Swamped

Sunflower doesn't say a word. He just points to the other muckbeast, which has a familiar lizard sitting on its back.

"Are you sure that's him and not another lizard?"

"Well, most other talking lizards aren't adventurous enough to ride a larger animal in the first place. Not to mention..."

The lizard suddenly stands up and starts dancing.

"I've never seen another lizard with that much style."

"If you're sure." You pause. "But the muckbeast might take it as a threat if we go over there."

"As long as we've got Mortimer's attention first, it should be fine." Sunflower starts walking over. "Mortimer! Would you tell your friend we don't mean any harm?"

Mortimer starts making some strange grunts. The muckbeast responds similarly. Sunflower walks over, and reaches out his hand; Mortimer steps onto it.

"Wonderful. Now, if you could just explain to this other friend that we're concerned the person on their back might be dangerous, and we only want to use the net to restrain that person."

"Dangerous!" Mortimer shouts. "Restrain? Back! Back!"

"Hmm," Sunflower says. "I think he's trying to explain something to me, but he doesn't seem to have quite the right words for it. He seems a bit confused."

"Perhaps he didn't understand what you said?"

"No, that happens sometimes but it's not like this. I'm not entirely sure how to handle it. Well, I suppose we could try to teach him some new words and see if any of those help."

"Teach a lizard new words," you say, a little bemused.

"It's not that hard. Just pick a word that's a bit obscure, and use it in a sentence that makes its meaning clear. Mortimer's bright enough to figure it out after just a few uses. Sometimes even just one."

Well, you suppose it's worth a try. You try to think of a word that might help Mortimer express himself.