“<What the hell are you?>” Marsh jumped a little, feathers along their tail puffing before they turned to look at the scarlet, almost black-scaled Saxhleel behind them. The hatchling huffed, ears flicking back as they withdrew from their vantage point of the strange village they’d found while exploring.
“<I’m Saxhleel!>” How hard was it to see that? Marsh settled back on their legs, tail curling alongside them. The stranger looked over them, then their nose wrinkled.
“<Are not.>”
“<Are too!>”
“<Are not!>”
“<Are too!>” The other hatchling’s face twisted in a weird expression, their teeth baring in a clear display of anger.
“<Are not!>” Then the stranger shoved Marsh-Eyes, hard, sending them tumbling down the slope that led to the swampwaters below. The hatchling yelped when they hit the water, limbs swishing uselessly in the scummy and mud-clogged waters, no sides or bottom to catch to help them ashore. The brief moments where Marsh’s head was above the surface they thought they saw the scarlet-scaled hatchling, but they kept sinking, and then they couldn’t breathe.
Why couldn’t they breathe?
Marsh opened their mouth, but their lungs wouldn’t fill with water. And the water that went up their nose felt…wrong. Why did it feel wrong?! The hatchling sank, panicked and choking, hoping for some solid ground to climb up, but there wasn’t any. All they could see was just…murky water.
A concussion in the water made them start, just as their chest and head was starting to burn, a muffled throbbing pulsing through them. It was when the edges of their sight started to get dark that they saw something move in the water near them, and then squirming when hands grabbed their arms, pulling them through the water. It was when the swimming thing broke the surface, lifting Marsh’s head out of the water that the hatchling coughed, hacking up water that had gotten in their throat and nose, shaking their head while whimpering. They realized the swimming-thing was Jeer-rah, who was also glaring at the silent scarlet-scale on the shore.
“<What the fuck is wrong with you?! They can’t swim yet!>” they snapped, Marsh feeling their powerful tail beating the water behind them to keep them at the surface. The hatchling started to shiver, scared and afraid of being in the water now.
“<J-Jeer, I’m scared…>” Jeer-rah nodded, shifting in the water to allow the shaking hatchling onto their back, swimming to the shore. The scarlet-scale said nothing, quietly observing as Marsh clambered back onto shore, damp and still coughing on occasion. Jeer rubbed their friend’s back soothingly, concerned about Marsh’s apparent intolerance for water before glaring up at the still-silent Saxhleel sitting there.
“<The elders were right. You’re messed up, all of you.>” Marsh sneezed, shivering before drawing closer to Jeer.
“<I wanna go home.>” they mumbled, still shaken up.
“<…yeah, okay… Let’s go.>”
vvardenfellcat 