Wait ran onto the wooden walkways of the colony, excitedly holding a small posted in his mouth. He had seen his friends sitting up on one of the decks, at their usual meeting spot, and was more than thrilled to show them what he had found. 

 

"Guys!" he called out, excited. Value, Bang, and Alter's heads all turned to his excited words. They were pretty used to the rather hyper belemoid by now, and this hadn't been the first time he would drag the four off to an adventure far away.

 

"What's that?" Alter said, grabbing the paper from Wait's mouth. "I found this poster earlier today! Seymore brought it home in some bags. It looks exciting!" the black reef Belemoid started, taking a seat with the rest of his friends.

 

The poster in question was a rather simple advertisement, asking any Xunari interested in helping a scholar called Bilo'bjorn catch some bugs in the Rekes underground to please notify him.

 

"Look!" Wait said, excitedly pointing to something near the bottom. "It even promises a reward!" Especially Value and Bang seemed interested in that, eyes widening at the amount offered. Alter, an the other hand, seemed hesitant at best.

 

"None of us know anything about bugs, or the Rekes underground..."  Wait tried to interrupt, but Alter didn't let him. "We also don't have quite literally *any* way of getting to Rekes. Unless you planned to swim all the way?"

 

The other three pouted, knowing that Wait was probably right, the idea tossed away until Seymore appeared.

 

"There you are, Wait!" the trader said, seeming relieved. "I've been looking for you all over since you ran off."

 

Wait stammered, a little embarassed "Ah- well, sir, I just saw that poster and got excited- I wanted to show my friends, but I realized we won't be able to go anyways." He smiled at the older male sheepishly.

 

"Hmm? Why is that?" Seymore asked.

 

"Well- we wanted to go help this Bilo'bjorn get those bugs, but we don't know anything about bugs, and we don't have a ship to get to Rekes."

 

Seymore hummed, looking the group over. "Well, Bilo'bjorn is a friend of the colony- Woodland and Koi met him a while ago, while out foraging in Rekes. So it'd be rather impolite to not send anyone to help him. We already have a trade arranged with someone in Rekes, so I was planning to send the boat over anyways- if you guys would like, you can travel along."

 

Wait nodded, a bit taken aback. Alter spoke up "Well, I suppose we'd be happy to go, if the colony can arrange for the transportation." Value and Bang nodded enthusiastically next to her.

 

Seymore smiled at the group of young Xunari "Consider it arranged, then. Tell Bilo'bjorn Koi and Woodland say hi."

 

---

 

Seymore had taken care of the organizing, having sent Bilo'bjorn a message to say that the colonists were on their way to help. The belemoid has sent and excited reply, and told Seymore that he'd be waiting at the port for the four to arrive.

 

The group of friends was quite surprised that the shit would leave in only four days, and scrambled to pack their bags and let their supervisors know that they'd be gone. Luckily, everything went without a hitch, and the four stepped foot on the Rekes docks just days after finding the poster.

 

Wait Squealed in excitement as they go the go-ahead to get off the boat. The docking seemed to take ages, and all this time he could see Bilo'bjorn *right there.* He wanted to go say hi already! Value had chuckles at his impatient antics, reassuring him that they'd be off the boat soon.

 

"I suppose you guys are the ones who signed up to be my little helpers, then." The four nodded, Alter introducing them.

 

"My name is Alter," she said, "And these are Wait, Value, and Bang," He said, gesturing to each member of their little party. "We've been very excited to meet you! Ah, mostly Wait."

 

Wait happily shook the Belemoid's paw. "Heya! I'm excited to get started!" Bilo'bjorn seemed a bit taken aback, but chuckled warmly. "I thought you guys would want to rest first, in all honesty." he said.

 

Wait was about to speak up, but was quickly stopped by Bang "Yes, actually! We would love some rest."

 

Bilo'bjorn nodded. "How about we get some drinks? There's a lovely little café just around the corner here."

 

The group nodded, following Bilo'bjorn down the streets of the town.

 

---

 

Bilo'bjorn went to grab something for them all to drink, and quickly came back with a big pitcher of lemonade. He sat down with the group again.

 

"So, I was hoping we could head out tonight. That's when the critters are usually most active. We'll be back pretty early in the morning, and you guys can sleep trough the day- if I haven't gotten the samples and notes I needed, we can head out again the next evening." 

 

The group nodded. Wait was, as always, quite excited about the trip. "That sounds great! I can't wait." 

 

Value snorted from her end of the table "You're gonna have to! It's not even noon yet, Wait." 

 

Wait awkwardly stilled "Huh... Yeah, you're right. It's fine though, we get to hang out first, then!"

 

Bang nodded. "Yea! Although I do wonder, Bilo'bjorn, what exactly *are* you researching so deep underground?"

 

Bilo'bjorn perked up at this "Well, lately a lot of smaller predators have come to places Xunari live looking for food" he started, excitement in his voice, "And, well- that's not exactly ideal. They tend to cause a lot of damage to property, and sometimes Xunari get hurt trying to fight them off." Bilo'bjorn sighed. "A lot of Xunari in Rekes have been trying to figure out ways to keep them out- but I personally believe something might've messed up the food chain."

 

The group nodded. "So into the caves we go." Alter nodded.

 

"Right! Into the caves we go. I'm hoping that the bugs in the caves can provide me with some more insights." Bilo'bjorn said. "But that's enough about me, tell me a little something about yourselves."