THE YAWNING GRAVE / o, joining

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 55%; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"]As if to prove Stocking's point, from the swamp came Aya, the little tortoiseshell slick with mud. The only way you could tell she was a cat at all were the bright yellow eyes and dark angular ears. "Oh, hey!" She greeted Natrium, tail twitching as it trailed behind her. "Are you a new joiner? I'm Aya, nice to meet you!" She hopped out of the main swamp, flicking mud everywhere behind her paws, and added before scaling a tree, "Welcome to Tanglewood!" She'd save species questions for when she wasn't covered head to toe in mud and swamp.