Diminish frowned. She had been watching the colony's Nukaps for a while now, at the request of some of the ranchers. The boars had recently had nuklets, and the ranchers were extra busy trying to weigh them all to see if they were healthy. Maybe that was why they hadn't noticed that the adults had managed to dig up some odd-looking mushrooms from the muddy soil.

"Are they supposed to have those?" Halt asked, having approached Diminish from behind. The Aquatic Tark'ee had been fetching water with Sting, the latter currently pouring water in the large troughs that were lined up near the fence. Some of the water splashed back out of the trough, landing on the belemoids paws making him jump back with a startled "Eeek!".

Diminish shook her head. "I'm not sure what they are, but they seem to be really enjoying them. Drift tried to take it away earlier, but they tried to bite her!" she gestured to Drift, who was watching the Nukap from the gate, waiting for an opportunity to sneak in and grab whatever they had been nibbling at.

Halt grimaced. Nukap bites were nothing to sneeze at! When she had gotten into a scuffle with them once when she was younger, and the adults of the colony had insisted she visit Matter in order to get some shots and get the scrapes cleaned out, just in case.

They looked over the fence- it seemed like the nukaps in the pen had heard the commotion Sting made, and curiously waddled over to the water troughs. Sting was cursing, still trying to wipe the water off of his paws. "Ugh, I made such a mess out of it!" he cried, looking at the other two for help.

While the Nukaps had wandered over, though, Drift had taken the opportunity. She quickly sprinted foreward, grabbing as much as she could of the Nukap's snacks, and quickly ran back out the gate before the creatures could even notice.

"Got it!" Drift declared triumphantly, skidding to a halt next to Diminish, Halt, and Sting. In her beak was a bundle of muddy, oddly-shaped mushrooms. Her fur was speckled with dirt from her quick escape, but the smug grin on her face made it clear she didn't care.

"You're lucky you didn't get your tail bitten off," Halt muttered, eyeing the pen. The Nukaps had noticed their snacks were missing, and a few of the larger adults were grunting loudly in protest, their noses pressed against the fence as they searched for their stolen prize, likely still able to smell them.

Diminish wrinkled her nose at the mushrooms. "Those don't look very tasty. I've never seen mushrooms like that around here before." She reached out cautiously, prodding one with her tail. "Do you think they're poisonous?"

Drift's face fell. "Poisonous? They're mushrooms, not snakes. And besides, the Nukaps seem fine."

Sting, who had still been grumbling about his soggy paws, moved closer and peered at the mushrooms. "Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust anything that came out of _that_ pen. It smells like mud, manure, and disappointment in there." He wrinkled his nose dramatically, earning an amused snort from Halt.

"We should take them to Koi," Halt suggested after a moment. "If they're poisonous, Koi will know."

Diminish nodded. "Good idea. Koi knows everything about weird plants and fungi. And I don't trust the Nukaps' judgment. They eat anything that's vaguely edible."

---

The walk to Koi's greenhouse was uneventful, save for Sting dramatically pretending to gag at the mushrooms' muddy scent and Drift's increasingly vocal complaints about having to carry them. Halt led the way, occasionally shooting amused glances over her shoulder at her friends' antics, while Diminish kept a wary eye on the bundle of mushrooms.

As soon as she noticed the whelps, Koi opened the door and stepped out, closing it tightly behind her. Drift huffed. She had always been curious about the greenhouse, but Koi strictly disallowed non-apprentice whelps from entering, and it was always locked tight.

"We found these mushrooms in the Nukap pen." Diminish said, gesturing at the mushrooms that Drift was carrying. "We're not sure what they are- we have never seen them before, so we thought maybe you'd know about them, or have a use for them."

Koi took one of the mushrooms, brow furrowed. "Hmm... I'm not sure if I recognize these, but that might be because of the Nukap..."

"We thought they might be poisonous." Halt added. "Would the Nukap be in danger if they ate poisonous mushrooms? Would they even know?"

"Nope," Matter said bluntly. "Nukaps are stubborn and greedy. They'll eat something even if it's making them sick, and if they ate something poisonous they likely would get sick."

"Well, that's comforting," Halt muttered.

Koi squinted at the mushrooms again, turning them around in her hands. "Well, I'm not sure what these are- but thank you for bringing them to me."