Nathalia regarded the wall with caution, arms crossed as she looked at it. A few other colonists stood around, eyeing the walls as well, comparing notes and theorizing. Howl seemed to be chatting with two Tsabhua from other colonies. 

 

"Ah! Hi Nathalia! These are Spiridus and Harkley, we were just talking about the etching... We ah, still have no clue." Howl awkwardly said.

 

Nathalia chuckled "That makes sense. it's a lot to decipher." She looked at Spiridus. "I could've sworn I've seen you around Rekes before..."

 

Spiridus nodded, "Yes, that's where I reside."

"Hmm. Any progress on the bunker there, then?"

"Not yet. We were hoping to travel to the other bunkers and compare the information we have, but so far no luck." She had her arms crossed as she spoke, seemingly not too thrilled about everything going on.

 

Nathalia sighed. "I really hoped some news had come out of the other regions. Harkley, has your colony found anything interesting?"

 

The tasbhua smiled "We think we have some leads. Some of our scholars back at home have been looking at our notes- I ah- don't have anything they wrote down with me, though but maybe next time I'll bring them along."

 

Howl nodded. "We were just talking about notes before you popped in, Spiridus said it might be useful to compare the etchings to those of the other regions. I don't think we've heard for Issiq or Mireh yet." a smile crept on Howl's face as she spoke. "Of course, *I* wouldn't mind travelling to the other regions if needed."

 

Spiridus raised an eyebrow "There wouldn't be a need for that. We can easily communicate from a distance."

 

Nathalia nodded, giving Howl a quick pat on the back. "As much as I hate to admit, Spiridus is right. No need to go trotting all over the globe, unless a colony asks for help, of course."

 

Howl sighed in disappointment. "I suppose you're not wrong." she looked over at the papers that Nathalia was carrying. "Found anything interesting while we were talking?"

 

The pink Tsabhua looked at the papers in her hands. "Hmmm. Not really, I suppose." she shifted trough them. "I've been taking notes, so we can look at these off-site while Matter and Scale work on those scans we made... I will send you a copy of those when they're done, Spiridus, maybe your colony can compare them to the bunker in Rekes."

 

The group continued talking for a while, but soon the sun was setting over the mushroom forest. Nathalia and Howl had started packing up their equipment, preparing for the walk back home. Harkley had helped them pack up, mentioning they were staying nearby themselves. The two had considered offering Spiridus a place to stay for the night, with the colony only being a small walk away, but by the time they had been almost ready to leave the silver Xunari had already disappeared, along with some of Nathalia's notes. She had frowned, but hadn't pointed it out to Howl just yet- she felt this might not be the last time something like this would happen.