((This is a continuing story of a developing group of individuals, to be called Ekatra'nantaba, which means "united diversity". Should you be interested in joining the group, contact me privately, as this is not an open concept.
You can read about the group's slow growth in the following rps.
Musings
Safety From the Storm
Urgent Summons
Livesaving
Slow Awakening
Is It Over?
Decide To Change))


Neera was torn. This was not at all her style of life, her way of thinking, her intended future. Falling in love had not been a part of her plans for her career and life. She had a role she filled, and she had been quite content in it. In fact, she would have been the first to scorn the very idea of falling in love in such a sudden and complete fashion, much less with a patient! That simply wasn't professional and wasn't something that should be done! Nevermind that she couldn't really have ever been accused as the most professional of people. After all, witch doctors kinda tended to walk outside such rigid lines of definition! But somehow, she'd built herself a future that hadn't included something and ethereal and undeniable as meeting and loving Brolly.

However, as disconcerting as it was to have the world turn itself upside down right beneath her feet, she found she simply could not bear to think of living without this dashing, kindly, humorous male. He made her laugh. He made her feel beautiful. He treated her as an equal and assumed nothing. To her utter astonishment, it had only been days after he'd awoken that she had found herself agreeing to be his mate. It had been a quiet, private thing, and she had told no one yet. She was somehow afraid to

She wasn't certain exactly what she was afraid of, however. Perhaps it was losing respect in the eyes of those who knew her. Would they think less of her, think her a mushy, helpless, addle-brained female for having fallen so hard and so unexpectedly for a strange male? Even as she probed the idea, though, she had to snort, shaking her hide and sending her bits of bone and stone rattling softly. When had she begun to care what anyone thought of her? If they lost respect for her for such a good thing becoming part of her life, why should she care? They could find their herbs and healing elsewhere! Their charms could come from someone else, and their curses could go towards some else's profit. She'd have naught to do with such a one!

Skrissa happened to slither in at just that moment, catching the defiant gleam in Neera's eyes. Aha! Bout time she stopped dithering and acting like a fretful meerkat! "It issssss about time you made up your mind," she told the wild dog plainly, moving to curl first around a foreleg, then pile herself in front of Neera. "He issss good for you, missssstressssss." She let her head weave up and down for emphasis. "And you are good for him. It issssss meant to be."

The wild dog female gave her assistant an amused look. Forthrightness was indeed one of the things she tended to value in a companion, now evidenced twice by who she had chosen to be close to her. "He is now, hmm?" she asked, wondering mildly at being quite so transparent, and at what the snake might see that merited such a strong statement. "Tell me then, and listen I will."

She settled herself down on her elbows, relaxing her hind legs off to one side comfortably. This lowered her so that Skrissa didn't have to gaze upwards at her while they talked. Currently they were in a private nook of a cave that was on a hallway full of such nooks. Each was rather well suited to being private quarters to individual creatures, such as herself, but nowhere near big enough for any family that wished to grow. Brolly was still down in the cave she'd been treating him in, as his strength and mobility hadn't grown beyond merely sitting up just yet. He didn't need her with him constantly now either, so Kalos had kindly provided this simple room for her to reside in. It was clean, dry, and quite appropriate for her current needs.

Skrissa straightened a little in pleasure that her mistress was going to willingly listen to her thoughts. It wasn't that Neera rarely listened, it was merely that the snake valued her opinion being asked. "You are alone too much, misssstresss," she began plainly. "I am good company, yessss, but I am here to help, and to be a friend." She leaned forward a little to convey her earnestness. "But a sssssingle friend in one'ssssss life isssss a lonely way to exissssst."

Neera opened her mouth to protest that she had more friends, such as Kalos, but stopped as she realized that she had been intentionally holding even he and Doxa at a distance, to keep from becoming too involved with them. She closed her mouth slowly and with a frown. "So isolated have I become?" she asked a little sadly. At the serpent's nod, her frown deepened. She hadn't really intended to live quite so much like a hermit, but looking on her life with a little more perspective now, she could see just how much she had emphasized that as something she desired. Even Doxa seemed to sense that she wanted to be left alone unless her help was needed, and that bird was as friendly as the sky was blue.

She returned her troubled gaze to Skrissa. "This Brolly... brings changes, does he?" Changes that perhaps were long in coming, from the snake's reaction to all this. "Good changes?" she hazarded hesitantly.

"Yesss, very good changessss," the green snake agreed readily, bobbing animatedly in her eagerness to agree. "He makessssss you laugh. You ssssssmile more now. Your eyesssss sssssparkle." Skrissa smiled warmly at her friend. "You sssssstay with him and mussssst tear yourssssself away. Thissssss isssss good!" She reached to touch her own scaly nose to Neera's dark one. "You desssserve happinessssss, Neera. And he makesssssss you happy."

The wild dog blinked, mulling over the snake's perspective. Did he really make her so notably happy? And how had she not noticed this herself?! But the mere thought of him made her lips draw back in a smile and her jaw drop open just slightly in a happy expression. She caught herself doing it, snapped her mouth shut and blinked at her assistant and friend. "Right you are. Happy I am." She stopped a moment, then laid her chin on her paws. "But what to do now about it?" Her mournful expression made the snake hiss a little in amusement and exasperation.

"You choosssssse each other," she pointed out logically. "And then you find a way to live together that worksssss for you both, sssssso you can both be what you want to be, and sssssstill be bonded." She suppressed a wistful twinge. Now was not the time to be wishing for her own chance at marital bliss. Now it was about Neera and Brolly. "But it will not neccccccessssarily be easssssy," she added with caution. "Other changesssss will happen too. Our hut issssss not meant to be a proper den for matesssss, and I will need a placccccce to ssssssleep too." She certainly wasn't going to share a small hut with a mated pair of wild dogs! Oh the embarrassment!

Neera tried not to quail at the thought of presenting all this to Brolly. "But what if living together he does not wish?" she fretted, ears canting back in dismay. "Or if the swamp he does not like?" She rather relied on the swamp for many of her herbs, and she had intentional patches of many different plants growing, like her gourds! She couldn't bear to just abandon them all, even if she did love him as deeply as all this!

"Sssssspeak to him firssst before you ssssspeak for him," the snake told her firmly, poking her in the chest with her tailtip. "Then deccccccide thesssse thingsssss together. You will find a way, I am ccccccertain." Truly, Skrissa's tone was full enough of conviction that it helped bolster the uncharacteristically anxious Neera.

"Right you are, of course," the black and white dog admitted with a fond smile. Yes, she needed to discuss this all with him herself. He was straight-forward and plain-speaking, and would not take offense at such blunt talk on such things. She rose to her paws. "Thank you Skrissa," she said, bending to nuzzle the snake affectionately. "Go I now." Turning, she bounded back down the corridor, heading for the clearing skies outside. It had been a long two weeks of wetness, but it seemed the skies were finally clearing, and things were looking fresh and new at last.