I blush, dipping my head. It's difficult to be confident when your legs are growing faster than the rest of you and you're in the awkward stage between childhood and adulthood. I bet no one has ever been more eager than I am to grow up. My life feels like it is in limbo, waiting to start. I am not a baby but neither am I able to fully contribute to the jungle like I wish I could. I make a solemn vow to change that as soon as I can. Perhaps one of the warriors would be willing to help.
I straighten, about to attempt to redeem my clumsy introduction, when another unknown face joins the conversation. This one, though. She smells familiar. A bit like... Vi, I think. I give her a curious look as she approaches and a gentle smile to put her at ease. I know so much of what it is like to feel uncertain of your place, and though I don't know why this mare feels that way, the sheepish feeling is a universal one.
“Hello,” I say. “I'm Sette and this is Nayl. Welcome to the Jungle, both of you. Lagertha is the Khaleesi.” I smile with a touch of pride. “She's my mother."
I turn my dark eyes to the older mare curiously. She speaks like she knows the Jungle and I wonder at her story. "And to answer your second question, Nayl, I have lived here all my life.”
As far as I know, this is true. The memory of the broken home I was born into is gone, and in its place is the love and acceptance I have found in the Jungle with the iron gray mare as my sole parent.
the jungle princess