Well, the swamp was definitely not somewhere Varle liked to be. Her preferred the denser Tengel forest, but the Baian Swamp provided a larger range of insects, believe it or not. They were much different from the ones back home, and Varle wanted to get a taste of them. But this rain was really killing him!
He pulled his paws from the muck and wished the trees weren't so saturated. If they weren't, he could use the sticky pads on his feet to hop from branch to branch and navigate more effectively. But that wasn't the case, to he continued his slow pace, careful to keep a mental map of the swamp in his mind. He wasn't sure how reliable it would be, but it would at least lead him in the general direction of home.
He was walking through a particularly thick clutch of trees when he stepped on something soft and warm. A little yelp of surprise escaped him, and he looked down at where his feet had been. In this sheltered portion, there seemed to be someone escaping the downpour.
His red eyes scanned the form, but his brown fur was hard to decipher from the mud and muck around.
"I'm so sorry," Varle finally said with a frown.
"I, uh, didn't see you there," he added with a somewhat apologetic smile. He wasn't used to running into others, and this was surely an awkward situation for the lucain.
{1.1}