Con squinted as she stared into the distance, hidden in a patch of tall grass next to the riverbank. Flow laid next to him- although the blue Tsabhua didn't seem to have spotted the thing Con was concerned about- at least not yet. The only reason Con had noticed the two whelps, one orange Tark'ee and one beige belemoid, was because he had heard their laughter over the trickling flow of the river. Since Flow couldn't hear anything, there wasn't a chance that she had noticed the strange whelps without pointing it out. Still, as soon as Con had crouched into the grass, Flow had followed without much prompting. "Look" Con signed at the other Tsab, before pointing at the whelps. The two seemed to have noticed the colony around them, and were looking around slightly panicked. Judging by the baskets the two had been carrying, they had likely been out foraging- and thus would have been stealing from the colony's grounds. Con quietly squealed with joy as he realized this- surely the adults would praise him when he caught these strangers? "Who are they?" Flow signed back, frowning slightly as the two watched the whelps stumble around. One of

them had pulled out a map and seemed to be trying to figure out where they were supposed to be heading. Con shrugged. "Go say hi?" Flow seemed a lot more optimistic than Con, who rolled his eyes at her. Flow didn't seem deterred by his demeanour though, and instead popped out of the long grass that grew along the riverbank, waving at the two other whelps from a distance. Con tried to get Flow's attention back, but the other Tsabhua had already wandered away, so he quickly gave up on that plan. Instead, he rushed after her. As accommodating as the colony was, there was no guarantee that whelps from other colonies, let alone tribes, would be able to sign back at Flow- and ad much as Con wasn't a fan of strangers, he didn't want to put Flow trough the struggles of communicating. The orange Tark'ee had noticed them first, looking a bit startled as two Tsabhua came running at them from the distance, slowed down a bit trying to find a path trough the shrubs that dotted around this side of the colony's clearing, The beige belemoid didn't seem phased- although they still tensed up a bit,

as if preparing for a potential conflict. Flow had excitedly waved at the two from a distance, which seemed to ease both foreign colonists a bit. When Flow and Con arrived to their site, they still seemed a bit hesitant- even more so when Flow started signing to them. The beige belemoid gave the orange Tark'ee a strange look, not quite sure what to do. "Flow wanted to come say hi." Con explained. "She uh- can't hear though, so she talks with her hands." The two strangers nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense!" an awkward silence fell over the group, untill the two foreign whelps offered them a basket, filled with familiar-looking berries. "Ah, would you two like some berries?" Con squinted, wondering if it would be wise to point out that these were technically *their* berries in the first place- he didn't have the time however, because Flow excitedly dug in, grabbing berries from the offered basket and shoving them in her mouth. Con sighed, looking at the two Xunari that Flow seemed to have decided were their friends now. "Would you guys like a tour of the colony then? I can probably show you around for a bit before

you have to go back."