Submission (#2239) Approved

Everything seemed to be happening so fast as wave after wave of kittoms arrived, Gloine among them.  The world was much more lively than he thought it to be, what with adults and other kittoms who had been here longer furiously skittering about to make room for the newcomers.  Yet, even though many appeared to be rushed and a little on edge they all seemed highly welcoming and very glad that he and the others had come, his parents included.

In the days that followed his arrival he mainly spent time with his family but there were times when the fast pace of it all had him wanting nothing more than to slow down for a beat and take a second to enjoy the world around him as it unfolded.  According to his mother they were in a place called Bellmoril and she explained to him what made the place so very unique in comparison to others.

First and foremost were the leaves and trees.  Gloine had noticed them almost immediately thanks to the vibrant oranges, reds and yellows that waved pleasantly from sleek, white limbs.  At one point he had even sat amongst a group of other kittoms who had been gazing up at them, their eyes aglow as they talked about wishing they could somehow capture that color and carry it with them.  Unfortunately, one pointed out, once the leaves fell and were taken home they lost their brilliance and wound up becoming brown and crunchy.  So picking them and attempting to keep them was not a good idea. 

Next was the capital city of Il'durahn which he had seen with his family.  Stone buildings with red roofs nearly matching the leaves of the surrounding forests stacked together up a hillside until culminating with a crowned jewel of a castle standing above all the rest.  Unlike the other structures, this was made of clean, white stone and appeared to shimmer blue like clear, crystalline waters in the sun.  It was incredible and effectively blew his little mind.  His mother pointed out that many went there to study something called mana and that he could one day learn if he so desired.

All of this was marvelous of course, but whenever he wanted to catch his breath he found that only one place could do it and that was the beach.  He had learned by following a group of older kittoms that there was a bath cutting through the fiery forests and fields of tall golden grass that would eventually pour them out onto the warm sands and brilliant waters.  He could listen to the waves for hours and felt safe cradled in the cove because of the sharp, jagged mountains forming a protective barrier around them on all sides.  It was magnificent.  

Best of all however was the shards of what he had later been told was something called sea glass that could be found if one searched really hard.  The first piece he ever found was a bright orange color and he immediately gravitated towards it, remembering the conversation he had with that group of kittoms that day about the leaves and wanting to keep the colors all to themselves.  It was a near perfect match and he had spent the entire day guarding it until he could carry it home and stash it in his room.  That night he stared at it dreamily until he had fallen asleep and was blessed with the most pleasant and colorful dreams.  It was from that point on that he made it his mission to travel to the beach as often as possible in order to scour the sands for more shards of the precious sea glass.  

Some days he was luckier than others when it came to making a discovery which could be a little frustrating, but whenever he found a piece it brought him so much joy.  Especially when he learned that the glass came in an assortment of colors.  So far he had found deep blues, brownish reds and even greens that nearly matched the markings on his pelt.  And each one he carried home with him to store in a box he kept neatly tucked under his bed.  A box that eventually became so full that he had to find other, more inventive places to hide his trinkets so that no one would find them and carry them off somewhere or try to keep it for themselves.  

For a while his plan had worked.  Each nook and cranny he found to stash pieces in going untouched and unnoticed by his family and he had just started beginning to feel extremely clever when one of his siblings had been fooling around and knocked a jar he had been stashing some shards in from the shelf in their pantry.  It smashed and along with the flour that his mother kept, out tumbled the glass.  He could tell right away that he was in trouble.

“How on earth did this get here?”  She questioned the line of kittoms she had formed in front of her while holding up a shard in her paw.  “One of you had better speak up right away or there will be no cakes or cookies for any of you for the foreseeable future.”  

His siblings squirmed and moaned, each of them innocent of course but he could see some debating making a confession just so they did not lose out on their sweet treats.  Every one of them looked at each other questioningly and some even appeared to be really angry.  This made him nervous and kept him from speaking up for a good few minutes or, at least until his mother had given the final warning.  Tensions were high and he knew that he needed to do something.

“I-it was me.”  He said at last, taking a slight step forward and allowing his ears to droop as his siblings tsked and shook their heads at him.  After all, he had almost cost them their cookies by remaining silent!

“Gloine.”  His mother sighed, her head shaking softly as she dismissed the others and sat in front of him to talk.  “Glass doesn’t belong in flour my darling, it could make someone sick.”

“The edges are smooth though…”  He began, momentarily more afraid that she was going to toss it for being dangerous than anything else.

“That isn’t the point.  If this had been baked into a pie someone could’ve ended up choking on it or even cracking a tooth.  Do you understand love?”

He nodded and let out a feeble sigh.  “I do.  I just couldn’t think of another place so I panicked and hid it there.”

His mother blinked at him.  “Another place?”

It was then that he was forced to show her all of the little inappropriate places he had been stashing the sea glass.  With each one she seemed to grow less and less upset and more amused by his ingenuity, even though she wouldn’t praise him for it.  And every nook she had him clear out and place in a box she would fetch for him.  It took them a little while but once it had all been collected she began to laugh musically.  

“My darling son, please do not hide glass around the house anymore.  I will give you boxes if you simply ask but we should find some other thing to do with your collection aside from just letting it grow.”  She nuzzled him.  “It does not belong in the walls or under floorboards and especially not in our food!”  

She looked around until she found a strand of unused string one of his siblings had been playing with.

“Here, how about we make something fun using your beautiful glass instead of leaving it around as a tripping or choking hazard.” 

He did not know it then, but that moment would fuel his passion for creating beautiful things out of sea glass meant to be shared rather than stowed away in jars of flour.