Cricket Creek Bog Searching

She watches the shape slip forward from the bush and dark, drawing closer and then sliding onto their side. She noted instantly that he was a male by scent, slightly younger than she herself, though he was also built of a lithe form. His colors were pleasing to her eye, red and grey mixed. He did not speak, but lay playfully and listened to the song around them. She smiled at him, intrigued, but took what she considered to be his lead and continued to listen to the insects.

Finally, after many moments of peaceful silence she turned her gaze back towards him. "It is a peaceful night for listening to the crickets. One of the last we may yet get of them until next year. The cold will come soon, and their songs will wait under the snow for the next season." She paused, considering her words, before inhaling and speaking again. "That is why I came here, as I am, so that I might hear them one last time before the cold months." He didn't ask for an explanation, but she thought the silence did.

"Is that why you are here, as well? To listen to them sing their last?" She let her eyes rest on him, wondering now if he would speak back to her. Perhaps she should name herself, and break the spell about them, free his tongue. "I am Asherah acolyte of the Malkaria, I reside within the Copse behind me. And you?" She directly addressed him this time, wanting to hear the voice on such a calm and quiet creature.