Soey had joined up with the colony out of her curious and gregarious spirit- it didn't do at all to have so few! She was studying to be a bard, and part of that, as far as she was concerned, was learning about others. How can you write, or even share, stories and songs when you can't understand where they came from, what they really mean to those who would hear them or who first spoke them? With these ideals in mind she took to life with the small, but growing colony of misfits readily.

She also spent a lot of time exploring, both with and without the others. She was soothed by the sea and liked to rest by its edge, watching and listening to the waves. It was during this pastime she was surprised by a dark fin cresting the surface, followed by a green head, the owner of which gazed in surprised curiosity at her.

"Oh, hello there," offered Soey, not sure if the newcomer spoke her language- or spoke at all.

She needn't have worried. "Hi!" answered the green creature. "I've seen you here before- are you waiting for someone to return?" She swam in closer and climbed up on the bank, revealing herself to be sleek and web-footed with a paddle like tail- clearly adapted to the water. "I'm Gwendolyn, by the way" she added.

"I'm Soey," answered the Tsabhua, "and no, I just enjoy listening to the water, and watching it sparkle. It's soothing."

Gwendolyn seemed pleased with this answer and the two struck up a conversation. She apparently was an aquatic Tarkee and had migrated into the area recently. Soey had heard of Tarkee before, but this was the first she'd met. On hearing about the little colony, Gwendolyn was quite excited- having been separated from her original group and finding the single existence lonely and at times a bit difficult, she offered to join up quickly, citing how useful it would be to have someone who could dive and explore the oceans. Soey very readily agreed with this assessment- she knew that part of the research Blip and the others were doing involved the oceans and waterways of the planet.

Both pleased to have made a new friend and secured such an advantageous alliance, they returned to the colony to share the good news and get Gwendolyn settled into accommodations. Blip was over the moon with joy, as she had been trying to figure out how to best safely explore in the water without having to trial and error engineer a dive suit, which would be very dicey to do. Happy to have something of purpose to do, Gwendolyn immediately took to collecting data and samples for her friends at the surface.

Soey struck up a close friendship with her quickly, with her natural friendliness and her interest in the ocean serving as a bridge, and Gwendolyn being more than ready to talk after a while in solitude. She often accompanied the Tarkee on research trips and acted as the eyes and ears on the surface. Which was how, on a warm and lazy day a few weeks later, they both ended up on shore, looking over some interesting shells and speculating on what once lived in them, when a stranger crested a nearby rock formation.

"Oh, it's another Tarkee!" said Gwendolyn with excitement. This surprised Soey, as they looked so different, and the newcomer was clearly adapted for life on land. But, with the variety of life in the universe, it was a short lived shock, and the two friends waved and greeted the stranger warmly.

The stranger, a striking red and black quadruped with a strong looking beak and a proud stance, looked them over before responding, perhaps a bit taken aback by the immediate friendly gestures of a pair of unknown others. Seeming to decide they were harmless, she approached and gave a polite nod.

"I am Rooibos," introduced the new Tarkee. "I came this way looking to explore. I didn't realize there might be locals nearby this area, is this a territory of yours?"

"This isn't part of any territory we're aware of," Gwendolyn offered, "but rather a common place to access the ocean, as this stretch of beach is less rocky than some of those surrounding. We are from a colony nearby though, are we neighbors?"

Rooibos seemed amused by this. "Not really," she answered, "but my explorations are far and wide."

Soey and Gwendolyn were both interested in someone who seemed so well traveled and worldly, so they spent some time asking Rooibos various questions, about where she'd been and the kinds of things she'd seen. Initially a little standoffish, maybe even a bit suspicious, Rooibos soon began to find the duo amusing. Their enthusiasm was infectious and before long Rooibos was curious about their little colony, too.

So it was only natural to bring the newcomer home with them for a visit with the rest of the colony, and to meet Blip who surely would be excited to know more about areas they hadn't explored themselves.

Blip had apparently had some education about Tarkee, perhaps partly from Gwendolyn and perhaps also from DPIP before their deployment to the planet (and before becoming suspicious of them). Though she wasn't shocked by Rooibos' much different appearance from their aquatic companion, she was very interested in further learning about the expansive ocean and about Rooibos' travels.

Rooibos found that she was also learning from the little Vicham. She had not previously known about the planet Vicha. Blip showed her some of her research and they even taught each other some rudimentary beginnings of their languages. Rooibos was clever and sharp, and her observations were very valuable to some of Blip's notes about crystal formations.

In spite of the mutually interesting encounter, Rooibos was beginning to really appreciate the more lax social norms of her own colony- they indulged her more introverted tendency to explore alone, and though the children were more reticent, Blip and Soey were very extroverted and both they and the other adult Tsabhua were rather talkative. Gwendolyn had ushered the young ones away after a while, and Rooibos suspected this was as much to take a break herself as it was to keep the young ones from being underfoot.

After a bit of consideration as to what was a polite way to disengage, Rooibos excused herself briefly, saying she'd like to provide the colony with a parting gift as a gesture of goodwill, and a thanks for the sharing of information. She went out and found a small group of wild hojenst and selected a half grown specimen she knew she wouldn't need help with killing or carrying. After a small display of puffing and screeching the rest of the herd was scattered, and she dragged the prize back to her newfound allies with satisfaction.

This was met with gratitude, but no small amount of amazement. It tended to take the combined effort of the adults to take down even medium sized animals, and so they mostly depended on fishing and very small creatures for dietary protein. This was particularly difficult for those of them whose diets were less forgiving of a plant heavy sort of omnivorous fare. Blip wasn't capable of helping on these expeditions, as Vicham are strict herbivores and her small size and squeamishness around blood made her entirely unsuited to the task (and she was only moderately useful for medical help for the same reasons). The carcass was going to be incredibly valuable to the little colony.

Young Temar was particularly enthusiastic, asking a lot of questions about the hunt and citing frustration at not being able to help "when that's what our parents had us move here to do is help and I bet me an' my brothers can hunt so way better than them cuz probably they never even did hunting on their own before like, ever." Rooibos looked the youngster over, and at last nodded and turned to Blip.

"When the three brothers mature, send them by way of Soey or Gwendolyn, for a week or two with my colony. We will teach them to hunt well for you."

This sent the little belemoid into absolute with youthful excitement and Blip, in an uncharacteristic spontaneous display of gratitude, threw her tiny arms around Rooibos (in her case this meant around one of her front legs). The Tarkee looked a bit confused and disengaged quickly, dipping her head in a formal bow before winking to Temar and disappearing over the horizon as suddenly as she'd come.

"We really need to make some more talkative friends," quipped Soey.