"I want to build a greenhouse," was the first thing Feldspar said to her early that morning. So early, in fact, that the younger sun had yet to crest the horizon. The only other people were maybe Sam and definitely Amber. The colony's newest whelp had way too much energy, in Onyx's incredibly correct opinion.

Apparently, this early was the perfect time to start a construction project.

"The others say you're the one with the most experience in these lands," Feldspar explained. "I know the desert is not an ideal place to grow herbs. But believe me, these plants can be pretty hardy if only given enough water."

Onyx nodded. Most of their territory was long, sweeping expanses of sand and surging dunes. Not exactly a good place to grow crops. But with the right greenhouse technology that shouldn't be as much of a problem. No, the real challenge would be finding the space to build the thing.

"Yeah, I think I know a spot."

Which was how Onyx and Feldspar found themselves standing at the widest part of the canyon. Tall sandstone walls towered over them, their long shadows slinking across the sand. Amber had also decided to tag along too on account of having nothing else to do besides be a baby and get in the way.

And get in the way she did.

When Onyx crouched down to start digging into the sand, Amber happily trotted up to kick the sand back into place. And when there currently was no sand left to kick, the pest would plop her butt down and wait for there to be some.

"Amber, please," Feldspar sighed as the whelp pranced right in front of him. He and Onyx held the glass they were carrying even higher as the whelp tried to smack at it.

At this rate they weren't going to get any work done.

But at last they managed to get the base ring set up. It stuck up about half a foot from the sand, and from there they could easily slot the curved glass pieces into it to form the dome's main body.

But most importantly, Amber seemed hesitant to jump over it, so the pair had themselves a glorified baby gate. About time, too.

"There, that should keep her out of our fur," Onyx declared with a grin.

"I'm not sure I'm optimistic," Feldspar replied, watching Amber gnaw at the metal with all the ferocity she could muster as a baby…

In all honesty, Onyx wasn't entirely sure what Amber was. According to Sam and her own non-stop chatter, she was clearly Intelligent, although still a baby. Perhaps something like the aquatic tark'ee the colony had only really glimpsed in passing. Maybe.

Sam wasn't certain either.

Speaking of Sam, Onyx glanced up at the crunch of sand underfoot to see the researcher approaching. They eyed the mess -most of it Amber's doing- before turning to Onyx and Feldspar for an explanation.

"We're building an herb garden!" The black tsabhua called out, tail flicking in greeting.

At her words Amber's head snapped up. She let out a cry of "Jam!" before bounding over to go say hi to the resident researcher.

Unfortunately, since she was already over four feet tall at the withers, she ended up bowling over the poor lizard instead. Not that Amber minded as she immediately dropped to her belly on top of them, extracting a pained yelp in the process.

Onyx didn't bother stifling her laugh. Ah, kids, what would you do without them?

Meanwhile Feldspar barely looked up from his work digging thin troughs through the sand. The soil here was looser and less nutrient-dense than the rich dirt of Mireh he was used to. But Feldspar was confident he could find a way to coax life into the tiny sprouts.

Sam had finally extracted themself from Amber's clinginess and jogged over to join them. "What kind of plants are you guys planning to grow here anyway?"

Onyx instinctively turned to Feldspar for explanation. This whole thing had been his idea, after all.

"Mostly healing herbs," the cream tsabhua replied. "With how irregular supply shipments are coming, I figured it would help to have a more renewable alternative."

Onyx couldn't help but wince at that. It had recently seemed like DPIP was too busy dealing with some nebulous force to bother sending regular medicine and building supplies. Yet lax as they were, maybe Onyx shouldn't have been so abrasive to the poor representative over comms.

"Interesting," Sam nodded. They were currently trying their best to ignore Amber as she batted at their scaly tail like a feline. "Will irrigation be an issue?"

Feldspar frowned in thought. "It shouldn't be. Remember when we paid extra for this specific kit? It comes with some extra sprinklers that should turn themselves on fairly regularly."

"They should be in the box over… somewhere," Onyx added. Even though she didn't know that for sure, but that's where she would put them so that must be right.

"Sure, I'll go grab those," the researcher nodded before trotting back to the containment crate. Amber of course followed along, loping at their side like an oversized dilev.

The packing crate lay abandoned in the shade of the canyon, the last few components more strewn about it than left in. It would take Sam and Amber a hot minute to dig out the correct pieces they needed.

As they did, Onyx decided to take a break, sitting back to examine their work so far. Sloping, slightly-green walls of glass rose up on either side of them like a pair of hands. Storm resistant, heat resistant, and resistance resistant- this bad boy wouldn't be going anywhere. And as soon as they popped the last piece on top, the dome would finally be completed.

There was just one problem.

"Feldspar?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's the door hole?" Onyx asked.

At that Feldspar looked up, eyes widening as he quickly realized their predicament. "Oh, that's… did they not send us one?"

"It may be one of those extra pieces included kind of deals," Onyx suggested. Like something Sam had mentioned once called an "IKEA". Apparently they used to send a handful of extra pieces just in case one got lost.

And like idiots, they had assumed that this extra wall piece was part of the main thing and built it right in.

To make matters worse, Onyx glanced over towards Sam and Amber only to see the latter visibly wince. She especially didn't like how they immediately began walking over with the manual.

"Don't tell me we have to take it all down and start all over again," Onyx whined. To which Sam responded with an apologetic shrug.

Well wasn't this her lucky day.