Submission (#2131) Approved

            Siren opened the door to her abode to let in the other small kittom. As Ena stepped gingerly into the house, the two of them looked at each other up and down. Siren was pretty tall for a kittom, and so Ena had to look up at her. The mostly black kittom and the mostly white kittom made quite a picturesque view as they low-key gawked at each other.

            “Hi!” squeaked Ena, as she used a paw to swipe a tuft of hair out of her eyes. She had beautiful white lashes that fluttered gently whenever she blinked.

            “Hi,” answered Siren. The two of them stood there a bit awkwardly at first. “When did you come to Enmir?” she asked the strange white kittom, a bit unsure what to talk about.

            “I’m not really sure,” Ena scrunched her face a little, in a very adorable way. “I woke up one day underneath the Enmir Eldertree! Not too long ago actually. I’ve just been wandering around a bit.” The kittom nodded emphatically. “I’ve been exploring the marshes and swamps. I like chasing the little floating lights, it’s very fun.”

            “You mean the glowbugs?” Ena let out soft laugh; the thought of this stark white kittom chasing the glowbugs in the murk of the swamps and marshes of Enmir was rather amusing.

            “I thought they were will-o-wisps or something….” Ena grimaced. “Glowbugs are much less exciting.”

            “…” Siren squinted a bit. She’d always read that will-o-wisps could be rather dangerous; at least in adventure novels, they often led unsuspecting travelers into the bogs and marshes where it would be difficult to get out. Granted, sometimes treasures could be found, but more often than not, death awaited the unlucky (and gullible) journeyer.

            Ena twiddled with her paws, “So um… can I come in?” Apparently this whole time, Siren had completely forgotten her manners, and they had been talking at the entrance of the cottage. Siren’s face bloomed with color (as much as could be seen considering how dark her fur was), and she quickly held the door open and gestured for Ena to come inside. “A-ah, yes please come in.”

            As she stepped inside, Ena immediately saw the floating anima crystal that hovered in the air behind Siren. “Is this your sleeping pomu? I’ve never seen one this close before!” She eyed it with great interest, her bright eager eyes reading plain as day that she wanted to touch the crystal with her little paws. Siren was definitely not ready for that yet.

            “Yes, it’s my Pomu. I’m not really sure when she’ll wake up though…” Siren’s voice trailed off uncertainly, her face a bit distraught. So I’m kind of worried… She turned her eyes back to that warmth (and light) emitting crystal, standing rather protectively in between Ena and the crystal.

            “Maybe if we baked those cookies, she’ll smell the cookies and wake up,” Ena suggested innocently. She was young, but she was able to read the situation: Siren was clearly very protective of her Pomu, and it was better not to stress out her new friend by being too curious. Looking around briefly, Ena spied a cookbook on the kitchen counter and gestured at it. “Maybe we’ll find a delicious cookie recipe in that cookbook?”

            Siren hesitated a brief moment before nodding. “Yeah! This cookbook has a lot of good recipes. They’re very tasty!” Together, the two of them scampered over to the cookbook. They opened it and began looking for cookie recipes. Since there was only one book (and they were both very excited about looking for recipes), they opened the book together at the same time in different pages, their heads tilted in opposite directions as they read the Eyre script slowly, and eyed the pictures of delectable treats. A lot of the recipes called for fruits and products from other regions of Eyre. Unfortunately, as a young kittom, Siren didn’t have access to a lot of those ingredients. In the past, her Pomu would trade w/ other Pomus to get the ingredients, but this time it was all on her (and her new friend of course).

            “I found one!” Ena exclaimed, almost ripping the cookbook in her excitement. Siren quickly let go of the pages on her half of the cookbook, so she could fully flip to her recipe. “This recipe uses mossberries,” Ena pointed at the picture included in the cookbook. “I’ve seen these in the swamps before. They like growing in the overgrown areas, and the berries and its bushes blend in with the moss. Mossberries are delicious though.” The thought of mossberries made her drool a little. She had eaten them a few times when she was wandering the forests of Enmir. The outside was green and mossy and fuzzy, but the inside was a satisfying shade of green (much like the modern day kiwi), with a pale yellow center, and bright red seeds. Siren had never really seen (or eaten) mossberries and couldn’t help but gaze rather quizzically at the strange green fruits.

            “Where would we even find these?” Siren sounded very unsure, her paw tapping the image of the mossberries gently.

            “I know just the place!” Ena grinned cheekily at Siren, “I used to go there a lot to eat the mossberries!” She clapped her paws excitedly and skipped towards the door. “Grab your lantern, and let’s go get some!”

            Siren was very grateful for this new friend she had made, and ran to get the lantern that was tucked away in the corner (after her Pomu had gone to sleep, a lot of the items her Pomu kept in the shadow storage had spawned/turned up in this corner of the cottage). However, this lantern barely had any oil. It sputtered for a bit before dying completely. In dismay, Siren was very nearly ready to burst into tears. She just wanted her best friend to wake up again.

            Ena could see her emotional turmoil, and trotted back over, and gingerly patted Siren’s back. “You could hold your Pomu in your paws and let her guide us to the mossberries if you want?” The white kittom pointed at the cheery glow the anima crystal was giving off behind Siren. Siren, clouded by her troubles had completely forgotten about the light her sleeping Pomu was emitting. Ena continued, “I am sure your Pomu wouldn’t want you to be sad while she’s sleeping. And we are also making cookies for her! Maybe she would want to help too however she can?” She felt a bit uncertain, but hoped that her new friend Siren wouldn’t be too sad.

            “You’re right,” Siren rubbed her eyes with her paws, to clear her thoughts. Luckily she hadn’t cried, she thought to herself. How embarrassing that would have been. “Let’s go find some mossberries!” Siren got on a chair and gently took hold of the anima crystal with her paws. It really emanated a lot of warmth, and it really comforted her soul.

            Ena held out a paw to help Siren balance as she got down from the chair. “Let’s go get some mossberries!” she repeated as well. Pretty naturally, their paws reached for each other, and paw in paw (while Siren held onto the anima crystal in the other paw, and Ena held the cookbook in her other paw), they set out towards the darkness of the Enmir swamps. The glow from the sleeping pomu lit up their faces with a determined air, a glint of resolution in their eyes. Together, they were going to make some fabulous cookies! Delicious enough to wake up hibernating pomus!