Cricket Creek Bog hippopotamus

he snorted, breath coming fast. perhaps, he said, but there was no conviction behind the words. better that his line died with him; now that brook existed (and the others, somewhere, too) they had the burden of carrying his lineage on. poor them.

aditya rose from the swamp, sending water dripping in his wake. i'll leave before your alpha female finds me so close, he told pharaoh, shrugging. maybe we'll meet again, bhai. for now, farewell.

it was effective, he thought, moving through the trees with fewer biting insects at his haunches. sticky as he was, he was protected. 

and he was glad to have found pharaoh here, though pharaoh reminded him of. . .

potential. wasted.