Oak, and ash, and thorn

It was easy to stay inconspicuous when you were so small. She had kept herself low in the swamps when the fireflies came. Glowing fungi hadn’t been a shock at first, the kin lived in the damp places, but the glowing rocks were something else. She needed to get to the mangroves to check on Bog and Mud. There weren’t so many of them that they could afford to lose touch, but something was holding her back from her journey.

Her mud caked nose twitched, duckweed hanging from her back and moss smearing her cheeks and forehead. Something was strange but she couldn’t quite place her paw on it.

Lifting her short legs high, she scouted forward. Once this curiosity was sated, then she would really be on her way to see Bog. Really.

She certainly hadn’t expected to run into two half grown pups without an adult in sight. This was no place for kids to be running around alone! “H-hey you two! What are you doing here?” Her low anxiety was masked by the shaking of her whole rear end to compensate for her nubby, vibrating stub where her tail should have been. Her head dipped low and her head tipped ever so slightly to the side to expose what was once a white spot on her chest, but was now a dingy lighter brown spot caked in mud.

“Y’need to step back just a bit for me hey? Ol’ snaps loves toes fo’ breakfast and it’s a long hobble to get to my friend that can patch you up!”

“Speech”