Aster woke up to find that Darter was gone. It was impossible to keep Darter from meandering, anyways, and they hadn't taken any snippers, but that was because for some reason Darter felt like they didn't need food. Aster figured they could do without Darter for the moment, descended the stairs, and found themself glowing slightly in the gloom in front of Elytron, brandishing another snipper in one hand and some vines they'd been gathering on the other. They had planned to have bugs for the exchange, too, but that could all be done later.

Aster placed it on the ground, but had their hands around it still. Something wrapped around it, this time Elytron's tail, and Aster kept their grip secure. Elytron's eyes locked with Aster's, the panta clicking with confusion, and Aster said, their voice shaking, "I'm here to make a deal with you."

Elytron clicked again. "What's a deal?"
"You're going to live in our basement, so, um, I thought we would have terms, so that you know what we expect out of you, and you know what to expect out of us. It would make it easier for us to live together," Aster explained. It sounded like something Cyspel would say, which made them proud. Drawing themselves to the fullest extent they could, they continued, "I want you to help us with some ropemaking. There's some good material around here, and we could start making rope and pillows and maybe even clothing, if I can kill something big, and it's a lot of work for two panta, so maybe, we thought, there could be three of us."

Elytron tilted their head, withdrawing their tail. "Why?"

"Because you could be good at it," Aster explained, pushing it to them. "And then you could help someone, and be a part of something."
"Why?" Elytron asked.

Aster exhaled. "How about because I'll go find you some bugs to eat?"

"I can eat any bugs I want. I want the interesting ones, the ones you don't eat," Elytron said.

Aster squinted. They couldn't tell if they had been given a "no" or a "yes". "I can get you a bunch of nettlemakers if you want. And there's the ones with the big colorful wings."

"What are those?" asked Elytron.

"Better than what you get in here," Aster promised. "There are all sorts of bugs, bugs with colors in them, bugs with thorns inside of them, no matter what kind of bugs you like, they're there, and I'll get them to you. You just got to do some weaving for us in exchange, occasionally. I'll show you how to do it."

A membrane went over Elytron's eyes and then withdrew itself. Aster could hear it better than they could see it, which disquieted them slightly. "Can I have the snipper?"
"Is that a yes?"

"I'll do it."
Aster tossed them the snipper. As Elytron dashed forwards and began cracking it open with their teeth, Aster tok a startled step back and began racing up the stairs. Darter was sitting in the windowsill, which, due to having no pane to speak of, was more of a nice nook. A variety of small insects clustered about Darter in a horde, buzzing away as soon as Aster drew near. It was incredible how Darter only seemed to attract pretty, colorful things. The only bugs that ever seemed to want to be anywhere near Aster were dark, humming demons that wanted to feast on their blood.

"I got Elytron to agree to help with the weaving, but now we've got to get bugs. Hey, Darter! How do you get all those bugs? Got any good ones?" Aster asked. "How do you even get all these bugs? They're always there, bugging you. Get it? Bugging you? They're bugs."

"I'm sweet," Darter explained, with an eye roll that suggested they did, in fact, get the joke. "They come to me because my spores are sweet."

"All my spores are good for is not growing my horns already," Aster said, sliding onto the windowsill. "Hey."
Darter looked up. "Hey."

"Since I need bugs, and um, probably also some plants to start making fiber so we can have clothes. We've already got enough food that we should be set for a while, but eventually the big things need taking care of to, so we should probably be taking care of them," Aster said, putting their hands together in a gesture of dominance and certainty.

Darter looked at them, then slid out of the window out into the outside. "You could have just said we get to go adventuring."

Aster smiled. "If that's what'll keep us on track."

The day was strikingly beautiful, so warm that the air seemed to hum and sunlight so thick that all the plants were coated in a delicious gold. In the distance, kinshii birds wheeled lazily above, white as clouds, their cries audible above the steady thrum of insects in the grass. Aster closed their eyes, leaned back against the cold stone of the house, and felt, for a moment, entirely at peace.

"You're not just going to stand around, are you?" asked Darter.

"I might," Aster said. "No one warned me it was going to be this nice."
Darter laughed. "And you think I'm lazy."

"What! I'm not lazy! I could adventure harder than you ever could, Darter-- Darter!" As Aster snapped, Darter dashed away into the trees, and Aster rushed after. The two of them went tumbling down the steep slopes, racing through dense woods and cutting apart brambles, and for a moment, the island, all of it, really felt as if it were theirs. Aster leapt upon Darter, arms extended, and the two fell onto the ground, wrestling. Aster laughed, which came off as more of a pant, and Darter stared up at them, quizzically. For a moment, their darker auburn skin, which was mottled by dark, moss-like spores, seemed to glisten in the sunshine, as did the whites of their eyes, and then they kicked Aster off. Aster, who hadn't prepared for the blow, found themselves launched skywards, and then downwards, and then, surprisingly, skywards again.

"Darter!" yelled Aster. They strained against what appeared to be quite nicely knit rope. Aster was nearly as impressed as they were panicked. "Darter, when did you make this net?"

"I didn't," Darter said.

"Maybe you made it in your sleep?" Aster suggested, biting at the rope. "Huh. This is really well made."

Darter sighed. "Can you cut through it?"

"I don't know," Aster said. "We don't have any weapons."

"How did you think we were going to shear off fibers for making twine?"

"With our teeth, duh!" Aster yelled.

"Are your teeth that sharp?" asked Darter, impressed.

"I don't know," Aster said. "Maybe? The Siida used big spears and these really nice knives, but our knife is kinda dull, and I don't even have horns yet to use instead--"

"What is it with you and horns?"
"I want to be able to defend myself," Aster huffed.

"From trees?" asked Darter.

"From the kind of panta who are making nets on our island without our permission!" Aster exclaimed, thrashing. The ground, to their surprise, came rushing right back up.

Aster landed in a jumbled mess of limbs and rope on the ground, and from up above a single figure descended, knife in hand. They stared down at Aster, flicking the knife around in their hand. They resembled Darter in bulk, but their skin was lily-white and covered with flowers to the point that they looked like they'd been afflicted by some kind of a petalled plague. Vines wreathed around their hair, styling it, and constricted their vines, ending with thorns around the knuckles. "Who said I needed your permission?" asked the stranger, in a voice like wind blowing across the surface of a deep hole.

"Me," Aster said, deciding on the spot that it would be less embarrassing to be bound standing up than lying down. They crossed their arms and managed to move the net so it at least wasn't obscuring their vision. "You're outnumbered, by the way. So if I were you, I'd move."

"Aster, is that the best idea?" asked Darter.

"Outnumbered, are we?" the stranger asked.

"Yes to both," Aster affirmed.

The stranger clicked.

Two more panta emerged from the shadows. They were both in keeping with the floral theme, although both of them looked patchier on the blooms and, if Aster was to put it more harshly, "You guys are looking a little scraggly." They continued, their voice pitching, "And we're going to stay here. I like my house. I like Elytron. I like being here with Darter. This is a good place, and if I have to fight for it, then I got to fight for it! It's that simple."
The three panta looked to each other. Even though they were armed, Aster noticed they were not much taller than she was. Darter dwarfed them all. Furthermore, even though the mutations they did have were very active, the dust scattered all over them wasn't pollen, it was spores. They'd attempted to make their face spores look like battle paint, but it was still obvious they had a lot of mutating left to do.

"Are you designates?" asked the second panta.

"Um, Darter is designated to me, because they're my best friend," Aster said. "I'm designates to them."

"We're not designate to anyone," Darter said. "You don't know what designates are, do you? Siida probably don't talk about them."
Aster pouted. "They probably do too!"

"And you didn't listen?"
"Maybe," Aster said.

"Designates are like the Koda or Siida. Most panta have aligned themselves with some kind of animal, living or dead. They're kind of like big families that don't all live together," the first panta said.

"Are you designates?" Aster asked.

"No," she said, her tone just as prickly as her hands.

"I don't think we are either," Aster said. "Why do you ask?"
"I want to know if anyone will come after you after we kill you," she said.

"Kill us?" Aster asked, sounding far too thrilled at the notion.

"That's a little much, don't you think?" asked Darter.

The first panta nodded. "Or you could leave peacefully."

"No, wait!" Aster said. "I have an idea. So we're looking for bugs, and you guys think you know the island better than any of us, so maybe you'd be much better at looking! We'll go look for some rare bug on the island, and whoever finds the best one wins, as decided by Elytron. If we win, you help us get fancy knives and help weave fabric, but if you win, we leave for real, and you can have all our food in it, and Elytron!"
"You can't give away Elytron!" Darter exclaimed.

"I know it's a lot to offer," Aster said to Darter. "There's no need to be sentimental about it."

"Can we really trust Elytron's decision?" asked the first panta.

The third nodded. "I know Elytron. They're the weird panta at the top of the hill, and they barely understand what other panta are, let alone care about them. They'll be impartial."

The first strode forwards and extended an arm. "Lock them."

Aster's face lit up. They extended their arm and the two drew back until they locked hands, at which point they shook violently.

"We'll see you at dawn," the first panta said.

"At dawn," repeated Aster. "At dawn."