Submission (#3374) Approved

Il'durahn was a strange place, and Linn could not quite decide if she liked it, or not. She could not quite figure out if felt comfortable in the bustling city or if she'd much rather the golden wilderness and mountains that surrounded the place. The city was geared towards studies that didn't quite suit her, personally, but she figured it would be the easiest place to find what she was looking for regardless of the fact.

She'd travelled with Misfit for a while now, the other kittom keeping her company while their pomu remain hibernating in lanterns, and they'd both grown used to the other's presence. Said pomu were still asleep, but still, when she'd returned to the main city again, to check in with her mentor, an old Kyunru named Fafnir, she'd decided to take the time to find some small trinket or shiny bauble to gift to her friend. After all, it was his company as she travelled around the golden forests of Bellmoril that made it so she no longer felt alone. She was sure she could find something or other to offer him as a token of her appreciation to him, right? It should have been easy!

Checking in with the old Kyunru had been a piece of cake; the old dragon kyun had looked her up and down, sniffed her careful, made sure not a single hair was out of place, and had nodded to her, smiling faintly. He was, after all, well aware kittoms did not quite behave like young kyuns, and needed a far longer leash than his children had once needed. Having reassured himself that Aislinn was fine, unharmed and flourishing, he'd made her promise to check in again in a fortnight and promptly set her on her way once more.

Finding the trinket she wanted however, was proving to be a far deal harder, and she'd almost given up by the time she stomped past a random stand near the city's entrance. Purple reminiscent of her friend's anima had caught her attention, and she walked closer to see a small purple ribbon, adorned with a spikey, golden fish, and the idea of the two colors merging together to form one item tickled her fancy something terrible.

Offering the seller some coin, she'd grabbed the ribbon and put it into the little bag that hung off her shoulder and side with a small handful of provisions for the journey ahead. It wasn't much; weight could be bad in the wilderness, and food hadn't really been a problem, specially since Misfit seemed to had an easy time of fishing them dinner with ease.

That done, she'd left the city proper and ventured into the far more familiar by now golden expanse of vegetation that she'd come to love. Something about the firey tones merging with the stray pink or green seemed to appeal to her, and she rather much feared she'd miss it when Fafnir decided he'd found the information he needed and it was time for them to move to the next place.

Feeling comfortable, made her way towards the small river she'd left her journey partner at, and soon enough heard the tell tale sound of splashing that indicated he had not moved from the spot at all. When she arrived, Misfit was jumping from stone to stone near the shore of the river, jumping up into the air whenever a small, golden leaf drifted down from a tree and made its way towards the water, trying to catch it in his mouth as one would snow flakes. Her return, however, was noticed almost immediately, distracting the fish tailed kittom so much that he misstepped entirely and slipped on the stone he'd been aiming for; this cause him to squeak out a garbled word or two and fall into the shallow water.

Not dangerous, but still, it was clear he felt embarrassed by the ordeal, given he padded out of the river with a low tilt to both head and tail as he looked at her from under his lashes, "Did you check in with your mentor?" he asked softly, his voice wavering with clear embarrassment, both because he hadn't accompanied her into the city proper, and because of his slip into the river.

"I did!" Linn said as she came to rest in front of him, sitting down on her hind haunches so she could dig both her hands into the satchel that hung by her side, "Not only that, but I got you something while I was there! I could convince you to come into Il'durahn with me, but I figured, since you've been a good friend and companion... I could bring a piece of Il'durahn to you!" her small paw closed around the ribbon and she brought it out for her friend to see, finally noticing the fact he both hadn't moved, and hadn't really responded to her when she'd finished talking.

Her eyes lifted up to his, which were round, wide... wider than she'd ever seen them before, and her gaze lowered to the ribbon again, "I-I mean, it's not much, but I saw it, and I thought of you, see?" she lifted it up for him to look at better, "It's purple! Like your eyes. And the fishy it has sort of reminded me of you too! But it's golden, like MY eyes, and... Misfit?" his eyes, which had been staring at the ribbon, zeroed in on her own at the call of his name, "Do you want it? You're being very silent, and it's making me very self conscious."

His eyes, if anything, went wider at that, and he croaked a mangled version of the word, "Yes!" as he took the ribbon and began to tie it around his neck, taking care not to catch some of his excess cheek fluff while he was doing it. When it was secure around his neck, Linn watched he sit there with a paw over the fabric, blinking as if confused.

"Don't you like it...?"

"What?" coming out of his reverie, the striped kittom's eyes did the widening thing once more, "Oh! OH! Yeah! Of course I do! I just..." he cut himself off, and promptly shook his head, "Never mind! I caught some fish while you were out. You hungry?"

He never did explain what he 'just', and for the longest time, Linn did not see fit to press him for details.