Gloam weaved his way through the undergrowth of the Rekes forests, his striped black fur blending in with the mottled shadows cast by the trees above. Rufous scuttled after him, trying their best to keep up with the large tsabhua in between tripping over tree roots and stopping to look at weird bugs.

After repeated complaints from the two about the state of their colony’s base camp (which was truly just a camp and not really a great place to settle in and call home), DPIP finally relented and sent out a crew to finish the buildings that had been left half-built, supplies strewn about the place (which were only left like that in the first place due to a personnel shortage. allegedly. Gloam is still convinced they just didn’t care enough to finish).

With the DPIP construction crews invading their camp and getting in the way of day-to-day life, Rufous and Gloam have set out into the mountains to survey the areas surrounding their new home.

Rufous, being a member of a species known for being shockingly skilled at mimicry, had no trouble at all adapting to the clicks and whistles of tsabhua languages, so the two have almost entirely abandoned their DPIP translation devices in favor of attempting to communicate directly to each other.

“Know if… any near tribe?” Rufous asked, as they jumped over a small creek. Their grasp on tsabhua languages is still shaky at best, but has been improving startlingly quickly.

“Prolly at least one or two nearby,” Gloam responded, stepping over the creek after them. “I’d be surprised if there weren’t.”

“Aggressive?”

“Won’t know until we meet them. Probably not, unless we piss them off, or they have REALLY strong feelings about DPIP.”

Rufous bent down to inspect the crystals and moss-covered stones lining the creek, then shoved a few in their pockets as they looked back at Gloam. “You good talker? Make friends?”

“...I’m not really much of a diplomat so it’s not my fault if they get mad at us.”

Rufous stood up and saluted in Gloam’s direction, who tried his best to return the gesture, before continuing to leisurely stroll through the forest

---

The unusually flat area they had been traveling through eventually gave way to the more rugged, hilly regions expected of Rekes. The trees grew shorter here, with numerous large crystal spires that reached up towards the sky, some of them bending over to form arches with neighboring crystals.

The lawless wilds of the mountain forest were eventually interrupted by the sight of a faint path winding through the trees; rough, and hard to pick out, clearly formed by continuous travel through the area instead of any clear intent to create an actual path.

As the trail continued on, starting to stand out more and more from the surrounding terrain, the mountains began to close in around them. Crystals and sparse trees jutted out from the slopes above them, as they eventually entered a small passageway between two of the taller peaks.

Glowing crystals formed in abundance here, lighting the way as the mountains above blocked any light from the twin suns. Most of them poked out of the walls of the chasm, just high enough above to not bonk Gloam on the head.

After a short trek through the crystal-filled chasm, it widened considerably, before completely giving way to a sprawling river valley, dotted by trees and covered in a thick bed of long, flowing grass. Crystals formed in abundance along the riverbank, and dotted among the grass and trees, along with stray boulders and outcrops of stone.

Gloam grabbed Rufous’s sleeve and crouched down, as he spotted a group of tsabhua picking their way through the grass along the river.

“Let’s watch them for a bit, and think about how we’re gonna introduce ourselves before we go down there, ok?” He spoke as he looked out across the valley, and Rufous only nodded in response.

“May be worth going back to camp and grabbing some spare supplies to gift them. Never hurts to make a good first impression.”

At this, Rufous reached into their pocket and pulled out one of the moss-covered rocks they had procured earlier. “Gift for them. Here.”

Gloam stared at the rock for a second too long, before turning back towards camp. “...That can be a bonus gift.”