Submission (#5043) Approved

The change in scenery had done good on Oriana. She had been so used to being in Ahza that she had forgotten there was a whole world outside of the region. Her adoptive mother Nari traveled a lot being a healer that visited the shrines around Eyre and always spoke of her adventures but this was the first time that Oriana got to tag along. Her parents had brought her all the way to Enmir and boy was she enjoying the adventure. At first she had a few mishaps with the local surroundings but now she was getting the hang of the outdoors as she no longer seemed to be afraid of any croaking noise she heard when she stepped outside. She also tended to not end up in the marsh waters anymore having gotten the hang of being able to climb trees and hang off the vines. Ori even got the hang of the bridge system and the pathways in the cities and some of the marsh routes. 

She had developed a real interest in alchemy while they had been visiting Diana, one of her mothers friends and provider of rare herbs for healing only found in Enmir. She had always been interested in what her mother was doing and how she crafted healing concoctions to help the elnins around Eyre. But this alchemy thing was far more interesting to her, she wanted to know all about it and start practicing it. Unfortunately though the small kittoms were not often allowed into the alchemy lab as a lot of dangerous ingredients were laid around and very careful potions were crafted. 

On most days the kittoms were sent out to have fun or sometimes help gather certain ingredients. But Oriana had gotten tired of having fun with her brother Koko and Diana's kids, Kanako and Ami. Sure she found it interesting to gather small specimens from the local marshes and observe them but she had a craving for more knowledge. Everyday she tried to learn more from Diana even if her mother had told her not to disturb her so much, nothing would stop this curious kittom. 

Diana had taken a liking to Oriana so she had offered her some of the books she had that talked about alchemy and how to perform small alchemical reactions. For Ori this was the best thing that ever happened, day and night she read the book and observed the methods and took down her own notes of how to do it. Slowly Deedee gave a few more books to Oriana so she could learn more. She sponged those up like it was nothing and learned the knowledge in them. It seemed the kittom was made for academics. The only thing that was left now was to actually let her perform alchemy. 

Unfortunately that was not in the cards for the small kittom yet. It was a sometimes dangerous and precocious process. But as she learned from the books Diana decided to let her assist on the easier and less dangerous experiments as the kittom showed promise. She gave Ori a small experiment with an alembic. The small kittom was quite crafty and followed the steps perfectly and was extremely precocious. The outcome was perfect even Diana was proud. Usually the first try is not successful. Oriana was absolutely delighted and was full of confidence now thinking that this was really her calling. 

The parents had gone out meeting Diana's sister Lavy, since she was the one that acquired most herbs and she wasn’t around much for very long. Deedee described her as some sort of wild elnin that never stayed in a place long enough to call it home. But since the adults were out having a good time at the local tavern, the kittoms were left to their own devices. Normally that wouldn’t be such a bad thing but Ori had plans. She was going to attempt her own experiment. She wanted to prove to everyone that she could do this on her own. 

Koko was stationed outside the lab watching for when the adults would be back, whatever his sister was up to he was all up for the chaos. Meanwhile Kana and Ami were the assistants, they had done this plenty of times with their mother so they were up for the task. But at some point something went wrong during the experiment, maybe Oriana had mixed the wrong ingredients or the improper amount… who really knew what went wrong. All the kittoms knew was that the alembic blew up and there goo was all over the place. Ami had this blue goo all over her hair tuft and Kana had it all over her mane. Ori however had it all over the googles and some of her facial fluff. That’s when the little ones knew they were in so much trouble and that’s when Koko burst through the door to tell them to wrap up the experiment as the parents were back, but to his horror there was blue goo all over the place that he didn’t even comprehend what happened. The parents soon arrived at the scene of the crime and to their surprise the whole place had been redecorated in a blue tint. Lavy burst out in laughter and said “ OH man little ones you are in so much trouble but this is awesome ! Dee lab was in need of redecorating… get it ?” as she kept laughing so hard, but sadly enough she was the only one finding this funny. The kittoms especially Oriana, all burst out into tears. No one was hurt except Oriana pride it seemed. 

Well let's say that Ori never attempted such a thing as Kana and Ami refused to talk to her for a week being tinted blue and having to clean up the lab for their little experiment. To this day Oriana has no idea what went wrong during her little attempt to make a floral elixir. How did that small batch ever end up making such a mess? The good news was that the kittoms were forgiven by the adults after they cleaned up the mess and Ori was given more chances to help out but never to do her own experiment, well not just yet until she learned properly. Maybe this could still be her calling but she wasn’t sure as well no one wanted to ever have splattered blue tint all over their faces for over a week right?