Mushrooms as tall as trees stood around them in all shades of red. Their undersides a pale yellow in color and the tops had circles of a slightly brighter yellow color then the trunks. Moon Stone was not too sure she would ever get used to it. Mushrooms were small and good for putting in stews. Not for being trees. She had overheard Kel talking to Kya about a mining trip to L'Hatzif and decided that now that she was an adult she also wanted to go on adventures.

So she had begged to go and after a rough sea voyage they were finally going to meet the other miners.

"Ah, here they come. Kel said as he gave a Moon Stone a slight bump to get her attention.

Moon Stone stopped looking at the mushrooms and looked where Kel was pointing.

A Tsabhua dull rust colored with a darker rust color saddle was walking toward them. Next to her was a gray almost white Belemoid.

"Those must be Polly and Bosc" Kel said. "Let's go meet them."

Moon Stone nodded and ran ahead. Kel walked at a more sedate pace.

"Hello!" Moon Stone shouted.

"Hello!" Bosc shouted back. "You must be Moon Stone. "

"Hello and welcome to L'Hatzif" Polly said as she greeted Kel and Moon Stone.

"Thank you. " Kel said as he shook Polly's hand.

"I see you are already prepared for mining. " Polly said when she noticed Kel's pick poking out of his pack. "That's great. The mine isn't too far from here."

"That would be great if we could start right away." Kel said. "It's really not too late in the day. Moon Stone and I have already eaten. "

"We also ate. " Bosc said.

"Sounds like we are already to go!" Moon Stone said eagerly.

Polly led them all through the forest of Giant Mushroom trees to a rather large hill that seemed to be covered in mushrooms of all sizes. ((Most of them looked like small bushes with their multitude of mushrooms growing out of the same patch of ground. But there were a few of the towering trees like Mushrooms blocking out the suns light. Moon Stone was surprised to see some of the mushrooms actually look like they were glowing. She would have to come back here to gather up some mushrooms to see if they would be good for eating and healing.

"Hey Moon Stone! Are you coming?" Kel shouted to get Moon Stone's attention. Polly and Bosc had already disappeared into a cave entrance that was partially hidden by a mushroom bush. Moon Stone hurried inside and Kel came in after her.

The inside of the cave was covered in thin strands of white threads that seemed to radiate out from the small white and pink glowing mushrooms. The white strands seemed to creep up the walls and across the ceiling like spider cobwebs. Only these gave off a slight glow making the cave extra erie.

Bosc pulled out a lantern and once lit Moon Stone could see far into the vast cave. She could see where mining had been happening as the walls were devoid of the white thread like strands and glowing mushrooms.

"This is where we have been digging. We found some jadeite over here. " Polly said as she pointed to a spot on the cave wall where there were some indentations of where pickaxes had been used.

" And we found some copper over here. " Bosc piped up from where he had started to dig into the wall with his big claws.

Moon Stone ran over Bosc and started to dig in the cave wall next to him. ((With each scrape of her giant claws reddish brown dirt was flung into the air, along with small rocks that thodded quietly into the dirt beneath her.) Bosc watched her for a few minutes then started to give her tips on how to carve into the dirt carefully to find the precious gems.

Kel watched Polly as she tackled the cave where she had obviously left off from the last time she was here. Dirt and small rocks started to fall out of the hole she was creating. Some times she struck gently and seemed to be working carefully on a spot and at other times Polly would be swinging fast to widen the hole.

Kel took out his pickaxe and started working on the hardened soil. He chose to dig in a separate area and had to first clear the spot of the glowing mushrooms and the glowing filaments.

Kel could hear Bosc and Moon Stone whisper to each other as Bosc gave instructions to Moon Stone but soon all four of them were quiet as they worked on freeing any gifts that the hill would give them.