"Actually, since we only need their wings, I was thinking that we could clip them off, then heal them back up, and repeat?" Danika suggested. Both ShinZing and Quicksilver stared at her with such shocked expressions, that Danika added quickly, "That way we only need to find a few of each color."

Quicksilver recovered first and replied uncertainly, "I guess it would be an efficient method, if we had a high level healer available?"

"It's a little cruel isn't it?" ShinZing protested mildly.

"You just killed a bird," Danika pointed out.

"I didn't torture it first," he retorted.

"True," Danika agreed without heat. "But this way we could just release our victims when we're done, like the spiders we collected for the weaver in Windbur. I mean, I think spinning them in that contraption probably counted as torture too."

"I suppose it did," ShinZing agreed. "Okay, are you going to spend that much Karma or should we be looking for potions or a better healer?"

"The quest timer shows that we have a whole week to complete it, so I figured we could just hunt the beetles for tonight, and ask Silvam about healing them later," Danika proposed. She held the beetle awkwardly between her claws and then admitted, "But I didn't think of this while we were still in town, and I don't have any containers for live beetles."

"Just stick it in your garden," ShinZing suggested.

"I can't force it to enter, unless it's in a container like my bees were," she reminded him.

But at the same time, she clutched the beetle against her chest and tried pulling an ordinary sack out of her inventory. ShinZing saw what she was trying to do and zipped over to help her stuff the beetle into the sack. As soon as it was contained, she said the entrance word for her garden and disappeared with the sack.

Quicksilver gasped as the pebble that had been contained by ZipZing's harness dropped to the ground, and ShinZing said with satisfaction, "Looks like that will work."

When ZipZing reappeared, Quicksilver asked with interest, "Is it only the leaders, or does everyone in Endless Song have the kind of high end items you two are carrying?"

Danika gazed at her a little blankly, and asked, "High end items? I guess my storage rings are considered luxury items by human sized characters, but at our size aren't they a necessity?"

She looked the little nadia over, and realized suddenly that despite her strikingly shiny silver outfit, the little assassin didn't even appear to be carrying a bag or a weapon of any kind. Her accumulated level wasn't low, so she probably had some kind of hidden storage method.

Quicksilver gave her a sharp look, that made ShinZing smile, and nodded after a moment. "I suppose so. Most of my skills don't require equipment, so I've never needed to acquire extra storage items."

--

They spent two hours hunting beetles with their new guildmate. She was quick, and had sharp eyes, and had a water rope skill that could immobilize a fat beetle without injuring it, or scraping its delicate wings at all.

It got easier after night fell within the game. Danika had her firefly, Hikaru, come out and accompany Quicksilver, while she and ShinZing used their light cantrips. The shiny beetles reflected the light brightly enough that they could split up and look for their metallic gleam. There were still plenty of shiny leaves and other false sightings, but it went quite a bit faster.

Finally, Quicksilver caught up with ZipZing and said apologetically, "I'm out of time."

Danika let her light dim and dropped to the forest floor before asking, "Would you like to log off from within my stone space? I plan to return it to the guild hall before I quit for the night."

"Is there water inside?" the nadia asked. "I was just going to head back to the last stream, so that my energy will completely recharge."

"Oh, not really. I have an infinite water stone that I water my plants with, but I don't have a pond or a bowl set up to hold water," Danika admitted regretfully. "I'll get something for that for the future. We've never had a nadia with us before."

Quicksilver smiled at her, and said, "No worries. This forest doesn't seem to be a particularly dangerous place, I'm sure I'll be able to leave it safely next time I'm on."

The little nadia turned to leave, and Danika asked quickly, "You don't have to tell me, but who are the 'girls' you'd like to have play onstage here? Will they be joining the guild too?"

Quicksilver turned back and gazed at ZipZing thoughtfully. She glanced in the direction of ShinZing's light, and then shrugged and replied, "The group is called 'Sugar Wings'. Will they need to?"

"No?" Danika replied questioningly. "I was just curious."

Quicksilver flashed a smile at her, beneath Hikaru's helpful glow, and said cheerfully, "Thanks Captain. Have a good night."

The little nadia seemed to glide over the forest floor as she darted away. Hikaru darted after her, since Danika hadn't changed her instructions yet. She watched the receding glow until it was obscured by the trees and then brightened her own dazzling and cast her light cantrip to resume her search.

The firefly returned to her a couple of minutes later, and Danika commented, "I guess she logged off safely."

Hikaru blinked its light in reply and circled her contentedly.

This section of forest was not very dangerous, but that didn't mean that it was without encounters, and Danika's heart stopped for a moment when she spotted a bright gleam and zipped toward it, only to have the whole branch of the tree twist and appear to reach for her. A split second later, Hikaru vanished and reappeared in the distance.

Danika finally reacted, and triggered her own random teleport. While she was reorienting herself, and searching for ShinZing's light something grabbed her, and she screamed. She couldn't help it, it felt like she was grabbed by a gelatinous, cold, slimy thing.

ShinZing's light went out, but the fainter sparkle of his wings sped directly toward her. "You and frogs!" he yelled as he zipped past her.

A moment later there was a snapping sound, and a strangely familiar voice said dourly, "I am not a frog." Danika couldn't move, but she struggled to crane her head around to see what had ahold of her. The voice continued conversationally, "And you are not a beetle. So tell me, why would a silly pathless butterfly lizard be thrashing blindly around the forest and ruining one of my traps?"

"Arthur!?" Danika exclaimed. The sticky substance gave just enough for her to get a glimpse of the fat toad, but she didn't see ShinZing. "Spit him out!" she demanded in horrified realization.

The toad's expression only grew more sour, and he asked, "Do you think you're in any position to make demands?"

A moment later, the toad's belly split open like an obscene extra mouth and an angry pixie landed on the ground in front of the toad with a splat. Arthur stared at ShinZing in shock, and went pale. "A legendary sword?" the toad asked faintly.

ShinZing shook his sword free of the mess and raised it over his head.

"Stop!" Danika protested.

"What? Why?" ShinZing asked with shock, but he still refrained from cutting the toad the rest of the way open and backed away slowly. A moment later his eyes widened and he asked, "Arthur the Witch's Toad? From the Familiar's Association?"

"You know me too?" the toad wheezed painfully. "Spare an old friend a healing potion?"