The Tark'ee whelps they had found were a tad pathetic. Woodland knew that that was a harsh way of putting things, but she hadn't really known any other way around it. The adults seem to have known a time before the bunker, but the whelps were a different story. Malachite was currently busy staring at a small flower growing in the fungal forest. Woodland wasn't entirely sure why the Tark'ee they found in the bunker had been sent with her to resupply the food storage, since none of them seemed to know anything about the plants in L'hatzif, or anywhere else on the planet. She had tried asking about different regions, but the Tark'ee seemed clueless, mentioning something about a portal. The Tark'ee had been too cautious, and Woodland to confused, to really have anything further explained. The two adults, Citrine and Quartz, that had (reluctantly) joined the colony, at least temporarily, had heard various leaders and gatherers mention that they'd need extra food now, with the many new mouths to feed, and had come to Woodland insisting they would help. Woodland hasn't been sure at first, knowing they likely wouldn't have been much help, but eventually agreed. ((Woodland was

ripped from her thoughts as Malachite opened her beak wide, preparing to swallow the flower whole. She rushed over, scooping up the whelp.)) "Nonono! That's not food, Malachite!" The whelp coo'd at her, not seeming to understand. Citrine awkwardly took the green whelp from her arms. "So ah- no pink flowers for eating, huh?" he said, awkwardly. Woodland shook her head, frowning. "No- I'm ah- not entirely sure what's edible to you guys, but those always give us a tummy ache- better to be sure, I'd assume." Quartz nodded. "I ah- feel like we might be hindering you more than helping." The Tark'ee wasn't entirely wrong, but Woodland knew that the offer to help was really all the two had. They likely didn't want to be a burden, especially since they had mentioned gratitude to the colony for taking in them and the whelps they had been caring for. "It's fine, really. I am used to teaching whelps about the land, so you two should be easier to teach. So long as we can keep a hold of this little guy, I suppose." Quartz chuckled. The whelp wasn't particularly useful on their mission, but certainly had a way to keep

the morale up. "So ah- L'hatzif is mostly filled with mushrooms. Most are either very edible or very not edible, so we usually tell less experienced foragers to just bring back whatever so someone more knowledgeable can take a look at them." Citrine and Quartz nodded understandably. "Usually it's me going over them-" "So we just take home whatever for now?" Quartz asked, a tad hesitant. Woodland nodded. "If you feel safe to, of course. You need to make sure not to get any of the plants in your mouth just in case but other than that we'll sort it when we get home. I can help you look over them, too, so you can both learn more about the food options around here." She reached out, gently ruffling the fluff on Malachite's head. "This guy likely won't need the crash course, though." the whelp coo'd again, gently reaching for Woodland's hand with his paws. Citrine seemed grateful at the offered teachings. "It'll be nice to be able to make ourselves useful again. I'm glad this guy will grow up here- I'm sure he'll be taught well." he chuckled "At least when he stops putting everything in his mouth." Woodland

nodded at the two "We try out best. Ah- back to foraging now, though- I see some good mushrooms over there, the ones that kind of look like cheese-" Citrine looked over to where she was pointing, seeing a small mushroom about as yellow as him there. "That little thing?" Woodland hummed "Yea! That one's edible, we should take it with us. It doesn't look like a lot, but we can make a lovely soup out of it back at home, it adds a lot of flavour." Quartz walked over, picking it up. "Seems easy to recognize, we should be able to find more of these, then." Woodland nodded. "It's pretty easy to spot! Hang on, I see another one over there-"