"Come see! Come see!"

Seafoam blinked awake, yawning widely, as Spark bounced up and down on their cushions.

"What?" they asked, gently pushing the excited whelp away.

Spark clapped his hands together, sending bits of melting snow flying everywhere. "There's visitors!"

Visitors? In this weather? Seafoam blinked uncomprehendingly as Spark, tired of their unenthusiasm, ran out to go find a more receptive audience. Deciding that they should at least see what had gotten Spark so excited, Seafoam yawned again and got up, shaking sleep from their body. Deciding that whatever it was, it wasn't urgent, they got some coffee and a snack before following the sounds of excited chattering.

Spark had apparently recruited two co-conspirators, Ray and Nova, and all three turned to Seafoam with the most picture-perfect expressions of pure innocence that Seafoam had ever seen. They weren't fooled, and raised an eyebrow.

"Explain."

The three blinked at them for a moment, then Ray cracked.

"There's some merchants!"

Seafoam ignored the two others shushing e, and frowned. Wandering merchants…? Again, in this weather, this time of year? It had been snowing for the past few months, and the passes were snowed in. Though the wind and winter storms had died down, it was still freezing and treacherous.

Seeming to come to an agreement the three turned to look at Seafoam. "Can we gooooo?" they chorused in unison, and Seafoam sighed.

"Yes," they grunted, and ignoring their cheers, pointed at Nova. "You need to put your coat and gloves on." The others, being aquatics, could weather the cooler weather with their layer of blubber, but Nova lacked that. So he had to wear extra garments.

Corralling the youngsters together, Seafoam herded them towards the airlock, telling Nova that yes, he had to put on his gloves, the snow was deep and cold while he wailed dramatically. But once they got out the door, things calmed as the youngsters had more to hold their attention.

Snow sparkled on the ground, and their breath puffed out in clouds. The sky above was clear, and the mountains around seemed almost to be frozen in a crystal moment of time. The bones erupted from the snow in scattered areas, their glow drowned out by the blinding sparkle of sunlight on immaculate snow. Nova immediately pounced on Ray, sending them tumbling into a snowdrift, while Seafoam got Spark's attention before they could join them.

"Where are the merchants?"

Spark perked up and bounded off around a corner of the bluff, calling for Ray and Nova to come along. Seafoam followed, moving out of the way aa Ray and Nova battled past, and paused in surprise at the scene that greeted them around the corner.

Merchants, yes - but aerobic merchants. Which made sense, since they wouldn't need to use the passes that were snowed in right now. They had set up some collapsible stalls, and were making good business with the people from a few other nearby colonists.

Seafoam identified the youngsters - they had immediately found a teal aerobic partner in crime - and assured themself that they were fine. They began to move into the market, curious. They appeared to have come in a few small flyers, which explained why Seafoam hadn't heard the engines - that and their colony being built into the side of the mountain.

They felt someone poke their leg, and they glanced down to see the teal aerobic from earlier.

"Yes?"

The whelp stared at them. "You live here? In the snow?"

Before Seafoam could answer, Ray, Spark, and Nova barreled in.

"Not IN the snow," Spark exclaimed.

"Not in the snow," Seafoam agreed, gentle. "We live in the mountain instead."

"In tunnels!" Ray agreed enthusiastically at the teal whelp's wide-eyed fascination.

"What about you?" Seafoam asked curious.

The whelp pointed at the flyers and beamed. "We live in there now! We used to live deep, deep underground… but there was no sky." they wilted, then perked up. "But now we're here!"

Ray, Nova, and Spark cheered, and then the four sprinted off to go play. Seafoam watched them go, then started to wander the market to see more of what it had to offer. Though the teal whelp's story made sense, Seafoam knew it was likely not the full story that they could ask of one of the adults.

see! Come see!"