The street lights hit Solar Flare's red and orange coat with a dazzling effect as they walked along through the streets of Silveil City. The dark that engulfed the region perpetually had not yet become a fact to the kittom. They still found it strange that every morning the sun didn't rise over the domain of this region and that there was no clear deviation between the passing of time here. Morning, noon, dusk, and midnight all felt the same visually... but the feel of the city was quite different for each of those times. It had been hard to get used to it. Solar Flare continually found themselves at odds the time changes here and found it hard to sleep at the proper time.
Talk about a small town kittom in the big city! The thought embarrassed Solar Flare when they thought about their friends here in the city. None of them were free today, and that left Solar Flare alone with their thoughts as they walked along. This was Solar Flare's first autumn outside of Faerindell, and they were really nervous about the upcoming season change. What would they do without Ms. Whimsy? Their Silveil City guardian was nice enough but they weren't Ms. Whimsy. They weren't mom.
Solar Flare looked up upon the stars in the sky. They twinkled and danced along with Solar Flare's vision, drawing in their gaze toward the gaping scar in the sky that looked like a graveyard of stars. Faerindell seemed so far away from Silveil when they looked at the expansive darkness engulfing the world, but the truth was Faerindell and Silveil were neighbours. Solar Flare wasn't too far from their home in Faerindell, or from Whimsy. Reality didn't change how Solar Flare felt inside though. They felt so far away from their home, from their family, and soon they would be trapped here for the season. It would be too dangerous to leave, and Solar Flare would only have letters to tide their heart over.
Solar Flare had made it over to the beach near a posh section of the city. With the city behind them lit up and the lake in front of them, Solar Flare found themselves pacing back and forth. The water of the lake was so calm, countering the turbulence they felt in their chest. The changing seasons made Solar Flare anxious, the thought of being trapped here in eternal night haunting them like the luminous jellyfish in the lake. They splashed their paws into the water of the lake as they paced back and forth, feeling the slight coolness on their skin as the water soaked their paws. Solar Flare could see the branches of the tree come out from underneath the city's island, and stretch out into the lake. The jellyfish seemed to dance around, twinkling around as if they wanted to mimic the sky above. It truly seemed like the tree was reaching for the stars.
Solar Flare's anxiety wasn't so easily soothed. The view here was vast but would it be enough to simply look? How far could they go before it would be considered unsafe? Leaving the city would be frowned upon but surely there was more than enough to occupy a kittom in such a large city. What would they do here for the season? Surely there would be some sort of interesting activity to do in a city so large. Solar Flare's pacing through the shallows of the lake slowly came to a halt, and soon they were just standing in the water with a dumbfounded look on their face. They could see a jellyfish being pushed closer and closer to the beach's edge, and they watched it with vague interest. They were thinking about what they could do here throughout the season.
They had come here to the city to see the world and gain experience but they still didn't know what they wanted to do. The jellyfish seemed to halt its approach as Solar Flare had decided to step out of the lake. Their paws were a little chilly but it was still warm enough that they would dry off quickly enough, especially when Solar Flare began to run down the beach and up the stairs into the boardwalk. Elnin moved out of the way of the charging kittom as they ran down the boardwalk as if they had seen a shylldra come out of the lake. They ran until they could no longer see the lake behind them, and the street population increased around them.
Out of breath and surrounded by creatures of all races, Solar Flare pressed their body back against a nearby building and breathed heavily, panting as they eagerly sought to draw in air into their lungs. The twinkling of the stars seemed to line up with Solar Flare's intake of air until finally, everything settled back down into a normal rhythm. As their attention grew away from their own breathing, Solar Flare began to hear the music behind them. Stepping up onto their hind legs, Solar Flare looked into the window that had been above their head. Inside was a room with glossy, wooden floors and little furniture.
The studio room had a small class of kittoms inside, and they followed an adult's movement as best as they could. It was a dance class, something Solar Flare hadn't seen before. The city offered many opportunities but this wasn't something Solar Flare had ever considered before. They found themselves moving their rump to the music, forgetting that they were outside looking in. Lost in the opportunity and the music, Solar Flare kept dancing along with enthusiasm until the class ended.
The door beside Solar Flare cracked open and the kittom quickly turned tail and began to run away. For some reason, they felt both embarrassed and guilty as if they would get in trouble for being there. They didn't run all the way to the beach but they made it to a bridge that overlooked a section of the lake. Below the jellyfish danced around, and Solar Flare could almost hear a tune in the back of their head. It seemed to match the flow of the water and the jellyfish without any effort.
Solar Flare felt envious.
They looked down at the jellyfish and into the lake that hid secrets of the world in its depth, and then back toward the direction of the city they had just run from. Their eyes looked back up into the depths of the darkness in the sky. The stars shone so brightly even in the darkness but they could never shine as bright as the sun. Could Solar Flare really succeed here? Would they be able to shine and follow their heart? They felt a tugging there, drawing them to the depths of the city that haunted them with the music that had called to them from earlier. It looked like the sort of freedom that Solar Flare had always dreamed of.
The seasons were changing and now the music of autumn haunted them. The question was whether they could overcome their fear in order to obtain their freedom? Maybe they had finally found what they had come to this city to find. The freedom that their heart sought was not in the world but in their own body.
