Submission (#6754) Approved

Nono had been waiting for this day for quite some time, eagerly looking at their calendar at the marked date and growing more and more restless and excited as the circled day got closer. There were quite a few classes and adventures the community had put together to keep the Kittoms from wreaking havoc during their break from school and today was an interesting course that would teach the little Kittoms both foraging and painting. They had planned to get some of the bioluminiscent plants from Silveil and breaking them down to make their own paints. Nono wasn't sure if the paint would still glow or not, but the activity sounded fun!
The teacher for the class was Niyari, an Elnin that Nono had never met but heard lots of rumors. Some said they were an assassin and very dangerous, others said they were a royal Nin that needed to hide their real identity, others were saying they were just a wilderness expert that liked to play pranks and leaned into these rumours. Nono wasn't sure what to believe and he would just try to be open minded and learn as much as he could no matter who the teacher was!
Nono was eagerly looking at their clock. They would meet up at 10am and it was hard to guess the time when it was constantly dark outside... Nono had been living in Silveil for long, spending most of his time here or with his aunt in Enmir, but it was still a huge difference to get used to. Kiki sadly didn't have time to go to the workshop as well but Nono would survive one day without his sister to hide behind, right?
15 minutes before 10am Nono was already at the meeting stop near the fountain and was eagerly looking around. So far it didn't seem like any of the Kittoms here were there for the workshop and the teacher wasn't to be seen either. Well, Nono was early. No need to worry. The minutes ticked by and when it got to 10am Nono was an anxious mess. He kept looking around but he couldn't see a group and he couldn't see other Kittoms at the fountain that were also eagerly looking around. Was Nono at the wrong spot? Or was it the wrong date?? That couldn't be, he had been waiting for this for so long! There was no way he had gotten the day messed up!
"You must be my little minion for the day."
Nono jumped at the unexpected voice and turned around but couldn't see a source of the noise.
"Up here."
There was an Elnin sitting on top of the fountain, grinning big like a cheshire cat, markings not too far off from it. Nono hadn't seen them around the market place before and the Elnin had definitely not been sitting up there when Nono had first gotten to the fountain! When did they jump up there.
"Uhh, are you Niyari?", asked Nono in a shy voice. It would definitely be strange for someone else to address him like that.
"Yep! And who are you?"
"I'm Nono. So I'm at the right meeting place? Where are all the others?"
There certainly weren't anymore Kittoms hiding around the fountain, even if Nono squinted and looked again just to make sure.

"Good question. I did have a few more Kittoms declaring their interest and signing up but it seems they either forgot or decided not to come. Well, lucky for you, you will get my wisdom all for yourself!"
Niyari seemed to be excited about it and wasn't sad that there weren't any more Kittoms for the workshop around. The Elnin hopped down from the fountain and landed next to Nono with swift and fluid motions. Their long hair was almost floating around but it didn't seem to be featherlight, just a bit lighter at the end of the waves.
Nono wasn't sure what to think, they had looked forward to the workshop, but... being all alone with an Elnin they didn't know... Nono knew it was safe, this wouldn't have been a community approved event otherwise, but...
"Oh, okay."
He swallowed and tried for a smile. But he had hoped that he could maybe meet a few new friends here as well as learn more about the glowing plant life in Silveil. A small voice in his head said that the other Kittoms all cancelled when they saw Nono would attend, but that was silly, no way that would be the reason.
"Hmm, you don't seem convinced. Don't worry, we'll have a fun day. Now, do you have the supplies that were written on the flyer?"
At that the excitement returned and Nono nodded, backpack secured around his shoulders.
"Yes! I have everything packed!"
"Great! Then let's go. We have to walk a bit but I know some really pretty routes that will take us to the spot."
Niyari nodded to their right and started walking, Nono doing his best to fall in a nice walk beside the Elnin. He had heard so many stories about Niyari, but meeting them was different. It felt more normal than he had anticipated. It was still a bit strange though that there were really no other Kittoms here...
After around 20 minutes they were away from the city and the main road, they were taking a dark path that Nono had never noticed, dark grass blending in with the rest of the ground but it did look more trampled than the rest.
"I spent a lot of time in Silveil just exploring the forest parts that weren't being illuminated by the plant life to see what was hiding in these dark corners. The light attracts animals and it's interesting to see what you can find in the darker spots. Today we are going to get a few glowing flowers. They usually don't get eaten like the mushrooms but will be better for making paint out of them."
Nono nodded and was trying to remember this route so he could show it to his sister Kiki later.
"Do you draw a lot with paints from flowers?"
"No, I don't really draw when it's not together with the kids."
Did Niyari have children? That wouldn't really suit the rumours. But they did jus say kids so maybe more workshops and classes.
"Then how did you discover to make paints out of the flowers from here?"
Niyari shot them a grin and chuckled a bit.
"Well, as I was exploring everything here I did pluck some flowers to bring home to my husband, it was a nice gift and I also wanted to see how long they would retain their glow. Despite keeping them in water they lost their glow as soon as I left Silveil though. But I wanted to bring something back to capture the magic of this place so I tried drying the flowers. Putting them into resin crafts worked best, but making paint out of them was also fun. I think so long as they get something to latch onto the glow remains."
"Resin crafts sounds super cool as well! Do you have a workshop for that too?"
"Not yet, but I can think about it. Ah, here we are."
Nono looked ahead and at first he was disappointed. When Niyari had spoken about a secret spot he had imagines some hidden grotto with the biggest glowing flowers and mushrooms ever! Something super big and grandious behing hidden by thick trees and bushes so that noone else would ever find their way here. The place they were now in wasn't that. There were no mushrooms big enough to live in or flowers growing down a steep rock as if they were building a waterfall. Instead there were flowers in all possible colors. Nono was surprised, he had seen quite a few different glowing flowers so far but most seemed to be either pink or blue, of course with variations in intensity, some leaning to a magenta or teal. The flowers here seemed to be painted. It was as if you went to the most colorful batch of flowers in a normal region and put them all into Silveil and making them glow.

"Well, what do you think?"
Nono startled at the voice and looked up with a big smile.
"It's amazing! So what do we do now?"
"We pick a flower from each color and see if there is a difference between them while grinding them up. It could be that some pigments are more intense and better for painting but that others might retain the glow better. But be careful only to pick a small one from each. We don't want to destroy a bunch of flowers only to see that they can't be used for painting. They still have to regrow and spread out more so we will do our best only to take a little bit, okay?"
Nono nodded and put down his bag.
"Of course! I even got a pair of scissors in my bag, it's better to cut them off and not rip, right?"
"Very good! Then let us get to work my little minion."
Niyari and Nono spent the next ten minutes looking over the different colors and going through the options of how many flowers to cut down. They ended up with eight differen color variations and Niyari instructed Nono how to grind the petals to a paste in a ceramic painting palette. The orange and yellow flowers were very pale but had a nice glow to them. The darker colors like purple and blue were very rich but didn't hold their glow that well when being ground up into a paste. But they could be better diluted by water to actually paint with. Niyari and Nono spent the next thirty minutes comparing color swatches and trying out different dilutions and if the colors mixed well with each other or not. Nono didn't have this much fun with someone in a long time. His anxiety at the beginning of being alone with the teacher without any other Kittoms had gone right out the window. He enjoyed taking his time and going at his own pace and Niyari was very patient with all of his questions.

They settled on four colors to pick for painting plus the yellow flowers for the glow effect as a finishing touch and just spread their supplies out on a rock while sitting next to it on the forest. Nono couldn't wait to finish the painting and show it to Kiki! She would be so amazed by what he did!