It took a few days before Kairen saw Alpha again. The key detail that the boy had forgotten was that desert rats were mostly nocturnal. The rats were asleep during the heat of the day, and only came out to gather food once evening and cooler weather arrived. Evening was also the time that the nomads tended to socialize, and more often than not Kairen found himself sitting nearby when they did so, absorbing the stories and the atmosphere even if he couldn’t participate directly.

It was one such evening that he noticed a small figure making its way over to where he was sitting on the outskirts. He had tried finding somewhere closer in to listen from, but the closer he got the more likely it became that someone would pass through the space he occupied. It didn’t hurt him, but it was still a disconcerting experience, and Kairen preferred to avoid it altogether by staying towards the back of any gathering.

The sun had already set, and torches and a central fire provided illumination as a few musicians played dancing songs on their instruments for the rest of the tribe to enjoy. Most people were content to simply sit and clap along, but there was a steady stream of couples making their way to the center of the gathering to dance, accompanied by a few individuals who took turns sharing and teaching various intricate moves that they had learned over the years. It was all great fun, and it took a few minutes for Kairen to pull his attention away from the spectacle, only to see the small rat next to him, sitting upright on its rear paws and staring at him inquisitively.

“What are you doing here?” Kairen hissed. Even though he knew the nomads couldn’t hear him even when he yelled, it was the principle of the matter. If you wanted to avoid attention you kept your voice quiet, and Kairen really didn’t want any nomad looking in this general direction. The shadows cast by the flames meant they would have a hard time making anything out, but all it would take is a glimpse of a rat and the hunt would be on.

“Go! Shoo! Find some food elsewhere!” Kairen urged the rat to move, but it simply cocked its head inquisitively. “I thought you were smart, Alpha. Staying here means you’ll die, and then they will hunt down and kill your family. I don’t want that to happen, not to you.” Still the rat remained in place.

Grudgingly, Kairen got to his feet. Hopefully the rat would be fascinated enough to follow him elsewhere, instead of exploring the camp further. Why couldn’t Alpha have been a turtle, or a sheep? Something slow and stupid that wouldn’t go sticking its nose into trouble. Not a sheep then. Kairen corrected himself. A sand tortoise would have been perfect though. Slow, long lived, with very few predators capable of hunting it with its shell and natural camouflage. Instead, he had a rat that was too smart for its own good, too stupid to know better, and whose only survival mechanism was to produce more offspring than the number of rats who died doing stupid things.

Unaware of Kairen’s insulting thoughts, Alpha eagerly followed along as Kairen made his way out of the camp and back into the rest of the Oasis. Once Kairen was sure he was far enough away for the rat to be safe from immediate discovery, he stopped and thought through his options. His first instinct was to take Alpha to his altar and let him know about the source of food there, but he wasn’t sure that that was the smartest idea, long term. The altar promised to be a source of food that no one cared about, with enough variety, flavor, and nutrients to keep the rat satisfied, but it was also out in the open, and prone to people visiting at strange hours. If people left the altar alone at night it would have been fine, but night guards, insomniacs, people who just woke up from nightmares and a few stranger folk all occasionally showed up to drop things off even when it was pitch black, and they did so using torches or lanterns to reveal the area.

Kairen looked over at the failed farm, only to see that it was practically overrun with goats and camels. The herbivores weren’t aggressive, but the sheer difference in size between them and a small rat meant they didn’t have to be. All it would take would be a defensive bite or stomp and Alpha would die. That didn’t even go into the difficulty Alpha would have in trying to find anything worth bringing back to his nest. Slowed down by a burden and moving tasty food around was simply asking for it to be eaten right then and there by a hungry giant.

Kairen thought he remembered that rats could eat insects, but Alpha didn’t seem interested when he led him to the ant nests he was aware of, and there weren’t any other large colonies readily available. Almost Kairen looked over at the storehouses the tribes had built, before turning his gaze away. Alpha would figure out about those and find a way in soon enough even without Kairen encouraging him to do so.

A quick check of his status screen confirmed that upgrading the plant life variety was still out of reach, and that it would take another couple of days before he could afford it. It was a possible long-term solution towards keeping Alpha fed, but not one that helped him right now. Out of easy ideas, Kairen sat down to think, reaching out his hand to pet Alpha while he did so.

As he thought, he realized there was one other source of edible plants, something he had forgotten about at first because it had seemed silly at the time. The children, seeing the adults hard at work taking care of various plants, had become enamored with the novelty of the idea. They knew of farming, of course, but they had never really stayed in one spot long enough for it to be something feasible to try. With plenty of water, a good source of dirt, and the imagination that only kids have a second farm was created. The kids had just as little experience with farming as their parents, and a lot less worldly knowledge and common sense to compensate. They were capable of replicating the motions that the adults were doing, but they lacked the deeper understanding of why those actions were necessary and didn’t really care to find out. They were having enough fun pretending to be farmers without trying to make it actual work. Digging holes in the ground was always fun, as was pouring water on top to make mud. Then it was simply a matter of splashing around in the mud and submerging different plants.

Most of what the children planted was handfuls of grass pulled out of the nearby soil, but some kids had more ambitious plans. Vegetable seeds and scraps were easy enough to come by from the kitchen with a little begging, and one bold rascal even attempted to plant a shadeleaf. His precious magical plant was quickly retrieved by a nearby adult, leaving him with only a short scolding and the admiration of the other kids at his audacity.

Kairen didn’t care too much about that, as he stood up and motioned for Alpha to follow him. While he figured that some of the plants would grow, most wouldn’t, some weren’t properly buried, some seeds were simply stems of grass with nothing to germinate, and some wouldn’t receive the tender care needed to flourish. Kairen was happy to let the successful plants prosper, what he was interested in were the vegetable pieces.

Even in the dark the torn-up soil was easily visible and Kairen picked his way over to a shallower section of the garden. It didn’t take him long to spot what he was looking for, and he pointed out a chunk of carrot to alpha. It was still in good condition for the moment, but the carrot lacked the leafy top needed to regrow anything. As such Kairen had no qualms whatsoever at setting a rat on the children’s work.

Alpha picked up the piece of carrot and made to head back to his burrow immediately, but he stopped when Kairen called for him.

“Alpha. There’s more buried over here, just beneath the surface.” Kairen pointed to a raised lump he figured just barely covered another piece of vegetable. To his surprise Alpha actually dropped his load, moving over to where Kairen was pointing before carefully sniffing the air with his whiskers twitching. Satisfied with whatever information he received the rat began to dig. He worked quickly, but he was only a small creature and it took him a bit to unearth the chunk of cooked cabbage, snuck away from the plate of a picky eater. Some dirt still clung to it, but Alpha didn’t seem to mind. The chunk of cabbage was much larger than the carrot had been, and Alpha had to resort to dragging it along as he returned home. Kairen kept pace alongside him, keeping an eye out for any predators who might have their sights on Alpha so he could provide a moment’s warning for his friend.