"Seafoam owes me double sashimi," Parhelion said flatly as he and Noodle and Whiteout examined the trail in front of them.

"That's your problem," Noodle said helpfully, examining the tracks left in the swiftly-eroding sand.

Whiteout sneezed as some windblown sand got in her nose. "You did say you wanted a pet dilev," she pointed out, adjusting her night goggles.

Parhelion snorted and rolled his eyes as if that didn't matter. "Don't let the facts get in the way of some good sashimi," he flicked one hand dismissively.

Noodle snorted at him, then nodded up the slope of the rocky outcrop in front of them. "It's up there somewhere."

The rocky outcrop rose out of the desert sands like a volcanic island out of a roiling sea, all sharp angles and dark rock not yet blasted into smoothness by the sandstorms. It held a myriad of nooks and crannies and probably caves as well, perfect for creatures to make homes in. The sun had just set, and the temperatures of the desert were approaching bearable in the dim light of twilight.

Parhelion rolled his eyes. "I think we all know that. But where up there?"

"Picky, picky," Noodle muttered, ignoring his barb, while Whiteout puffed up lightly in secondhand outrage. "Follow me and keep an eye out for tracks."

The three adjusted their night vision goggles and followed Noodle as ze walked slowly, head close to the ground as ze examined the sand for tracks. Any sandy tracks in this environment were swiftly washed away by the ever-blowing wind, which made tracking difficult. Hence, they'd set up nearby to watch for a dilev to make its way up the outcrop and to follow it.

The trick was following it far enough behind that it didn't realize it was being followed, but not too far away that the wind had obscured its tracks.

It was a tricky balance to strike, and Noodle was doing zir best. Parhelion always felt like they were getting too far away, but his eyes were sharp at catching scratch marks on the rock from the dilev's claws as it climbed. Whiteout was more cautious, but she had an intuition about where an animal would go that was valuable when the trail became overlaid with older ones, or ones from other animals.

The three slowly wove in and out of the caves and crevices in the outcrop, and the signs of a dilev living here became clearer and clearer. All of a sudden, Whiteout's head came up and she motioned them towards a side tunnel. As Noodle and Parhelion followed, a scratching noise could be heard, and no sooner did they get out of sight than a dilev skittered past.

"Well, at least we know we're on the right track," Parhelion mused.

Noodle rolled zir eyes. "We've been on the right track. Where have you been?"

Parhelion snorted a laugh, and the three hurried on to the dilev's nest. There was more stone and less sand here, and neither of the three had a particularly sharp sense of smell. Parhelion's eye for fresh scratches came in handy as they tracked the fresh marks along the stone, but they still had to backtrack a few times as they came to dead ends or abandoned nests.

Still, at last they heard the soft chirps of young dilevs up ahead, and the parent's deeper trills. The tunnel emerged into a larger chamber, with the nest set up and back against the far wall. Noodle nodded in appreciation at the chamber, while Whiteout resisted the urge to make cooing noises at the babies. Parhelion, meanwhile, was eyeing the parents, whose heads had swiveled to stare beadily at the intruders.

He reached into his pack and deposited some meat on the ground, then checked his handheld to make sure it had tracked the route.

"Time to get out of here, I think," he said, eyeing the parents. Noodle eyed them with the same wary respect and nodded.

"Let them eat and think."

Whiteout followed the two as they left, and sighed. "They're so cute…"

"They are, but they can also pack a bite that will leave you regretting some choices," Parhelion pointed out. "Best to go slow."

Whiteout nodded, and the three set off back home. At least now they knew where the nest was… they could come back and continue to ply them with food. The parents would never be fully tame, but with some work, the babies could make excellent companions.