The red wolf had been passing through Polaris, taking a break for his search for batcat to hunt food and sate his thirst. It had been a productive break, and though he hadn't succeeded in taking down any large game he at least had found enough small critters to satisfy his hunger for the moment. The storm above worried him but at the moment it was a blessing, providing light to this part of the cave.

Just as he was getting up and debating on hunting down another critter three birds flew overhead declaring the start to a contest, one with a reward attached to it. In most situations such as this Xireidi would have likely ignored the call and continued on with his mission, but the promise of reward was a tempting one. Could it help in his quest for batcat and to bring light back to these caves? It was possible, and just a possibility was enough to prompt action.

Among the three birds the yellow one had appeared the most trustworthy, and though he had no extra information to go on the red wolf decided that he would seek out yellow stones for them. Of course he had a yellow stone already, given to him by a good friend cycles before. That one would not do though; it had sentimental value attached to it. His sparring partner had made a quite a few stones by the river in his pursuit of magical mastery, glowing in all manner of different colors. Those would certainly work well.

Hopefully this wouldn't take too long, and with luck he might even gain clues to his target's whereabouts while he was on this side-quest. After a brief stretch Xireidi began to trot toward the river's edge.

Only there was no river when he arrived. The wolf looked in confusion at the empty bed before a glint of reflected lightning caught his eye a short distance away. It would likely remain a mystery to him why the water had run away and formed a lake, but at this moment it really didn't matter. After a short trip toward the water's location he could clearly see stones under the lakes surface, both of the glowing and non-glowing variety.

Something told the wolf that swimming in a storm might be a bad idea, so to start out he paced around the edge of the anomalous lake, hoping to find at least a few yellow rocks.

His search bore minimal results, but there was at least one small chunk of yellow crystal that had washed upon the lake shore. It wasn't glowing or anything, but the color was all that actually mattered. One would likely not be enough to win the contest though. He'd be able to carry up to three stones of about this size at a time so that would be what he would aim for. To gather the other two he would need to take a small risk and dive below to gather the rocks from under the water's surface.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Xireidi looked up as he paced around the perimeter, newfound stone held in jaw. The storm wasn't getting any better, but it wasn't getting too much worse either. Most lighting strikes at the moment seemed to be contained to either the storm clouds themselves or tall structures throughout the room. He could chance a quick dive, but he wouldn't want to be underwater for too long.

A golden glimmer caught the wolf's eye as he lowered his gaze. One of the baubled stones nested among a pile of current-worn rocks. It was near enough to the shore that he could probably get in and out within less than a minute so it fulfilled that criteria. Only thing left to do was to put his current batch down and go for it.

Lightning struck a rock in the distance, illuminating the wolf as he dove in and swam with fury toward the sunken treasure. He didn't have much time, every second he was in the lake was a second he was at risk. Once he was near enough on the surface he dove under, keeping his good eye open and fighting the sting to ensure that he grabbed the right one.

Xireidi grasped his jaws around the glowing rock and kicked off for the shoreline, emerging from the water as another flash illuminated within the clouds. That was two. One more before he could go deliver the stones to Orion.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

With two gemstones in tow Xireidi was feeling pretty confident in his skill. Swimming wasn't usually a part of his exercise regimen but after this he might have to practice it more often.

Sadly it appeared that swimming would not be required for the final piece. Look as the might there didn't appear to be any more easily accessible glowing yellow stones in the lake. He saw a few red ones and some blue ones, but apparently the stone he had dove for earlier had been a lucky find. It was really just as well though, with the storm going on the whole diving aspect had been a bit too risky for the potential payoff.

Xireidi turned from the river and began to meander toward the tunnel of glowing moss, weaving here and there in search of anything that might qualify as a third stone on his way.

His winding journey produced no results though, and once he got to the tunnel entrance he had to make a hard choice; turn back and make another round or call it quits and just turn in the two that he had.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Of course he wasn't going to give up! If he was going to find a missing creature then how would he live with himself if he failed to find a generic yellow rock to complete his collection? Confidently the red wolf turned and started walking along the wall, keeping an eye out for any stones that would fit his needs.

Quite a few yellow stones passed by, though most appeared either too big for him to carry alongside the other two or too small to really count in his eyes. About a quarter of the way around the room though one particularly we'll suited stone caught his attention. A single rod of gold, or probably iron pyrite he suspected. With this his offerings would be fairly eclectic- one yellow crystal, one artificially colored yellow river rock, and one goldish metal stick- but surely it would be enough to give his chosen bird a chance at winning the contest.

His three items carefully placed in jaw Xireidi turned around and headed toward the moss tunnel again, ready to leave this storm behind.

- Exit Xireidi -

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None