Lady was so busy with the fish that she stopped paying attention to her surroundings. The thing was delicious…

--[i]Eels are better.[/i]--

… not as good as eels, but smelled way better than the fish dredged out of the big river in Grada. Obviously the water here was much cleaner than in the capital, where all the waste and garbage eventually found their way to the river. Just as she was munching the soft meat on the fish’s stomach, someone appeared behind her. Lady turned around, ready to fight some lousy fisherman, and…

--[i]SWEET BASTET![/i]--

screamed out in horror. A huge long mouth full of sharp teeth was hovering right next to her. Without even a split second of hesitation, Lady sprinted to the nearest tree and climbed up faster than you can say ‘eel’. From up there she could take a look at what was hiding behind the mouth. It was not looking good. A gargantuan crocodile, still wet from swimming in the river, was occupying the clearing now, blocking her escape route. She had seen some crocodiles before in the capital, the poor things were mostly locked up in cages, shown to humans for money, but they were way smaller. Also, they didn’t talk.

Just now, Lady remembered the unusually large tent. Could crocodiles build tents? And what about the fireplace?

--[i]Forget the fireplace. Can they climb on trees?[/i]--

Lady was fairly certain that they couldn’t. On the other hand, the beast was so tall that it could probably reach her just standing on her back feet for a second. Or tear the tree down completely. For now though it seemed quite friendly. The fact that it was just standing there, not looking aggressive at all (if a thing with so many teeth even can look ‘not aggressive’), spoke in the crocodile’s favor.

--[i]They said hello instead of just eating me.[/i]--

Yes, and there was the fact that the creature chose to greet her instead of eating her. Although to be honest, Lady would hardly be more than a cocktail snack for them.

[b]”Uhh… hello,”[/b] she said hesitantly from the relative safety of the tree. [b]”Was that your fish? I’m truly sorry about it, I thought it was left here by some lazy fisherman.”[/b] 

[@WolfredWolf]