya, I could should you m-“ SMACK. The croc, had had enough of the idiots banter. “My apologies kid, Seiki tends to ramble and has a rather hard time keeping focused unless, of course, it is on his work.”
It seemed that Dodger was trying his hardest to look out for his friend, though she lightly wondered how far Seiki would go to changer her name. She almost thought about keeping track of how many times it changed until it was completely unrecognizable.
“Well, I’m sure Seiki tries his hardest Dodger. And with a friend like you helping him, he should eventually be able to get it.” She replied, looking back at Seiki. “I can repeat it as many times as you like. It’s Layla.” There were certainly all kinds of characters!
His leg smarted from Dodger’s constant smacking, to the point now that even rubbing the area didn’t ease the pain. Gritting his teeth, Seiki looked down at Dodger, “I’d greatly appreciate it if you would cease the assault on my leg.” Rubbing the area again, he studied the lioness, already losing sight of her name again. Dodger looked up, already know full well his friend had blanked of the lovely lioness’ name. Grunting, he called up to him, “Try that whole writing thing you do.”
It was like the sun just illuminated all the strange spaces normally hidden in Seiki’s brain. Writing, although not conventional for most creatures, definitely helped him remember. Now that he was thinking of it, he had a whole wall full of names; those that traded with him. “What’s her name again, Dodger?”
The croc rolled his eyes, “Layla.”
Seiki’s eyes lit up, moving his left paw around on the dirt, he started marking it, “Alright, Lay….” He made a small flick of his wrist, “La.” Smiling, he looked at the lioness. “Layla, alright. I apologize for my rudeness… I am obviously terrible with names.” He could feel his face burning, completely uncomfortable with the situation.
Layla laughed at the poor lion’s attempt to remember her name. “I can tell. It’s all right though, I’m sure you’re not the first who has difficulty with names.” She looked over at the crocodile and smiled brightly. “Thank you Dodger for being such a good friend.” She smiled at Seiki and could tell he was blushing, even with that dark fur.
“I would like to see more of what you do here, if that’s okay Seiki.” She was interested. She had never seen a lion do what he was doing before and she wanted to learn as much as she could. “May I stay for a bit?” If he didn’t want her to, that was fine, she would just continue to wander about. She figured she might be close to the ocean, and that would be a nice thing to see.
Snorting at Layla, Dodger made his best attempt at smiling; it was horrifying, but none the less it was his attempt at returning affection. At her request to stay, however, Dodger did nothing but laugh, “You want to stay after living through that whole ordeal!? You certainly are a brave one.” Rolling his eyes and shaking he head side to side, the large croc slunk back to his marshy water. “M’getting hungry, Seiki, them birds are callin’ my name.” With that, Dodger’s body disappeared, engulfed completely by the murky waters.
“Those poor, poor birds. I used to enjoy watching them…” Mused the starry pelted lion, closing his eyes for a few moments. Upon opening them, he addressed his new companion. “La..” Seiki looked down quickly at his writing, “Layla, if you would like you are welcome to stay for a while.” Gesturing towards the top of the cave and the brush, he started, “Atop this cave you may sleep, or if it gets to be too wet and rainy, you are welcome to sleep in my studio. I do tend to kick in my sleep, however, so I warn you not to come to close to me if you do choose to stay in here.”
With that, the starry lion wandered back to his work, paying absolutely no mind to Layla or her presence. He had work to be done and the swamp witch to meet.
Zingling
There you go!