Continued...

I noticed, as we made it more toward the center of the small island, that the numbers of my Meeroo companions grew less and less. You could hear their calls and trills starting to come from all over around us, the cluster having broken into little groups and gone exploring. Leaving them too it, and anxious to do so myself, we quickly found a place and set up camp. As soon as we were settled, I was off with my backpack collecting samples of the soil, different plants, and anything else unfamiliar to study once I had a little work shop set up. One such new specimen that caught my eye was low flowering plant with a widespread base of leaves, mostly a rich green with purple veining and a bit of this color variance along the edge of the leaf. The center of the plant held a massive Calla Lily type bloom with with a deep violet shade that made the golden stamen of the plant stand out brilliantly. I was just starting to take a closer look at the unique growth when I was interrupted.

As I busied myself, I felt a light pawing at my leg and looked down, to see one of my Meeroo friends standing there with a small group around him. It was the Elder Cinder, who now wore the Sunstone Compass disk like a hat, the creamy satin crystal of it having been nibbled free of it's tie and now in his hand. He offered it up to me with a happy chirp while others danced around him. It seemed the Crystal and whatever device they’d rigged to help guide us had worked, and out of thanks he was going to finally let me have the Meerunic for my collection.

I realized, after a moment, that a small number in is group were already carrying items they’d come across on the isle. Was I seeing that right? Had they, in just the hour or so we'd been here, already found bits of plants, stones and other things that had caught their eye, much like the search parties hunted for back home? I crouched down and held my hand out to a small Dynasty who held one such treasure to her ear, much like a child would to hear the sea from an over-sized shell. She let me hold her beachy find and look it over, but I couldn’t feel energy from it like I could the Meerunics, so it was impossible to tell if she collected it simply because it was shiney, or if these keepsakes were picked with more of a logic to the choices.

After giving back her seashell, I hurried back to camp with the Meerunic and set up my workshop, my other collections piled together in addition to the crystal now that I had been given it to add to my set. Having seen the Meeroos efforts to collecting up things so soon in the same fashion they had before our travels here, I was anxious to see what all this island had to offer. What did it mean? Was the reason that the Meeroos constantly dug up or hunted out little treasures some sort of inherent behavior from their origins here? What were they meant to be finding, and were the objects they had given me so far just simple substitutes for things they could possibly find on this island!?? As you can guess, my mind was swimming!

I called to the Elders of my Meeroo friends and asked them to get everyone settled, making nesting spaces around the camp so that I had a more controlled environment within which to observe their behaviors and actions here, to track any differences and new items that were found. However, as I looked around I noticed that not a single one of the Nocturnals that had come with me were anywhere in sight. This sparked more than a little panic in me and the accompanying crew, so after getting shrugs and head-shakes from the Diurnal Elders, we went looking for them.

I was not prepared for what I found.