Kela Crash Course Part 3

The work of planting continued for a while in silence. Korppi and Talos seemed to have come to the end of their questions, or they were rattled enough by the previous answers to avoid asking any more. Drift kept looking over her shoulder to the two Euoplos, hoping to catch them talking to each other or showing any kind of interest in the land around them but both were keeping their heads down and working. It made her feel a little bit annoyed, she loved her home and loved to talk about it ad nauseum. Brook caught her looking and gave her a warning frown, not wanting the stone knights to grow suspicious of them. He wasn't happy with their current situation either, but he felt going with the flow would pay off for them. The Highlands of Kela had been his home since he hatched, he knew exactly how unforgiving it could be and he trusted this tough environment to crush the Atlantean plants under a deluge of snow. As it was, he was planting carelessly, digging holes far too shallow whenever he could avoid the gaze of the Euoplos. He could see Tony doing something similar, gouging short dips and throwing seeds in before either Korppi or Talos could see how poorly it was covered by a flimsy layer of soil. One good rainstorm would wash a lot of them down the mountain. Drift was closest to the Euoplos and didn't have the luxury of sabotaging her planting, though she was taking her sweet time. Brook couldn't tell if it was on purpose or just a result of her keeping such a close eye on them.

“So what are we actually planting here?” Drift's voice eventually broke the silence. Korppi looked up at her before her gaze darted to Talos. Almost imperceptibly, the helmeted Euoplo shook his head.

“They're food,” she said simply, turning back to the seed bag.

“Yeah, we know that,” Brook rolled his eyes, “but why so much of it? Have you even tried the plants up here?”

“The Oviraptors have,” Talos confirmed, “they were offered many bribes when they came to the surface.” Brook and Drift looked guiltily at each other. “The problem is we cannot guarantee that it can feed all of us, even if it is suitable to eat. The safer option is to plant our own species on the surface.” His inflection never changed once as he explained, like he was reading it from a script. 

“It's still a lot to be planting, you could end up killing off the native plants, and then what would us natives eat?” Tony asked, his voice loaded with implications. Without saying it outright, he was raising his concern of the Atlanteans taking over the islands and driving the other species to starvation. He had tried certain plants in the dome at the famous banquet but he feared the edibility of every species that was being brought to the surface. An omnivore like himself wouldn't struggle to fill his belly, but he worried about his larger herbivorous friends. The likes of Shunos and Theris needed a lot of food to stay healthy, and they would struggle to survive if the plant life from Atlantis turned out to be both invasive and hostile.

"Is there some kind of problem?" Talos asked and Tony hurried to shake his head.

"No, just concerns, you understand, right? Like, you were all really worried when we came down into the dome, can't you realise we're feeling the same but you're also adding the threat of invasive plants to it?" he pleaded. Talos gave him a long and considering look but didn't reply, just returned to the bag for another seed. Tony sighed but took the seed that was offered to him and plodded off to plant another one. His dome was aching with all the worrying he was doing, so he chose to take the path of least resistance and simply plant until he could plant no more.

Drift swept the bed of pine needles away with her tail and scratched at the dirt beneath them. It was insulated by the needles and easier to make headway with her sharp, gouging claws. The hard, frozen dirt soil had already taken its toll on them, and she had turned to seeking out the softer earth to dig in. She hummed to herself, this wasn't the task for a Cryo, she had been hoping for something a little more action packed or constructive but here she was on plant duty again. At the very least she had escaped the plant nursery down in the dome, the stuffy, humid atmosphere of Atlantis had been playing havoc with her feathers. Now she was back home she was already feeling rejuvenated despite the grueling climb to reach the valley. The cold wind that whipped through the narrow chasms felt like a cool summer breeze to her at this stage, like her body had been built to not only endure the cold but to thrive in it as well. She looked down at the shiny little seed clutched in her claw and felt it roll back and forth across her fingers. It was so delicate, and she knew all plants started this way, even the ancient trees that towered above her, but they felt too soft for this world. To prove her point, she squeezed and felt the shell split under the force. She dropped it quickly into the hole and covered it before the Euoplos noticed. 

"Are you ready for another one?" Korppi called from where she was standing at the bag. She hadn't left unless Talos was standing with it, like she was guarding it from the three volunteers. Drift was feeling more and more uneasy and resolved to pop every seed she could.

"Ready! Load me up, boss!" she replied cheerfully, holding her short arms out for another to plant. Korppi trotted over to hand her another, holding it tenderly in her beak and getting on her tiptoes to drop it into Drift's palm.

"We're doing good work here," the black headed Euoplo said, suddenly serious, "You'll see once these begin to grow, everything will be better when we bring the perfection of Atlantis to the surface.