"So I've raised a lot of different kinds of nyiumgyi over the years." Llyr began to explain as he hugged the nyiumgyi named Bubbles to himself. "You know, they've stolen my heart since I first saw them." He explained with sparkling eyes and not paying attention to the hegins, who looked at each other above his head, each of whom could tell from their looks that they thought this undersea-walker had gone crazy.
"And why did you experiment with them?" Razvan asked the next question, to the team's greatest surprise.
"Because I wanted to make one so I could take it home with me." The undersea-walker foreign minister grinned, but the smile immediately disappeared from his face and he almost cried instead. "But no result. None of my attempts were of any use." He whimpered. "Puffy was there first." As if he had summoned it by name, a giant nyiumgyi stormed the small clearing where the mad researcher's hut was.
"By the ghosts!" Achilleus screamed in fright and although if anyone asked him he would deny every moment, he still hid behind Benkó.
"Well, hello Puffy." Llyr chuckled. "He was my first attempt. He was always bigger than the others. I gave him all kinds of food, hoping he would be waterproof and I could take him home, even dead nyiumgyis, but nothing was of any use. Then there is Obsidian and his brothers." As the mad researcher said this, a group of metallic-colored nyiumgyi started jumping between the trees.
"What did you feed them with?" Citar blinked.
"With all kinds of stones and metals that I found." The undersea-walker foreign minister shrugged. "Thorns and poisons." The mad scientist counted on his fingers and, as before, several strangely shaped nyiumgyi started jumping. "It's better if you don't get too close to them. They have poison like sea urchins." The man said seriously.
"Are there urchins in the sea?" Benkó grimaced.
"Do they have poison?" Suk's eyes sparkled.
"Don't even think about it!" Teveli, who was standing next to him, hit the Zovárd boy in the back of his head, for which he received a roll of eyes in response from his friend.
"Why shouldn't we have urchins?" The scientist looked at Benkó in confusion.
"They're not the same. Sea urchins are smaller, have longer spikes, are usually black and poisonous." Rahul explained, but this only made Suk even more excited than before.
"I have to get one of these sea urchins!" The boy announced.
"Zovárd!" All the hegins spoke at once and left it at that.
"And what other nyiumgyi do you have?" Citar asked, who was just watching a smaller pink nyiumgyi.
"Bubbles and Flakes." The scientist announced, in such a tone that several people even nodded, as if the matter was clear and it only occurred to them moments later that something was wrong with this statement.
"Why did it become a Bubbles?" Citar asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Because he was the first one I was able to take down, but they can't last long." The undersea-walker foreign minister sighed heavily. "The most they've lasted so far was half an hour." He felt sad. "That's nothing compared to the time I wanted to achieve." He started stroking the top of the nyiumgyi.
"And what does it look like?" Asked Achilleus, who had already ventured out from behind Benkó.
"In a bubble!" Llyr immediately snapped, not even looking up from the nyiumgy in his lap.
"In a bubble?" The Motumisz boy repeated the foreign minister.
"Exactly." The undersea-walker nodded.
"They grow a bubble around themselves?" Citar grimaced and pressed the pink nyiumgyi with his index finger.
"Yes." Llyr nodded enthusiastically. "You just have to be very, very careful, because the bubble bursts easily and if we are too far from the surface, then..." Here the undersea-walker ambassador looks down sadly at the nyiumgyi named Bubbles.
"So nyiumgyis can't stand water?" Benkó scratched his head, then Rahul reached into his pack and pulled out a small pouch from which he sprinkled white powder towards one of the nyiumgyi, which shrieked away from him.
"What did you do?" The undersea-walker scientist asked with a look of horror.
"Salt! If you don't have a rattler, the best solution against nyiumgyi." The hegin who grew up in the west shrugged his shoulders. "The nyiumgyi don't have a problem with water. At home, if you walk in the forest, you can see them bathing in ponds and rivers. They have a problem with salt." Rahul explained in a calm voice, then turned to Llyr. "So that means that you don't have to make a waterproof nyiumgyi, but one that is resistant to salt." He folded his arms in front of him.
"Salt?" The undersea-walker blinked widely. "What is that?" He scratched his head, and Rahul smiled faintly and held out the small bundle to the undersea-walker, who pressed his finger into it and licked off the salt that had stuck to it. "Dry water." The man grimaced, and the hegins began to laugh.
"The way I see it, water doesn't mean the same thing to undersea-walkers and hegins." Tele Tete remarked with a half-hearted smile.
"It seems." Rahul agreed with him.
"Do you hear that? That means there is hope!" The undersea-walker grinned, but with his words he managed to make Rahul turn towards him with a serious look.
"If you really succeed, you must promise to make only one salt-resistant nyiumgyi. All that is needed is for their kind to escape from the island." The hegin who grew up in the west grimaced.
"But, but... My little ones..." Tears gathered in Llyr's eyes and he might have really cried himself to sleep in despair if Rahul hadn't lifted the purse filled with salt and spoken.
"There is more where it came from." Rahul shook the small container with a wide evil smile on his face. "Don't want me to whipe off everything on the island." The hegin who grew up in the west's features became serious and even the light disappeared from his eyes. Llyr was so scared by this sight that he started nodding violently and hugged Bubblee tightly in his arms and huddled with the nyiumgyis gathered around him.
"It's okay to calm down, if you're not careful, the Koál bloodlust will come out of you." Razvan stepped behind Rahul and placed his hand on the boy's eyes. "Concentrate on the sounds and speak when you've calmed down." He said in a voice that did not tolerate contradiction.
"What is he doing now?" Citar's question came.
"He calms him down before he starts mass murder. I used to look that way too in battles." Etele appeared out of nowhere and shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.
"I calmed down." Rahul blew out a big breath, whereupon the leader of the Athamanas lowered his hands from his eyes.
"Now that we've gotten beyond this. Could you show us the island, Mr. Llyr? I don't think any of us have ever seen a place inhabited by nyiumgyis." Razvan remarked, smiling kindly at the undersea-walker ambassador.
"Not a bad idea. Spike, you get the guests something to eat while we show them your home." Llyr turned to the spiky nyiumgyis, which immediately set off towards the interior of the island with its poisonous companions. "Come on. We'll show you around." The undersea-walker stood up and, smiling, set off along the shore with the group of hegins following behind.