"How can a bag of adoraburrs be so heavy?!" Callum groaned when they finally reached the end of the many steps around the tree house.

"It's a lot of adoraburrs, but I'm honestly surprised you're struggling so much. I mean, you can spend hours flying around and you can even do so while carrying me for at least an hour without breaking a sweat." Rayla stated, casually holding her own sack over het shoulder.

"Yeah, because the wings I grow when flying are build differently and can take on more weight. It's honestly mostly them doing all the work when flying or else I'd probably crash after just a few minutes." he admitted sheepishly.

"Huh. Guess this is good training on getting those real arms pumped up to maybe carry me around when we're not flying~" Rayla smiled and fluttered her eyes, giggling as Callum sputtered in an attempt to respond.

"Uh- I- Well- Hey, there's Runaan!" he pointed ahead and sure enough the assassin was was rushing towards them.

He looked just as tired as they probably did when he reached them.

"I've just gone around town a few times and the bad news is that some adoraburrs indeed escaped the house and went into town, but I managed to gather them up and we're lucky since those I talked to all seem to think some came from the forest to look for food and had their young ones, so no one seems to suspect our hoem to be the source." he explained, holding up his basket that was filled to the brim with adoraburrs.

"Great! We'll take them to the meadow for you!" Rayla grinned as she took the basket.

"Have you checked up on Ethari yet?" the older elf then asked and Callum swallowed.

"We thought about it, but decided it might not be the best idea with all the banging." he answered, thinking back to the sounds of metal on metal and muffled curses that came from the forge as they passed it.

Runaan sighed and pinched the space between his eyes.

"I should have known. Just make sure to go and get those sanguicots. I checked those at the market and they're a mess." he told them.

"Speaking of the market, the adoraburrs ate all the ruby potatoes, turnips and some carrots and roots." Rayla pipped up and he sighed again.

"I'm gonna need another basket." he muttered as he rushed up the stairs, signaling for them to get moving again too.

They quickly rushed off, doing their best to avoid other elves or at least talking to them, though one elderly female elf managed to catch them.

"My goodness, dear Rayla! Where are you and that human of yours off too in such a hurry?" she asked as she hobbled over with her cane.

"Oh, hello miss Gazala! We're going to the adoraburr meadow to drop off these little ones! They're all over town for some reason! And his name is Callum!" Rayla answered the old woman with false cheerfulness, though she couldn't keep the small edge from her voice during her last line.

"Yes, yes, of course! My apologies, boy! You're both so sweet and none the less responsible to take it upon yourselves to take all those adoraburrs back to where they belong. I admit that they do live up to their name by being adorable, but they can become such a plague when they're not moderated. I still don't understand where this many came from. Normally the ones who are about to have young ones tend to stay away from the Silvergrove till after they had their litter." Gazala mused.

"Who knows?! It's a real mystery!" Callum loudly and vervously agreed, eyes shifting everywhere except the older elf who somehow seemed oblivious to it all.

'Probably her age.' Rayla thought to herself before clearing her throat.

"We should probably get going. These wee ones aren't gonna find their way home on their own, you know." she said and Gazala nodded.

"Then I won't hold you up any longer. Take care, children!" and with that the elderly elf hobbled off, allowing the teens to quickly rush to the meadow without anymore stops.

"I thought I was gonna get caught and lynched!" Callum gasped as he tried to catch his breath.

"Hey, those are still my people you're talking about, you know. We're not that bad." Rayla rolled her eyes and put her bag down.

"Alright, little guys! Welcome to your real home!" she told the adoraburrs in her bag before gently tipping it over, allowing them all to pour out and bounce off into the grass where several other adoraburrs were more than happy to welcome them.

Callum felt warm at seeing how happy they all seemed, but he also felt a small tinge of sadness of having to let all the cute little balls go off into the wild.

Still, he knew that was were they belongen to he begrungingly tipped his own bag.

He tried not to pay too much mind to the adoraburrs rushing off until a speck of purple caught his eyes.

Poof was sitting on his shoe, staring up at him with big sad eyes.

"O-Oh no! Please don't look at me like that, Poof!" Callum cried as he carefully scooped up his would-be pet.

"I really wish I could take you with me again. I really do, but I can't. You're a wild animal and you should be able to play, eat and do whatever you want without being confided to houses or castles. Besides, all of your babies need their mama." he told her, gesturing to the meadow where he saw several babies looking at them.

Poof looked back at them and then at Callum and he swore he could see agreement in her eyes so with that he gently placed her on top of a nice moss-covered rock.

"I'll come and visit you some time. Just you wait." he told her, his voice starting to crack and eyes burning as tears started to gather.

Poof looked back at him sadly before giving a big smile and loud chirp, making him chuckle.

"It's a deal. Take care of yourself, okay? Bye Poof!" he called and went to join Rayla, his girlfriend placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as they walked away, the sounds of the adoraburrs slowly faiding.