Submission (#3153) Approved

The Miasma season was taking its toll on Minako as she looked out the window from her room in the atelier. The bright shining moon of Silveil never seemed to disappear. Mina couldn’t help but crave for her Hometown which was a place completely different from Silveil. The moonlight shone on her face but it was nothing like the sun that shines on your face and the gentle fragrance of flowers that filled the air from back home. The nostalgia started flowing back to Mina as she began to remember her days in Faerindell. But her dreams had taken her somewhere else and she planned on following them through even if it meant she wasn’t going to Faerindell. 

She closed her eyes and let the moonlight glow on her face as she began to flow back in time and smell the flowers that surrounded Elenion. The shrine where she had worked never lacked sunshine or florals. The colours that surrounded her were always so bright and full of life. She remembered that one of her favorite things was gathering petals. The ground was always lattered in petals of all different shapes and colours. But probably one of her fondest memories of home was the beautiful Elnin Nari that had come to her help when she needed it most. The healer had nurtured her back to health and given her a home that felt more permanent than her previous ones. Field work had been too harsh on her even if she had enjoyed gathering food for the residence of Eyre but somehow she wasn’t cut out for it.  Nari had taken her small paws and bandaged them and applied some salve as they had suffered from hard labor. Being out in the sun all day long had also scorched some of her fur and it was quite brittle. The healer had applied some oils infused with some herbals and florals which helped her fur become soft and radiant once more. At the time being Minako had decided on a different path wanting to become a seamstress that would be known all through Eyre. But now that she was here trying to achieve her dream and that home became a past memory. She wondered then if she had made the right choice. 

When the time had come for Nari to leave the shrine and move on to the next one, she had offered for Minako to accompany her and learn her craft. Usually she would also always come back to Faerindell. But now since Mina had chosen this different path she hadn’t been able to go back home. She wondered now if ever she would be able to go back or would her dream take her elsewhere through the lands of Eyre. Mina longed for nothing more than her favorite game. When she had come to Silveil City she had wanted the adventure and danger that came in abundance and she reveled in it. But now that she had enjoyed it for some time she wanted to go back to more simple things. Her hands were once again bruised and callused from hard labor and she no longer had any salve left from Nari to heal them. If only she had taken the time to learn some of her craft maybe it would have come in hand now as she pricked her finger once again trying to thread a needle through the fabric. 

She chuckled sucking on her finger as she remembered how Nari had never gotten mad at her not a single time in all the months they had spent together, except for the time she learned what Mina's favorite game was. She had gathered all the petals for days and weeks that would clutter the shrine and piled them neatly. She would always do this but she was supposed to dispose of the petals not gather them. But her joy was jumping and throwing herself in those piles of petals and throwing them in the air once she had finished her day's work.  After she even smelled all the different fragrance of the various flower petals that she would gather. Nari had wondered where she would acquire such a pleasant fragrant smell. Wanting to perfect a similar oil she had followed the kittom to her spot and then discovered what she was up to. She was always wondering why the shrine was always covered with more petals each day as if the little kittom had never sweeped and disposed of the petals. But now she knew why the wind would blow them back to where they had originally fallen. Nari facepalmed and smirked at the small kitom, the poor thing would work double and triple and so on each day to do the same work she always did. “MINAKO !!!!! COME HERE THIS INSTANCE!” She had heard the yell and to her shock it was Nari calling her. She had never seen her mad before and didn’t even think she was capable of it. Tail between her legs wondering what she had done wrong she headed towards Nari which she noticed seemed pretty upset. “ You were supposed to gather and dispose of these petals … Why are they gathered in piles behind the shrine. You know that once the wind blows they come back and all the work you did you have to do it again and pick up the added new ones that have fallen from the surrounding trees.” A small tear started to form as her cheeks blushed. Mina had not realized that the piles she made of petals came back from the wind blowing them back. With a slight smile Nari tried to comfort the kittom who was about to burst into tears. “ It’s ok Minako, you just have to bring them elsewhere and not do it again. But why would you want to pile them in the first place. We don’t need that many petals for elixirs, oils or remedies?” she sniffled as a few tears fell “Ow .. I just play with them” Not having realized it, Mina had tripled her work each 

day. She could hold the tears any longer as the tears began to pour. All she wanted to do was help at the shrine and not make things worse. Since they had no use for all the petals she thought it was ok to build the piles of it so she could jump in it. The elnin began to comfort the small kittom “It’s alright Mina don’t worry we will find a place for them. I will help you tomorrow. How about that.” She wiped the tears off the kittoms face and patted her gently. “ But for now, show me what you do with them.” Minako didn’t even hesitate; she just ran for a pile and jumped right in as a bunch of petals sprung into the air and Nari laughed. “ That’s why you always smell so wonderful.” She then joined her in on the fun. 

As she reminisced of her time in Faerindell and with Nari she wondered if maybe it was time for her to take a break from her dream and go find the elnin that had been just like the mother she needed back then. Once the miasma season ended Minako knew she would go find her even if she would have to visit all the shrines of Eyre.