[QuirkyRabbit]

Sketch stopped himself right before he blurted out that he was afraid - afraid of Lynphea. "Erm, no, we're not in danger here. This is just a hut that we found when we were walking around here." The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that she presented no danger to him. She was just being cautious, like he was. He stopped shuffling towards the door, but he found her glare a little unnerving. "And about the hole... We discovered it by accident. Me and another Kuhna named Nivium. He went down into the hole himself, I didn't bury him there or anything like that."

[Kyarra]

Lynphea was certain that Sketch was no danger to her and she calmed down and was laid-back. "So, you say your friend is down there. Any plans to rescue him?" She flew down to the hole and landed right beside it. Lynphea looked down into the hole "Oh man, that looks really bad. It would take ages to dig your friend out of it."

[QuirkyRabbit]

Sketch bent down to look into the hole. It certainly was deep, but the underground stream below it seemed to have quieted down a bit. "Well, erm, he was trying to get out, and the stream below leads to the river. I have some friends further up the river. Maybe we could get them to help?" 'And maybe see if Nivium's found them already,' he added silently. He made his way towards the door of the hut, pushing it open with his nose. Now that he had decided that Lynphea wasn't dangerous, he was in a hurry to get back to the others.

[Kyarra]

Lynphea reflected the situation. First she hesitated to follow Sketch to find his other friends but she loved adventures and recently her live was not really exciting. "Okay…" she said  "let's find your friends." and followed Sketch out of the house. "Sorry for being uptight lately. I was afraid of you but now I think you are okay. So, do you have any ideas where we can find your friends?" Lynphea was flying next to Sketch as he went down the jetty.

[QuirkyRabbit]

"Mmm... Yeah, me too," Sketch wasn't really listening, but was deep in thought as he stood on the end of the jetty looking out to the river. If Nivium had surfaced, where would he be now? Perhaps he could go back to the others... and tell them that Nivium had been lost? What then? But it seemed like the best option. He said to Lynphea, "The others are up river from here. If you want to find them, it's this way." He pushed through the undergrowth again, following his and Nivium's tracks leading the other way. Once again the itchy plants made him irritated, but he simply pressed on.

[Kyarra]

Lynphea looked in the direction Sketch told her but he went the other way. "Wait!" she turned around and followed him "Is it okay if I stay with you? I'd like to help you find your friend!" She looked at the Penticorn hoping that he won't refuse her request. Lynphea navigated easily through the itchy plants – no wonder, she was much smaller than Sketch. But she had to watch out that the sharp edges from some of the plants won't hurt her talons or her wings.

[Kestrel]

(Uh... they walked upriver before coming to the hut?)

Nivium continued bobbing up and down. Had the river not rose up and down so much, he would’ve long run out of air. Still, it wasn’t enough. He blacked out. The last thing he saw was someone he assumed was Halo flying towards him.

“Nivium!” Malora shouted, running towards the bank as soon as she recognized him, which was about the same time that Halo flew towards him.
“Nivium?” Viritra spun around, and noticed him being dragged onto the grass. Pure panic filled her as the Kuhna lay deathly still.
“How?” Malora asked, just as worried. “Why was he drowning in the river?”
Both Kuhnas were too busy with their friend to noticed Sketch and Lynphea pushing through the ferns. That was probably better, as they would’ve blamed Sketch for what happened to Nivium (or at least Viritra would), without letting him a chance to explain what really happened, or letting him introduce Lynphea.
“Is he alive, Halo?” Malora asked, turning to the Sahound. “Can you tell?”
She was too young to learn how to figure it out, and Viritra was too immersed in her memories to pay attention to what her friend had said.
He can’t be dead! He’s barely had a taste of life! Viritra’s repeated that to herself, as scenes flashed before her eyes. While she had known him most of her life, she was still relatively young, and didn’t have that many memories. But she had enough to feverishly hope he was still alive.

{17}{17}{17}

[QuirkyRabbit]

((Alright then XD))

Halo bent down to sniff Nivium's limp body. "I think he's still breathing," she said softly. Suddenly, Nivium coughed out water, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

Then Rapses walked up to the group. He had lingered behind while the rest of them had rushed off to save Nivium. He approached Halo and said, "I'm... sorry for playing that trick on you. If- If..." He didn't finish his sentence, but Halo could see it in his eyes. You could have ended up like that.

Sketch pushed his way to the front. He looked down at Nivium and said rather matter-of-factly, "Looks like you found him." Inside he was more relieved than the rest, as Halo had not only saved Nivium, but had also saved Sketch from having to explain where Nivium had gone.

He looked around, and noticed that Halo and the Kuhnas were not alone. "Who's this?" he turned to face Rapses. "Found a new friend, have you?"

[Kyarra]

Lynphea landed on a large stone slightly away from the group and watched the situation from the distance. She would not disturb Sketch and his friends while they were very worried about the Kuhna which was lying on the ground. Lynphea could not say if the Kuhna was still alive but she hoped so.

Suddenly the Sahound said "I think he's still breathing" and Lynphea sighed with relief and said "Do you want me to find something to eat for him? I think he could use a strengthening."

[QuirkyRabbit]

Halo looked up and noticed Sketch's new companion for the first time. "Yes," she said, "Yes, that would be good." Then she asked Sketch, "Who is that?"
"Lynphea," he replied, "I met her up the river. How about him? Who's that?" He flicked his tail towards Rapses.
"Rapses," said Halo, "put soap on the cliff which we fell from. He's been hiding in the bushes and watching us the whole time. Neither did he lift a finger to help Nivium," she gave Rapses a bitter glare. "I hope Nivium isn't a victim of one of your pranks?"
"Oh no no," Rapses said hurriedly, but Sketch cut in. "We went up the river and found a hut. It was empty, but there was a hole in the ground which led to the river. Nivium jumped in by himself. I don't think Ra- Rap- he had anything to do with it. Then I met Lynphea, and we came back here." He looked around at the Kuhnas, and asked, "What did you guys get up to while I was gone?"
"Heh," said Halo, "You know that piece of paper we found in the water? It was just a trick of Rapses'. His idea of a joke caused us to waste our time hiding among plants for a secret messenger who never came." She glared at him again.

[Kyarra]

"Okay, but what does he eat?" she asked to everybody around. "Does he prefer meat or rather fruits? The heaviest that I'm able to carry is a big rabbit but I'm also able to gather some fruits and berries."

Lynphea waited patiently for an answer while the group started to discuss about something. The Sahound began to talk about a soaped cliff and that they fell from it. Further he talked about a piece of paper and the Imeut was suspected of putting it in the water to cheat people.

[Kestrel]

He’s alive! Viritra thought, a smile lighting up her face.
Malora sighed, relieved he was alive. The other things could be taken care of later. “When will he wake up?” she asked, concerned, as a new problem entered her mind.
“Rapses,” Viritra hissed, answering Sketch’s question. “And Heka,” she added, after a moment’s pause.
“He eats anything a human eats, pretty much. Fruits and berries out here, of course,” Malora answered, then turned to Sketch. “Sketch, did he leave a bag anywhere before he went down the hole? It has some things that are useful to us. And bread.”
“Was the hole wide en-,” Viritra began, then stopped. “Wait. Why did he jump into the hole? And couldn’t he have climbed out? He hates water! Surely you guys knew there was a river at the bottom! How’d you meet Lynphea, anyway? Did she have anything to do with him falling into the stream?”
“Uh, Halo,” Malora said. “I think he and Nivium left before we found the can.” She turned to the Penticorn. “After playing for a bit, Viritra found a rusty old can in the river. Inside was a sealed, tiny cardboard box. Inside that was a piece of paper with some words on it. We thought it could’ve been a secret message to someone, so we hid in the ferns over there,” at this, she jerked her head in the general direction of the ferns. “and waited to see if anyone would come. Inside, we overheard Rapses and Heka talking about the prank.”
And we also wasted some of my disguising leaves, she thought grumpily. All for nothing.

{18}{18}{18}

[Kyarra]

"Okay! I will be back soon!" Lynphea said quickly and then turned around and flew away. She could not hear what the Kuhna was talking about.

First she took a vast leaf from a nearby tree and laid it down on the ground - then she began to gather some fruits and berries. She laid them all onto the leaf till she thought that it was enough. After thirty minutes of gathering fruits she sat in front of the pile of food 'Oh boy, I think that's too much. I wonder if I can carry this…' she tied the leaf up and grabbed the top end with her talons. The package was way too heavy but she was near by the rest and so she tried to carry it on her own 'Come on! You can do this on your own!' she complained to herself. Low flying she carried the leaf full of fruits and berries to the rest of the group and arrived all out of breath "Here you are!" she said an then slumped to the ground next to the package.

[QuirkyRabbit]

Halo had forgotten that Sketch didn't know about the piece of paper, but Malora had just reminded her. "They must have been gone longer than I thought," she mumbled to herself.

Once Lynphea had left, Sketch spoke. "Sounds like you guys were having fun," there was a tint of sarcasm to his voice. He paused, and took a deep breath. "Anyway, like I said we found the hole in the floor of a wooden hut up the river but when Lynphea arrived she was outside and we thought that it was the owner of the house and we thought they might be mad at us for breaking into their place so we tried to escape but there was only the hole because she was blocking the door so Nivium jumped in first because the hole might be too small for me and Lynphea found me before I could jump in but she wasn't the owner and she wasn't angry but she was quite suspicious at first because she saw Nivium jump in and thought that I threw him down there but anyway I explained everything to her but by then Nivium was too far down the hole and I couldn't save him and Lynphea suggested that we should come back here and get your guys to help but it looks like you found him already."

Just as Sketch finished, Lynphea came back with some berries and fruit. "Thanks," said Halo, and picked up a small purple berry. "Here," she offered it to Sketch. Still a little faint, he nodded and licked it up.

[Kestrel]

Overwhelmed by Sketch’s rapid speech, and at the pace things were happening, plus her irritation at Rapses and worry over Nivium, Viritra countered it all by letting out her anger.
“Stop, just stop! Take one thing at a time! How can we get the whole story if you’re talking so quickly? Just-“ she stopped and stamped away.
Malora followed quietly. “Come one, Viritra,” she said softly. “We’re all really worried about everything that happened. I’m sure we can get the whole story later.”
Spinning around, the Poison Kuhna’s eyes flashed. “Tell me then, why exactly is everyone sharing stories? Why does everyone seem so relaxed? Why is no one doing anything?!?”
That’s not true! Malora protested in her mind. What about Lynphea?
As if on cue, that was the precise moment the Magistrey returned. Loaded with fruits and berries, Malora hurried over to help her brother.
“He’s not awake,” she said dejectedly, and left the food next to him.

{19}{19}{19}