It was a warm, humid day for the hobbits and Mchanga couldn't have been happier to be where he was. His old home of the Swampies had made him a perfect candidate to be a Marsh Wader as he was right at home in the murky bogs that the iboga plant thrived in. It had been a challenge to learn how to grow the tricky plant, but Mchanga had taken to it like a fish to water. Most of the trouble was keeping away invasive plants that wanted to choke the shallow roots of the iboga plant, as well as the critters that wanted to eat the leaves. The water of the marsh and the sun did most of the work.

A noise on the banks caught his attention and he lifted his head, spotting a rather large lion where water met solid ground. It was a good distance from where he stood as the marshes were shallow but wide, but he could almost sense the fear coming off the other male.

"All right?" he called out to the lion who looked up in surprise. It was Minza, another joining rogue who said he had come from the Bonelands. The large male glanced away from Mchanga after a moment before carefully moving his paw from the water it had sunk into.

"F-fine! Just didn't...haha...see the edge of the bank," he called back, fear making his voice tremble. He backed up until his rump hit a tree which caused him to stop completely, trembling as he glanced down at his wet paw. An incident in his youth had scarred him pretty badly around water holes and, while he had gotten better about his fear, a marshy area like this where it was hard to tell where the water ended and the land began was definitely messing with him.

Hearing the worry in the other's voice, Mchanga abandoned the plant he was currently trying to uproot to go check on his pridemate. He waded through the water which only came about halfway up his legs, and once he reached the shore he took a moment to wipe the muck from his paws.

"You sure you're all right? You're shaking like a leaf," Mchanga pointed out, eye narrowed in concern. Minza laughed weakly and waved his wet paw, trying to make it seem as though he were fine.

"Yes, yes! Everything's good. I'd never seen the marshes before and I got curious. I just thought it would be easier to tell where the water was."

Mchanga glanced over his shoulder, then back to the brown lion. It was easy in some places but others where the vegetation grew out into the water made it difficult for sure. "Why? Interested in becoming a Marsh Wader?"

The question had barely left the red male's mouth before the brown male barked out a 'no!', nearly trying to scramble away. Fear had clutched Minza's heart at the very thought of the job, walking around in water you couldn't see all day. It was bad enough when the watering holes were massive, but just stepping off land into the water without knowing when it would happen? No thank you!

"Easy, easy." Mchanga moved forward, reaching out with a paw to rest it against Minza's flank to try to calm the larger lion down. "It's not going to hurt you."

Minza took a few moments to breathe deeply, trying to chase away the fear pumping through his veins. He knew Mchanga was right, that the water wasn't going to leap up and attack him. But still! It was scary! Finally he closed his eyes and let out a slow, deep breath, his heart finally returning to a normal pace.

"I wanted to see the pride," he said quietly as he opened his eyes. "It's so different from where I'm from. I've seen all of the Farthings except for this one, and although I knew it would be the hardest of them all to visit, I want to know the lay of the land here. All of it."

Mchanga listened. He wasn't the most empathetic lion out there but he could tell that Minza was afraid of water. He wondered how he had fared in the East where the river made up the border, although he supposed the water there was visible at all times. Here it was sneaky. He nodded slightly and shifted to put himself between Minza and the marsh to hopefully make him feel a bit better.

"Well, you've seen it. Unless you want to go marching about in the muck which I doubt you do, there isn't much to see here. I will tell you that the marshes never get very deep. I've yet to find a spot that reaches my stomach." That did seem to make Minza relax a bit more and the red lion gave a weak smile before turning to head back out into the marshes.

"This is the iboga plant," he said as he reached a fairly young stalk of the leafy weed, brushing his paw over it gently. Minza watched from a safe distance, taking in everything that was being shown to him. "We mostly keep other plants away from it, as well as parasites and animals, so it can grow in peace. Not the cleanest job but it yields a highly sought-after product, so it's worth it."

Minza nodded, knowing full well that iboga was the pride and joy of the Suzat. He had tried it himself and was still a lightweight in terms of being able to handle it properly - and Brew as well - but he wanted to fit in and he knew he'd build up a tolerance to it over time.

"Thank you," he said with a tiny smile as he got back up to his feet. "My curiosity has been stated and I'll be sure to give this area of the pride respectable distance. I don't need another sneak attack like that without someone around." He gave a little laugh before turning to head back through the trees again, eager to get away from the water but thankful for what he had been shown. Mchanga gave a little wave as well before turning to see to the plants he had been uprooting before, glad he had been able to help.

FIN
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