JoJo, a green aquatic tark'ee with white lines along her neck, walked alongside her best friend Caspian, a mostly white aquatic tark'ee with some pale red spots scattered on his hide. They were heading to a private spot along the beach. Tully was meeting them there so that they could go harvesting the ocean. Tully had insisted that she come with them. Something about having an adult with them.

Their short stubby legs made it hard for them to make down the path. Several times they had to help each other climb over obstacles. But any chance to swim in the ocean was worth any of the scrapes they happen to get.

"Wait JoJo." Caspian rasped out. He had stopped along the trail. His breathing was heavy. "I got to rest. I don't know how you do it."

JoJo came back to sit next to her friend. "Don't worry, we will get there together. I wouldn't leave you behind."

Before they could start down the trail again they heard scoffing on the trail they just came down.

"I thought you two would have been beaten there." Tolly chuckled.

"Would have if we didn't get so tired." JoJo answered as she looked pointedly at Caspian.

"Hey I was tired. You know we aren't exactly built to run on the ground." Caspian huffed.

"Oh come on. We can go a little slower now that Tolly has caught up." JoJo said as she nudged her friend to get up.

Once they got Caspian moving again they made good time. They emerged out of the evergreen forest at the base of the black mountain and into a small cove. The water lapped gently and the sandy beach and seemed to be beckoning them in.

JoJo took off running as fast as she could and slipped into the warm waters. Caspian followed suit, his almost pure white body seeming to shine under the water.

Tolly ran and jumped, creating a wave of water that the two youngsters played in until it dissipated.

Tolly motioned them to follow her and swam towards the sea floor. Because it was in shallower water the sun managed to reach into the depths. Making it rather easy to find things of interest.

JoJo and Caspian stayed close to each other and rooted around in the sand. They found several things of interest and had to surface a lot to place their findings on the shore.

Tolly swam farther out. Investigating the deeper waters of the cove and beyond. She found a beautiful coral shelf where lots of fancy and colorful fish lived. She swam back to where she had left the two youngsters and was quite impressed with their pile of sea shells and smooth round rocks they had found.

"Nice job you two. Now come follow me. I found something you might like better." Tolly said before diving back in.

JoJo and Caspian slide back into the water and followed Tolly's rudder tail.

Tolly brought them to the reef and was pleased to see them taking it all in. The reef had brightly colored coral all over it. Deep pinks patches merging with dark purple only to merge once again to a light blue coral. Sea anemone clung to the colored rocks and waved gently in the ocean. Several species of fish swam around and JoJo saw a bright red crab scurry down a hole under the coral reef.

JoJo swam down and picked up a small piece of bright orange coral that had broken off when one of the larger fish had accidentally bumped into it.

Caspian swam over to take a look before diving to the bottom to look for one himself. It took him a little bit of time before he found his souvenir.

Tolly saw that the light was starting to grow dim and indicated that they should go back. Reluctantly the two welps swam back to where they had stashed their other prizes.

Tolly noticed that the two welps, Caspian more so, were quiet and were going through their treasures very meticulously. Some of the prettier rocks and shells were placed in a pile while others were placed in another pile. She noticed that the broken coral they both had gotten had been placed in the pile she knew to be the keep pile.

"Tolly? How are we going to get these back home? I want to show my friends." JoJo asked. Caspien looked up at her as if waiting for her to magically have an answer. Which of course she did.

" I keep a couple of backpacks under a rock." She walked a bit farther away from the shore and pushed on a large rock revealing a crevice where several small backpacks lay hidden.

"I think we only need one to carry what we have today. We just need to remember to bring the backpack back when we come again. But this way you don't have to throw out any of your treasures."

JoJo and Caspian raced back to their two piles and proceeded to fill the bag.