Frostbite was in awe of the Issiq deserts. The colourful sand stretched as far as the eye could see, and while the Tark'ee had heard stories, he was still surprise to see the place in person.

Wait chuckled, likely seeing Frost's in awe expression. "Wait until you see the mines!"

Ah, right, that's why they were here. Bloo had gotten a report that one of the mines in Issiq had caved in, and that the locals would need help clearing it out. Finn and Crown were busy, still mining up silver below the ocean, so their leader had asked Wait and Frostbite to go instead, claiming it would be a good learning experience for the two newer miners.

Frostbite hadn't been excited at all about the task- which fairly quickly changed as Wait described the region to the Tark'ee. His curiosity had instantly grown, and pretty much as soon as they arrived the Tark'ee realized that he wouldn't mind more trips to the region if needed.

"Well, Finn and Seal will be glad to know that they can take less trips here, then. Those two hate the region. They say the sunlight is too harsh for them- I never really got the complaints, to be honest."

Frostbite noticed they had arrived at the mine, and looked on in amazement at how big it was.

As they were admiring it, Ballor popped out from one of the tunnels. "Ah, are you the L'hatzari that promised to help us dig our tunnels out?"

Wait nodded. "That'd be us! Just show us where to go."

Ballor laughed heartily. "Not so fast! You guys will need proper equipment and a safety briefing first. These mines aren't like the ones you are used to back at home."

Frostbite frowned. "I'm sure it's mostly the same, we should be fine to head on in." He looked over at Wait, who shrugged, agreeing with him. "The faster we're in, the sooner we can go home."

Ballor frowned. "I mean, you two are used to L'hatzif- the sand here makes it a whole different story. Without knowing what you're doing you might as well go home- the tunnels would collapse again in just as much time as it took you to dig them out in the first place..."

Frostbite rolled his eyes. Surely Ballor was overreacting. "Thanks for the advice, but we'll take it from here." He pulled Wait with him leaving a frowning Ballor behind.

---

As it turns out, the Issiq native *did* know what he was talking about. They hadn't been digging for long when Wait noticed the sand start to shift. "Uh- Frostbite?" he said, as he watch the sand start rolling down the slope it laid on.

It started slow, but quickly the sand descended faster and faster- luckily, with Wait's warning, both Frostbite and Wait got away just in time.

Wait sighed. The pile of sand had made the tunnel even worse- it would take twice as long to dig it out now.

"Maybe we should have asked Ballor for help after all..." Wait muttered. Frostbite was clearly a bit flustered, unable to deny that maybe his ego had made things harder then that had needed to be. "I suppose we can still ask him." Frostbite answered, jaw clenched. He threw his shovel back into the pile of sand.

Wait smiled at him tensely. "I'm sure it'll be alright... But eh, we might have to stay a little longer to clean up our mess..." he sighed. "Don't think Bloo is gonna be too pleased with that... Oh well. Let's go see where Ballor is hanging out."