A mere three weeks ago, Siyarin and her carefully chosen band of settlers had returned to the swamp, though for some of them - Siyarin included - it wasn't actually a return. She had been shortly after the Jini-msemi's arrival to their home at the base of the mountain her mother had chosen as their new territory, but she had never felt truly at home there. She'd always been deeply intrigued by her ancestral home, by the destroyed lands that had given her her birth name: Jhulsa, charred. Tales of the swamp, as well as the tales her great aunt told of the Mizimu'Tungika, had given rise to her visions of what the Jini-msemi should have been. What the Tutaamka-jivu would be. And with Jackal beside her to focus her, to help her concentrate her energies where they were best suited, to lend his ambition to her dreams, they would succeed where her forebears had failed, she was certain.

She and her mate were new to the swamp, but other in their group were not. Among those who were truly returning to their old lands was Ihamutra, a lioness Siyarin was utterly delighted to have recruited. Not only did she look exactly how a lion of the swamps should look, her nature and knowledge were just as perfect for this venture as her outward appearance. She was a fascinating individual, both deeply curious and deeply spiritual, and precisely what the fledgling Tutaamka-jivu needed, and needed more of. Ihamutra had been among the small party that first stumbled upon what they had since deemed the Heart of the Swamp: the now-guarded resting place of Mama Asali, who even now slumbered obliviously as the swamp ever so slowly healed around her. Like the rest of that group, she had been sworn to secrecy, but unlike many of them - Jackal included - she had not been dubbed an Anakesha, a guardian. She was their Anaanga, herbalist and apothecary rolled into one, and brilliantly enthusiastic at that.

While the Wanakesha watched over the sleeping goddess, Ihamutra instead scoured over every inch of the immediate area, surveying each plant and fungus that grew there - some were known to her, some were not, and others still were somewhere in between. What applications might they have? When she wasn't taking samples, she was running experiments, trying to discover which might be useful for what. To say that she had been busy was an understatement, and Siyarin had mostly left her alone to do as she wished to give her space and time for her work, assured that she worked best that way. Her curiosity had been gnawing at her, and it had been difficult to keep from going and checking on her; Siyarin was dying to look over her shoulder and ask questions, to learn more about her process and what she was doing, but she had to stifle the urge to do so. Irritating the Anaanga would serve no purpose, and might even slow her down, so it was safest to leave her be. As Anaamrisha, Siyarin had more than enough to keep her occupied anyway, but still, thoughts of Ihamutra and her experiments were always in the back of her mind, slowly eating away at her patience.

Finally, finally, she received news that the mottled lioness had something for her to see, and Siyarin didn't hesitate to drop what she was doing and make her way to the Anaanga's work area. At first sight, there was nothing impressive in her immediate view, just Ihamutra bustling about amongst a chaotic assortment (perhaps she had some system, but at first glance Siyarin could see no obvious organization) of samples and concoctions and who-knows-whats. Though she was expected, Ihamutra looked almost surprised to see her, and stopped in her tracks to freeze and blink at the Anaamrisha for a moment.

"Ah, there you are," she rasped in her soft voice. Siyarin often wondered if her voice was naturally that soft, or if it was an affectation; she had even asked once, but Ihamutra had continued on as if she hadn't even heard the question. She hadn't asked again.

"I'm told you wanted to see me?" Behind her, Jackal, who had both delivered the message and escorted her here, stood back and observed. He, too, was curious to see what Ihamutra had discovered, but left it to his mate to ask the questions. She was, after all, the one in charge here.

"Hm? Oh, yes, that. That, that..." she trailed off into a mumble, looking around her at the wide array of samples and concoctions for several long seconds until her gaze landed on what she wanted. "Yes, that! This." She touched a paw against a shallow dish of curved tree bark, housing a mysterious mixture of questionable color.

Siyarin raised a brow. "Which is...?"

"Which is amazing!" Ihamutra finished, going on to elaborate, "It induces a dream-state, a deep dream-state, dreams so real they feel...well, real."

Jackal couldn't help himself, he had to ask, "Wait. You ate that? Is that really wise? You're not eating all the samples you take, are you?"

"No, of course not!" Ihamutra snorted. "Well, yes, I did eat it, but I haven't been sampling everything. Not myself, anyway. I asked the Wanatisha to bring me a subject, and Kala Cor was most accomodating and found me a serval. Most of the things I fed him didn't do anything, but this particular mixture was quite successful, if I do say so myself. I gave it to him twice and observed before I tried it myself, so I was reasonably certain that it was safe."

The Anakesha looked around and observed, "I don't see a serval."

"Oh, he died," the Anaanga said, flicking a paw in a dismissive gesture. "I fed him something else, and it didn't go as well. Kala took the remains out to the border."

Oh. Well then. Before he could make any further comments, Siyarin spoke up again, "Can I try it? Not whatever you fed him last, of course, I mean the dream paste."

At the same moment that Jackal said "You can't be serious," Ihamutra was saying "Absolutely!"

The sandy male heaved a sigh. Fantastic. Of course she'd want to try it. This was the lioness he'd met wandering about sleep-deprived of her own volition, just because she wanted to see what it was like. "You're sure about this?"

"Ihamutra's fine, isn't she? There's nothing to worry about."

"Exactly," Ihamutra agreed, and all he could do was shake his head and sigh again. This was going to be a very interesting day.