She crouched low in the grass and parted it to stare through. Three kids were playing in the clearing before her.

"Hey! Kwame's cheating again!" one of the girls complained.

"Am not!" the boy retorted. "You're just slow!"

"Will both of you shut up!" the second girl growled. "I can't think with your bickering."

Namib narrowed her eyes with curiosity. These people were clearly playing a game...but what? She wanted to go out and ask, but her mother's words rang through her head.

_"What do we do if we come across any humans?" she asked._

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_"Be friendly!" Namib exclaimed._

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_"No," her mother cooed. "That's you. What do we do if we come across humans?"_

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_"Run away or attack..." She sighed._

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_"Very good!" Her mother encouraged. "Now it's time for the night hunt, so stay out of sight! I love you, remember that!"_

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_"Love you too, ma," Namib whispered._

Watching the people play now, with her mother nowhere nearby, she could ask without having to run like normal. She slowly split the grass more and started stepping out. Before she got halfway out, the boy noticed her.

"Who are you?" He asked cautiously, gathering the smallest girl behind him.

Namib said nothing. She exited the grass completely and sat right outside, tilting her head.

"I don't think she talks," The tallest girl whispered into the boy's ear.

Namib sniffed the air curiously. The three kids glanced at each other. The boy swallowed and crept forward.

"Who are you?" He asked again.

Namib let her curiosity get better of her and slunk forward with him. When she got close enough, she pressed her head to his palm.

"Namib," she squeaked.

He pulled away in shock.

"So she does talk..." the tall girl trailed off, squeezing the younger's hand.

"Did I scare you?" Namib wondered. "I'm sorry."

The boy cleared his throat. "No, it's...it's okay. I'm Kwame."

Namib perked up and smiled. "Could we be friends? I've never had human friends before."

"Never?" Kwame murmured. "How come?"

Namib sighed. "My mother won't let me." she swiped dirt away with her hand.

"Well, Namib..." The two girls approached. "If we're going to be friends, we need to introduce ourselves. I'm Femi, and this is our younger sister Afia."

"Hi!" Afia waved excitedly.

Kwame opened his mouth to speak, but a lion roared in the distance. Femi put a hand on his shoulder saying, _we gotta get the hell out of here_.

Namib was rigid, eyes wide. "That's my mom. I have to leave."

"Your mom's a lion?" Femi raised an eyebrow, then shook her head. "Nevermind, we have to go too before it gets here."

The lion roared again, much closer. Namib spun around and vanished back into the grass with a quick glance back at her new friends. The siblings huddled close to each other an ran back to town.

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had this for the longest time. not a series, but it doesn't relate to a prompt, so I can't post it on arcticspacepenguin