Submission (#6373) Approved

Elnin: https://worldofeyre.com/character/ELN2936
Region: Ealei

Other Elnin:
https://worldofeyre.com/character/MYO-ELN246
https://worldofeyre.com/character/ELN2884

Word count: 1033

Payout:
6EC +1EC ( pomu ) + 2EC ( over 900 words )= 9EC

The plan was perfect.

King tried not to grin too brightly to himself. He knew that any plan he came up with was perfect, as that was the sort of kittom he was- cunning, grand, and perfect. But even he could be amazed by his own genius sometimes.

The dire kittom was spending miasma season in the region of Ealei. It took some time to get used to maneuvering through the trees that harbored a majority of the region’s population on its branches in tree houses connected by bridges. While he didn’t need to worry about bridges ( as he was able to fly from tree house to tree house with ease ), what gave him trouble were the mangroves below. Landing on the large tree roots that jutted out of the waters had proven difficult at first, the large kittom not used to such slick surfaces. However, the kittom named Nova that he was staying with showed him the best way to keep his balance when standing on the mangroves, and before long he was able to hop from root to root without much of a chance of falling in the clear ocean waters.

It was embarrassing to say it out loud, but King appreciated Nova and her father Marco letting him stay with them as he stayed in Ealei. He was used to relying on his own strength and wit to get by, so accepting the help of others was a foreign concept to him. While in town one day, he watched several elnin exchanging gifts, and came up with a genius plan to return the favor for Nova and Marco’s generosity. If King gave them something magnificent, then he would be repaying them for their kindness in full.

King stepped out of the tree house he was staying at and took to the air. His pomu, Calla, fluttered right behind him. Despite the pomu’s small size compared to the dire kittom, Calla has no problem keeping up with King. The two of them soared up into the sky before flying down towards the mangroves. King directed them to land on a large mangrove that was far away from the docks, which meant landing away from prying eyes. He wanted this to be a surprise and didnt want to risk being seen by anyone, especially Nova or Marco.

Getting to the water was the easy part. The next part of his plan, getting seashells, was the tricky part. King slowly moved down the large tree root towards the crystal clear ocean waters that surrounded Ealei. The clear water made it easy to see if there were any seashells sitting on the rocks below the surface, but the idea of touching water sent shivers down King’s spine. He was used to the hot sand of Ahza, and normally didnt hang out by the occasional oasis that hid in the Ahza sands or the stormlands in his home region. He was comfortable with heat, a bright sun, and staying dry.

Collecting seashells in Ealei wasn’t as easy as it would have been if he was at the Palu’au Islands, but sea life meant leaving behind seashells in the water. Carefully, King reached into the waters and combed through the rocks with his claws, picking up intact seashells when he found him. After shaking the water off he’d hand them to Calla, to which the pomu tossed the shell into the kittom’s shadow. After an hour or two of combing the rocky shores, King had all the shells he needed for the next step.

King and Calla flew back to the tree house. Marco and Nova were out running errands but King wasn’t sure when they would be returning, so he needed to be quick. Calla carefully removed the seashells from King’s shadow, along with a large ball of string. The dire kittom began working on marking small holes in each of the seashells with his claws, then stringing them together with the ball of string. When enough shells were on the string, Calla cut the string with a pair of small scissors the pomu kept in King’s shadow, allowing King to tie the ends of the string together. The two of them did this two separate times, creating two necklaces made of shells.

All he needed to do was wrap them now. He had purchased two colorful pieces of cloth the day before, so he pulled those out of the drawer of the nightstand that sat next to his bed. He returned to where Call was and wrapped each of the necklaces in one of the pieces of colorful cloth before tying them up with the string.

The plan was complete. And the presents were perfect.

Marco and Nova returned home less than an hour later. Nova tilted her head, curious about the wide grin that was on King’s face as he walked over to them. She watched as the bigger kittom made a great show of presenting his presents to the two of them. At first glance all Nova could see was two wads of colorful cloth wrapped with string multiple times with a sloppy bow at the top. Still, she and her father took the strange wads of cloth and slowly undid the string. To their surprise, there was a necklace made of shells sitting in the wads of cloth. The necklaces were… crude and clumsy, but King looked so proud when the other two looked the necklaces over.“They’re thank you presents, for letting me stay here.”

Nova smiled and put the necklace around her neck. Marco barely managed to put the necklace around his own neck, noting it was more of a choker than a necklace.

Nova reached over for King’s paw, took it into her own, and gave it a little tug.

“It’s time to make you one!”
“Wah..?”
“We all should have one! Come on, let’s head down to the docks!”

King was initially reluctant, unsure if he wanted to go back to the waters, but Nova looked so excited. The idea of saying no and letting her down felt bad. The dire kittom agreed, and the two kittoms headed out the door to continue the seashell search adventure!