The group hiked back to Sanguine Cove in the early morning, having spent most of the night looking for the moths in the caves. Now, each member of the group carried with then bags filled with small jar containing a few moths each.

 

"We got so many!" Wait called out excitedly to the group, "I wasn't expecting to find so many with what you told us, Bilo'bjorn."

 

The belemoid chuckled. "We got lucky, honestly."

 

Alter and Value nodded at him "I suppose that could be true. Maybe they're just well-hidden from the predators in this cave."

 

"That could be the case!" Bilo'bjorn said, excitedly. "Either way, I can check on the health of these guys, and then when I record all that data I can hand them over to some breeders around the region."

 

Bang seemed surprised by this, tilting his head. "People breed these? They don't seem too useful, really."

 

"Well, of course." Bilo'bjorn started, leading the group onto a small gravel path that he knew would lead them back to the port where the colonists had arrived from.

 

"People breed them for all sorts of reasons, really." he continued. "Some breed them to feed their livestock, others as pets, and recently some Rekesens have been breeding them to release them back into the wild."

 

Bang nodded "That makes sense. It's nice of them to do so."

 

Bilo'bjorn lead them further down the path, and soon the land started to look more inhabited. A small distance from the port, Bilo'bjorn guided them off the path again. "I have a little lab here where I do my research, we'll have to drop the moths off there, first. It's not far out of the way though, I promise you'll be heading back home in no time!" 

 

---

 

The lab was, in reality, more easily described as a shack. The building was made out of wood, and both walls and roof were filled with holes. The group of Xunari easily filled up the entire building, but they managed to all squeeze in there- barely, though.

 

Bang frowned "Is this all you have?"

 

The black belemoid nodded. "It's fine though, I don't mind. Just put the jars over there- make sure not to cover up the air holes, though. I'll move them into some temporary enclosures when I get back from dropping you lot off at the port."

 

They all awkwardly took turns shuffling to the corner Bilo'bjorn had gestured at, setting down everyone's jars.

 

"Ah- if you ever need a bigger space I'm sure we can like... help?" said Value, who had wrapped her body along Wait's, trying to save some floor space. The black reef belemoid didn't seem to mind much, luckily.

 

"That's very kind of you guys." there seemed to be a hint of annoyance to Bilo'bjorn's voice as he spoke. "But I worked hard to be able to get this place, and right now I'm happy with it. I know it doesn't look like much to you, but to me it's perfect."

 

"We didn't mean any offense." Wait said, as soon as he picked up on the belemoid's annoyance. "But you might need some more eh-" he paused for a moment to think of the right word,  "-advanced equipment?"

 

Bilo'bjorn sighed "I mean- you're not wrong. I'll keep your offer in mind, of course." he smiled "For now, though, this is just fine, I promise."

 

When the last jar was set down, Bilo'bjorn instantly shoo'd them out of his little shack. "Go on now, if you guys hurry over you can probably just hop on one of the ships heading for L'hatzif."