Submission (#2730) Approved

Sumarlidi splashed through the murky waters at the edge of the swamp, feeling the mud squish under his paws. The air was damp and heavy, and the light dim under the canopy of the old trees overhead. Insects buzzed in the distance, a loud drone that never went away. He tightened the strap of the basket on his back and stopped, looking around.

Kal was a few feet behind him, a bag of her own strapped to her back, and she obliviously traipsed through the mud, humming under her breath, eyes sweeping across the old and rotting foliage that littered the ground. 

It was harvest time, time to start stocking up in preparation for Miasma season, and the family was out and about in the swamps hunting for various things. Kalea had been tasked with hunting for a specific flower that their family friend Ryan wanted, and that they’d ship off to kyendi. Lidi was on the hunt for mushrooms.

While not the glowing kind from his mother’s native Silveil, Mushrooms weren’t an uncommon sight in the swamps of enmir, the damp rotting nature of even the dryer patches of ground a ripe breeding ground for a variety of mushrooms.

Evenne, their mother, had been very careful to impress upon him which mushrooms were safe, and which weren’t, which had been reinforced with the lessons he’d learned from the hours he’d spent with Asyndesis and Saevitia, two older elnin who lived in Enmir and traded in the various herbs and the like that were common in the area. Lidi was more interested in their uses for cooking, but he’d learned quite a bit of herbalist lore from the two over the last few weeks.

“You good, Lidi?” Kal calls to him, shaking him from his thoughts. He grins at her and nods. 

“I’m good! Any luck?”

Kalea sighs. “Not much yet. I think we might need to get to drier ground.”

Lidi agrees, and squishes through the mud to the edge of the swamp, scampering up over a fallen log. The wood is spongy and rotten, and almost gives under him as he climbs over it. Kalea quickly follows, squeaking as she almost slips.

As he drops down to the other side, he spies the first sight of his quarry. Mushrooms!

They are growing from the side of the rotting log, and Lidi stops to examine them closely. They are small and brown, with a wide cap and white stem. He stops to think back on the ones his mother had shown him, and he’s quite sure this is what he’s looking for. He grins excitedly.

“‘Hey! I found something!” He calls to his sister. She thumps to the soft ground, hopping off the log. The dirt is drier on this side, although still squishy and damp, but there is a bit of grass growing rather than just mud and the reeds they’d shoved their way through to get here, skirting the edges of the swamp. They were both fairly adventurous, although Kalea was definitely the more fearless of the two, and hadn’t hesitated to wade through some of the more shallow areas in their search. They weren’t far out of sight of the hut they were staying in, Their mother trusting them to stay close enough to find their way back, but far enough away that it was hidden by trees.

A firefly flits by and lands on Lidi’s nose, causing him to gaze at it cross eyed before he sneezes, dislodging it. In many places the little critters were an evening phenomenon, but here in the dark dampness of the swamps of Enmir they glowed all day and night. Kalea giggles at him, and he shoots her a glare thats more amused than anything, which just causes her to grin harder. Sisters.

Turning back to his task, Lidi carefully crouches and gathers up the mushrooms, dropping them unceremoniously into the basket he slides off his back and places on the ground next him. He’s quite small, and so is the basket in turn, so it won’t take long to fill up. If he can find 3 or 4 more patches, he’d have enough to return home. 

He wonders what his mom is going to make with the mushrooms. He knows that you can dry them out and that they keep for a long time, good for use in soups and stews especially. He likes mushrooms, Although his father, Soren, isn’t a very big fan of them. 

“Oh hey!” He hears Kalea exclaim, and Lidi turns to look at her, hoisting the now heavier reed basket on his back, coming to balance on his hind legs, bipedal. There’s a small flowering bush growing in between the roots of a large tree, and in her haste, Kalea almost trips over one of the many exposed roots that extend outward.  Lidi trots after her, careful not to slip on a patch of slick moss, paws sinking into the damp ground with every step. He’s starting to wonder if his paws will ever be dry. 

The flowers on the bush are small and purple, with a dark center. Kalea examines it closely. 

“I think this is me!” She whoops.  “I thought I’d never find any!”

Lidi can only shake his head at his sister's exuberance. She was far too excitable. Lidi helps Kalea gather up the flowers, placing them gently in the bag she has slung over her shoulder. After a minute or two they are finished, and he grins at her.

“Ready to keep going?”

“Yep!” She laughs and trots off, heading back into the swamp, and, as usual, Lidi follows. 

Maybe this harvest season won't be so bad.