by fuegokid

Prince had found there were areas in the swamp that made him feel a tingle before his beloved flower atop his head would disappear. He didn't like to go across these invisible lines. Standing atop the root of a mangrove tree blinking at the sun coming through the trees and sending little glittering sparkles across the river, he most certainly did not plan on doing anything as unpleasant as loosing his crown, but he could not help but to stare down the stranger across from him.

"Hey you!" He called out, very faintly feeling the tingle at the tip of his nose.
There was no response. Just a big body flowing lazily down the river, staring straight ahead.
Perhaps it was dead.

Slowly it floated to the roots where Prince was standing, pawing at the mangrove.
"ARE YOU DEAD??!!"
It might have been the tingle of the border, or it might have been Prince's loud impatient bellowing blasting through the other esk's train of thought, whichever it was, the bigger esk stirred.

Satisfied with the other esk finally looking him in the eye Prince put on a dramatic tone, worthy a Broadway stage. "I thought you were dead. I have never seen anyone like us dead before."

by hitodama89

After being woken up from its deep thoughts Weary looked around for a while. It had apparently floated further than intended; it hadn't yet been in this part of the swamp nor met this middle sized flower Esk before. Still staying quiet Weary turned its head back towards the stranger, made a low "hmmm"-sound and finally answered.
"Well, I certainly am not alive either. Not really", the Esk pondered and started to turn around. It felt more comfortable staying closer to the center of its own boundary, and this place was definitely pretty far from that area. Before starting to swim away Weary gave a last glance to another Esk.
"And I don't know about others of our kind, but I almost prefer it this way. Living is so..." The words trailed off as Weary didn't really find the words to describe the vague but unpleasantly tiresome memories it had of its previous life as a human. But leaving the thought unfinished didn't seem to bother the larger Esk too much - or maybe it just forget it was about to say something at all - as soon it started to slowly and quietly paddle it's way to the direction it had come from.