Submission (#2977) Approved

Morning already… Adria buried her face in the plush comforter, trying to hide from the sunlight that streamed through the curtains. Just another day in this strange autumnal land, walled in by the miasmic tide. How long had it been? Three weeks? Four? This was her first winter, and the longest time she had stayed in one place since her earliest days in Palu’au. She had hoped to meet her friends in Faerindell before the miasma rolled in, but her plans had gone awry.  

She shut her eyes tightly, trying to will her way back into dreamland. After a few minutes, she gave up and rolled out of bed with a big stretch and a yawn. Her roommate, Tsura, was already gone, having left a perfectly made bed, complete with hospital corners. Adria hastily draped her sheets across the mattress.

The little green and blue kittom ambled over to the window and glanced outside. Her room had a picturesque view of the elder tree, towering above Il’durahn’s stone walls. Its golden leaves quivered in the breeze, bathed in the warm glow of the morning sun. The cobblestone streets, lined with red and orange maple trees, were quiet today, as they had been since the miasma season began. Not too many travelers this time of year. When she had first arrived, the city bustled with nins gathering supplies and stocking their pantries for winter. Now the market stalls across the square, once bursting with locally grown squash, oats, beets and sunflowers, were empty.

Adria sighed and headed downstairs to the breakfast lounge. The smell of hot, spiced pumpkin porridge greeted her. She grabbed a bowl and a steaming mug of pear cider, then settled down across from a familiar pastel-colored kittom. The kittom, Tsura, glanced up from her knitting and greeted Adria with a shy smile. She had already finished her breakfast and cleared the table. Although they had shared a room for over a fortnight, the two hadn’t spoken much. Tsura always seemed absorbed in one project or another, and Adria didn’t want to disrupt her creative process. The two sat in silence until Adria scraped the last of the porridge from her bowl and slurped down her remaining cider.

“Okay, I guess it’s back to magical theory for me. Have a nice morning.” Adria gathered up her dishes and headed toward the kitchen.

“Wait!” Tsura tucked her knitting into her satchel and hopped to Adria’s side. “There’s something I want to show you.”

Puzzled, Adria rinsed out her dishes and followed Tsura through the academy’s winding passages. Cases full of magical artifacts, antique suits of armor and framed portraits of past headmasters lined the walls. Finally, the two nins stopped before the grand oak doors of the great hall. The sounds of merry music and laughter drifted into the hallway. It almost sounded like a… festival?

Tsura pushed the doors open and Adria gasped. The usually stuffy, formal dining hall was filled with nins of all ages playing an assortment of board games. The faculty’s heavy, solid wood table had been pushed back against the wall, and in its usual place were a half dozen carnival games. Vendors had set up on the opposite end of the hall and were selling sweets and street foods, along with locally made crafts.

“What… how…” Adria trailed off.

“Some of the other kittoms are having a tough time, so I asked the professors if we could organize an event to liven things up. ‘Pa had sent me here with a bunch of games from his workshop, the locals chipped in, and… this happened.”

“This is incredible… May I hug you?”

Tsura nodded, and Adria gave her a squeeze before rushing off to play.

A group of kittoms crowded around a whack-a-mole game and were attempting to beat the high score. One kittom’s pomu had made its way inside the game and popped its head out of the holes from time to time. The kittoms were trying hard to hit the moles, while avoiding the poor, hapless pomu.

Adria giggled and headed toward the vendors, intending to buy some tickets for the carnival games. The first table was filled with honeyed desserts. The seller danced merrily and played the fiddle while a small swarm of bees buzzed around her ears. Adria flinched as one of the bees landed on the tip of her nose.

“She likes you!” cried the joyous gray and white nin. “She says you’re destined for great things.”

The bee tickled her nose, and Adria sneezed, sending the bee twirling back to her master. She nodded farewell to the vendor and ventured over to the ticket booth. “I’ll take ten!”

Board games were strewn across the dining tables. Checkers, chess, Mushroom Rush, Pioneers of Zevija, dominoes… so many to choose from. She had so many questions to ask Tsura later, but first, prizes!

Adria surveyed each of the carnival games and settled on the goldfish bowl game. One of the prizes was a starfish-shaped pillow that reminded her of home. A ticket purchased five tries. How difficult could it be? The kittom carefully aimed the first ball, but it bounced off the top of four bowls before dropping off the table. The next three balls yielded similar results. The final ball came close to going in, but it bounced out at the last second. Three tickets later, and still no luck.

Feeling a bit defeated, Adria moved on to the next game, which involved throwing darts at balloons. Half-heartedly, she handed over a ticket in exchange for three darts. Pop, pop, pop! All three right on target! She tried again in hopes for a larger prize, and three for three again! Excitedly, she pointed to a small pomu plushie with golden horns and markings. It wasn’t life size, but it was very well-made and detailed.

She used her remaining tickets to buy some snack items and sat at a table in front of a large window. A leaf drifted down from the massive, twisted maple tree in the academy’s courtyard. A red squirrel ran up its trunk and began tucking acorns from a nearby oak tree into an old woodpecker hole. Maybe Bellmoril wasn’t a bad place to spend the winter.

The chair next to Adria moved, and Tsura hopped up beside her, wearing an adorable scarf lined with pomu motifs.

“Oh, you finished your knitting! It’s lovely.” Adria admired the kittom’s handiwork. “Hey, this will match it perfectly! Please take it.”

Adria handed the pomu plushie to Tsura. The sunny kittom smiled warmly and blushed. “I love it. Thank you!”

“No, thank you for making this happen. You have no idea how much I needed this.”