Having sought out Watch Me’s help, Strange Creature’s trip home was incredibly carefree… for the first half hour or so. As she moved further from the tribe’s lands, dread began to creep back into the corners of her mind. Even the comforting presence of her entourage of pets, returning one by one to her side, couldn’t keep the worry at bay.

It would take time, she knew.

But she wouldn’t have to do it alone. She had friends, both kin and animal, and she had family.

As she scurried home, a small parade of reptiles following along, she took comfort in the knowledge that each of her beloved creatures could help her in no small way. She called a halt, simply by stopping, and watched as they fanned out to feed. Well, all but one of them. Trouble Double, her oldest and dearest friend, ate what she ate and ate when she ate. They’d been sharing meals since the lizard was a hatchling, and she gently nosed her friend, riding on her shoulder. She’d check in with the others and then find some eggs for them to share.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... double.gif[/imgleft] Her tegu twin had been with her the longest. She couldn’t remember a time before the animal, even before she’d taken her first breath. She’d seen the tegu as she’d slept in her sac, dreaming of a black-and-white lizard in sharp relief against a formless world. In her dream, she’d looked into the creature’s eyes, touching it with her nose, and as a long pink tongue flicked her curiously, the world began to make sense. Trouble was her touchstone, keeping her grounded. In the Swamp, the two were never apart. Even when she’d gone to see Watch Me, a thing she knew she should do alone, the tegu had watched from the bushes. Always in her shadow, sometimes so close she couldn’t be seen, she kept the kimeti grounded. She kept her safe. The world made sense when she was surrounded by lizards.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... inenow.gif[/imgright]

Mine Now, a big male tegu, was more placid and slightly less clever than Trouble Double, but just as curious and amiable. He’d found himself some fruit- he was more herbivorous than Trouble. The red tegu was another creature she’d first met in a dream, but unlike Trouble Double, he hadn’t told her anything about herself. In that dream, she’d been fleeing, trying to save him. She’d snatched him up and ran, and in the morning, she’d met the creature from her dream. Perhaps he was an omen. Perhaps he wasn’t. Either way, he reminded her of how strong she could be in her own head. Even during a nightmare, she’d kept her wits.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... dkills.png[/imgleft]Another reptile wasn’t eating, but then… it never ate. Trauma wasn’t the only thing Strange Creature brought home from the mountains. The spectral turtle had followed her, and at first it was nothing but a cruel reminder of the spectral eagle. But in many ways, Cold Kills was as much a victim as she was. Displaced from its home, hunted by the shard-infested creatures, it had wanted stability just as much as she had.

So it stayed with her. Somehow, it had made it back from the mountains. And now it was part of her family, just as much as any of the others.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... bright.gif[/imgleft]

The marine iguanas were inseparable, and oh-so-gentle and patient with her. They were solid, dependable, reliable. She could always count on them for affection and attention, and they were happy to graze with her, to swim with her and keep watch on the banks while she cowered under the clouds. They were grazing on moss- not quite their favorite seaweed, but they were able to scrape it off the rocks with their fine, comb-like teeth. She laid down momentarily, just watching them. They had such a tender way of looking at the world- nothing really bothered them. They simply were, and it was deeply peaceful and calming to spend time with them. By the time they were done grazing, she’d actually gotten to nap a little bit. When she stood, Trouble Double had wedged herself between her horns. She might be a little too heavy to do that comfortably, but Strange Creature didn’t care. It was worth it to have someone watching your back. [imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... lagoon.gif[/imgright]

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... raiser.gif[/imgright] The tortoise was a hellion, an insatiable hunger, a stomach on four legs that never stopped eating while he was awake, and wheezed from grass stuck to his nose as he slept. She adored him. He was big enough that she was certain a foal could hop up on his back and ride him, if they were good enough at balancing. His way of interpreting the world was just as solid as the iguanas’, but at the same time, extremely different. He rarely stopped moving, and he had goals. Granted, that goal was “eat that grass” or “devour the flower,” but it was still a goal. He knew what he wanted from life, and he took the simplest, most efficient route to get there. He didn’t worry because he was sure that no matter what happened, he would persist. He’d outlive her, for sure. Possibly everyone else in the entire Swamp, too. By the time she ran into him, she was about halfway home, and the two small flying creatures who served as her… bodyguards, of a sort were looping further and further away in search of insects to eat.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... antrum.gif[/imgleft] The little leatherwing dragons were noisily devouring cicadas. She could see flashes of their wings up in a tree. The two had done so much for her- they could fly, and they would alert her to sounds and shadows, things she might not pick up on her own. One always flew in front, and one always flew behind, and it was funny… she was never startled by their shadows.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... rout-1.gif[/imgright]They were her fiercest friends, and their tiny ferocity was heartening. And even though they were far more ornery and cantankerous than her tegus, they did seem quite loyal to her… for some reason. They defended her from the nothing that lurked above her and the everything that lurked in her head. Their harsh little voices could drown out birdsong, and the solid shadows of their leathery wings were firm. Not feathery. Not frightening. They were small. They could be eaten, perhaps. But they were still brave and fierce. She could be, too.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... soft-1.gif[/imgleft]Joining them even yet closer to home was the feathered serpent So Soft. Fearsome teeth in a scaly smile greeted them. It seemed as though she’d already eaten. Though her wings were huge and avian, for some reason that didn’t bother Strange Creature. While even familiar birds had twisted into reminders of fear, So Soft wasn’t a bird. She was a serpent. She’d known a kin once, Serpent Child. Sweet fellow. Fathered her children. Like So Soft, he was good-natured as well, though far less curious than she. So Soft wasn’t much of one for investigation, either- the beast liked to slither around home, hang out in her favorite trees, and generally was content where she was. Content, but seemingly not stagnant. A happy medium. But that wasn’t what Strange Creature really wanted. She missed her days as an explorer.

Still, it was nice to come home to somebody who didn’t mind curling up and being used as a pillow at night.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... utures.gif[/imgright] As the dinner party on legs ambled ever closer to home, one more creature greeted them. The sea turtle, the most mysterious of her pets, had come upriver for reasons unknown, and had settled in without invitation or pretense. She knew where she belonged. Strange Creature found this admirable. She liked that feeling of belonging, of knowing that you were home. It was one of the things that had felt the most wrong to her in the mountains- knowing that she wasn’t home, and fearing that she never would be again. But just as Warmth Nurtures had found her way to them, she’d found her way home as well.

Cold Kills floated over, resting near the solid sea turtle. The two of them were counterparts in many ways. Both had found their way here, one through something frightening and one through nothing other than her own satisfaction. It was an interesting thing, considering the world through a sea turtle’s eyes.

A nudge from Trouble Double, and the two of them were out looking for the birds and the bees. Eggs and honey sounded like the order of the day, and the two were quite good at finding it together. Strange Creature had learned many things from her reptilian friend. Foraging for honey was one of them. Together, they burst through a rotted log, sending a scurry of delicious grubs fleeing at the light. She lifted the tegu up so she could retrieve the contents of a nest. The two pawed along the shore looking for duck eggs, and once they were satisfied, they returned back to where the group was settling in for the night. She looked them over one by one. Shiny scales, flicking tongues, bright eyes. Each one of them perceived the world according to their species’ needs. What did that mean for her? Kin were too big to be eaten by eagles, but her world had gotten so much smaller in the past months. It felt wrong. It felt like she wasn’t seeing the world as… not just as herself, but as a kin. She felt almost like something else, like prey– but here she was, surrounded by things that could also be eaten. She’d never let that happen, but it could. And yet, none of them lived the way she did, dreading what might be overhead.

As she looked over her coterie, she felt a pang of… something. Not quite loneliness, but… something. These creatures were her family, but she couldn’t forget that she had actual living family as well. She’d raised a clutch of children, and they’d gone off on their own, as children do. But it had been some time since she’d seen them. Perhaps… perhaps one day after she’d recovered a bit more of her boldness. Perhaps when she could her attention to the ground once more, she could seek them out, see how they fared. Find out their stories. Story. She should look for him, too, the buck she’d confused for a tree. How was he doing, after all of this? She was curious–

She was curious.

She was curious!

For the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, she was questioning things beyond her immediate survival and noticing it! She wasn’t thinking about the dangers of the route, but she was simply allowing her mind to wander as she wondered. And now that she was thinking about it, there was a sudden lightness in her. No little voice admonishing her to shut down and pay attention, no! She was allowed to think about things other than her trauma, and for the first time in so very long, she felt like she could. With a whoop, she kicked up her heels. Several pairs of eyes watched her as she laughed to herself, happier than she’d been in as long as any of them could remember. The creature they shared their home and lives with was certainly strange, but they liked her. She took care of them, she fed them, she made sure they were safe. She helped them when they were shedding if there were patches they couldn’t get off. She let them steal heat from her at night, and she let them bask on her broad, dark back during the day. She was a willing partner in nest raids, and tall enough to help gather honey. She never ate their eggs but was happy to help them find others’, and she was a constant presence in their lives. It had been distressing to them that she’d been so poorly for so long, and each creature processed this reaction through their various social intelligences.

Strange Creature wasn’t paying attention to that, though. She was too busy being delighted with the metaphorical dam bursting. Here she’d felt that curiosity was too dangerous to allow back into her life, but clear as day, she was curious about something again. Even if it was just the lives of kin she knew, it was a vast improvement.

She really was getting better.
[wc: 2093]