Submission (#7363) Approved

The other kittoms had been merciless about it. They'd teased Ice for weeks when she'd refused to climb the tree with them during their own summer tests of courage, claiming that she was a scaredy-cat when she'd refused to make her own climb up. The truth was that she didn't know how to climb the tree, but rather than admit to that she'd rather let them tease her about it. She didn't want them to know that, and she would much rather be teased about it than admit to not knowing how to do something.

However, as the weeks have gone by, Ice had decided that enough was enough. She would learn how to climb the tree and prove her own courage by doing so.

Rolling hills of green surrounded the quaint Faerindell town that Ice resided in at the moment. Flowers lined the streets as the fiery kittom followed the cobblestone path out to the field. The further from the town she got, the wilder the cobblestone path became. Grass and flowers grew in the path and spread all around it rather than just lining it. The flowers spread all over the rolling hills and as a small cherry blossom forest came into view, flowers had consumed the wilds.

She didn't pick the first tree with the pink canopy. She didn't want anyone to see her. She picked one of the trees in the second row so the other trees could cover her from spying eyes.

Beautiful faerie shrouds climbed up the side of the trees, but she managed to find one that didn't have any of them hanging on it, making it reasonably easier to climb than the others. She didn't want one of her paws to get caught and then become stuck there!

From outside of her shadow, her pomu climbed out. With it, they began pulling what appeared to be a rope out of there. It jumped around, squeaking and squealing to ger her attention. Her eyes followed the fuss until she saw the pomu and the rope. She put two and two together and sighed.

"You, too?" She asked.

The rope didn't seem like a bad idea, though. Although she was initially annoyed by the suggestion, it would be a lot safer.

"Very well," she said, picking up the rope between her paws.

How did she get it over the branch of the cherry blossom tree, though? She tried to throw it up over but there was nothing to weigh it down and prevent it from blowing weightlessly in the wind, so it just fell down at her feet. Perhaps she could carry it up there and tie it when she got there? It would provide some peace of mind as she climbed up.

Okay. She had a plan.

She put the rope over her shoulders and then stood triumphantly at the base of the tree. Here she goes!

...

...

...

A few minutes passed and she still stood there at the base of the tree. Pink petals fell around her, and she looked at them hopefully.

She wasn't scared!

Her paws looked for little places to put them. This was how you did it, right?

She found a landing for her lower paws. It wasn't much higher off the ground than it would be if she stood but she felt like she was making progress.

She spent the day like this, slowly making progress and then losing it. Eventually, Ice was able to make it to the first branch off the ground. It was a few feet up, maybe a little bit taller than her, but as she threw her leg over the limb of the tree and sat down... she felt accomplished. It wasn't that scary, now, was it?