The three Tark'ee nosed their way across the hot sand. The air gifted them with a cool ocean breeze and the sound of soft waves lapping against the sand beneath their feat called softly from the water. All around golden sands stretched out meeting the ocean itself on one side and towering grey and brown cliffs on the other. Few plants grew this close to the ocean's salty waves, but a couple specs of green could be made out higher up among the cracks of the cliffs. The sun shone high in the sky, signaling midday was already past. This worried Sloop as he plodded along next to Bani and Quirk. The three of them were hard at search for the nest of a mysterious flippered creature that had stollen several items from the colony over the last couple weeks.

Now many members of Tsidal had broken into search parties for this creature's nest in hopes of retrieving what was stolen. Bani, Sloop, and Quirk made up one such search party. Though they'd started when the sun had barely been in the sky, they had made little progress it seemed. The three of them had taken to an attempted tracking approach sniffing along the sands for any whiff of the creature. The creature's scent was fatty, salty, and most importantly, strong. Even though it'd barely been in the colony, the things it had rubbed against while thieving were coated in the pungent aroma.

Sloop, Bani, and Quirk had started out stronger in the morning, easily picking up the trail from the colony. They'd followed it along the shore but eventually lost it. Now they searched up and down the seaside with their eyes as well as their noses, hoping to regain the trail. Bani turned to her two companions. "I think we may have been looking in the wrong direction." Sloop cocked his head inviting her to continue and Quirk also stopped to pay the green aquatic Tark'ee full attention. "Look at those cliffs you two. I know others in camp had said things about the creature hiding amongst the cliffs and how it might be impossible to find it without mapping every little nook and cranny. The cliffs in this area quickly make up a maze after all… but think about what we've been doing all morning. We've lost the scent for hours now and never picked it back up, no matter how close we go towards the cliffs."

Here Bani turned around to look back at the three sets of footprints they'd left behind. Quirk walked up beside her and Sloop followed her gaze, the gears turning in his mind. The purple Tark'ee thought about where the scent had been the strongest and he felt he might know what Bani was about to suggest… and feared Quirk wasn't going to like it.

"The last place we really smelled the scent was way back towards the camp AND it was near the ocean. Plus look how our tracks are clearly visible. If you really peer back towards where we traveled from you can still make out intentions in the sand. The ocean tides aren't so strong today that they're washing away our footprints. If the creature had come this far towards the cliffs in this region, we surely would be able to smell them or see tracks of some sort."

Sloop nodded at this. "So what you're suggesting, Bani, is that we need to backtrack and look where the waves already washed away the scent and the tracks. Perhaps this creature travelled a great distance not towards the cliffs, but towards the ocean where its unique scent would be disguised."

At this Quirk balked and then pouted, ears flattening and head drooping instantly. "Aww does this mean we have to go diving? I'm not really cut out for that, but…. It makes total sense." Quirk sighed. Sloop gave a sympathetic look and patted the younger Tark'ee on the back with his tail. "It's okay Quirk, Bani and I can take care of the diving. We will find this creature's nest and take back our stolen goods. But you can go back to camp and let everyone else know of our new theory. Maybe you can send a couple other aquatic friends to help us search."

Bani nodded. "The creature bamboozled us for the moment, and there's a lot of ocean to cover, but I think this is back on the right track." Quirk nodded along as well, accepting this role in the plan. "Okay then guys, let's hurry up and get back to where we can actually smell the creature. Last one there's a spoiled fish!" And with that remark Quirk took off speeding back down the shoreline, retracing their steps to find the start of their trail. The creature would not evade them forever!

Bani and Sloop took off after Quirk, re-energized in their search for the nest.