Submission (#355) Approved

Aside from his home in Palu’au, Melon has decided to take a very long trip to the cold tundra that os Strynhalde. He calls it “research” to understand why there hasn’t been a lot of flora in the area. Of course, there are plenty of pine trees and some berry bushes here and there that are rather waxy and hearty plants but as a scientist, he must determine the “WHY”

Little did he remember that Starfall faire was about to start. So he found it rather amusing that people were just going nuts over some event but he just was so thick-headed about learning why only certain flora lived in strynhalde that he just forgot.

HOW could you forget about such an important event, who knows, but this little nin did. Nisha scolded him really bad because he was supposed to help with lanterns. He felt so bad he almost cried and went back to Palu’au. He’s notorious for getting too involved in his own research, he forgets about helping around the place. 

After a little emotional time, he took some time for himself to think about how he could contribute to the event. In strynhalde it’s always cold so everyone always tries to stay on the warmer side of things. He thought perhaps he could make an ice sculpture of the moon as a celebratory piece. The hard question is where to get such a big piece of ice…

The little nin thought and thought until he remembered an ice cavern near the place they were staying.

He thought PERFECT!! I can just grab my saw and get a big piece of ice and start sculpting. Little did he realize how much a task it is to sculpt such a beautiful piece as the moon. He wanted it to have clouds as well, little cumulous that look like welkin tails floating about. He just fell in love with the idea.

Headed towards the cavern he said his goodbyes to Nisha letting her know that he will be back before sun up or sometime in the next two days… this nin sometimes just doesn’t get how long things will get.

Luckily for him, it was nice and cold outside so no worries about the ice melting while he is working on it. 

And away he started; sawed out the biggest piece he could find in the ice cavern. Saw how much shaved ice there was from all the sawing and he decided to put on an apron to keep his fur as dry as possible. It’s cold enough already he better be kept warm, he could hear Nisha in his head yelling at him for getting sick over this… He brought out the chisels, picks, and chippers to start getting a general shape to the ice. The hardest part will be getting that perfect circular shape to the moon. The clouds are more tedious work due to little swirls in them. Gently touching each little bump on the clouds to get that perfect little swirl. Chipping away at the ice careful not to chip too hard as it may break the edges. Once he’s got a close enough round shape he brought out a hard brush and started brushing the edges to give it a clean rounder shape, slowly adding craters to the moon to give it that depth look he was searching for. Before adding the final touches he grabbed the sculpture and put it on his little cart to start taking it home.

Once home he kept the sculpture outside to make certain it didn’t melt too soon, he wanted to show Nisha his wonderful work. He wanted to wait until the next day since it was going to be a full moon, that lunar light would hit that ice and shine like no other ice have shone before… or at least that is what he felt from his hard night's work.

Of to bed he went and excited for the next day, he had a restless night. Thinking if Nisha would like the piece he made. Hopefully, it’s good enough for the centerpiece of the table for their party???? Who knows he’s just a wreck now AND look at that it’s day time already not a pinch of rest did Melon receive. Way too excited for the surprise.

He got up and jumped into action HI-YAH!!!, made breakfast, some real nice warm oats with honey, berries and some salty butter to help cut that sweetness. Waited for Nisha to get up he was just so so excited to show her, she was rather confused as to why he was so excited. Melon waited to show her until it was almost nightfall, he wanted to use the moons shine to see the sparkle on the ice sculpture. Melon covered Nisha’s eyes with a bandage to keep her from opening them. She likes to sneak peek sometimes even though it’s a surprise. Gently escorted her outside to show the fruits of his labor. But little did he know that ice does something funny when you move it between different environments.

Interestingly enough the ice sculpture had cracks all around it; the moon specifically looked like it would crack into dust by any gentle breeze that was to sweep by.

HE PANICKED not certain what to do he just broke into tears. Oh, UTTER DEFEAT. A few moments passed and Nisha was rather angry because she was kept waiting in the cold she angrily took off her bandage and just awed at the way the sculpture shone with the ever so soft light of the gentle moon as it rises on the horizon. The cracks helped bring a special kind of diffuse reflection inside of the moon sculpture, making it a very radiant glow. So many wonderful colors almost like the snow itself brought forth the snow queen to greet them. All she could imagine is that if it looked so soft and warm during the night imagine how it would look during the day.

She quickly turned around and asked Melon to open his eyes and look up at the marvel. He looked up and those sad tears turned into happy tears. Those long flowy tears and snot with the frozen temperatures had almost turned into icicles. He did it, his hard work showed promise. 

Nisha immediately started inviting friends over to show the sculpture. Of Course every time someone tried to ask melon how he managed to do this, he ignored them, he was in deep thought trying to science the cracks on the sculpture. How could ice do this when all of the areas are just as cold all around and he just kept murmuring to himself and people just don’t like him when he gets like that, he seems weird and off-putting to a lot of nin when he gets like this. Of Course, Nisha wasn’t going to have it. She smacked him on the head and was totally grumpy HOW DARE YOU IGNORE PEOPLE she grumbled off and he just snapped back outside of his head OH YEAH I have to tell people how I did it.

He quickly started socializing with the guests, just in time too because they were not too happy with the way he was acting all weird and secretive.

Just before the end of the visit someone had asked Melon if they could use the sculpture in the center of all celebrations, he was so happy he aggressively nodded and started to cry again.

This nin is just so full of emotion, but alas a wonderful time he finally got to help out in his own way for the faire.