FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

*****

Chapter Sixty

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"You should learn to hunt."

"I know how to hunt." Revaramek arched his neck. He flicked his spines out, trying to glare at Nyramyn. As always, the way she smiled at him, the tiny tilt of her head, it was disarming. Instead of a stern look, he ended up grinning like an idiot. "I've hunted my whole life, you know."

Nyramyn shrugged her wings. She lounged on a stretch of dry moss, hind legs draped across one another. "You haven't hunted one meal since I've known you."

"That's because you keep bringing me food," Revaramek said, seated on his haunches nearby. He waved a paw. "What am I supposed to do, refuse it and go hunt my own?"

The female only shrugged again, ruffling the moss's tiny red tendrils with a paw. "I like hunting for you. Even if it makes me feel like I'm stuck caring for a helpless whelp."

"If you enjoy, then why should I learn to hunt?"

"Hah!" Nyramyn tilted her head the other way, her frills up. "So you admit you can't hunt."

"That wasn't what I meant, and you know it." Revaramek laughed, curling his tail.

"You should say what you mean." She licked her nose, ears splayed in haughty amusement. "Then you might actually get ahead in one of our conversations."

"I doubt that."

"No, you're right." She unsheathed her claws and regarded them. "You'll never get ahead."

Revaramek snorted, giving a playful growl. "We'll see about that. You're as bad as Mirelle."

"Oh?" Nyramyn perked her ears. "And who is Mirelle? Some former lover of yours?"

Revaramek burst into boisterous, rumbling laughter that echoed through the swamp. When Nyramyn gave him a confused look, he held up a paw for patience, shaking his head. After his laughter faded, he ran a single digit back and forth across one of the flexible spines at the end of his tail. Mirelle. The thought of her tightened his plated chest. Whatever befell the village after he was gone, he knew in his aching heart that Mirelle had succeeded. He glanced away with a sigh and a little smile.

"Something deeper than just a lover, then." Nyramyn softened her voice.

"Yes." Revaramek flicked his spines back, muzzle twisting. "I mean, no. Well...we weren't lovers, or anything. We were...friends. Mirelle was...a very good friend, in the world I used to live."

"If you keep going on about this other world, I'm going to start taking you seriously."

Revaramek gave a mock gasp, his bronze eyes wide, tail webbing splayed. "Take me seriously? You'd be the very first, I can assure you."

"So this Mirelle character." Nyramyn circled a paw in the air. "Is she the one who used to hunt for you, in this other world?"

Revaramek groaned, exasperated. "I can hunt just fine!"

"Go on then." Nyramyn cocked her head, swishing her tail across the moss. "Hunt me something, I'm getting hungry."

"What, now?"

Revaramek tilted his head back, gazing up at the towering trees that surrounded the long, narrow stretch of land they rested upon. They'd been out flying that morning, while Nyramyn showed him some of the local landmarks around the home she invited him share. It was just a little cave, but it was shelter, and fresh water. And it was someone to talk to.

They'd landed on a rise with enough mossy ground to walk a while. Black water burbled on either side, the shoreline sloping away into darkness all around. Slithering vines twisted around the trucks of some of the trees. Immense, bright orange flowers hung like upside down bells from stalks protruding from crevices. Insects nearly as big as his paw buzzed around them, while colorful, six-legged salamanders stalked amongst the leaves.

The place almost seemed peaceful, but the scent of poison was everywhere. It reeked as if the bubbling mire was nothing more than bile belched up by the earth. Bitter and foul, the scent of it permeated everything after the fresh rains had finally stopped. As a hatchling, he hadn't known any better. Now he just hoped to grow accustomed to it.

"Yes, now." Nyramyn glanced up at the clouds, swirling beyond the trees. "What are you looking for? Don't tell me you're looking for screechbirds."

"What about them?" Revaramek made a show of everywhere, as if he wasn't actually searching for the colorful fowl. Truth be told, they were the only thing he felt he had a reasonable chance of catching. "They're tasty, aren't they?"

"They're not going to roost above us, though." The emerald female stared at him, her haughty smile and splayed ears returning. "Will you admit that's all you can catch?"

"I can catch plenty of things." Revaramek crossed his forelegs with an irritable huff. "But the swamp's not exactly running wild with deer and goats everywhere."

Nyramyn scrunched her muzzle. "Those are funny sounding names for things."

Revaramek's frills flared up in surprise. "You've never eaten deer, or goat?"

"Never heard of them, so I'm assuming no. Are they good?"

"They're delicious. Much better than..."

He trailed off. Of course she wouldn't have eaten deer, or goat. And what was he going to tell her, that they tasted better the things she brought him? Gods, how insulting would that be? Thanks for the food, but it all tastes like mud and garbage, get something nicer next time. She always seemed so proud when she brought back prey. Nyramyn acted as though it was some great skill for a dragon to keep herself and her friend fed. Revaramek pinned his ears back in a moment of shame when it hit him. Here, in this place? It was a great skill just to be able to hunt enough food to survive.

"Better than what?" She narrowed her ears a little, her spines trembling. She looked as if she wasn't sure if he was about to say something cruel, or just tease her about some delicious meat she'd never get to taste.

Revaramek didn't want to say something hurtful. He hadn't known her long, but it seemed clear that despite her quick wit, she wasn't used to being social. She took offense to jests he only meant playfully. Other times she hung off his every rambling word, as if happy just to hear another voice again. To talk to someone who wasn't trying to steal her water. Or worse. Revaramek swallowed back comments about her food. She was proud of her kills, as she should be. She knew how to survive in this place. In the weeks since he first met her, her survival skills put fresh water and edible meat in his belly. Her kindness kept him alive, and he would not belittle her.

"You're right." Revaramek smiled and padded over to sit just in front of her.

Nyramyn blinked, tilting her head. "About what?"

"I don't know how to hunt." Revaramek spread a copper-splotched wing, gesturing at the swamp. "Not here, anyway. Regardless of whether you believe me about where I came from, I don't think I could survive in this place. I can catch birds now and then, but that's about it." He peered out across the black, burbling water. A large, shelled creature rested a high bough in one of the ancient trees. "I could probably catch that thing, though."

"The tree turtle?" Nyramyn gave him an incredulous look, flicking her tail spines to full extension, then folding them again. "You'd catch the tree turtle, would you? Make a nice lunch for yourself?"

Revaramek flattened his spines. "Let me guess. It's poisonous."

"The turtle isn't." She stretched her foreleg, and tapped unsheathed claw tips all along his muzzle and down his throat. "But every one of those waving tendrils on its back has a hidden spine, and every spine has barbs that stick under your scales. And yes, every barbed spine is venomous. A few of them wouldn't kill a creature your size, but your whole face would swell up till your scales popped right off."

Revaramek tilted his head to nose at her paw. "That sounds unpleasant. But you see? That's what I'm talking about. I was barely a hatchling when I left here. I could speak, but only just."

"They say memories begin with speech."

"Yes, and I hardly remember what's safe to eat. And I wouldn't know how to go about hunting anything other than the birds and...oh! I did catch a few of those...spider-snakes, I think you called them."

She gasped and yanked her paw back, her eyes wide. "You ate spider-snakes?!"

"Yes...why?" Revaramek's heart skipped a beat. Oh gods, what did he done now? His frills drooped. "Are they toxic? This was before I met you."

Nyramyn looked him over, tail tip twitching. "How many did you eat?"

"I don't know, a half dozen or so."

The female dragon peered down between his hind legs. "They don't seem to be affecting you yet. Maybe there's still time to get you the antidote. It usually takes at least a few weeks for the toxins to really affect a male."

"Affect a male?" Revaramek's frills stood on end. Everything else felt like it was shrinking in fear. "What does it do?"

"Well, first you get all swollen down there." She waved her paw at his male parts. "Not the fun kind of swollen, the bad kind. Severely so."

Revaramek whined, shifting his weight on his hind legs. "What's the antidote?"

"And then it all just..." She waggled her claws. "Falls off."

"What?!"

"Hrrrmmmm." Nyramyn made a thoughtful growling noise, staring down at him. "Luckily for you, yours looks anything but swollen."

"That's, good, right?" Revaramek glanced down at himself, then grit his fangs. "Waitaminute."

"Why, if anything, I'd say yours could stand to get a little larger."

"Shut up!" Revaramek laughed, tossing his head.

"They're not really poisonous." Nyramyn laughed with him, the same infectious, musical laughter that first drew him to her through the storm. The laughter that saved his life. "They just taste like shit."

The memory of the spider-snake's bitter ichor made him scrunch his muzzle. "That they did. You're worse than Mirelle."

"Oh? She enjoyed teasing you, did she?"

"Yes! Incessantly." He hissed, trying to fight back his grin. "Like a real harpy."

"What does that mean?" She tilted her emerald green head, dark bronze-copper eyes gleaming.

Revaramek loved that she always wanted to learn new words. "It means...well, in this case, a cruel, cruel mistress."

"So you were her slave?" Nyramyn scratched her neck with a wing tip talon, her muzzle scrunched. "I thought you said she was your friend?"

The dragon bit back laughter. "No, I...maybe that didn't translate right. I only teased her about being cruel, because when she'd get really angry, she'd..." Revaramek trailed off. Better not give Nyramyn any ideas. "Why, she'd pinch the tips of my ears."

Nyramyn flattened back her own pointed ears. "That sounds uncomfortable."

Revaramek shifted on his haunches. "Oh, you've no idea."

"Surprised you didn't pinch her back." Nyramyn flashed her fangs, then snapped them. "Or bite her!"

"I thought about it." Revaramek licked his muzzle, wondering if Nyramyn realized Mirelle was human. Perhaps he'd broach that, later. "You know, I've a thought."

"Oh?" She arched her neck, ears splayed again. "Is that your first one? Did it hurt?"

"Do you practice that quick wit on your reflection in the water?"

"No, it comes naturally." Her smile faded, and her splayed ears drooped. "It...it's not too much, is it? I...I mean, I wish to be friendly, playful, not...not hurtful."

Revaramek stretched his neck out till his nose brushed hers. "I know. You don't have to explain."

"Very well." She blinked at the close contact. "If I bother you, you're welcome to tell me. I'm...I'm not that used to..."

Revaramek bowed his head in respect, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. "You don't have to explain that ,either. I...I know all too well how nice it is to have someone to talk to again, after...so long without. But, just so you know, it goes both ways. When I say something that bothers you, or hurts you, I don't mean it. And I'm sorry, and...feel free to tell me when I do, so I know not to do it next time."

Nyramyn nipped at his frills. "Or pinch your ear tips?"

"If you must." Revaramek flattened back his spines, away from her teeth. "If I may ask, and you need not answer, am I your first dragon friend?"

Nyramyn cocked her head, one ear perked and the other splayed. "_Dragon_friend? What other creature would I have as a friend? A stingbug? And no, you're not. Just the first in..." She glanced away, swallowing. "Several years, at least." She cleared her throat with a growl, and turned her attention back to him. "So. Your thought. Before I interrupted it."

"Since I've admitted I don't know how to hunt here, I thought perhaps...that is..." He paused, trying to think of the best way to offer. He wanted her to be happy, and she seemed to like formality. So he bowed his head deeper, muzzle brushing the moss. "I'd be honored if you would teach me to hunt."

The green-scaled female brightened immediately. Her frills rose, her eyes shone, and her maw split in a wide, open-muzzle smile. "You want me to help you learn to hunt?"

"Yes! If you'd-"

"Like a little hatchling?"

"That's not the way I would-"

"I'd love to teach you to hunt! It'll be like helping a hapless youngling!" She rose to all fours in a single motion, bouncing on her paws. "This will be so much fun!"

"I really feel I should stress the fact that I know how to hunt. Just not here."

"What do you want to learn to hunt first?"

Revaramek rose to his feet, stretching his forelegs. "How about whatever your favorite food is?"

Nyramyn made a happy, churring sound. "Rrrruuhhhhr! Swamp crab, certainly."

Revaramek lifted his head. "Swamp crab?"

"Yes!" She pushed her nose up against his, her smile and sudden excitement infectious. "Have you ever eaten one? They're delicious! We should go and catch some."

"As a matter of fact, I have." He lifted a paw a little ways off the ground and held it there. "But not since I was about this big."

She glanced at his paw, her wings hanging at her sides. "Really? That long ago? Don't they have them in..." She nudged him with muzzle. "Your other world?"

"So you believe me?" Revaramek set his paw down. "And no, they don't."

"I believe you believe it." With another soft, musical laugh, she turned away from him. Her emerald tail brushed him, the webbing of its fins ran against his neck. "Come on! I'll show you how to catch them." As she strode off, Revaramek stared at her tail. She glanced back, spotting him. "What do you think you're staring at?"

"Your tail, actually." He padded up alongside her. "It's been so very long since I've seen another of my kind."

"Are the dragons dying off in this other world, too?" Nyramyn bumped her haunches against him as they walked.

Revaramek grunted, and returned her gentle bump. The way she put it so casually was a claw in his belly, if she'd already accepted the fate of her people and moved on. Then again, what else could she do? Better to try and enjoy the days she had, to dance and laugh and play in the rain, than to lament what she'd never know.

He shook his head. "No, but they're different there. In lots of little ways."

"Like their tails?" When she looked at him, her eyes shone. Whenever he spoke of his old life, she seemed torn between disbelief in wonder. It was as if she didn't want to let herself believe that somewhere out there was a better world. Yet, whenever he brought it up, she seemed so...hopeful.

"Yes!" He flicked his tail against hers. "Like their tails. See, ours are webbed, but other than my mother, I never once saw another dragon with a webbed tail. And in that world, only the male dragons have tail spines."

Nyramyn scrunched her muzzle. "Why?"

"I've no idea." Revaramek lifted his head to gaze over his wings, at their tails. "And the males' tail spines are different, too. They're thicker. Curved and rigid, not flexible like ours." He flattened his tail spines down, folding the webbing, then flared them up again. "More brute force, less finesse."

"Oh, I don't think I like that." She shook herself, her scales and spines rattling before she smiled at him again. "What else is different?"

"Their paws, for one." He lifted a forepaw, splaying his digits to show off his webbing. "They don't have any webbing."

"How odd." She lowered her head, staring at his paw. "I've more webbing than you. Which means I'm a better swimmer." She lifted her head, smug once more. Then confusion flickered over her visage. "How do they swim without webbing?"

"Poorly." Revaramek rumbled to himself. "But not as poorly as the gryphons."

"What's a gryphon?"

"You don't..." Revaramek scratched his neck. It was hard to remember how few creatures had survived this long, in this world. "Gryphons are...they're four legged, like us, a little smaller than we are. They have feathery wings and furry bodies. And instead of a muzzle, they have beak."

"Like the screechbirds?" Astonishment lifted her voice a notch.

"Yes, something like that."

Nyramyn sneered, shuddering. Her scales clicked. "They sound hideous!"

Once again, Revaramek burst into riotous laughter. The dragon laughed so hard his ribs ached. He had to stop and clutch at his belly with a paw, struggling to catch his breath. His growling, rumbling mirth echoed across the swamp. When he collected himself, he found Nyramyn staring at him, ears half-way back in confusion.

Revaramek took a deep breath, and did his best to explain. "You see, it's funny because they're so vain."

"If I was that hideous I doubt I'd find anything to be vain about." She shrugged her wings.

Revaramek smiled at her, his gaze wandering over her many emerald scales. "Luckily for you, that's not a problem you'll ever have."

Nyramyn flattened her wings against her body. She gave him a sidelong glance, muzzle crinkling as she fought back a smile. "Is that some attempt at a compliment?"

"I thought it was a decent attempt."

"Yes, I suppose I've been called worse things than 'not hideous'."

"I didn't call you..." He trailed off when she thumped him with her tail and giggled. He thumped her back. "You know, half the time I can't tell when you're serious and when you're.... The dragon gasped. "Oh, gods, now I know how Mirelle felt!"

"Well, thank you just the same." She looked herself over, flexing her wings. "I do rather wish I had more markings. Mother used to tell me it was to help me blend in with the moss, and the leaves. And Father would tell me markings were for show offs, anyway." She turned her head to stare at Revaramek's copper stripes and splotches, smirking. "Seems he was right all along."

"So he was."

While she seemingly admired his wings, Revaramek took a moment to do the same of her. Though she lacked his markings, her green scales held a healthy hue that belied the poisoned nature of the world around her. She was leaner than the dragons he'd come to know in the marsh, but survival itself was a gorgeous thing. Her eyes were darker than his, with copper mixed into the bronze. They shone with a strange sort of hope and wonder, as if she was as eager to hear his strange tales as she was to tease him.

"It's not polite to stare." She tossed her head and turned away.

"Says the one gazing in wonder at my resplendent wings." Revaramek folded them back to his body, following her towards the dark water.

Nyramyn flexed her own wings. "I wouldn't use that word. I'd say, you're not too hideous a male to gaze upon."

"Are we back to hideous again?"

"You say that as if you ever left it."

"Well, how about this then?" Revaramek strode up alongside him, arching his neck and stretching his wings, displaying himself. "You need not sport such markings as mine, for their gaudiness could only distract from your great, emerald beauty."

Nyramyn stared at him, her copper-bronze eyes wide, jaw hanging open. A hint of a red-purple blush crept into the ends of her frills. She glanced away, laughing herself. "You are trying to get under my tail, aren't you."

He opened his mouth, then closed it again, swallowing back his witty reply. Right about then was when Mirelle would have berated him for ruining his beautiful words with something crude. So he shook his head, gave her a smile, and padded to the water's edge. "Only stating your obvious beauty. Nothing more, nothing less."

"It's...very sweet of you." She dropped her head, and nipped at his tail tip, making it twitch. "Can't tell if you're being honest, but I appreciate the compliment just the same. In the interest of fairness, I do like your markings. They're rather...handsome." She brushed up alongside him, scales sliding across scales in a way that made him shiver and tingle. "You're a handsome male in general."

"Thank you, Water Ally Nyramyn." Revaramek bowed his head to her, smiling.

"Just because you made it up doesn't make it an official title."

"Does to."

"No it doesn't. No more so than calling yourself resplendent means you are."

"But you just said I was handsome."

"And I'm already regretting it." Despite her words, Nyramyn was smiling. Revaramek loved her smile. Just like her laugh, they were beacons of joyful light in a word of tragic darkness. "So, as your ego clearly cannot handle the compliment, I am forced to remind you..." She nipped his neck hard enough to make him yelp. "That you can't hunt for shit."

Revaramek heaved a great, deflated sigh. His wings drooped to the muddy shore. "I'll never live down admitting that, will I."

"Not on your life." She plopped herself back on her haunches. Beaming, she clapped her forepaws together a few times. "Shall I show you how to hunt swamp crab now?"

That was just about the most adorable thing Revaramek had ever seen another dragon do. He gave her another little bow of his head, sharing her smile. "Certainly."

"Right! So." She splayed her forepaws out before herself. "How are you at diving?"

Revaramek flicked his ears back, confused. "I could outfly you any day. But I don't see what that has to do with catching crab."

"First..." She flicked a single claw into the air. "No you couldn't. Second..." She flicked out another claw. "I meant in the water."

Revaramek's eyes widened, his spines all flared out in alarm, golden frill edges displayed as he stared out across the black expanse. "What, in that?"

"Yes, in that!" Nyramyn slapped her tail against the muddy bank, splattering her green scales with brown-black dots. "Where did you think crabs lived?"

"Well..." Revaramek waved a foreleg along the shoreline. "I don't know, under rocks at the water's edge, maybe?"

"Gods, you really would die out here without me. All you'll find there are the tiny ones. Now, you see those bubbles out there, in the water? Not the big ones, the small bubbles." She pointed to them with a forepaw. "Right there?"

Revaramek followed where she was pointing. A small, nearly imperceptible stream of bubbles lazily moved across the surface of the water. "Yes, but please tell me you're not going out there."

Nyramyn tossed her head as pushed herself up to all fours. Without hesitation, she waded out into the wretched mire. Black water sloshed around her limbs. After a few steps, she was up to her belly in it, and after a few more, she was paddling in a circle on the surface. "So I shall assume you're not very good at-"

"What the hell are you doing?" Before he could stop himself, Revaramek was wading in after her, intent on dragging her back to shore. His paw pads tingled from the contact with the water. He tried to snap his teeth into her tail, but she swam out of reach, laughing. "Nyramyn, come back! This is..." His paws started sliding on the muddy bottom, and he struggled to keep from going under. "This is poisonous!"

"Yes." Nyramyn paddled around, her head high. "Which is why you'd be wise to keep your head out it for now."

"Get...get back here!"

He went after her again, and the bottom dropped away. Revaramek plunged under, the cool darkness surrounding him. Flickers of his battle with Asterbury filled his mind, and the flood that followed. A moment of panic hit him, and he flailed ineffectively, sinking. He spread his paws, used his webbing, but which way was up? Now he was disoriented, and the water was so dark he could scarcely find the surface. His lungs burned.

Then something was under him. Webbed paws pushed at him, propelling him to the surface. Teeth found his throat and shoved his head above water. He took a deep, gasping breath, then patted at Nyramyn so she'd know he could breathe again. She let him go, only to grasp a foreleg in her teeth, and help guide him back ashore. He crawled onto the mud and flopped onto his belly, panting. His pads and wings tingled, half-numb.

"I'm sorry!" Nyramyn lowered her head to nuzzle him, whimpering. "I didn't know you couldn't swim! Just take deep breaths, you'll be alright. I'll do the water hunting for both of us."

Oh, Gods, wasn't that humiliating.

"I can swim just fine." Revaramek coughed a few times. He turned his head away and snorted to clear his nostrils. "I just...I panicked. When I first arrived here, I...I almost drowned. I wasn't ready for that kind of water."

"I'm sorry..." Nyramyn stroked the back of his neck with a paw, cooing to him. "I thought you were just scared because it's poisonous, and because you couldn't swim."

"You said that part." Revaramek lifted a paw to rub his eye, only for Nyramyn to stop him.

She pushed his paw back down. "Don't touch your eyes till your paws are dry. Oh! You you closed your flight membranes, right?"

Revaramek managed a soft chuckle. "Yes. I'm fine." He eased himself back up to his haunches. "Just all tingly, now."

"You'll get used to it."

"Used to it?" The dragon recoiled, his eyes wide. He stretched his wings out to let them dry. "You're not supposed to go in that water at all! I remember my mother being very clear about that. She taught me not to panic...and...I panicked anyway. But she also taught me if I fell in, to swim out as quickly as I could."

"Because you were a hatchling. It's much more dangerous for hatchlings." She shook her head. "My parents never let me near it as a hatchling, either."

"Then why are you swimming in it now?"

"Because I'm an adult?" She sounded exasperated as she dropped onto her haunches. "I'm swimming in it, I'm not drinking it. Adults can tolerate it better than hatchlings."

"For a time, perhaps, but do you know what happens to a dragon exposed to it for too long? What it does to you?" He reached out and set his paw upon hers, his frills drooping. "It's_poison_, Nyramyn. It...my mother, she..." He swallowed, staring down at their paws.

"She lived long enough to raise you, didn't she?" Nyramyn lifted his paw in hers, squeezing it.

"She..." Revaramek didn't have the energy for such an explanation now. "Yes. But I saw the toll it took on her, and eventually...well I was...half grown, maybe..."

"You don't have to say it." Nyramyn moved to sit next to him, splaying a wing to drape it across his back. Gods, how long had it been since he'd sheltered under another dragon's wing? She tilted her head, peering at him with wide eyes, as if truly seeing him from the first time. "You really are from another world, aren't you."

Revaramek gave a bittersweet chuckle, leaning his head against her. "For most of my life, yes. But...why does that make you realize it?"

"Because you're telling me about your mother, as if she's the only one that happens to. As if you...you don't think she lived a full life." She took a deep breath, then let it out in a long, slow sigh. "But here, in this place? If you're lucky enough to have child and watch them grow? If you get to spend your withering years raising your child, and teaching them about the world? Then you have lived a full life."

Revaramek shuddered under her wing. "I'm...I'm sorry, I must sound selfish. I know...I'm not the only one who has lost family."

"I know what you meant, Mister Respledent." She rubbed her wing against his. "I'm flattered you cared enough to try and drag me back. There'd be fresh water for you if I'd drowned, after all. Not that I would have." Nymaryl laughed softly, then waved a paw at the swamp. "Look out at the water. I bet you only see poison, don't you."

Revaramek pressed into her wing, gazing across the burbling mire. "Should I see something else?"

"That's all most dragons see in it. Poison. Death. And yes..." She dipped her slender green muzzle. "It is death. It will kill us. But not today. Or tomorrow. Or next year. And yes, the less you're exposed to it, the longer it takes to kill you. But do you know what will_kill you so much faster?" Her muzzle twisting up. "Starving. Getting...just enough food to stave off death for a few more days. I've seen that. And I don't want that for me. Life is not meant to be a struggle, life is meant to be enjoyed. So what if the swamp kills me someday? It kills _everyone. I know well enough that the poison will build inside me, and I know what that means. But does that mean I should live what days I have in fear, afraid of the horrible black water?" She waved a paw, waggling her digits. "With hunger gnawing at my belly?" When Revaramek didn't respond, she nudged him. "Well?"

Revaramek blinked, struggling to find words. "No?"

"No. I shouldn't. So, whenever I can, I do things I enjoy. I like_swimming." She lifted her paw, splaying it out as if to show off the webbing. "We're _made to swim. Just because our world is dying, just because there's so few of us left, does that mean we should be denied life's simple pleasures? I swim, I dive, I hunt crab from the swamp. Maybe it will eat away at me faster, but do you know what? I don't care. I'd happily live only half as long if it meant my short years were twice as joyful. This swamp will kill me some day, but I'll be damned if I'll let it steal my joy."

Revaramek stared at her, utterly in awe. A new image flickered in his mind, of Nyramyn frolicking in the rain, her laughter guiding him through the storm. So joyful. How could she find such happiness in so dark a place? She stared death in the face and chose not to cower, but to dance. He could scarcely imagine something so inspiring.

"They should tell stories about you." He pushed himself up under her wing, and took a long, shuddering breath.

"Thank you." She eased her wing back, glancing at it as if only now noticing she'd draped it over him. "Do you feel a little better?"

"More than you could know, I suspect." He smiled and gave her cheek a lick of gratitude. "Teach me..."

"How to catch the crab?" She returned his lick, and moved towards the water.

Revaramek followed her into the swamp, his heart alive with song. "Everything. How to live here, like you do. Share with me your joy, and I'll share with you every story I have."