All in all, there was no reason for Koi to be surprised to wake up to Howl's face looming above them. She groaned, not in the slightest ready to deal with things like this first thing in the morning, and tried to gently nudge the whelp away and closed her eyes again- which only served to make the kid more determined in her mission. "C'monnnn" Howl said, poking one of Koi's cheeks impatiently. The adult Tsabhua felt another pair of small hands tug on one of her arms. It seemed sleeping in would simply not be an option today. Cracking an eye open again and peering into her room- how had the kids eve gotten in?- she saw a grinning Howl, Cause still tugging on her arm, and a much more unsure looking Guide peering at her from near the door, looking far more unsure than the other two whelps. Koi squinted at the bright light in her room again- the sun outside wasn't even up yet- and promptly smacked her face back into her pillow. Howl scowled at this before grabbing a fistful of Koi's mane while pouting, gently tugging on it "C'monnnnn it's time to wake up!" Guide's

voice echoed trough the room next "I don't think she's ready to wake up yet, guys I told you we should just wait outside." the whelps quietly argued for a while, and Koi cautiously cracked an eye open again. Cause was the first to notice, and quickly padded up to a still half-asleep Koi. "Good morning!" the whelp excitedly called out "Bloo promised you'd take us to Mireh today!" Koi groaned again at this announcement. Howl frowned again, tugging on Koi's arms now, still trying to get her to move. She was stopped when Guide hesitantly pipped up from his place next to the door "Maybe we should get her some breakfast first?" Koi heard a small huff- likely coming from either Cause or Howl, quickly followed by the sound of feet pattering away from her. This was going to be a long day. The whelps had been right that Bloo had promised them an outing to Mireh. The belemoid didn't mean *that day* though. It had been a rather awkward conversation in the Belemoid's office, as Koi explained that the whelps had been very excited, and were already packed and ready to go, having somehow convinced Roam that their

leader *had* meant today. Lucky for the three whelps, Koi wouldn't be busy in the next week, especially since she could hand most of her work off to Preserve. So, by noon she had somehow managed to scrounge up her supplies for the trip to Mireh. The whelps were already tired long before they all arrived in Mireh. Cause ended up holding out a little bit longer than Howl and Guide, but eventually all thee had fallen asleep on the boat during the crossing to the other island. While Koi was more than tempted to take a little nap herself, she found herself staying up, making sure everything was properly prepared for when the boat docked in a few hours. The whelps seemed to enjoy the fields of Mireh, happily running around while Koi picked berries and fruits from the nearby shrubs and trees. She was probably supposed to be teaching the whelps, but neither Howl nor Cause seemed interested, and Guide was more than distracted tumbling around with the other two. So, while the whelps played in the grass most days, Koi mostly sat around foraging and keeping watch of their surroundings, making sure nobody sneaked up on them.

It was late in the afternoon of the last day of their tripe when she squinted at the horizon, swearing she could see something move around in the tall grass. It wasn't big enough to be a Tsabhua or Belemoid, and Koi grew worried when she realized she didn't know the wildlife around here well enough to truly assess the risk. Her concerns eased when a small white head poked up from the grass, a young Tsabhua making an appearance. While she was sure that the kid was being watched by guardians nearby, Koi wasn't too concerned about an attack. The other Xunari would probably just be foraging nearby as she was. It took a bit longer for Koi's whelps to notice the other whelp lurking in the grasses. Guide was the first to spot them, and curiously started to walk over. "Hello?" she called out, but was taken aback when the white whelp disappeared into the grass again. Cause followed suit behind her, with Howl close behind, not quite sure about the situation herself. It wasn't often that Koi saw the whelp be nervous, but right now the whelp definitely didn't seem as confident as she usually was. It

was clear that the whelps weren't as good at tracking the stranger trough the grass as Koi was, and all three jumped up in surprise as the white whelp suddenly popped out of the grass behind them. The white whelp laughed at the other three "Hi!" Howl especially didn't seem impressed- never really being fond of being on the other side of pranks. The grey whelp huffed "It's not nice to scare others, you know." she said, but was quickly nudged by Cause as a quiet hint to shut up. The white whelp frowned. "I'm sorry if I scare you. Do you want to play with me?" Koi mostly zoned out after that, sure that the whelps would be more than capable sorting themselves out while she went back to harvesting fruit from the nearby trees. The whelps ended up playing most of the day, the white whelp even sticking around and taking some berries that Koi offered him to stick around for dinner. Eventually, though, the group had to split up again. Howl, Cause, and Guide had gotten along with the whelp, and seemed a tad sad as they hugged goodbye. Cause even made a brief attempt to convince

Koi that the white whelp should come with them, but was quickly dismissed when Koi pointed out the older Tsabhua that had been wandering around nearby all day. Unfortunately for Cause, the white whelp likely already had a home. After the kids said goodbye Koi started walking them back to the boat to take them home.