Submission (#3528) Approved

His mother had announced to him that they would finally be heading back home and reunite with the rest of his family. It had been months since they had been in Ahza and Koko was eager to tell his sister Oriana and his father Ha-ru about all of his adventures with his mother. In the end he had started to like being in Bellmoril and maybe once they would be gone he would miss it, but only time would tell. Perhaps it would be the smell of the wet leaves or the blowing crisp air that he would long for. Possibly, Ko would miss the fresh air and the warming sunshine that didn’t make you die of heat while sunbathing. But the thought of home made him focus on the tasks at hand rather than reminisce about his time here. After all he couldn’t wait to brag about all his fun with his pomu Sprite even when he was in hibernating mode. Today he and his companion would get their things ready as Nari had instructed, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have any fun now could they?

Koko looked at Sprite, “ she really left a long list this time, didn't she?” Looking over the list that his mother has left for him, Ko began to despair that this was going to take him the whole day! Since they were about to leave his mom had instructed him to leave the room clean that they had been staying at for a long while now. At first they had made camp outside in the woods but the weather was not so warm especially at night and Nari didn’t want Koko to catch too much of a cold. There was a huge temperature change between Ahza and Bellmoril, but somehow the little kittom had gotten used to the climate. But now that his little pomu was here to help… hearing a piece of parchment tear, Ko eyes grew wide. His companion seemed to not want to clean anything as he decided to destroy the instructions that his mother had left behind. Surprisingly these little shadow creatures were quite quick, before he could react the pomu had completely destroyed the paper. Sprite had spread all of this reminisce all around the floor. Not only now did Koko not know exactly what he had to do but he had an even bigger mess to clean up. Satisfied, the pomu moved to the bed and began to bounce on it happily. Mortified, Ko stared at his companion with horror, wondering what he was supposed to do now and how Sprite could just be bouncing off having fun. 

He decided to move on from the trauma as he shook his head, ignoring his pomu, Koko knew one day he would get back to him for this. Going off from his memory of what he had read, he started to pack his belongings. He had already cleared his camp from the previous days, but sadly he couldn’t bring everything he had gathered there, since all he could bring was what he could carry. Putting in the two bags his mother had left him, he placed a few books of interest he had gotten from a merchant. He found the topic completely enticing and maybe his sister Oriana would as well. He also brought a few shiny rocks and beautiful leaves he had pressed in his journal for his sister and  father. He knew that back home they didn’t have such leaves and maybe his sister would adore them as they were colorful. As he finished packing his belongings he looked around for a broom to clean the room and a feather duster to get rid of the dust. 

He had broomed the whole entire floor and before he noticed it, having caught Sprite attention for all the noise and commotion he was causing. Having sweeped every square inch of the room the pomu decided to create more carthnage. The little guy decided it would be a great idea to do a snow angel in the pile of dust, spreading it everywhere. Angrily, Koko yelled at his pomu “ WHAT ARE YOU DOING SPRITE THAT’S NOT HELPFUL!” The pomu stopped his actions and immobilized, he knew he was in trouble. He went on to hide in a corner. Taking a deep breath, Koko gathered the dust again and made sure to dispose of it out of the window this time, at least there it would come back to haunt him.  Moving on to the dusting, Ko hadn’t realized the time that had gone by as his stomach started to growl. Exhausted, the small kittom decided to take a break and eat the bread his mother had left him. From his corner the pomu decided to reappear and beg for a small piece of bread and without hesitation Koko offered him a piece. But in exchange he asked him, “will you help me now that you’ve had your chaotic fun?” The pomu nodded and with his tiny hands grabbed the piece and munched on it happily. After their snack they both got back to work as they began washing the floor, scrubbing it both as hard as they could. You could almost say that it shined. Next they moved on to place things back where they belonged. They also went around and did some more dusting on the furniture. Finally Koko remembered that it said to open up a window to let the room air out. As he cracked it open he had a sudden fatigue. After all he believed that they had accomplished all their tasks so he thought a nap couldn’t hurt. The little one was really tired from all his hard work as he crawled into the bed with his little buddy. The hours went by as his mother was finalizing her business in the town. Koko and Sprite were drifting away into a deep sleep not realizing that he had left the window open, wind blew hard and leaves came through the window draping the floor that he had worked so hard to clean. It glowed in beautiful hues of gold and red. 

Nari had finally finished her business and made her way back to the room. But when she opened the door she didn’t expect to see what she was about to see. Her son was fast asleep and the floor was covered in leaves and the window was wide open. She laughed trying to hold it back in as she knew the little kittom had worked hard to clean the room only for it to get dirty again as he left the window open. Squirming in his sleep he finally woke up at the sound of noise and to his horror the floor was covered in leaves and there was dust everywhere. At first Koko thought he was dreaming, also hearing his mother laugh in the background. Rubbing his eyes a few times he realized that this wasn’t a dream but the reality. Tears began to stream down his face and his mother rushed to comfort him. “Don’t worry son, tomorrow another day we will get this mess sorted out, we will help each other how about that?” She held him for a long while as he drifted back into his slumber and she smiled upon him. Whispering “you worked hard little one didn’t you?”