Submission (#4917) Approved

Grey morning light outlined the curtained door of the cozy tree hollow Ailea was temporarily calling home. She shivered and stretched, still not fully acclimated to the chill air so high above the sea. Rolling herself into a sitting position, she gazed bleary eyed at the wall where she and Raziil had placed a fragmented mirror. Her ruddy purple fur was matted down, the white tufts making her face look sharply angled - a quick shake helped most of it and a good brushing would fluff out her cheeks again. Groaning, she proceeded to fight her way out of the sheets and find her brush.

Feeling much better after a thorough brushing and breakfast in paw, Ailea waited for Raziil to return. He was her new friend and companion, a deep brown kittom with pale markings along his face and chest - and he was a typical boy, with grandiose dreams of adventure, poor planning skills and less dexterious crafting skills. Despite the fact that most everything in the tree hollow had been collected by Raziil, he had just thrown things in a box with no idea how to decorate, and had really appreciated Ailea's attention to detail and creativity with his collection. Raziil had asked her for help today with a special project, saying he needed to collect the necessary materials. She finished her fruit and licked her paws and face clean meticulously.

Ailea pushed the broken stool leg into the wall and hooked the blanket door open so she could gaze outside and feel the breeze. The sun was coming up, changing the grey sky to a pale pink and orange. Dappled green-tinted light fell in patchy patterns across the twisted wooden branches outside, and the pink fluffy clouds were just beginning to lose their lustre. Far below the ocean twinkled under a thin blanket of mist, with the stone spires reaching up from the waves like fingers of a giant hand. Ealei held a unique kind of beauty, though Ailea felt a twinge of longing for her low lying marsh, the dark humidity of the bog, and even the annoying insects.

Here there were differences all over. The pillow-plush moss that covered much of the solid ground in Enmir was nowhere to be found. Instead the trees curled over themselves like billowing smoke, dancing and twirling ever upwards, here splitting apart to form new branches, the tendrils reaching out to meet again there, and on again. In a way it was beautifully haunting, as if the limbs told a story of meetings and partings, every leaf a fleeting moment in time marked lovingly in the rich, bright green canopy. What little of the ground you could find beneath the roots or limbs was rocky and rough, not at all kind to Ailea's paws when she explored under the roots for secret caves and crevasses. The roots formed a kind of 3D maze, where it wasn't just left or right but up and down you had to snake through. It was fun, in a way.

The sun lifted itself yet higher in the sky until all traces of pink were gone, replaced by a pale blue so bright it hurt the eyes. Ailea, thoughts interrupted by noticing how late the morning was getting, looked down the branch for the place she could see the bridge, and saw Raziil dragging a large sack with his teeth. Curious, she hopped out of their base and made her way to meet him. He was panting hard but smiled excitedly as he spotted her. "Hmmnnn!" the fabric between his teeth was wet and torn, but Ailea balanced on her back legs and reached for it anyway. It was nearly the size of both kittoms, easily one of them could crawl inside it like a tent. "What in the world did you buy yesterday?" she laughed.

Raziil released the bag and leaned back, grinning from ear to ear. "Heh...haaaa. I wanted to be sure we both had enough." he huffed as he struggled to catch his breath. This told Ailea nothing but she peeked inside anyway. She saw the handle of a paintbrush and cup-like tins of paint, metal rings, spools of colored ribbon and a box of wax. There was more at the bottom, she was sure, but the edges and tops of what she could see were certainly all painting related. Maybe the ribbon was for hanging the paintings they made together? That would certainly be a fun project for today, the weather was excellent; sunny with a very light breeze that wouldn't blow away any paintings that were waiting to dry. The wax, maybe, was for weather-proofing the paintings so they could last longer? She wasn't sure but it would be fun nonetheless.

Together they lifted the bag, which was even heavier than Ailea expected, and trudged back to their base. By the time they made it, the sun had reached the height of the tree limbs they were on, and would be almost directly above them just in time for paintings to dry. Doubling their pace they set down the bag and unpacked it. Raziil stood over their bounty grinning like a fool, holding up a large red crystal. "This is my pomu friend, Rinne" he explained, "Last year I tried to make a lantern for him but I'm not very good at it. This year I want to make something really nice - and I noticed you don't have a lantern either, so we can both help each other make one." Raziil's eyes were bright and excited. Ailea scuffed her paw against the hard wood, "I don't have a pomu yet," she murmured. Raziil's face scrunched as he realized his mistake was a bit like rubbing it in her face. "But I'm glad to help you make one for Rinne" she finished.

Raziil seemed relieved and started sorting their materials before he could put another paw in his mouth, sizing the metallic rings that would form the outer support frame of the lantern to fit the pomu crystal at the top and bottom without cramping it, with larger rings to form the main cylinder case. Ailea helped, picking out paint colors and ribbons.  Using a palette knife, Ailea pushed thin holes into the heavy canvas paper sheets while Raziil sketched the design he wanted on the ones she had prepped. He ended up with a slightly off large swirl design like thick curls of smoke across the middle, jagged mountains for the top and the sea below. They chatted as they worked, laughing as paint spattered their paws. Ailea painted the top canvas carefully with soft misty mountains done in deep blues and Raziil painted the large middle and small lower canvases with the frenzied swirls and messy lines. They made quite a mess, but together they were proud of the result. After the pieces had dried, Ailea's delicate claws pushed dark ribbon through the holes she had made, meticulously threading each canvas to the metal rings along the top and bottom while Raziil used the wax, lightly melted over a candle, to seal the ends together. The finished result was a little messy, but they were still young and it looked excellent to their eyes. Ailea could practically see Raziil's heart pounding as he put the Rinne's pomu crystal in and his breath catch when the crystal accepted its housing, making the lantern hover slightly above their heads. Still holding tightly to the ends of the ribbon they had not cut, Raziil's eyes filled with tears - happy, proud tears. Ailea's own eyes felt a little misty as well, wishing strongly to meet her own pomu soon, so she could again share this joyous time with her friend.