It wasn't so great a change, but Leith noticed it in the way she met her gaze as their hands shook, then in the way that she allowed Leith to stay closer to her as they continued. The Legionnaire had still not given Leith her name, but the Rathari didn't press. Her tail swished more erratically in anticipation as the glow strengthened and Leith could glimpse the first traces of accessible moss on the edges of the cavern entrance, but she waited patiently, still holding the cloth to her neck to keep pressure on the stinging wound, allowing Areya to go first into the cavern and check for danger.
Taking the signal from the Legionnaire once she sat on a stone to wait, Leith ducked through the entrance and took a second to gauge the room. It was mostly comprised of the glowing moss, but her eyes picked out several groups of mushrooms with long stalks and small heads, and even some ferns. Stowing the bloody cloth and gingerly fingering the wound to make sure no fresh blood was coming out, Leith the took out her remaining cloth bags and a paring knife and began to get to work.
It was slow methodical work, but it allowed the Rathari to relax. Shoulders filled with tension since first entering the darkness dissipated, eyes focused on the task, knowing Areya would alert her if anything was to approach them or seemed suspicious. The only sense she maintained was her hearing, keeping the steady dripping of moist walls in her mind, alert for anything that set off the mismatched tempo. First Leith filled one bag with moss. Even if she couldn't figure out a way to use it in her own cooking, she suspected her favorite tea merchant would give her good coin, or even better more tea leaves for her trouble. She did not scrape off entire sections of the moss, preferring to take segments evenly throughout the cavern in a method she hoped would allow the moss to regrow more quickly. Once this was complete she filled her final bag with a mixture of mushrooms and ferns, trying to pull up as much of the roots as possible with both, but cutting with her knife when necessary. She had an old log from the woods she was hoping to use plugs from these mushrooms to grow them, though she suspected even in the dampest darkest place she could find she might not be able to truly replicate the environ of the warrens.
A few times during her harvesting Leith glanced to Areya, opening her maw and thinking perhaps to speak, but thought better of it. She wasn't sure if the Legionnaire was simply the silent type, or it was the ever present danger of sound in the Warrens that caused it, but perhaps it was best if she didn't sully the small bit of respect she had seemed to glean from their encounter with the ploppers.
Once finished, Leith made sure all of her bags were secure, checking in on the legless plopper which gave a twitch every now and again in its satchel, but otherwise seemed to have passed from this coil. Then she nodded to Areya and waited patiently at the cavern entrance, letting her guide lead the way back, her body tensing again, and hoping the return trip might prove to be less eventful.
