"Vermin!" Howl excaliaimed, nearly kicking down the door in her excitement. She grew more hesitant when she saw Matter, looked at her filled with confusion. She stammered out a quick apology for startling the older Tark'ee, and handed her the clipboard she had been holding. Matter frowned, examining the clipboard closer. Howl stood besides her and shrugged. "We're not sure what it means yet, but this is what we came up with." Matter shook her head, confused. Howl shifted awkwardly beside her, unsure if her suggestion had landed the way he had intended. “I mean, it fits, right? Something small, quick, scurrying around. Whiskers. Shadows. Sounds like vermin to me.” Se shrugged again, her usual confidence wavering in the face of Matter’s intense focus. Matter pursed her lips and lifted her hands, quickly writing something down on a new piece of paper. "But what about the rest of it?" Howl tilted his head, trying to remember the exact wording they had found scrawled on the ancient bunker wall. “Uh, 'Amongst ruins and cities, I find my retreat. From crumbs and from morsels, my banquet's complete ' We haven't been able to get the rest quite yet, but I imagine we're

quite close by now, right?” Matter tapped her pencil on the clipboard a few time, thinking, then pointed at Howl, as if to say, "And you still think it’s vermin?" Howl scratched the back of her neck, letting out a nervous chuckle. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds a bit off. But what else could it be? It’s gotta be something sneaky, something that hides in the dark, right?” Matter’s eyes narrowed as she scribbled another something down on the clipboard. "It’s more than just sneaky. It lives in ruins. It seems to like a quick snack. What kind of vermin does that?" Howl’s face scrunched up in thought, the wheels in her brain clearly turning as he tried to piece it together. She glances around the room, her eyes falling on a storybook one of the whelps must've left around. “Maybe I don’t know, something like a ghost?” Matter raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, though she didn’t dismiss it outright. She turned her attention back to the clipboard, scanning the cryptic riddle once again. Her fingers brushed against the paper, tracing the words. "Something not bound to the physical world?" she signed. Howl blinked. “You

think it’s a spirit? Like, an actual ghost?” Matter paused, considering the thought. She wasn’t sure either, but the idea made more sense than anything else they had come up with so far. "It’s possible. doesn't explain the "From crumbs and from morsels, my banquet's complete.", though." Howl looked uncomfortable, as though the idea of hunting something they couldn’t see didn’t sit well with him. “If that’s the case, how do we catch it? I mean, we can’t just chase after shadows.” Matter frowned, writing something down on the paper again. "I doubt we have to catch it, but maybe it has something to do with they keypad. I'll look further into it, Howl. Thank you for your insights."