surging waters. [o]

"Na'zyia speaks." "Xolani speaks."

The heat of the day was getting the best of the lanky canine. Despite her very design being built for the hot African temperatures, she'd been spoiled, raised in an area where heat wasn't quite so extreme. Her journey had brought her to Islara, and here, the sun seemed like it was attempting to boil her alive. Xolani himself didn't seem much better off, if his constant whining and complaining was anything to go by. "It's so hot, Na'zee! I don't want to do anything but lay here forever." The Genet groaned, rolling onto his back. The duo were laying near the river at the old campgrounds, with Xolani on one of the three rotting tables. Na'zyia was lying on her side beneath the table, eying the rotting wood suspiciously each time her friend moved. Sprinkles of blackened wood fell on top of her. After dealing with this for what felt like hours to the at-times moody dog, she growled.

"Hush, Xolani! I know it's hot, you don't need to constantly remind me. And stop moving! If you break the wood, you're going to-" She cut herself off when a noisy crack seemed to ring through the small area they were in. The dog quickly rolled to her belly and 'slithered' out from beneath the table moments before a rotted board collapsed onto the spot she had occupied. Xolani skittered to the side of the table, his eyes wide as he stared at the hole he could have gone through. Na'zyia huffed. "You see?" She snapped at him, her large ears swerving back in her annoyance. Zee gave the Genet a final growl before turning sharply and taking off at a slow lope in the opposite direction. In her irritation, she hadn't considered where she would be headed, nor who she could run into. At the moment, she didn't particularly care, either. It was a fatal flaw in her personality. A normally quiet, observant canine, Na'zyia did have a short fuse, and when it was lit, she didn't use her brain.

As she blundered through the foliage, she noticed the sounds of the rapids ahead of her. Behind her, Xolani yelled as he climbed up a tree and leaped across branches like an over-sized squirrel. Or a monkey. Na'zyia ignored him for the moment as her irritation began to die down, replaced with new interest as the two neared the rapids. In her momentary lack of judgment, the dog managed to trip over something - likely a root from a nearby tree - and tumbled, rolling from the tightly-packed greenery and into a more open area. She slid over the mud, stopping just before she actually reached the water. Zee lied there for a moment, taking in deep breaths, before she slowly and carefully stood. Xolani was at her side in seconds, but he wasn't looking at her. The canine followed her companion's gaze until she noticed what he was staring at. Another dog, this one long and lithe just like her. Na'zyia flushed, ashamed at herself for making such a pathetic mistake.

She cleared her throat and shook out the mud and dirt from her body, as well as seemingly shaking the tension off of her body. It helped to relax her, to make the moment seem... less embarrassing, if only briefly. Na'zyia sat down where she was and nodded her head in greeting to the reddish-toned male. "Good day to you. I apologize for intruding so rudely. My name is Na'zyia." Her tone was low, bordering on masculine, though still maintaining a feminine lightness to it. Xolani watched the stranger, pressing his side against Na'zyia's and remaining uncharacteristically silent. Na'zyia was unfazed by this; the Genet was often quite shy around strangers, especially other predators.