Otatso Wetlands By ways

For @Sovereign

"Well, this sucks ass..." Ensio grumped in his baritone voice. And it quite literally did. The ground on which they traversed was hardly ground at all. They were surrounded by water for miles in every direction. And not pristine, clear water. It was more like a much. Brackish and thick, waist high. It clung nastily to their fur, sucking their limbs down ever further.

His toes splayed, only to make contact with something foul and slimy. He grimaced. He was a mess. His gray scale fur stained beyond recognition. It would take hours if not days for him to be clean again. His companion, he decided with a glance, wouldn't fare any better. 

But at least they were filthy together.

This was no fit lifestyle. "Urrgh. We gotta do something about this. I think something has to change, Sovereign."

Their journey lead them to the Wetlands.
It was swamp-like here, in a way. 
Grimy, wet...Sovereign decided she didn't really like this place, and grimaced alongside Ensio as they traversed the watery landscape.

"What do you mean?" The pale girl inquired to Ensio, responding to his statement - something has to change. 
"I mean, I agree with you, but I want your version of the specifics." She added, scanning the terrain to see if she could find a way out of this place.
North seemed promising, but her gut twisted as her memory flit back to her fuck-up, the murder- nearly fucking dying...yeah, nope, not again, thanks.
East and South...definitely still very wet.
West, from what she could see on the horizon, seemed like trees...that looked more promising.
And directly South, Swiftcurrent. 
"Do you want to join Arlette in Swiftcurrent Creek?" She eventually asked.
Sovereign herself wouldn't mind that at all, but she made a promise to stay with Ensio, and so his word held much weight to her heart.

He slowed to a standstill. He leaned against her slightly, pressing the clean side of his cheek to her face.

"Just...our circumstances in general."He began blandly. His brows pinched. If he could rub his forehead in tiredness, he would.

She wanted specifics. Suggested moving in with Arlette at Swiftcurrent. "That may be best. Especially if they are a stable, established pack. And you have her there, too."He kissed her crown, to lick away some of the muck staining her fur. "I'm just tired of being adrift all this time. I want to try and settle and get some form of stability in my, er...our lives."

The girl listened to her companion and was silent as Ensio spoke his desires.
She braced slightly as he leaned against her, and accepted his lick to her crown to clean some of the muck away.

Sovereign was silent for a long time after her friend finished speaking, before she herself spoke again.

"There is one last trip I want to take before we join Swiftcurrent. I want to go lay my mother's bones to rest." She said, looking to Ensio now with an expression that asked Will you go with me? She knew he would, but the reassurance was sometimes necessary.

They would join Swiftcurrent Creek. But not before one last, important trip. Fixed with the look that Sovereign gave him, he drew in forced breath.

The weight of her words, the meaning in them resonated with him. What remained of her mother. A once great warrior, living on eternal in her mirrored image.

He remembered the burial of his own parents. Of the great significance it etched into him. A last act, a last honor. As someone intimate with loss, he had but one answer, given without hesitancy. 

He pulled her close in a warm embrace. And rumbled into her ear. "Of course." Together he had sworn. And together they be, even in this endeavor.

Sovereign felt her chest swell as Ensio embraced her, rumbling his acceptance of this last trip.
She whimpered briefly, a noise made with relief and joy as she embraced him in return.

Allowing him to decide when to pull away, the Princess murmured for him "I will tell Arlette this plan, and then we will go?" She said it more as a statement, but the question was within her tone for her companion to agree or not.