An upside of having a friendly tribe in the desert that Skyward had close ties with was the ease of trade, and shared use of their mines, among other things. The downside was that the youngsters always wanted to come along… and always managed to get themselves lost.

Pepper and Mystery were doing their best to find where the current miscreants - Snowfall and Mistwatch had got off to, while not losing track of the ones they knew where they were.

Mystery was asking Ballor if he knew where Snowfall and Ember had gone, while Pepper corralled Mistwatch and Crevasse who really wanted to see what those tapestries were about…

"Are you sure you haven't seen them around?"

Ballor shook his head. "No. But there are only so many places they could have gotten off to…"

"Unless they snuck outside," Pepper put in, holding Mistwatch under one arm while she kept a firm grip - or was trying to - on Crevasse with one set of hands. Holding onto a noodle with no limbs was surprisingly difficult.

Ballor frowned and tilted his head. "While possible… it's pretty warm out there, so I don't think they would want to."

"They're curious, not stupid," Pepper nodded, while both Mystery and Ballor looked at her askance.

"What?"

Crevasse laughed, amused. "She is right," they pointed out, then considered Mistwatch. "Mostly."

"Hey!" Mistwatch yelled, and Pepper had to switch to holding the two apart, eventually handing Mistwatch to Mystery.

Ballor waited without judgement, and for that Mystery was grateful. "If you haven't seen them… who should we talk to?"

The winged draconic tilted his head thoughtfully. "...try Norm. He seems to have a good sense of what's going on.

"Don't you want to find your friends?" Pepper scolded Crevasse and Mistwatch, who lapsed into sulky silence, going boneless. She turned to Ballor. "Thanks for your help. Where can we find Norm, usually?"

Ballor gave them directions, and then the four were off into the tunnels connecting the sandstone ravines. The tunnels had a steady, cool breeze even in the heat of the desert outside, sheltered from the sun and belowground as they were. The ventilation system made sure nothing got too stuffy, which was a welcome feature. The sandstone walls rose on either side, striated with patterns of strata from aeons past, and mirrors reflected the sunlight down into the bottom of the ravine. It was a well-lit home, but it was mazelike.

They reached the cavern that Ballor had pointed them too, and sure enough, Norm was there, talking to an unfamiliar belemoid. They both turned to regard them with interest as Mystery dragged a boneless Mistwatch in, followed by Pepper who had reached a treaty with Crevasse.

"Do you… need a hand?" the belemoid asked, blinking as Mistwatch flopped over dramatically.

"She's just being dramatic," Mystery sighed. "Have you guys seen Ember or Snowfall around?"

Norm tilted his head thoughtfully. "Maybe… let me think."

Crevasse tilted their head at the unfamiliar belemoid. "Hello! Who are you? I'm Crevasse!"

Mystery looked horrified at having Crevasse introduce themself before he thought to, but thankfully the belemoid didn't seem to mind.

"I'm Cinnamon! Nice to meet you."

"I'm Mystery, and this is Pepper and Mistwatch," Mystery held up Mistwatch who gurgled dramatically. "Nice to meet you too. Don't suppose you've seen a winged menace and a feathered aquatic around?"

Cinnamon thought for a moment, then shook her head sadly. "Afraid not. And even if I had… well, I'd be as lost as they are, probably."

Norm perked up, looking like he had just remembered something. "Ah! I don't think they were lost. I think they've found some of the lava tubes that run through the mesa."

"Lava tubes?" Mystery squawked looking alarmed, and Mistwatch perked up considerably.

"Lava tubes?" She asked, sounding far more excited than one should where lava was concerned, while Cinnamon looked alarmed.

"They're empty," Pepper told them, and even Crevasse seemed disappointed.

"Old, empty tubes," Norm nodded. "They make good tunnels - we've co-opted a few of them for our own use, but there's so many we don't know about… they could have squeezed into one."

"But how will we know which one? Or how to get them out?"

"I promise we're not usually like this," Pepper sighed to Cinnamon who nodded understandingly.

Norm shrugged at Mystery's question. "Could always wait for them to come out."

Mystery looked horrified, and Pepper laughed. Well, at least something good came of the day…