Otatso Wetlands I'll follow the sun

To her delight, the monotony of the cave was soon broken by an excursion outside, and even though it was through some mucky wetlands, Lily was still enjoying herself immensely. She beamed as Lennon sang, swaying her tail slowly to the rhythm of his song. She was having more fun than she had had her entire life--and for Lily, who exuded fun, that was saying something.

"I'm fantastic!" she answered Lennon's question, her dark lips stretching into a toothy grin. Lily giggled and gave Ali a playful nudge to the shoulder with her nose. "It's only a bit of dirt," she teased, orange eyes flashing. "Just pretend you're on a secret mission, and you have to disguise yourself as a. . .oh, I dunno. . .swamp. . .monster?"

The thought of swamp monsters--what on earth would that look like?--did her in further, and she laughed once more before falling silent, waiting to hear what Lennon had to say next. They were a nice-sized group: any smaller and it might have been awkward; larger, and Lily would have felt like a meaningless face in a crowd. This was absolutely perfect.