Submission (#3254) Approved

Nothing was immune to time. Even the tallest mountains could slowly chip away into flat lands, given enough time and weather. Just as all good things must come to an end, and that everyone will eventually meet their demise, Dawn’s book was no exception. Dawn had spent lots of time carrying the same book around, writing in it and stuffing it with leaves and flowers she collected along her travels. It was investable that she would wake up one morning and find the binding to the book deteriorated, scattering the pages onto the floor with a single touch. She knew it would happen one day, but she didn’t think it would happen so soon. Dawn picked up all the pages and the remainder of her book cover, put them into her bag, and headed outside towards the city. After all - she would need a new book eventually, so she may as well go and buy one now before she found herself needing one.

Dawn was greeted by a dark starry sky when she stepped outside. In Silveil, the sky was always dark and glittering with tiny stars strewn across it. In turn, most of Silveil was under a blanket of darkness with glowing fauna and flora to light the way for travelers. However, glowing flora and fauna with the occasional traveler’s lantern weren’t the only light sources in Silveil. In the center of Silveil was Silveil city, the largest city in the region. All the buildings there were lit up and bustling with activity, creating somewhat of a beacon. If you could see the lights of Silveil city, then you knew which direction was the center of silveil.

Dawn was headed to Silveil city. While the city is known for more notorious activities, she had lived here long enough to know where to go and who to avoid to keep her belongings safe and sound. There was no fear in her stride as she followed the path towards Silveil city, hoping to get there in time to find an open store to purchase another book. She followed the path illuminated by blue and purple glowing mushrooms, mindful to not deviate from the trail and accidentally step on one. Eventually the lights of the city were bright enough that Dawn could stay in the middle of the path and walk without worrying about tripping over anything.

As always, Silveil city was brimming with life. Many different elnin made their way through the streets, leaving just enough room for a kittom of her size to squeeze past them without too much trouble. She wasn’t surprised when she saw several elnin in front of a building playing some sort of dice gambling game. What did surprise her was the familiar face she saw not too far away. Slowly making her way down a nearby street was her neighbor, Shika, carrying a rather large bag but holding herself in enough confidence to make the average street thief ponder if she was worth stealing from or not.

Delighted to see a familiar face, Dawn made her way over to the street where Shika was at. Dawn was right at Shika’s side when the older elnin finally noticed her, stopping in her tracks. The other elnin making their way on the same street simply walked around them, unphased by Shik and Dawn stopping in their way.

“Hello, Miss Shika!”
“Hello to you as well, little Dawn. Always a pleasure to see you. What brings you all the way here to the city? You aren’t alone, I hope.”

Dawn did her best to ignore the concerned look on Shika’s face as she stated that she did come to the city alone, then went on to explain that she came here to buy a new book as her old one was falling apart. The look of concern changed to a thoughtful one as Shika mulled over Dawn’s explanation. Right as Dawn was about to bid Shika farewell and continue on to look for a bookstore, Shika offered to show Dawn how to repair her book. After all, Shika knew how much that book meant to Dawn, so while getting another book was a good idea, there was no sense in keeping the old book in pieces. Dawn’s eyes lit up at the suggestion and happily accepted the offer.

After several hours of walking through the city together and purchases the necessary supplies ( along with several scholarly books for Shika, which Dawn offered to carry ), the older elnin and kittom headed back to their neighborhood. The lights of the city faded behind them and they were once again greeted by trees and mushrooms. Dawn and Shika headed to Shika’s house, and the kittom paused in the entryway to look around the house. While Dawn’s home was rather barebones, Shika’s house was packed with many things. Books lined the walls on bookshelves, there were tables holding various equipment that Dawn had no idea how to use, and the only other table that didn’t have equipment on it was a table that held a basket of apples.

Shika headed towards the table with the apple basket and moved the basket to the side, making room for the two to work, then motioned Dawn to come in and join her. Dawn stepped into the house and made her way over before pulling everything out of her bag and setting it on the table. Shika began to show Dawn how to repair her book- she took the loose pages and carefully inserted them back into the book, double checking with Dawn to make sure she had placed them in the right order. Then with a little bit of glue, she used what looked like a popsicle stick to spread the glue on the book cover’s spine and on the edge of the loose pages. With that she closed the book and told Dawn that they should wait for the glue to dry before checking to see if the book was repaired or if they would need more glue. 

In the meantime, Shika was more than happy to show Dawn how to make a whole new book. Dawn watched as Shika collected several loose blank pages, a needle, and some thread. Shika carefully used the needle and sewed the pages together as if they were pieces of cloth. After a short time Shika was done and flipped open the small notebook, all of the pages staying intact. Dawn was pretty good at sewing, so it was easy enough to thread the needle and begin sewing some pages that Shika had put together for her, but the end result wasn’t as clean and precise as Shika’s. Shika assured her that a little practice could go a long way, and this was only one of the few ways to make her own book.

By the time Dawn was done with her notebook, the glue holding her old book together was dry. Shika checked and confirmed that the book was repaired, but warned Dawn to be careful and not be rough with the book as it could fall apart again. It was starting to get late in the evening, and as much as Dawn wanted to learn other ways to make her own books, that would have to wait for another day. Shika assured her that she was more than happy to show Dawn how to make them, or teach her anything else that Shika knew how to do. Until then, it was time for them to rest. Dawn bid Shika farewell, and with her repaired book and new books in her bag she headed home, happy that her old book was fixed and proud that she learned a new skill that day.