The little green girl had grown up sheltered and undisturbed deep within the heart of the jungle. Its leafy embrace and fair amount of shade blended seamlessly with the peculiar forest green of her coat and she has been able to effectively use her surroundings as camouflage. It was an instinct nurtured by Kagerou for the girl was to remain unseen and out of the clouded leopard mare’s way unless called upon.

She was always simply Girl. A child to fill the hole in Kagerou’s heart, but who always failed to do so – she was a reminder of the red girl who would never take one breath of the jungle-infused air. Why should this abandoned green thing live, while the red girl of her flesh and blood would never know the joys of life? And so the leopard mare couldn’t ever truly love the green girl.

She had never known the true power of names until a grey warrior had seemed so confused with her lack of one. It had never occurred to Girl that that would be so strange a thing. Girl was what she was, but it didn’t define her as an individual. But it had been a strange, yet familiar, sudden voice in her mind which had solved her dilemma. The leopard mare had passed away but she had bestowed the green girl one last gift born of guilt and regret.

Lucetta.

It was a name that Girl would cherish forever.

For it was a name given from the only mother she had ever known.

But with this gift came her last contact with Kagerou and she was left abandoned once more within the vast jungle. All she knew was how to hide and with this she had retreated deeper into the jungle’s embrace. For the most part, she had avoided well-worn paths that had been walked by numerous jungle-women. When she sometimes ventured closer to the outlying border of the jungle, she’d often seen horses crossing to and fro freely.

Some of the more familiar jungle-women consisted of the grey warrior she had briefly met years ago, the golden lioness that found her when she had first rescued Namir, and a strange mare that seemed overly fond of fire (which she found strange since fire was dangerous in a lush forest such as this). But she never approached these jungle-women. She lived isolated from the others – a hidden secret of the jungle. But she remained intrigued by the independent, strong ladies of the jungle. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever get over her fear of approaching them, but she wasn’t completely alone. Namir usually remained close by unless he needed to go out and hunt.

It was during one of his absences that Lucetta had decided to venture closer to a main pathway in an attempt to scavenge some fallen camu-camu that littered the ground. She would occasionally indulge in some of the plentiful fruits if a troupe of monkeys had recently shaken some of the more ripe ones out of the high-lying jungle canopy.

Lucetta idly wondered when her ocelot companion would return from his hunt. Although she was used to isolation from an early age on, she had grown quite reliant on the familial bond she had formed with the little cub she had rescued a couple years ago. Namir kept her sane and safe from any loneliness piercing her fragile heart. But she didn’t know the spoken language of the other jungle animals and the little green girl sometimes wonders what would happen if she were to approach another of her kind.

It was a scary and bold thought for her to ponder.

Her quiet solitude is abruptly broken by loud noises – twigs snapping and grasses being crushed underfoot. Clearly this was something not even attempting to hide its presence. That could be both bad and good for Lucetta. Since the creature didn’t take care to blend into the jungle, it meant that it wasn’t trying to hunt. But it could also mean that the unknown noises were caused by something confident in its ability to defend itself. Most of the jungle-women generally didn’t announce themselves the way that this creature was doing.

She was torn between removing herself from the immediate vicinity which left the bounty of fruit unclaimed or to stand her ground and attempt to camouflage into the jungle undergrowth. The decision was made for her when a young girl startled her through a series of flailing limbs and high energy. Lucetta hadn’t really had the chance to see the younger members of the tribe before. It was mostly those who were experienced jungle-dwellers she had observed coming to and fro through the lush forest.

The green girl immediately wants to shy away and melt back into the jungle’s embrace. She’s bewildered by such a boisterous greeting and its subsequential  question. Her hazel doe eyes are wide in uncertainty as she stares at the roaned girl. She finally murmurs a subdued greeting in return when it appears the girl isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

“Play?”

Lucetta wasn’t necessarily graceful, but she had long since learned the art of navigating through oftentimes thick and stubborn undergrowth. Since she avoided most of the well-worn paths, she was able to delicately and neatly make her way through the jungle. She possessed plenty of little niches throughout where she had deemed worthy enough to use as shelter or hiding places. Survival depended upon her ability to blend into the background.

This was why she was intrigued by the girl’s suggestions of play. Hide and seek? The thought of hiding for fun was puzzling for Lucetta. But then again maybe the game taught the young children of the tribe where the best places for hiding within the jungle were. Perhaps it was a learning game meant to instill certain skills. Kagerou had certainly enforced the importance of hiding from others within her.

The jungle was vast and difficult to traverse at times, but she had made a valiant effort at roaming about as much as possible through it. Perhaps she was one of the better people to go exploring an unknown jungle with; she was a true jungle native if you will. Lucetta seemed unnaturally calm compared to the other girl’s restlessness, but she did not find the girl’s bright energy alarming. She still remained a bit anxious over the whole social interaction which made her replies rather quiet and uncertain.

“I know of several places we can, uh, explore?”

She blinks in surprise when the matter of her color is drawn into question. Lucetta had never thought of her coat as anything but uninspiring or perhaps even ugly. Kagerou had always been deeply disappointed that her coat wasn’t red like her beloved lost child. This girl’s fascination with her seemingly unremarkable color gave Lucetta pause.

“I don’t really know. I’ve always been this color.”

She sees her slight sullenness and perhaps small envy and she begins to quickly look about the immediate area. Her green-brown eyes find some pretty deep purple orchids growing on one of the tall tree trunks. Lucetta makes her way towards the tree and carefully pulls a little bundle of blossoms away from the plant. After standing before the girl once more, she slowly reaches towards the girl’s black mane and tediously intertwines the sprig into the dark plumage. Stepping back, she smiles gently at the girl.

“My name is Lucetta.”

It feels empowering to finally reveal the precious name she had cherished within her mind for so long.

Lucetta had never known what having a family was like. No older siblings to mess with her and no parents to cuddle with at night when struck with a particularly frightening nightmare. All she had known was a bullying caretaker whose words struck sharper than any knife. But the green girl had never held it against the clouded leopard-mare; she wasn’t supposed to be the one to survive. No, it should have been the red stillborn child who lived, not the green girl who had been left to die within the harsh jungle’s grasp.

She nods in agreement to her sudden promotion to leader and gestures for the other to follow after her. Lucetta fills with a quiet bitterness with mention of her so-called mother. She had had nobody. It was obvious that this girl was truly love and coddled by her family. But the green girl had been left to die and to fend for herself. Even with all of Kagerou’s hurtful words, at least she had been relatively cared for. But then she too had left her alone in the jungle as well.

“Lucky? Well I wouldn’t really know.”

Her words are accompanied with a half-hearted shrug. She was merely speaking the truth after all. She had no idea if her mother had been green, or black, or purple, or even marked like Kagerou had been. She had no knowledge of her lineage. All she had was the jungle’s fond embrace and the little ocelot she had adopted as her brother. Her stride briefly stumbles after the other girl’s words but she is quick to adjust her balance. Staring at her with bewildered green-brown eyes for a moment, Lucetta then turns her head in the other direction in embarrassment. A rosy blush paints her green-hued cheeks and she is quite uncertain she’s never heard nicer words.

“Uh, thanks. I like you too.”

This is, of course, uttered in a quiet murmur. She’s much too embarrassed to be confident in her replies now. Lucetta wonders where the girl gets her self-confidence and liveliness. They remind her of the troupe of tamarin monkey she is quite fond of. Perhaps she would lead Sarkis to play with them for the day. It was exhilarating to have another by her side. She had never had a friend which was of her own species before. And this girl wasn’t stingy with her offers of friendship – something that was quite invigorating for the green girl. Lucetta smiles softly at her companion.

“Yes. A friend is definitely a good thing.”