Submission (#3646) Approved

Utherwan grumbles to himself softly. The courtyard of the inn they were staying at in Faerindell was a complete mess! A storm had blown through the night before, Leaving him and his sister You caught out in the middle of it. They’d been on the last leg of their journey home from Nephele and Mneme’s place. They’d made it home soaking wet and shivering and had ridden out the storm hunkered down in their room.

You and their mom Chief were still asleep, but Utherwan was no longer tired, and had gotten up even earlier than usual. As he steps outside onto the cobbled stone of the courtyard, the sun is just barely starting to peek through the pink foliage of the surrounding trees. The ground is littered with broken branches and bits of the faerie shrouds that had been knocked down by the fierce wind. Petals of all colors are scattered about, brightly colored in blues, oranges, and purples, floating in large puddles that remain, plastered to the stone of the ground and surrounding buildings, pretty much everywhere.

Off in the distance, the green grass and rolling hills of the surrounding countryside seem to glimmer in the early light, still damp from the rain. The sky is clear now though, no trace of the dark clouds that had rolled in the night before.

Utherwan sniffs at the air, cool now after all the rain, and steps out into the courtyard, careful to avoid the deep puddle that has formed almost directly outside the doorway. He makes it only a few steps before he’s stopped by a large branch, pink still clinging to the ends of the branches, an entire bounce of faerie shrouds still tangled up with it. 

Well, might as well get it out of the way right? Not like he had anything better to do. He rises up onto his hind legs and reaches out and grasps the branch, wrinkling his face at the feeling of damp wood under his paws. He drags it across the courtyard so it's out of the way of the main walkway and drops it unceremoniously. 

Turning back around he notices even more branches littering the walkway, so he trots back over and slowly starts gathering all the branches into a large pile. It takes a while, since there are so many, and by the time he’s cleaned up the largest of the fallen branches his fur is damp and he’s stepped in a few puddles. A few errant petals stick him, and he stops to brush them off and catch his breath.

Surveying his work, he’s quite happy with how much cleaner the courtyard is. When it dries up a bit, maybe later in the day, it is going to need to be swept to get the smaller bits and pieces up, but it's far too wet right now. 

Utherwan wanders over to the small garden that brackets the front of the inn, and plops himself down. The owner of the inn keeps a small vegetable garden out front, and the plants are looking quite perky and happy after all the rain the night before. The sun is higher in the sky now, and the residual moisture from the rain  is starting to evaporate, although the leaves and flowers still sparkle in the light, a riot of colors, all pinks and rainbows. The air starts to become humid and he thinks that he might head back inside soon to escape it.

“Young man, did you clean up all those branches?”

An elderly human woman comes out of the inn, and looks down at Utherwan. It’s the owner of the inn, and Utherwan scrambles to his feet and tries to look presentable. 

“Uh, yes ma'am! I did.”

She smiles down at him. “Well, thank you for cleaning up. It was a big help! Why don't you come inside for breakfast? I made cinnamon rolls, and you can have an extra one as a thank you.” 

Utherwan can feel his mouth salivating at the thought of the sweet treat, and quickly nods.

“It was no problem, and thank you!”