Submission (#2195) Approved

The more time Marco spent away from home, the more home felt like a place that was far away.

There was nothing wrong with Bellmoril, of course. What was it called when one had an itch to start roaming and traveling? He every so often saw older elnin come and go from his hometown, carrying goods and speaking about adventures from far off places. Maybe one day he would be grown up and be one of those elnin with many stories to tell ( and they would be all true! Even the most outrageous ones! ). For now, he had to settle for visiting nearby regions every so often ( and whether it was within an adult or not, well, Marco wasn’t scared of venturing out alone ).

No matter how hard he tried to think of other places, his mind drifted back to Faerindell. Even though he had only been there a handful of times, he was eager to return. The lantern he had made for his pomu he yet to meet now hung in his room, adorned with both the deep reds of Bellmoril and the bright pastels of Faerindell. The lantern wasn’t enough to sate his desire for a real trinket from the far off land that he could call his own. He wanted to get something tangible and bring it back to place in his room so he could easily daydream of being in a far off place a little more easily.

He decided that he would return to Faerindell and bring something home with him. One morning, he got up and quickly got dressed in his best and most durable adventuring attire. Marco filled his bag with many snacks and a few drinks to enjoy on the road, remembering that there were times between where he was and the orchard he was heading to that there weren’t any shops around for several miles. Once he decided his bag was good and heavy with supplies ( but not heavy enough to tip him over too badly ) the kittom rushed out the door and headed off onto the road to Faerindell.

The burnt reds and dry yellows that Marco was used to faded away into memory. In its place were the pastel colors of Faerindell- pink, blues, greens, purples. The feeling of walking into a fairy tale book never got old to the young kittom. For a moment he felt like a true adventurer, or he could imagine himself as a price, strutting into a new city under the guise of an adventurer. Marco giggled to himself at the thought as his paws padded against the mismatched cobblestone road underneath him. The buildings he passed were somewhat familiar, made of the same mismatched stones that he walked on, along with light wood on the sides to keep the buildings standing up and on the roofs to keep those living within the buildings dry. Even the crystal clear glass windows seem to enchant Marco, though that was more of his imagination getting to him more than anything.

While he didn’t enjoy the way the towns were built, Marco wasn’t here for the buildings. He wasn’t here for anything directly elnin-made, either. As he reached the town where she showed up for the great harvest several months ago, Marco’s ears perked up in interest. During the colder months, the apple trees in faerindell appeared to have kept their leaves. Marco stopped away from the middle of the cobblestone path and scurried up to a decorative short stone fence next to it, scrambling on top of it to get a better look at the orchards below. Many of the trees had their signature pink leaves that had stayed on the branches of the trees throughout the winter and now fluttered in the soft breeze that rushed by Marco from behind before rolling down into the orchard. Some of the apple trees had green leaves but the majority of them had pink leaves. It was starting to get warmer now and Marco noticed that some of the trees now had small flowers blooming from the branches. Did that mean that apples would start growing from the trees soon!? Marco was excited to come by and pick apples again!

But he wasn’t here for the apple trees, either.

Faerindell was known for its rustic feeling and all the harvesting and food it produced to feed a majority of the elnins in Eyre, but it was also known for something else too - all its flowers. They were impossible to ignore when entering and walking around the region. The most unique flowers Faerdinell had were their flowers that hung from branches and anywhere else where their stems could grow on and droop their petal bunches over. These flowers were called faerie blooms. While Marco was interested in bringing these flowers home with him, he really wasn’t sure where he would be able to put them or hang them up without them withering and dying the next day. Those were flowers that he would have to find seeds for and grow himself when he was back home. For now, he was here for regular flowers.

Still standing on the stone wall, Marco turned his attention away from the vast orchard and glanced around to see if he could find flowers anywhere - growing wild in a field, growing next to a house fighting against the cobblestones, anywhere! He didn’t have to look far as he saw a house near the orchard with many flowers growing next to it. Marco couldn’t help but grin to himself before scrambling off the short stone wall and making his way down towards the house. Since it was down below where the orchard was, he had to take a winding cobblestone road to finally reach the lower level of the area where the house and flowers were. Now that he was closer to the flower patch, he noticed that the flowers were growing in several neatly lined rows, but the colors of the flowers appeared to be in no certain order. They were lines of blues, oranges, pinks, purples,yellows, white, reds, and some of them were even shades of green, making it difficult to see where the stem stopped and where the petals began. Marco looked around and saw no one else was around. With there being so many flowers around, certainly no one would notice a few flowers missing, right? And it was more than likely that these flowers grew here at random, so it wasn’t technically stealing or anything. Probably. Hopefully.

Marco took a deep breath and made his way closer to the flowers. Carefully he knelt down next to several flowers and began to ever so gently and carefully unplant the flowers. He wanted to make sure he didn’t damage the roots so he could replant them in vases back home. Once he had managed to successfully grab a few flowers, there was something he had to do before putting the dirt back in the holes. He pulled out from his bag severa seeds of plants from Bellmoril. That was a fair exchange, wasn’t it? Faerindell plants for Bellmoril plants! With some luck and determination from the seeds they would be able to grow and bless the area with new and possibly unusual plants. Marco plants the seeds into the ground and moved the dirt over them, securing them in place.

The smile that had stayed on Marco’s face for what felt like an hour now was quickly smacked off when he heard the sound of the door of the nearby house opening. Sure, he didn’t consider what he was doing stealing, but others may not feel the same way. Quickly and as carefully as he could he placed the flowers into his bag, got to his feet, and darted off towards the road. He didn't stop until he needed to catch his breath. After pausing for a few minutes he decided to head straight home to Bellmoril. He wasn’t sure if replanting flowers was a time sensitive thing but he supposed he was about to find out. Marco was pleased with the success of his mission, but didn’t realize the mystery he could have caused by switching flowers with Bellmoril seeds for anyone who paid attention to that flower patch. He was more excited to plant his new flowers and return to Faerindell one day to see the status of his planted Bellmoril seeds. Only time would tell if they survive or not!