Odo and Eilyn, Koi had soon decided, were an odd pair.

 

The colony had struck a deal with another company to organise something similar to exchange students. Choose and Retreat had gone off to this other colony, Koi not quite remembering what the two wanted to learn, and the other colony having sent two whelps who they had wanted to be more knowledgeable in foraging in other regions.

 

She had discussed for a bit with Woodland, who had agreed that, besides being beneficial to the whelp's education, Rekes would provide a lovely opportunity to forage some useful resources for their own colony while they were at it. The two had picked up the two whelps, Odo and Eilyn, and then had taken a boat over to the mountainous region.

 

They had trekked a bit at the base of the mountains, Neither Woodland nor Koi wanting to take the risk of taking whelps further up, and had explained various parts of the foraging process, as well as general information about the mountains. The whelps had seemed interested- even if only to try and distract the adults from sneaking some off the berries they had been picking out of the bags.

 

"It's so boring out here." Odo complained "there's nothing *cool*. Isn't Rekes supposed to have those cool crystals? I wanna see those!" Woodland rolled her eyes "We're not here for those, Odo. They're too big and dangerous to gather, you can go gather some yourself when you're older, but not today." she sighed, trying to usher the whelp along the road, having fallen behind a bit "That's no fair!" Odo cried out, making Woodland mutter some less than savoury words under her breath. "It might not be, but it's not up for discussion for now!" The whelp had rolled his eyes at this. and followed along quietly the rest of the trip, surely plotting something.

 

Koi squinted into the darkness of a cave entrance, waiting for the two to catch up.  Eilyn had followe Koi closely, and gave her an odd look as she peered into the darkness. while Woodland dealt with the complaints Koi quickly formed a plan to take the whelps, and Woodland, in safely. Rekes was known for it's mountains, but to Koi the most interesting part of the region were it's caves. Filled with not only the odd crystals but also with plants that grew there, hiding away from the snowy mountain peaks. Koi had heard something from locals, about surprisingly tasty moss growing in caves like these. The locals had claimed the moss being used as a spice, adding a rich flavour to anything so long as it was dried correctly.

 

Foraging in the mountains of Rekes was tricky, especially in the snowy summers. The caves provided an easy solution to this, and would probably be fairly safe if they took the necessary precautions. This cave especially looked well travelled, probably meaning it was fairly commonly visited and therefore safe.

 

"Alright." Koi said, "you want crystals? Let's go get them then."

 

---

 

After a while of walking further into the cave, lightened only be the dim shine of Woodland's lantern, Koi spotted an odd blue light in the distance. She squinted at it, confused by how the odd speckles of light moved along the caves. She gave Woodland a look, pointedly ignoring curious isabella paws reaching into one of the bags on her companion's back, Woodland was squinting too, not sure what to make out of the glowing points either.

 

They stood for a while, trying to figure out whether the light was a threat- until a bigger blotch of blue light showed itself, followed by a surprised noise. a hearty laugh followed after. "Sorry about that! Didn't know I had company!" Eilyn made a surprised noise, hiding behind Koi while Odo's paws snapped out of the bag he was- "investigating". The whelps must've been distracted by their own little treasure hunt to notice the odd blue glow.

 

At the same time, the black bioluminescent Belemoid had approached calmy, now standing in the lantern light. "Sorry to spook you." he said, looking at the stunned whelps. "I've been here for a while now- I'm just doing some research to cave critters in the area, nothing bad, I promise." the reassurance only seemed to go so far, with both whelps still not quite sure what to feel about the new stranger who had popped out of nowhere.

 

Woodland eyed the stranger with curiosity while Koi pipped up "We've been looking for some of the mosses that grow in the caves here, do you happen to know where any is?" she suddenly realized she had heard stories of a researcher Belemoid in the region. She supposed this had to be Bilo'bjorn then, considering he matched the description perfectly.

 

Bilo'bjorn nodded, gesturing further into the dark cave. "I saw some just over there. I'd be more than happy to lead the way." Koi nodded, ushering the two whelps along, Woodland walking up front with Bilo'bjorn. 

 

---

 

After the foraging trip had concluded, the mosses in the caves having been the last thing Koi wanted to show the whelps, considering it a pretty successful mission overall. Eilyn specifically had seemed pretty excited at the crystals, even more so when Bilo'bjorn had snapped some off of the walls for him to take home. 

 

Woodland and Koi had paid to get the whelps a nice warm drink while waiting to be taken back to L'hatzif, Odo grumpily having sips of it. Woodland had caught the whelp for the first time earlier, and hadn't been one bit pleased with finding paws other than her own in her backpack. Koi had chuckled to herself, sure that their colony had their hands full with the whelp. 

 

Eilyn had looked up at Koi with big eyes. Koi raised an eyebrow- not entirely sure what the whelp wanted, "Uh- thank you for taking us with you, ma'am." Koi smiled, nodding. "More than happy to have had you, Kiddo."

 

At the other side of the table, a more and more grumpy Odo was still being scolded by Woodland.