Aamu pounced eagerly back and forth between Firelight and Lohi as they walked over the dried mud pathways of the forest. Occasionally they passed flower hound tracks pressed nice and neat into the mud, but these had been made when the ground was wet, and were no doubt weeks old. The spring colored welp darted under Lohi's legs every so often, almost making the Tsabhua trip more than once. But Lohi would let the welps have their fun.

Today Lohi and Firelight were taking Aamu and the newest welp of the colony Arripis out foraging. Kielo had taken Daav to Port Celeste and Tarin and Talvi had taken the others out to learn about the local minerals.

Arripis was slightly more subdued than Aamu but soon she had him playing tag as they made their way deeper into the trees and towering fungi. Around them ancient trees sprang towards the sky with mycelium growing in swaths over them as though someone had gently laid a curtain down on every other tree. Some were bright with slime molds, and others were drab and dry. Still others teemed with tiny insects, harvesting the mycelium for their own colonies.

The group wasn't after any of these particular mycelium however, so on they traveled. Soon they came to a clearing where Lohi and Firelight stopped them. Arripis looked up at Firelight, "Is this where we're foraging today? What are we looking for?"

Firelight answered, "This is a great spot for Purpleberries, and there might even be some sythe or clerom in the underbrush if either of you can squeeze under the berry bushes far enough."

Aamu and Arripis grinned at eachother, there would be no berry picking between the two, they would be too busy looking for the small mottled blue and purple striped mushrooms.

Lohi chuckled at Firelight as they watched the welps scamper off, "At least they wont be eating all the berries before we can even leave the clearing. Was it Fleet and Liila who ate them all last time?"

Firelight nodded as she leapt up a particularly large mushroom cap, it wobbled for a moment but when it didn't topple she proceeded to gather the berries growing up high. The bushes here were wide and quite tall, and they didn't want to forage one area barren, so they would take some from up high, and some from down low, but never stripping a whole area to nothing. She glanced down at Lohi, "They had a bellyache the whole rest of the day and night afterwards."

"I bet that taught them a lesson at least."

While the adults gathered berries, Aamu and Arripis were a crossed the clearing beneath a different bush, "I think I see something! Its dark though."

"Maybe go ask Lohi for a flashlight." Came Aamus voice through the brambles beside him.

"No I mean the mushroom, its dark. Is it a good one?" Arripis hadn't been foraging yet in El Hatzif and he wasn't sure what all could be used by the colony.

"Oh, it could be a shadow cap, grab it."

"Theres nothing poisonous right? I wont get burned or anything?"

"Im sure its fine...probably."

Arripis grumbled a little but plucked the shroom carefully with his claws and wriggled his way out of the tunnel he'd made backwards. He bounded over to Lohi and Firelight and held up his prize, "Is this something we need?" He asked, a bit breathless from his efforts.

Lohi looked down and smiled, "Oh a shadow cap, nice work Arri. We use those for a lot of different things. When we get back home we'll show you a few of the things we use them for."

The tan and white belamoid beamed at Lohi as he put the shroom in the offered foraging bag and scampered back over to his bramble tunnel and Aamu.

"You were right, it was a shadow cap!" He exclaimed, "I bet there's more if I just push past a bit more of these canes."

"I haven't found anything yet, but Ive been watching this beetle eat a rotten berry. Come look!"

Arripis gasped and began pushing past the bramble that separated their little tunnels so he could see the beetle as well.

Meanwhile Lohi and Firelight had picked a good number of berries and were now sitting on a mat of mosses checking in with Kielo using their datapad. Kielos face was on the monitor and the two could see a bit of the port city behind her, "Daav seemed to be really excited once the teacher showed him the instruments designed for Belamoids, I figured it would be okay to do some errands for a bit. How's foraging going?"

Firelight answered, "Arripis found a shadow cap, maybe more, and there are still plenty of purpleberries in clearing b5 for at least several trips."

Firelight and Lohi chatted a few more minutes with Kielo before ending the call and calling Aamu and Arripis back. "Lets start to head back, I think we have enough for today."

The welps nodded and excitedly told the adults all about how deep under the brambles they had gone and all about the beetle they'd watched eat a berry. Arripis seemed to have lost a bit of his shyness and spent the walk home asking questions about all the different things they passed from mosses to mold slimes and insects. A few things Lohi had to take pictures of because neither of them were sure what a few of the insects were, but between the researcher, Kielo and the databank they could access back home they were sure they'd figure it out.