Submission (#2371) Approved

With every day that passed, the world felt warmer and warmer. The cold season was only a far off memory now, as even the mornings felt a little more warm than it did indoors. That only meant that the mornings would lead the way to a hotter and brighter afternoon. Marco didn’t mind the heat, though. Even if it was hot outside it still gave him more opportunity to play and explore outside, rather than if he was cooped up inside because it was so cold outside. The warmer season meant that he saw more of his brother, Mason as well. Marco was a big boy who could take care of himself, but he was always happy to see his brother Mason around the house more as his work kept him busy during the colder months. For now though, Mason’s work was less and that meant more time for the two to hang out.

Marco tried to stay modest when he spoke about his explorations over the past few months for Faerindell. He didn’t want to sound too overager like a child and keep his stories light like Mason did with his. The kittom had gotten ahead of himself before he realized it, and before long he had told his brother about everything he had done in Faerindell, even the possible theft of flowers. Mason’s eyes drifted over to the potted plant next to Marco’s bed as his little brother spoke, but he didnt say anything about it as he looked back at Marco. When the kittom was done talking about all his escapades, Mason suggested that since the two didnt have any plans for the next few days that they should return to Faerindell for fun. Marco’s eyes lit up and he bounced in joy, thrilled with the suggestion. Mason felt a little bad that he would have to tell his brother that they couldn’t go this very minute, but after a good night’s rest they could head out. 

Marco’s mind for the rest of the day was on their adventure they’d have tomorrow, and he had gotten himself so excited that Mason found him asleep next to the kittom’s journal full of handwritten notes of all the things he wanted to do while they were in Faerindell. Before he closed the journal Mason noticed that the word ‘fishing’ was scribbled on the page along with several other ideas. The idea of fishing sounded nice. Carefully he picked Marco up, tucked him into bed, and got everything ready for their trip tomorrow.

When Marco woke up the next morning, he was ready to go. He was delighted to hear that Mason had decided on an activity for them to do when they got to Faerindell - fishing! It was like his brother had read his mind! Marco wrote it off as Mason being talented like that, and after breakfast the kittom gathered all of his adventuring gear like his bag, some paper and pens in case they needed to map anything or jot any notes down, some snacks, and other little things. Meanwhile Mason handled the heavy and big things, like getting the fishing poles to carry and making sure they had suitable bait. Once the two were loaded up with goodies Marco practically bursted through the front door and darted off down the path, Mason trailing behind casually after closing the front door and locking the house up.

The change between Bellmoril and Faerindell never ceased to amaze Marco. The kittom watched as the trees around them turned more and more pink. By the time they were completely in Faerindell it was like walking into one of Marco’s fairytale books. The pink leaves on the trees looked more like fluttering petals than actual leaves. The only way to tell that they were leaves and not actual petals was to compare them to the faeriebloom flowers hanging off the branches of the trees. The faeriebloom flowers came in an assortment of colors, but the shade of pink and the texture of the flower petals were noticeably different from the tree leaves. Still, Marco liked to secretly pretend sometimes that the trees were actually giant flowers, and in the harvesting months they were special flowers that produced fruit like apples!

While Marco had led the way to Faerindell most of the time, Mason was now in the lead directing them on where to go. The kittom followed as they made their way down cobblestone pathways and passed over several stone bridges. The two even passed the orchard where Marco had helped out during the harvesting season! But the two continued on down the path, and before long they had gone deeper into Faerindell than Marco had ever gone before.

It was at this point Marco remembered what they were here to do. Go fishing! Marco couldnt recall seeing a lot of lakes or big streams, just the small streams that the stone bridges were built over. He believed Mason knew where he was going so he obediently followed his brother. His patience rewarded him as the path moved away from the towns and into the more dense wilderness of Faerindell. The two stepped past some pink leafed trees and were greeted by the sight of a rushing waterfall. The water from the rocky wall above dropped down into a a reasonably sized lake below. Surrounding the waterfall was an assortment of flowers of every different color, and Marco saw that there were even flowers on the water! Or lots of flower petals, at least. Content with the spot, Mason settled down and put bait on their fishing lines before handing Marco the smaller fishing rod. The kittom’s tail wiggled in excitement as he plopped down next to Mason. At the same time the elnin and kittom casted their lines into the petal covered waters.

To both of their surprise, it was Marco’s line that began to tug down into the water first. The tugs were gente for the first few seconds, but it didnt take long before a majority of the fishing line was getting pulled into the water. Marco used off of his strength to keep himself from getting pulled into the water while Mason dropped his fishing line to go grab Marco. The elnin was quite surprised when the kittom managed to not only keep himself from getting pulled into the water but also managed to pull out the fish that was on his line!

Marco watched as a fish that was roughly the size of the kittom and of a type he had never seen before flew through the air before hitting the grass. While Mason hurried to get water into a bucket from the lake Marco crept closer to inspect the fish. The fish was as pink as the Faerindell tree leaves that surrounded them. If someone passed by it’d be easy to mistake the fish as simply a pile of pink tree leaves rather than a living creature. Depending on how the sun hit the pink scales, Marco could see that the scales had a slight color to their shine, every so often catching a glimpse of green, purple, or blue. The fish’s eyes were also a crystally blue, which he had never seen on a fish before. While beautiful, Marco also noticed that this fish was a regular fish as it needed water to breathe. The fish sat in the grass long enough for the kittom to get a good look at it before it began to bounce and flail around. Mason came to the rescue and scooped the fish into the bucket full of lake water.

After a short discussion ( which primarily consisted of Marco asking numerous questions that Mason didnt have the answer to ) it became clear that neither one of them had ever seen a fish like this before. They were both curious to find out more about the fish, so after only one catch the two packed up their fishing gear and headed back into town. The cobblestone streets were a little more crowded now, and there were even some vendors selling goods set up, so that meant there were plenty of elnin to ask about the fish to. It surprised Marco how many elnin had no idea what the fish was! Elnin that had lived in Faerindell all their lives couldnt recall seeing a fish like this before, and were surprised to hear that it had came from the lake that had the waterfall pouring into it.

The only elnin who had any information on the mysterious fish was an elnin named Opal. She had overheard one of the conversations about the fish and made her way over to Marco and his brother. She smiled softly and said that though she wasn’t quite sure if it’s true, but that this particular fish was one of a kind. Or, at least, one of a few of it’s kind. She had seen it before when she was by the lake, but no one had any information about it to give her. The elnin pulled out a small journal and showed off the page she had written about the fish, and the drawing of it on the other page. Marco’s eyes glittered with excitement as he read over the journal, happy to know that he wasnt the only one who carried around journals and wrote and drew stuff down. The name written on the page for the fish was ‘Faerie Fish’, and Marco loved the name. The elnin bashfully explained that wasnt an official name or anything, but Marco decided to start calling it that. He asked if he could copy her journal, and Opal agreed as long as they promised to return the fish back to it’s home at the lake. Marco was happy to agree, since even if he wanted to take the fish home the journey would be too long and they wouldnt have a good place to put it, so he quickly jotted down her notes before returning the journal back to Opal.

The kittom couldnt contain himself as he and Mason headed back to the lake. Every elnin they asked about the fish were enlightened by Marco as he told them that the fish was called a Faerie Fish, and it was a super rare fish! But they should put it back since there weren’t a whole lot of them there! Mason hurried Marco along, and eventually they returned back to the lake. Mason let Marco do the honors of dumping the fish back into the lake. Marco watched as the pink shimmery fish flopped back into the water and swam deep beneath the water and out of sight.

Marco had been to Faerindell several times now. However, when asked by his friends after he returned to Belmorril, he was happy to tell them that his favorite adventure had been the one where he had met the rare Faerie Fish!