Hesitantly entering the mine, Crown really wasn't sure to expect. He had come to this mine with Koi, hoping to bring back some of the crystals in the region for study- on Empress' request, of course. Koi had insisted to come along too, for reasons that Crown couldn't quite understand. She had said something about wanting to harvest seeds, and to "see what grew in the caves" but honestly- Crown had never seen anything grow in mines, so she wasn't sure what Koi was blabbering about.

 

As soon as they arrived in one of the mines in Mireh, Crown spotted two others, who looked like they had been in the mines a while already, likely coming back from a break of some sort. Crown looked over at Koi "Maybe we should ask someone for directions?" she suggested, having never been to this particular mine before. Koi frowned a bit "I mean it can't be hard, right? Just straight tunnels and stuff." Crown rolled his eyes at her, it was clear she hadn't gone mining often.

 

Crown walked up to the two, Koi following behind, but was surprised to find that one of the two had already turned around, looking at the two with suspicion before he could even reach the pair. It made Crown halt in her step for a bit, unsure what to do with the bordering hostile attitude. Koi, however, didn't seem stopped one bit. 

 

"Hey there! I'm Koi, this is my friend, Crown-" she started, and was stopped mid sentence by a simple "We don't know you." with which the strange-appaloosa Tsabhua interrupted. "Ah yes but we were just hoping we could have-" the other turned around this time, gesturing his friend to follow. Koi still didn't seem to take the hint, and in all honesty- Crown was a bit too intimidated by the Tsabhua to try and reel her back. 

 

As the two from the other colony headed off, Crown could hear the other Tsab, who hadn't spoken yet, try and calm their friend down. "I'm sure they don't mean anything bad. Maybe they just wanted to ask for help? I'm sure it's nothing bad, Antebellum." he frowned a little at that- if this Antebellum was usually wary of strangers maybe it *was* best to reel Koi in some.

 

Unfortunately for him, Koi had already caught up to the other two "We, ah, just wanted directions." Antebellum looked at her, completely deadpan, and then slowly said "Well, you're in the mine. Choose a wall and start digging." Antebellum's companion looked at him a little funny "I'm sure we can give them some directions, it won't even take long." Antebellum scoffed at him, "If you want to help, go ahead, but any consequences are on *you*." and then started mining into the walls, minding his own buisness. The other Tsab rolled their eyes. "Aaanyways! I'm Polly! How can we help you guys?"

 

Crown smiled at Polly, happy to still have a helping hand "Ah, you see we were looking for those weird crystals that grow around Mireh. Would you happen to know where to find any."

 Polly's eyes lit up "Oh! I know just where to find those!" Polly started to wander away, with Koi and Crown following, and couldn't help but notice Antebellum following a few steps behind, too.

 

Polly was kind enough to not only show the way to some crystals she had spotted earlier, but also to point out various other mineral and ore deposits along the way, and happily helped with clawing them out of the rocky walls. 

 

"What're you looking for these for anyways?" Polly asked after a few hours of dwelling the caves. "Oh! Empress, one of our scholars, wanted them." Crown shrugged "I'm not entirely sure why, to be honest, but it's fun to travel, so I don't mind." he then looked at Koi and chuckled "This one wanted to see what grows in mines." Polly hummed at that "Well, while not grows in the big mines, caves are always interesting."

 

Crown looked behind them- where Antebellum was mining away at an ore deposit Polly had shown them earlier- surely he was there 100% by coincidence.  She looked at Koi and Polly, who were deep into a conversation about- honestly, she hadn't been keeping up. It was probably something about plants. Or rocks. And honestly- Crown was interested in neither, she just liked digging holes.

 

So she sneaked off back to where she had seen Antebellum. As she approached, he eyed her with suspicion. "You ah, found anything good?" she started awkwardly, picking up her pickaxe and mining someplace next to Antebellum. The other sighed "Whole bunch of rocks."

 

"I just, uh, wanted to thank you, y'know." Crown started awkwardly, still chipping away at her piece of wall, awkwardly putting what she knew were regular pieces of rock into the cart she had brought in an attempt to keep up the appearance of not coming here specifically to bother Antebellum, who nodded before pointing out "I didn't really do anything." Crown shrugged a little. "Still."

 

As the two gave each other another glance- Crown still feeling intimidated by Antebellum a bit too much to be truly comfortable around him- Koi appeared at his side. "Got everything I need! And way more, thanks to Polly." Koi gave Polly, who was still a bit away looking more closely at some of the ores, a bit of a wave. "Are we heading back now? Bloo asked us not to stay out too long." Crown nodded. "Yea I suppose we should head back." he curtly nodded to both Antebellum and Polly "Thank you both, again. It was nice meeting you."

 

Neither Antebellum nor Polly seemed to pay them much mind after Koi and Crown had gathered their stuff to leave; seeming caught up in a conversation of their own, so they decided to just leave the two to it and quietly leave the mine, to make the journey back to the colony in order to bring their newly found treasures back.