Submission (#2750) Approved

Levi had no idea that a long vacation on the coast would eventually lead him and her friend to cross the ocean and end up in the shelter of the branches of Yggdrasil itself. So, for the moment the only thing that was clear to him was that somehow in those days they had been quite busy helping with the gathering in Ealei.

- It's a lot harder than I first imagined! - said Thea dropping another wicker basket full of manaberries on the ground near the collection point they had been directed to.

- Maybe, but by doing this we get free transportation and it's not that bad, in any other city you know you would have had to lend a paw too, right?

- Yes, but these berries are quite heavy...

- Well, now imagine having to carry baskets full of coconuts, those would be worse...

- And if we try to find a better system to carry them than carrying baskets?

Levi looked at her curiously, because in reality the baskets seemed to be the most practical way to move through the roots of the big tree that were sticking out of the surface of the water.

- We can try to create a slide with loose branches from the water! And, and… place it near the tallest berries and just let them slide all the way down!

- Sounds just as cumbersome... what if they fall into the water?

- That doesn't have to happen! - complained Thea sticking her tongue out at him.

Levi had gotten used to those reactions by now, so he let the little white kittom be alone with how difficult it would be to carry out her plan as he strolled across the wooden bridge that separated them from the water.

- What if we tried dropping them on top of a raft in the water?

Thea was already tossing her hair trying to think of her plan when she heard him and turned around:

- On a wooden raft...?

- Yes, something like that. Plus it might be fun to try... and handling the raft shouldn't be too hard.

- And what about the roots? It was going to get stuck in one pretty soon if we made it too big?

- You have a point - Levi grunted at the appreciation.

They both sat in silence for a few minutes, trying to think of new solutions. Thea raised her paw as if a bright light bulb had lit up in her head.

- I think our best option is neither a slide nor a raft... we'd better ask someone for a wagon.

- If they don't use many carts, it's because the villages are still in the trees, I have a feeling.

- Well, at least they'd be handy for carrying the fruit from here!

- Okay, let's give the idea a chance.

And so they spent the rest of the day trying to find someone to lend them a wheelbarrow or something similar to improvise a way to get the fruit from the tree to where they were going to pick it more effectively... luckily, they found something, even if in the end it turned out to be as impractical in some root-covered stretches as they had anticipated. But at least they were trying it out for the next day and it was a lot more fun than just carrying fruit in baskets. In fact, by the end of the day, having been having fun with the whole experiment, they had picked almost more fruit than in previous days.

- And at least you know that after a job well done, we have all the time in the world for sightseeing!