There was a stirring of pity in the salmon for the small black and silver boy as he inched closer. He offered no answer, or couldn’t offer an answer. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t, like some of the others, but she felt a stir of disappointment when he opened his mouth and nothing came out. One of the others kindly offered a solution. Although the salmon didn’t care for any of the horses - they were generally tall, ugly, and stupid - but everyone deserved an equal chance to at least try here. Even if all she was after was luck and guesses. “Blue boy is right, that’s a good idea - use your hoof to pound once, twice, or three times for which answer you like best.” The salmon winked at the silent colt, hoping to encourage him - for the next quiz anyway. Oh yes! There would be more.

Erebos offered his answer with no fuss but soon after Kid started the arguments. Everyone was so damn pikey about things! Draevo and Brendan add in their thoughts and the salmon nods at them silently, waiting for the rest.

But then! Oh!

The salmon rolled around in exasperation as Ilios refused to answer - slapping her tail and side fins against the surface of the pool in a dramatic display of pain. She’d rather get caught by a bear and eaten than listen to idiots like this. “Holy carp you horses are so boring sometimes. Just play along, will ya? Otherwise why are you even here??” The red creature that spoke up after him showed almost as little sense - arguing about the point in the quiz. “All teachers ask questions they already know the answer to, fool. That’s not the point.” But, of course, these horses lived in herds not schools so they could only be expected to know so much.

The mares, Nymeria and Dacianna, add in differing answers but without any of the ridiculous commentary the stallions had added in. Vesper, the other silver and black foal (but this one talked) attempted to answer on her own, stumbling over the word rougarou in a manner that had the mother salmon gurgling in laughter as she blew bubbles in the shallow water. And then Aisling riddled out her response, thinking logically about the options.

Everyone seemed to be giving this a lot more thought than she intended for a guessing game. Oh well!

Looking to Vesper, the salmon winked before finally revealing the answer to all. “Sorry kiddo, the answer I wanted to hear was ‘a’.” She squirmed unhappily, her red belly touching the bottom of the pond before she curled back around the egg protectively. It would seem the group in front of her was pretty much equal parts lucky, unlucky, and stupid - perhaps she would be able to wiggle out just one that stood out among the rest…

There was hope still. Those black eyes gleamed mischievously as she looked up at the faces surrounding her and the egg. An enraptured audience! She was loath to give it up but longed to return to the stream with the knowledge she held now - to share it with the next generation of salmon. The mere fact that so few of them had played along with her game without complaint only encouraged her to continue on with the same game. They were, after all, at her mercy. Or, rather, the fate of the egg was at her mercy. “Now, once more you silly quadrupeds! Another chance, three more choices - which one do you think is true? No need to be so koi about it this time around, speak up! Or, hoof up!” She added, wondering if Milo would join in this time. And, for that matter, would Cowboy, Kid, and Ilios be able to handle another round? They shall see!

“Is it:
a) Rainbow trout got their name because the colour spectrum fish see involves spotty silver, pink, and white (so the trout's resemble what other fish see when they look at a rainbow)
b) Northern pike earn a new spot on their body for every kill they make
Or c) Minnows are also known as “shiners” because they’ve been known to gather in tight-knit groups and charge at a predator’s eye, bruising the area and providing the school a chance to escape.”

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The correct answer was "a"! Aisling, Draevo, Brendan, Erebos, and Cowboy all earn an extra roll for getting it right

You have 72 hours to reply to this final round - have your character choose which one of the statements they think is true