"I don't see what all this fuss is about gold," Glow complained, stepping out of the flyer and into the dry heat of the desert, sand crunching under her feet.

"Well, it's shiny," Noodle pointed out, shouldering zir bag as ze stepped onto the sands after Glow, "and people love their shiny metals."

"People use it to make jewelry," Depths pointed out, stepping out of the flyer and immediately wilting in the heat, "but yeah, some people get… crazy about it."

Ambergris and Splash both tumbled out of the flyer, having their own discussion, and both stopped and stuck out their tongues at the heat.

The three adults looked around, then spotted Boti sheltering in the shade of a rocky overhang in the natural formation around the flyer landing spot. They waved at each other, then the three hurried over to the shade, Splash and Ambergris running ahead to take shelter.

"Thanks for coming," Boti said, and began to lead them down into the depths of the ravine where their tribe lived. "We found the seam, but we're a small tribe and we wanted some help from people we could trust… gold makes people a little crazy, sometimes, and we didn't want to let just anyone come in to mine it."

They bent down to wave at the whelps, who were staring up at them with wide eyes. "And who might you be?"

Ambergris opened ae mouth to reply, then got cold feet and hid behind Spark. "I'm Spark," they said, looking up at Boti's wings with wonder. "Who are you?"

"I'm Boti."

"This is Ambergris," Noodle said, motioning to where Ambergris was hiding behind zir legs while Splash stuck their tongue out at aer. "Ae is… shy."

Boti smiled good naturedly. "Ae can come out when ae wants to. Are they going to follow you underground?"

Depths nodded. "Just to watch, though."

Glow nodded in agreement. The tools they carried were both too heavy for the whelps, and likely too dangerous for them to handle at this age.

Boti nodded, seeming to understand, and lead them to the new mine's entrance. Warm yellow lights blinked on as they flipped the switch, illuminating a shiny new door into the tunnel beyond. Lights continued off into the distance, where it turned out of sight.

"I'm not the most comfortable underground," they admitted, embarrassed, "Norm here will show you to where the prospector identified some pockets."

Norm popped out from a side tunnel, and waved his tail in greeting. "Nice to see you!" he greeted them, then began to lead them towards a storeroom as Boti said their goodbyes and departed. "Now, we've got the ceiling pretty well shored up, but you never know - better safe than sorry! Especially with the young'uns along," he smiled indulgently at Ambergris and Splash who looked at him with the same wide-eyed wonder as they had Boti.

In the storeroom, there were scattered boxes of various mining equipment, and an open crate of hard hats like the one Norm wore on his head.

Glow, Depths, and Noodle all found hard hats that fit them, then fitted Ambergris and Splash with them, despite the whelp's complaints. Thankfully there were some small sizes that fit decently, and the group moved out into the mine propper. Oxygen sensors glinted green on the walls, small pinpricks in the lighting from the strip of lights down the ceiling.

"Now, the prospector identified some potential pockets - but we'd like a second team to come in to do some poking around, you understand."

Glow nodded appreciatively. "Someone who isn't necessarily in it for the money."

Norm tilted his head in her direction. "Exactly."

The tunnel opened up into a small cavern, and Norm pointed them at the far wall, then began to entertain Ambergris and Splash so that Glow, Depths, and Noodle could examine the potential vein. Noodle pulled out an analyzer and started feeding it chips of rock to give the chemical composition of, while Depths pulled out a small hammer and began tapping the wall, listening attentively. Glow took another route, examining the rocks left on the ground for a glint of hidden ore within.

"This tunnel is natural?" Noodle asked.

Norm looked up from where Ambergris was chewing on his tail and nodded. "Most of it - we widened some areas to get through, but the bones of it was already here."

Splash pounced on Ambergris' tail and the two devolved into screaming, and the adults turned back to their task.

Noodle eventually held up zir analyser thoughtfully. "I think your prospector was right. I can't speak to how much gold there is, but I'm definitely picking up traces of ore, even deeper into the stone. It's not just some layer spread on the surface."

Depths nodded in agreement. "It's hard to tell here since I'm not as familiar with the rock - but it sure sounds like you've got something in this wall."

Glow agreed, holding up a rock tossed to one side. "I think we've struck gold, guys."

A gold glint shone in a crack through the stone, and Norm clapped his tail on the ground excitedly.