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later, Mafic.” He stood up gracelessly and loped away.
    Tory waved goodbye like he was in the New Ring Parade. Barra swallowed emphatically. “What was that all about?” she asked.
    “Nothing,” he said. After a moment, he went on, “He saw me helping Marley—you know, the Bellbottom from the Mangrove Tree? Her family is making a den near mine. Anyway, he saw me helping her with some bindings and—“
    “And he’s jealous?” Barra interrupted. Her face twisted up like she’d bitten into something rotten.
    Tory replied with nonchalance, “I guess. I mean, he does have a point.” Tory gestured to himself. He waited for a snarky response, but none came. The despondent Barra seemed to have mentally drifted away.
    Tory was a little concerned, but he popped the rest of the spiderfruits into his mouth and waited patiently. When he decided he’d waited long enough, he spoke up, “What’ve you and Venress Starch been doing today?”
    Barra blinked rapidly a few times, and said, “Not much. The usual.”
    “Are you, uh, okay?” Tory asked, skeptical.
    “Oh yeah, definitely. I’m fine. You know, I think I’m still hungry. Where’d you get the spiderfruits?” she said as she stood up.
    “I’ll show you. Come on,” Tory said.
    As they walked together, Tory described the garden he was taking them to see. A spiderfruit bush required lots of water, and he’d helped create a base that could support one. He was proud of his work. Barra tried to show that she was impressed, but she wasn’t able to muster much enthusiasm. She was too distracted.
    At the garden, Barra ate her fill, and then after a short but strained silence, she said, “Tory?”
    “Yeah?” he asked.
    “Do you ever think about your mom?” Hearing her own words out loud, she shook her head immediately. She tried again, “I mean—of course you think about her—but like, how do you imagine—“
    “Tory! Barra!” It was Plicks. He came shuffle-running up to the pair with something large in his hands. “I’ve been looking for you all over the place! Look what Ven Tadafell gave me!” He held up a large lensleaf, not as big around as the one Barra had seen that morning, but huge nonetheless.
    Tory responded first. “Wow, that’s great, Plicks!” He was genuinely impressed. Tory had a special affinity for bindings, but he had developed an interest in almost everything in the Coppice. Barra leaned in to inspect the lensleaf, and nodded emphatically.
    Plicks was so excited he wasn’t sure what to do next. He hadn’t gotten the reaction he wanted from Barra, so he was frantically thinking of how to impress her. “Here. Here, let me show you,” he said, and scuttled between his friends into the garden. He held the lensleaf by the edges between his small hands, careful to keep his talons from scratching the surface. Looking at one magnified plant after another, he kept shaking his head as though none of it was good enough.
    “Oh, oh! Here! Look at this! ” he exclaimed, and held the lensleaf steady while standing to the side.
    The entire surface of the lensleaf had turned fiery orange. After a moment of confusion, Barra looked around to the see the subject regular-sized. Sitting on a broad, green leaf was a fiery orange insect. It had a narrow body and a long neck with an oblong head perpendicular to it. The insect was only slightly larger than Barra’s nose!
    The bups examined the magnified display closely. They could see every detail of the exoskeleton: its pores, segments, and pigmentation, even the veins in the folded wings.
    Plicks explained proudly, “You are looking at the rare Aridifolia Tricopterus.” Inspecting the subject closely, he nodded and said, “She’s female. You can tell by the number of segments in the abdomen.” After thinking for a moment, he added, “They’re usually found deep in the Middens. Maybe she’s here for the spiderfruit? It doesn’t grow around here normally, right?”
    “No. No, it