Majini'wazo made his way through the swamps. He was glad to be home and stay home after his travels. His name before, Dansfoto, meant a lot to him. Granted to him by both his mother and father, but now he was on his own, his own self meeting others and making his way in the world. He smiled, while wandering. The mud thick on the pads of his paws but he paid no attention. Smiling he kept going, searching for the friend he had found on his return home. Her with her own name, new to the land, born again with her own self in stride.
She had been Moyo'abu, and was now Ahli'mtima.
His sandy pelt moved throughout the swamp and he nestled himself in between thick roots and overgrowth, laying in wait. She would arrive soon, for now, he basked in the feel of soft mud under paw.
Her name was her new life, and she was happy to be home. She heard her family had grown, her sister had children, so she heard. Ahli'mtima was glad to be home, near family and her new friend. He had been Dansfoto, now Majini'wazo, born again into the swamp under foot. She smiled as she wriggled through mud to find him, the blue on her pelt sticking out amongst her surroundings.
The earth tones around her gave her form away, but she was proud of who she was. She loved her life and would never change a thing. Her journey had not been easy. But then again, it was rewarding, finding herself and finding Majini. They returned together, and saw eachother everyday.
What was taking her, he wondered as he sat silently. New life was in the mud these days, others finding ones that completed themselves, or found someone to bring new life into the world, into the swamps. It was good to spread the lines, be happy and start new paths. Everyone had a journey to take, and it was no different with a companion. For that he was glad one part of their journey was over, and the way she smiled at him, he knew that something else lingered with her as well.
Flicking his tail he waited and sat wondering, bright eyes searching for that familiar blue to poke out against the browns and green hues, and there is was, bounding on its own. Dancing in the sunlight peeping through the canopy, a bolt of blue lightning and he stood to greet her.
Ahli'mtima saw the undergrowth move and she smiled and held in a laugh. Majini could be such a silly oaf sometimes. He was large for a male, but not in a muscular way. He was bulky, but was proud of who he was. His muscle was underneath his thick fur and he didn't mind his sandy pelt even when it was dirtied. They were a fine match, in her eyes, and she would never think otherwise.
"Here you are," she spoke softly, walking towards him, stopping and touching her nose softly to his, "I didn't know we would venture this far in today, what is we get caught in the roots and vines, what then? We can't call your father, he would give you that stern look again," she arched a brow and stuck her tongue out at him, playful.
"Oh no, we can't have that, what would he think if I did this," he moved forward his paws touching her side pushing her over lightly, and she let him do it as well. Her side hit the mud and he landed beside her. The wet feeling was chilling, but the soft feeling of warmth underneath the skin of the mud was wonderful in the sun.
"Do you think they will approve?" Majini'wazo asked watching her. She was so sleek and strong, intelligent and wise. It was a wonder he came across her on his way home, it seemed destined by the stars and blessed by the swamp, but he would never know for sure. "Do you?"
Ahli'mtima looked up and smiled at the sunlight that peered down through the canopy. "It seems we have all the approval we need. Besides, who could tell us otherwise?" she asked with a smile, purring laying her head under his chin, pushing up. "No one would question us, we found one another on the journey back, after we found our new names, found who we were. It seems fitting, almost set into still mud and stone that this was meant to be, don't you feel it?" she watched him nod.
She lay herself back into the mud and rolled over in it, covered and she jumped onto his back, licking the fur and then moving her muddied paw over it, covering him as well. "When we are covered, we are one, no one can change it."
He felt her move and heard the familiar slurping sound of the mud and he felt the cold and then warmth on his back. Her tongue on his fur and then the mud. He rolled over too and let the mud fall onto his back, his form and he watched her watch him. Majini smiled and looked at her, only her eyes would be different from him now, and perhaps the fact he had a mane where she did not.
He leaned forward and touched his forehead to her, "As we are blank slates now, we are complete when finding our name, and our journey lays in wait," he spoke quietly, murmuring low in a mock purr noise.
"And as our journeys lay in wait for us, we both will go together, cast in earth, in the home of our blood," she purred and curled around him, letting her muddied side touch his, scraping and smoothing out as they touched.
Her tail touched his and curled around it and she stopped at his side, leaning against him, smiling and purring, "And as we go together, we will know no weakness or solitude, for we will be there when needed, and guard when guarded, breath together, and be together," their ritual was private, peaceful and as simple as they could make it. But it was theirs.
"And tonight here we will rest," he pulled himself from the mud, but kept his tail intertwined with her own and sat himself upon the patch of grass beside water, mud and stone on all sides of the land and tree that kept it above all around it. "And never be apart, even if not together here," he lay himself down and he watched her move next to him.
Majini'wazo wrapped his body around hers and smiled, Murring and purring in his throat, the mud on their pelts sticking together, and after the afternoon, it would dry, crackle and fall from themselves, and again they would be clean, but born again with each other in the light of the day. And they would be one always.
"But together always," she said as she let her eyes close and felt their breathing be one as well, hearts beating, pelts warming under the rays of the sun that peeked from above and warmed their back. She felt herself bond to Majini, pelts no longer loose but hardening, coming together and being together, just as they were as spirits of the swamp.
Nothing could change who they were and would become, nothing could change the love they shared for one another, but the future could change in where they would go together, and what family would mean to them every step of the way.
