All members of the colony had finally finished building the shelter and were exhausted from doing work under the scorching sun. Their researcher, Kitty, seeing the state of the poor colonists, appointed two members to go and go look for supplies while she stayed and planned the rest of the colony. She lifted up her paw and pointed at Meuphyr and Latte, instructing them to find water as dehydration would be critical. The two obliged, with Latte doing an exaggerated salute and Meuphyr quickly copying her out of nervousness, he had never been sent on a mission before.

Kitty gave them a communicator and a bag filled with emergency supplies - a bit of food and a small first aid kit - the colony had just started out and as such they had barely any commodities, but that would have to do. The two embarked on their mission, Meuphyr trotted leisurely, both curious and anxious about what he would find outside of his comforting colony space, meanwhile Latte ran around excitedly examining everything in her sight while sticking close to him. She had adopted him as a parental figure ever since she joined the colony, and although Meuphyr wasn't against it, he certainly did not want to foster a kid, but when she needed something or couldn't understand things he would be there for her even if a little hesitant at times.

They left their home biome - the mushroom forest - and were now traversing the swamp. The air felt heavy and damp, Meuphyr was annoyed by all the vines dangling over his head, he had to constantly push them away. Latte made silly remarks about him being so tall, though her enthusiasm was visibly fading with every step and she had been walking slower for a while now, being a reef belemoid she was in dire need of water. Meuphyr stuck close to her and kept his hand on her shoulder while they walked, he reprimanded her every time she looked at the murky swamp water "I know you want to take a bath but it's just too gross, we don't even know if there's a threat in there" He kept reassuring her.

After walking a little bit more through the coarse yet lightly moist terrain, Meuphyr stopped to look at his surroundings fearing they might be lost, he cocked his head around and saw only shades of green, big trees with foliage licking the ground blocked his view almost entirely. When suddenly he heard a loud splash, he turned around startled and was mortified at the sight of Latte swimming in the slushy water so thick that she almost looked like she was walking rather than swimming, she was having a grand old time finally refreshing herself but Meuphyr desperately ran up and pulled her out. As she emerged, large seaweed clumps and moss clung to her body and the dirty water had dyed her beautiful tan fur into a sickly vomit green.

He was too shy and nice to scold her, but still gave a disappointed look to show that what she did was irresponsible, Latte just looked at him with big dumb baby eyes, maybe she understood, maybe she didn't. After some struggle, they finally transitioned from the swamp to regular mushroom plains, Latte had returned to her optimistic self after a cooling bath but now stank more than an Earth skunk, she ran up to every mushroom she saw and begged Meuphyr to bring some home, he let her keep only two since the satchel they had was already so small, she explained that she wanted to grow mushrooms shaped like the Earth rabbits their researcher showed pictures of, Latte thought they were cute.

After walking some more, they came across a tsabhua tribe, they were friendly and tended to the travelers, curious to know the reason for their journey, Meuphyr explained how they were in search of supplies for their colony, mainly water. The tribe was kind enough to give them glass jars and bottles for when they eventually reached their goal, as Meuphyr and Latte turned to leave, a small group of four young tsabhua, each carrying a jar, offered to help them since they were already leaving their tribe anyway. Meuphyr insisted they were fine but the group were even more insistent.

As their gaggle continued on they stumbled upon a small running river, all were very excited to finally have concluded their journey. Each of the tsabhua and the tiny belemoid filled up a tall, frosty jar of water. They made the walk back to their colony with their newfound friends, conversing all the way through, though Latte did most of the talking, Meuphyr didn't have any good topics to bring up.

They reached home at last and saw Kitty had managed fine without them. The group put the jars away in a safe storage area, it would last them a while until they could find a better water source. The colony thanked the four young tsabhua and said they would be always welcome if they ever decide to visit. Latte whispered something in her researcher's ear and waited for approval, Kitty gave her a thumbs up and Latte ran up to Meuphyr excitedly asking him to dig a tunnel for her, at first he was confused but then she explained how it would be filled up with water for her later. He sighed and decided to get to it, digging while Latte cheered him on.