"Whew is it?!"

It was this dismayed outcry that caught the attention of Ruffles one fine morning. The pink chocobo had been practicing her white magic in the quietness of an empty barn, and had been – in her own opinion – making a decent amount of progress, though the sudden distress of a nearby chocoling caused her spell – a ball of light meant for ease of visibility in darkness – to blow up in her face, showering Ruffles in a cascade of lingering sparkles that glimmered like tiny stars on her plumage. Blinking and inhaling sharply, the chocobo sat in stunned confusion for several seconds before registering what it was that had caused her lapse in concentration and quickly getting to her feet. There, by the door of the barn, stood a little cream colored chocoling named Merlie, her expression distressed and her eyes wide as she hunted for some unknown thing, presumably a toy. Naturally, this sort of unhappiness could not remain; Ruffles refused to abide the lingering of negativity, especially when it was plaguing children.

Walking over to investigate, Ruffles lightly nuzzled Merlie as she spoke up. "What's the matter little one? What has you so dismayed?"

The chocoling turned her sadness-filled eyes upward to stare at the adult bird almost hopelessly. "I-I wost my tweasuw map! It was hewe an' now it's gone!"

Ruffles inclined her head curiously at this news. "A treasure map?" She repeated. "Do you remember what it was for?" After all, knowing what the treasure was would be important.

"Tweasuw, siwwy!" Merlie answered without missing a beat. "Miss Maevan gave me it an' said the tweasuw was somewhewe on the farm! But I can't find the map!"

Well, that was definitely news to Ruffles. She would have thought Maevan would look for the treasure herself. No matter though; if the map belonged to Merlie, Ruffles would help her find it as well as the treasure. "Did you show anyone else the map?" The pink chocobo inquired.

Merlie shook her head, paused, and then nodded. "I wet Speedy see it." She answered. "He pwomised to hewp me find the tweasuw."

Ruffles contemplated this for a moment. She could remember who Speedy was quite well; he was always on the move, and always on the lookout for his next big adventure. The common joke among them was that if Speedy moved any faster and got any more forgetful he'd leave his own indigo feathers behind someday and be roaming around without them. It made her wonder if he had a moment of airheadedness and took the map on the mistaken pretense that Merlie had given it to him. Surely he wasn't that easily confused…

Before the pink chocobo could comment, however, the very youth she had been considering raced into the barn, a rolled up piece of paper in his beak and a relieved look on his face. Merlie started jumping up and down at once. "Speedy! You stowe my map!"

The dark blue bird shook his head frantically as he set the map down in front of her. "Nuh-uh! I was getting' it back from that sneaky carbuncle! Saw him take it while you were sleepin', I did, so I chased him down and took it back! I wouldn't steal it, ever!"

"That carbuncle has been making himself into a right nuisance lately." Ruffles mused, thinking on it a bit and recalling the sheer increase of mischief that had arisen since the little, almost fox-like creature had settled in the nearby forest. "Poor little Merlie was beside herself with distress when she couldn't find that map. Thank you for bringing it back, Speedy."

"T'were a pleasure!" He answered cheerily, his bright green eyes straying to the map as Merlie unrolled it. "Weren't gonna let no forest imp ruin Merlie's big day, nuh-uh!" He gave the impression of grinning when the chocoling looked up at him in excitement. "All set for the treasure hunt, Merlie? Figure we'll get a real good haul of loot?"

"Yeah!" The chocoling squeaked, bouncing on the spot a few times before running a couple circles around her map. "Wets go find a tweasuw box!" She then took off outside, completely forgetting her map as she scooted off into the sunshine.

Speedy laughed as he watched her go before looking at Ruffles. "You up for taggin' along, Ruffles? You did try helpin' her find the map."

The pink chocobo thought a bit on it before giggling and nodding. "Sure. I think I could benefit from a walk about."

Speedy let out a delighted 'kweh' at her answer. "Great to hear! The more the merrier, I say. Let's go!" That said, he picked up the map and headed out, Ruffles giggling as she hurried after him.

The map took them all over the property, its marked path even doubling back on itself once or twice as though to try and get them confused. After several twists, turns, and diversions, however, the unrelenting trio found themselves at the base of a tall and very old tree where someone had carved 'M + K' deep into the wood an unknown time ago. Merlie flopped down in the shade right away, panting a little as she giggled and said. "We made it! Now… now to find the tweasuw!"

Ruffles tittered to herself in amusement as she settled herself nearby. "You seem pretty tired dear." She observed. "You should probably rest a little while before we start digging around for treasure."

"Nuuuu…"

Speedy laughed as he flopped into a sitting position beside the pair. "She's right Merlie; you're plum tuckered out, you are. How are you gonna dig for treasure when you're pooped?"

"Mrmph…" Merlie protested, her baby down fluffing as she cuddled sleepily against Ruffles. "Don' wanna sleep…"

Ruffles accepted no further arguments on the matter, instead choosing to gently scoop Merlie under one of her pastel wings as she answered. "Nonsense dear. Speedy and I will ensure the treasure stays buried until you wake up." The lack of answer was more than enough to tell her that the chocoling was already fast asleep and likely hadn't even heard her. Giggling softly, Ruffles turned her gaze to the indigo chocobo beside her. "She looks up to you, you know."

Speedy blinked at this, inclining his head and regarding her questioningly. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

The pink chocobo giggled quietly again. "She tried to mimic every move you made while we were running around. Every bounce off every rock, every glance over your shoulder."

The blue bird blinked again, his surprise at this news almost painfully obvious. "She did eh? Not sure why she'd mimic me when you're the better role model. You weren't the one foolhardy enough to take off into the forest like I did. I'm too reckless you see; she'd be smarter mimicking you."

Ruffles shook her head in amusement. "Speedy, that's exactly why she was trying to copy you. I may have tried to comfort her, but you went headlong into potential danger to bring the map back. A hug doesn't bring back lost presents."

There was silence between them for several minutes before Speedy spoke again. "So… what do I do about it? I don't want her to get hurt someday by pretendin' she's me. I do stupid stuff all the time."

"I can't exactly say for sure what you should do." Ruffles replied. "Just try to be careful; if not for your sake, than for hers."

The indigo chocobo nodded a little, not entirely soothed by her words but knowing at the same time that it was good advice. "Guess I'll do that then."

She gave him a warm and gentle look. "Just remember this; no matter what we find in the box this map led us to, the biggest treasure she got from all of this is spending time with you."

It was a couple hours before Merlie woke up, and when she did the little chocoling was practically a fluff-covered rocket. She ran at least three laps around the old tree, and four more around Speedy and Ruffles. "Tweasuw! I wanna find the tweasuw now!"

Ruffles giggled as she watched Merlie race about, shaking her head and observing as the chocoling virtually danced on the spot while checking her map to be extra sure they were in the right spot. Soon she was circling the tree again, Speedy now joining in the search to find exactly where they had to start digging. A sudden and adorably squeaky 'kweh!' came from Merlie as she decided on a place. "Hewe! I think it's hewe!"

Speedy got to work at once, his powerful claws scooping up heaps of dirt with every swipe. Down and down he dug, until finally he felt his talons hit something solid. "I got somethin'!"

All attention immediately focused solely on Speedy and his little trench, Merlie and Ruffles both watching as what appeared to be a small chest was unburied. Getting it out of the hole was a trial in and of itself, with Speedy pushing his head under it and lifting while Ruffles tried to carefully pull it onto the undisturbed ground. It took a few tries, but soon they had it out and away from the hole, all three of them peering curiously at it in wonderment. "So…" Speedy asked with a small tilt of his head. "Who's gonna lift the lid?"

"Me!" Merlie squeaked as he eagerly flapped her little wings. "I wanna open it! Can I? Pwease?!"

Ruffles nodded cheerfully, both in answer and enjoyment of the chocoling's excitement. "I think that's a great idea. You go right ahead."

Merlie squeaked again at this, beaming up at the older chocobos before 'attacking' the box's lid, flapping as hard as she could and struggling to force the rusty hinges to work. "Nnnngh!"

A resounding 'pop!' soon followed, heralding the expedient lifting of the lid as well as clumsy flailing as Merlie nearly fell face first into the box. "Oh!"

Within the chest was a collection of random objects; stray ribbons of various styles and colors, baubles and figurines made of glass, handmade jewelry decorated with wooden beads and teeth from some sort of predatory animal, and so much more. The three chocobos all stared at the contents in wonderment. "No gold?" Speedy asked curiously, blinking in confusion.

"No shiny tweasuw?" Merlie murmured in disbelief.

Ruffles, however, knew what the value was immediately. "It's a memory box." She said softly. "These are all treasures, but the value is in the memories attached to them rather than the actual contents themselves." She carefully rooted around before finding and lifting an old letter out of it, blinking as she read the first few lines. A startled 'wark!' escaped her as she did so, hastily putting it back in the box and closing it. "This has to be given to Maeven." He sputtered quickly. "I-I think the box we found wasn't what she was intending on having us find!"

Merlie blinked at this. "It's not? But she gave me it…"

"Did she have any other papers around? Any other rolls anywhere?"

"Um… oh! Yeah she did! She said she was workin' on a game fow us an' gave me a map!"

Maevan and Speedy looked at each other for a moment, the indigo chocobo getting a sheepish look on his face. "Sounds like she gave you the wrong map, Merlie." He observed. "We should get this box to her and see if she has a real map for you to follow."

Ruffles watched curiously to see if the chocoling would be utterly crushed by this discovery… and found herself relieved when the little bird giggled and nodded. "Yeah! I wanna find anothew tweasuw! C'mon wets go!" And just like that, the chocoling was tearing off for the farmhouse.

Speedy and Ruffles glanced at each other, the pink one giggling a little as she remarked. "See what I meant about treasuring time with you more than the box she found?"

The indigo bird gave a small nod and laughed. "Yeah, a bit. So… guess we better catch the little runt, eh?"

Ruffles giggled and nodded. "Looks like it. Go on now; go make some memories."