Submission (#4297) Approved

[RQ-SU-1] High Hanging Fruit

Quest: Resonance - Act 2
Act Type: Support
Word Count: 1011 words
Adult Elnin Present: Reverie [ELN1048]
Regional Affinity: Ealei
Claiming Regional Affinity for: Azalea [ELN2369]
[Adventurer] Rank Unlock Mini-Requirement: n/a

After a fairly exciting encounter with their pomu Lily, Azalea decided it was time to get back on track. She and Reverie finally arrived at the base of Yggdrasil, and the kittom began to wonder if perhaps she was in over her head. 

Looking up, all she could see were giant branches looming above. The lowest branch was probably already several meters high, well beyond reach of a kittom, let alone adult nin to reach. She knew Reverie wanted to take some of the mana blossoms for study, and that the manaberries were currently in season, meaning they were exceptionally fresh and ripe for the picking. Though perhaps they were just naturally always in season, due to their high mana content. 

One of the agreements Azalea had made with Reverie in exchange for bringing her here, was that Azalea would be responsible for a share of the chores for where they were staying. While the Ieldi were hospitable, Azalea knew she wouldn’t feel too comfortable letting them take care of all their basic needs, and was sure Reverie felt the same. The two were staying with Reverie’s sister Melody, which meant that while they saved some costs, it was two extra mouths to feed. They COULD just go out and buy their meals, but if Azalea wanted to learn to be self-sufficient one day, she would need to learn to do basic stuff like cleaning and cooking.

For tonight, it seemed they settled on some bread and stew, but a helping of manaberries for dessert never hurt, and they could use some to make juice or jam for breakfast. Azalea didn’t really have much of a sweet tooth, but the bit of sweetness and mana would give her the energy for the tasks ahead. As it was, it seemed trying to scale the lower boughs of Yggdrasil would already be a chore in itself.

Reverie seemed to notice the expression on Azalea’s face, already having a hunch on what was going through the kittom’s mind, and couldn’t help but laugh.

“I know I said the fruit from the branches would probably be the freshest, but don’t worry about trying to reach them if they’re too far out of reach. I’m sure there are plenty of ripe ones around the base of the tree and in the water around it, so don’t hurt yourself trying to climb.”

“I-”

Azalea huffed, puffing her cheeks out.

“I-I know! I know my own limits, Reverie! You don’t need to coddle me.”

If anything, Reverie saying such a thing only made her more determined to reach those branches. She knew that she wasn’t looking down on her, but whenever Reverie said things like that, it only lit a fire under her, making her want to prove that she WAS capable of doing it. Perhaps deep down, she just wanted to earn Reverie’s acknowledgement, but she knew it was also a bit of a bad habit of showing her pride. Perhaps it was something she got from her dad.

Still… those branches were pretty high, and the thick mangrove roots covering the base of the tree certainly didn’t help with her footing either. She already noticed a few manaberries on the ground that didn’t look too worse for wear, but still, she wouldn’t consider it a victory until she managed to get some of the higher-hanging ones. Should she… try to knock them down with something? Maybe she could try climbing? If only she had more prominent teeth and claws like her dad too, maybe it’d make scaling the tree easier, but the thought of climbing it like some sort of barbarian also made her want to die.

Claws…

Azalea looked down to see her pomu looking up at her quizzically. It gave a chirp as it tilted its head, and Azalea couldn’t help but notice its anima-tipped claws. Were they also gummy in texture? Maybe that’d make it hard to climb. But still, if she didn’t at least try…

Walking over to a fallen manaberry, Azalea picked it up, and showed it to Lily, and then pointed to the tree.

“Do you think you can try and reach some of the manaberries on the branches? You don’t need to go super high, and if you can’t reach them regardless, no worries.”

“POMU!”

Lily seemed to understand, and with a few quick chirps, dashed their way to the tree and began climbing. Q-quick… It wasn’t long before they became a small speck, and Azalea returned to the task at hand. She began to inspect some of the ones on the ground. Good, no bumps or bruises. Soft, yet firm…

Come to think of it, could manaberries even spoil? Considering that they were chock full of mana, maybe that halted the spoiling process, but did that mean they could be preserved forever? Did the mana slowly leak out?

While Azalea mused over this, she heard a soft “doink”, and looked over to see a manaberry bounce off a root. What the-

Another plopped into the water beside her, sending a little splash at her feet. O-oh, she forgot to tell Lily to-

One more bounced off her head, making Azalea rub it out of instinct. It didn’t hurt per say, but they seemed a bit more firm than she had imagined. She… should have told her pomu not to just drop them straight out of the tree, since that made little difference due to her just picking up the ones already on the ground, but she supposed it wasn’t like they could be stored. Come to think of it, how far away could a pomu be from their elnin before they-

“POMU!”

Azalea whirled around to see her pomu behind her, with an arm full of manaberries. When did it-

The pomu dove into her shadow, and popped back out, starting to collect the manaberries around her. Wait… oh no.

“Wait, stop! At least put them in the bag!!”

Oh gosh, she was going to have manaberries popping out of her shadow for some time now, wasn’t she…