Submission (#3255) Approved

There was something that Dawn’s neighbor, Shika, said once that stuck with Dawn. ‘Leave places better than you found them’. She said this once when the two were together walking down one of the roads in Silveil and saw some broken bottle shards in the grass. They were out of the way of the path, so there was little chance someone would step on themselves and get hurt, but Shika still stepped over and carefully picked up the glass shards and placed them in a compartment in her bag to dispose of later. Dawn wasn’t sure why that struck a chord within her so strongly, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it for the next few days.

Dawn decided that today would be the day she would act on Shika’s words. After waking up early in the morning, she made herself breakfast and packed herself a hearty lunch. She planned on being out of the house all day, so she was going to need as much energy as possible. Dawn placed her now rather heavy lunch box into her bag and began getting dressed for her outing. 

Since she was expecting to go through the brush of the forest and possibly slosh around in water, she was going to need to dress appropriately to avoid any scratches or wet paws. Instead of her usual shirt and shorts, Dawn began dressing in thicker clothes. She put on a warm shirt with long sleeves that reached her wrists, and a pair of pants that reached down to her ankles. The pants also had many pockets, so she could have room to store anything she found if her bag filled up before she was done with her adventure. The bag she normally wore when going out was kept hanging on the side of her bed. Instead, the kitten decided to bring a bag that was more built for carrying tools and heavier things. The bag was already carrying her lunch, so she filled the rest of the bag with a pair of thick gloves, a bag to put trash in, and spare fishing line and hooks. On the outside of ehr bag she attached a small lantern in case she ventured somewhere that didn’t have any glowing flora, and her fishing rod. Last but not least, the kitten put on a pair of waterproof boots so she could walk around in shallow water with ease.

Dawn wasn’t used to carrying so much at once. To her surprise, when she slung the bag over her shoulders she almost toppled over from the weight. Dawn steadied herself and stood in place, making sure she could actually be able to carry around all this weight. She carefully took a successful step forward without falling over, then continued on with heading outside.

No bright morning sun greeted her. Instead, a starry swirl of dark blues and deep purples blanketed the sky above her. Silveil was known for its eternal night, so Dawn was used to maneuvering around in low light. All she needed was the soft glow of mushrooms that lined the path outside of her house. Gentle blues, greens, and pinks from the small mushrooms lined the side of the path, so she easily made her way down the path towards the forest. The path continued through the forest, though it was smaller than the main path, but it was big enough for a kitten to walk on with ease towards her destination - the lake.

Dawn was greeted by gentle, floating lights. The lake was full of soft blue lights, as if some of the stars from above had fallen into the water for a swim. As she made her way over, she watched as the small specks of light would disappear into the water before resurfacing, blink in and out of sight. Once she was close enough to the lake, the kitten set her bag down, and opened it up to fetch her pair of gloves. Dawn put on her thick gloves, looked around, and began to get to work. She walked along the edge of the lake and focused on where the water met the land, searching for trash or anything someone might have left behind. If elnin like her and Shika visited the lake before then surely others had, which meant that there was a chance that someone might have left trashing or something important behind. Even if she didn’t find anything, she could leave knowing she did her best to clean the lake up.

Dawn wouldn’t leave the lake empty handed this time. During her search, she found several items to pick up - some food wrappers that had blown into nearby bushes, a torn piece of fabric on a low hanging branch that she assumed came from a shirt that had accidentally caught on it at one point, and bits and piece of wood on the ground from what she assumed was once a fishing pole. Dawn had even managed to find a few fishing line hooks sitting in the mud, which she quickly yet carefully scooped up and placed in an inside compartment of her bag before some nearby frogs could hop over and try to eat them.

Before the day was over, her bag full of trash was full of things to throw away. Dawn smiled to herself - not because there was trash at the lake, but that she managed to clean the area up and make things a little safer for visitors and the wildlife. She picked up her bag, slung the straps over her shoulders, and headed away from the lake back home. A good job done deserved a reward - and she was going to reward herself with a nice bath, a good book, anf a good sleep that night.