By the time they had reached the far wall of Canis, Scorch had mostly managed to shake off the chill from Tunnel K, though a faint unsettled feeling still remained stubbornly in his chest. There had been a deep hole in the ground, which had been especially creepy - was that new? He didn't think he'd seen it before - but maybe that was because he had been paying more attention to the ground than usual, since Sprig walked rather than flew. Still, he thought with a slight frown, someone should fill that up. What if a distracted Gembound fell in and broke something?

And that thought gave birth to a whirling multitude of ideas. What if the hole was filled up with dirt? What if flowers were planted in that dirt! Some nice, cheerful plants: perhaps some of the glowing moss and mushrooms from Polaris, some delicious sugary fruit that he'd sometimes seen lessers eat, some flowers for a nice burst of color. Tunnel K would be a lot more cheerful with flowers in it.

If only tunnel K had soil in it for plants to grow.

If only he had some way to bring dirt into the tunnel…

Perhaps he could do two tasks for the Collector, in exchange for two things.

"This is where we first freed the Collector," Scorch told Sprig, scanning the fragmented carvings on the wall. Then, in a rather abrupt change of subject: "What do you think of some flowers in that tunnel, to brighten things up? What colors would go well with each other?"

Oh, but he was getting ahead of himself. He didn't even have the dirt yet! "Collector!" he hooted. "It's me, Scorch!" Belatedly realizing that he couldn't even remember if he'd introduced himself the first time they'd met, and that he had no idea of the Collector would remember him after all this time, he added: "The owl! I've come to ask you for something - and also a bunch of dirt, if possible?"

@Sprig

Sprig was exhausted by the time they reached Canis even though they had taken breaks along the way. "Hmm, maybe. There are also some empty caves that could use brightening up." *ahem*Orion*ahem* ANYWAY. He nodded along at Scorch's call to the Collector, and waited.

There was a rustle of cloth and then he was there, as if he'd always been there, leaning idly against a pile of interlocked bones. Crimson eyes studied Scorch for a moment. "Ahhh, you--I remember you, Scorch; how good to see you again. You've been well, I trust..?" His voice was oily smooth, a silken croon as he spoke.

Gaze shifted to the other stranger--an interesting shape, this one, with interesting colors. "Please, do introduce me to your charming companion, and tell me what I might do for you both today-?"

@Scorch

The Collector appeared out of … nowhere? At least, that was what it seemed like to Scorch. I want to learn that magic someday! the owl decided. Teleportation was so cool, and he bet it would be useful for traveling. But he had to focus on what he came here for. "Hi, Collector! I've been great! And - I mean, I can't see your face, but you sound pretty happy! Have you been doing good too? This is my friend Sprig! We both really like plants." Then Scorch paused, gathering all his ideas for a possible magic-thing into coherent sentences.

"So I was thinking, y'know, plants can be really useful sometimes, even if they're not the main thing you eat! I bet if I found a bunch of plants with good properties and grew them en masse, they could help a lot of people! But Sprig brought up a good point while we were talking, which is that some plants could also be really bad for you! So I was wondering, since you made things with strong magic, could you make maybe a magic plant, so that if I ate something bad by accident I could eat the magic plant and use it to unpoison myself? Oh! And I could use magic to get its seeds and grow more of it all over the caves so anyone who needed it could also use it! Sprig, what do you think?"

"And another thing! I'm not sure if I'm allowed to ask for two things at once, so if not just the anti-poison is still great! But I'd be happy to help you do two things too! Y'know the tunnel that comes here from Orion? It's reaaaaally creepy, and all bare rock, and there's even a hole in it that anyone could trip over! And, I was thinking, wouldn't that tunnel be a lot cheerier with some flowers and things? But there's no dirt, and I don't know how to get enough dirt into it! So if it's not too much trouble, could I get a whole bunch of dirt?"

@Sprig

"Yep, I'm Sprig." the lion tried to position himself behind the owl, as he was actually a bit scared of the Collector. He shuffled his paws nervously, and flattened his eyestalks to his head. Appearing out of nowhere made him curious as to how that was done, but at the moment his fear overruled his curiosity, so he didn't ask about it.

"That would be very helpful." Sprig replied to Scorch's first request to the Collector, and thought over the second one. "Well, since there are two of us, both of us can do one thing so we can get both things!" he had noticed the hole that the owl was talking about, and it was indeed dangerous. He started wondering as to how the Collector would get a pile of dirt for them. Maybe make some out of thin air just like he appeared from nowhere? Would he go out and collect a bunch of dirt himself? These were important questions but again, he didn't ask.

Well, these were... questions, certainly.

He began with a polite greeting, his tone silken smooth. "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Sprig, and an honor, I am certain. And how wonderful to hear you have been well, Scorch."

The request, however, left him silent for a long moment as he considered. When at last he spoke, his tone was thoughtful.

"Creating life itself is beyond my capacity," the Collector began, smoothly. "I offer trinkets and treasures that bear magic. Perhaps I might have something that can counteract a poison, but naturally it could not be..." (one clawed hand gestured, as if he were searching for a word) "...reproduced. If that would suffice..?"

He paused, glancing in the vague direction of Tunnel K. "That tunnel is not... conducive to growth. I do have a lovely object that you could use to transport dirt, and other items--even great amounts of it--but I cannot guarantee that anything will grow."

Hands parted, palms up, as if to apologize or ask for peace. "I am sure we can find something worth our trade, even if it is not what you initially expect. So let us begin with this; what do you make of what I have said thus far?"

@Scorch

Sprig seemed a bit nervous, so Scorch stretched out a wing and brushed the lion's shoulder awkwardly as the Collector thought in silence. It seemed that neither of his requests fit perfectly with the magic and items the Collector had, but Scorch knew that magic was fickle sometimes. As long as you were creative and kept trying, you were sure to find something that worked.

"If you could enchant things that already existed, I could find or grow a plant and you could give it the anti-poison magic," he suggested. The magic could not be passed from plant to seed, so he would have to grow something big, to ensure there was enough antidote to go around and that taking its leaves or other parts wouldn't kill it. It would also have to be resilient, so it could resist pests or storms. "If not, then tell me about the trinkets you have in mind. I'm sure we could figure something out."

Tunnel K was another problem entirely. It was not a friendly place for plants either, it seemed. Scorch thought of the things that might be needed for plant life to flourish: light, clean water, fertile soil. The tunnel was abundant in none of these things. But even if agriculture itself failed in that tunnel, filling in the hole would be a good thing anyway, and they could always use the dirt in other caves.

"Sprig, do you think we should get the dirt still? It could help us spread plants to other rooms in the caves, if gardening in the tunnel turns out to be impossible. But since it would be an extra task, do you think it's worth it?"

"Can you tell me more about why the tunnel isn't conducive to growth?" Scorch added, turning back to the Collector. Maybe if he knew more about the exact causes, he could think of more ways to address the problems.

@Sprig

Scorch's wing helped to calm Sprig down a bit but didn't take away his nervousness completely. "If we grew one plant and cut off only small bits at a time so it could regrow then we could have an unlimited supply." Although he wasn't sure if reproduction meant to different plants or if it applied to the one plant growing too.

"What would the tasks be?" if it were something hard, it wouldn't be worth it, but if they sounded fairly easy to do then maybe they could.

"No, I'm afraid that would not work," came the answer, apologetic in tone. "As for the transporter, well-..."

The Collector turned, lifting his clawed fingers to his hood. He emitted a shrill and ringing whistle, and then turned back toward the pair. "While we wait... As far as trinkets, I had nothing in mind. I have many things, but it depends on what you wish; I have nothing that can affect a plant in such a way. A shame you were not here before that little fox... Regarding the tunnel, the tunnel itself is simply... inhospitable, shall we say. But it is what lies beneath that is truly--dangerous, to plant life. That hole you mentioned--you do not know what lies within it? That may be for the best," he added.

But before he could speak further, a quiet sound began its approach: like the slap of a thousand little hands along the rock. It drew nearer, louder, and then--quite abruptly--a wooden wagon lurched into view, carried atop dozens of bare-skinned, humanoid legs. "I call it Last Legs, and its last owner abandoned it. If treated well, I am sure it would be happy to carry your dirt for you."

The Collector looked down at Sprig. "As for which task, well, that will depend on the item you wish for. A weaker item is worth less than a powerful one, don't you agree?"

@Scorch

Dangerous? It sounded like there was some kind of monster hiding down that hole, from what the Collector was saying. Had they been lucky, to have come out of that tunnel unscathed? But Gembound regularly visited the Collector, and they could not all live in Canis. They would have had to go through that tunnel too. "Is it dangerous to ordinary travelers just passing through the tunnel?" he asked. If anyone had gotten hurt on their way to visit Canis, surely the Collector would know.

Either way, he could not attempt to make a garden in that tunnel if it might kill the plants. What a waste of life that would be...! He couldn't do that to the poor things. But they could still use the transporter to spread dirt elsewhere, if they chose to trade for it.

It scuttled into view, and Scorch blinked in shock, extending his neck and moving it from side to side to stare at it. "It - Last Legs is alive? Does it eat??? What... what does treating it well mean? What does it like?" It had so many legs. Not even Thothaga had had as many legs as Last Legs... "If we did decide to trade for Last Legs, what kind of task would you ask in exchange?"

"For the other magic item, maybe something that could act as an anti-poison if I ate, or touched it? Actually, touching it or something similar might be best, if it could not regenerate itself if I took a bite out of it. Or maybe something that could let me see into the future, to see what would happen if I ate something?" He turned his head toward Sprig. "Do you have more ideas, for what might work?"

@Sprig