Rust had been *sure* she had seen other Xunari across the golden field of wheat, and she had been so excited to go say hi to them. Unfortunately Quartz had taken one glance across the field and instantly denied Rust this simple pleasure. She huffed, annoyed at the restriction that had been set. Surely nothing bad would happen if she just-

Quartz was distracted right now, cutting own the grain and putting it in baskets. Rust was supposed to be helping- but very much wasn't, way too distracted with the Xunari across the field. It wasn't fair at all that he didn't get to play with them!

Quartz was distracted right now- so surely she wouldn't notice if Rust just-

And with that thought, he ran off into the field. The tall grass was easy to hide in, so Quartz wouldn't be able to tell anyways.

Aria, Litto, and Journey had been foraging in the field when they saw something moving towards them trough the grass. Litto had noticed first, sniffing the air nervously. "Are you guys hearing that-"

Aria instantly stretched her neck out, trying to see over the tall grass. They had cleared a small circle of grain around them to give themself some space to work. "I don't see anything? Maybe you heard a huldah?"

Litto frowned, shaking his head. "It sounds way bigger than that, and doesn't smell like one at all..."

Journey had still be foraging away, cutting down small sections of the grain and stuffing them in her pack.

Aria frowned "Wait no, I see something in the grass- Is that a Tsabhua whelp?"

Journey poked her head up, too, now. "Hmmm. I wonder what it's doing here?"

"It's probably just foraging, too." Litto suggested.

They hadn't quite expected Rust to come bounding towards them full speed- tripping over a stray rock and falling dramatically in front of them with an "Oof!"

Aria was quick to help him up.

"Hello! My name is Rust." Rust said, excitedly holding his hand out for the older whelps to shake. "I live over there!" he said, pointing over the hill. "I saw you forage here, and I wanted to come say hi!"

Aria chuckled, amused by the whelps energy, as she gently took Litto's hand and guided him to Rusts so he could shake it.

"It's nice to meet you, Rust!" Journey said. "We've been gathering grain here, would you like to help?"

Rust frowned. He hadn't come all the way over just to be put to work again! He sighed, "I don't wanna work, I just want to play with you-"

The small group had been busy, and hadn't noticed Quartz sneaking up on them to retrieve Rust. She suddenly jumped out of the grass, quickly grabbing hold of Rust before he had the chance to run off.

"Sorry about this, kids." she said awkwardly as Rust struggled in her grip dramatically. "This one wasn't supposed to wander off, and we should really be heading home now- thank you for keeping him occupied, though."

Litto, Aria, and Journey looked at eachother in confusion as the whelp was carried off by Quartz.