Crown watched uncomfortably as water dripped into the cave from the ceiling. The other three seemed less concerned- but then again, they were practically made for swimming, very much unlike Crown, who hadn't even liked swimming. She was more than a little hesitant to slam her pickaxe down into the stone because of this, instead eyeing Wait, Alter, and of course Finn work. The latter of the three raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not going to help? The silver isn't going to mine itself, and we need quite a bit." Crown stammered "u-uh- well it's just- you see the walls here- I uh don't know-" In return, Wait raised an eyebrow at her. "You alright Crown? You're not usually this nervous around the mines." Crown nervously fidgeted with her pickaxe "Uhm well- I think it's just the ocean making me nervous. I'm sure we're fine, down here but-" she jumped up, startled, as another drop of water fell on one of her shoulders. Alter smiled at her reassuringly "These caves have been here for ages- longer than any of us have been around. It'd be such a strange coincidence if it collapsed just now as we're in it. I'm

sure we'll be fine." Crown frowned "I mean, I suppose you're right, But I can't swim as well as you can-" Finn rolled her eyes "C'mon Criwn! Worst case scenario, if the cave does collapse under some weird circumstances, we will pull you out, promise!" "Yea!" Wait chimed in "We wouldn't just leave you behind, silly!" Even Alter tilted his head "We're not even that far under water- I'm sure we can swim you up quick enough." Crown smiled shyly, feeling a bit stupid for even considering the thought. "Thank you guys that uh- makes me feel a lot better." Finn chuckled, gently nudging Crown closer to the cave walls- they had managed to find a place in the rock that shimmered with rich silver ore, and the group had gotten quite excited to bring it home. They hadn't found a reliable source of silver yet, so this discovery was huge! "We need all the hands we can to bring this back, I suppose." Crown added, starting to fill the carts with the shimmering rocks. "We should almost be done, honestly." Wait spoke, looking into the carts. They had managed to fill two of them already, and the third one

was halfway there. "Seems like you aren't meeting your demise just yet, Crown." Finn spoke, peeking into the carts. "We're done already?" Alter seemed surprised- he had only been tagging along because the colony didn't have a fourth miner yet, and had been complaining all morning. "I can't wait to get home!" Finn rolled her eyes "Well, grab your stuff then- let's get going." she said as she threw a last few rocks into the cart. "Great! I wonder if we can grab some fish from the ocean before we leave They'd make a wonderful snack on the way home."