Submission (#7473) Approved

Quest: Resonance - Act 1
Act Type: Study
Word Count: 1132
Adult Elnin: ELN952 Subaru and ELN1186 Yuji
Regional Affinity: Ealei
Claiming Regional Affinity for: ELN1038 Yiling
Noble Rank Unlock Mini-Requirement: Far from home [Home region: Kyendi]

Yilings ears twitched as the wood of the pier creaked underneath his paws.

He was on the outskirts of Ealei.
The ocean was calm today; a softly moving mirror that reflected the lavender evening sky and the pink giant pillow clouds on the horizon. The air was warm and a soft breeze tugged at his hair. The white kittom enjoyed his stay in Ealei. In the past few weeks he had explored the giant island to his heart's content, together with his mother Yueli and his best friend Li Huan, who was currently back in the inn with Yueli, preparing Dinner, while Yiling enjoyed the fresh air.

Tomorrow was market day and last time the merchants were in town, Yiling spotted something he really liked, but he didn’t have anything to trade yet. Since he wanted it to be a surprise for his mother and Li Hua, he couldn’t ask his mother for money, and he had already spent half of his allowance on all the tasty treats Ealei had to offer. His bags were bursting at the seams with all the treats he had packed for their journey back and all the things he wanted to share with his friends back home in Kyendi.

Now he was on his way to actually retrieve something he could trade. He did find some pearls earlier this week when he explored the shallow water near the coast; but they were so pretty, he couldn’t bring himself to trade them. Instead, he made jewelry for his mom, Li Hua and himself. A little self made souvenir.
He could, of course, try to dive for more of them. That was still an option at the back of his head, but he did also stumble upon something else. Or better - someone else.

Yesterday morning he found two elnin heading towards the ocean; before sunrise. That peaked his interest - and naturally he followed them.
It was a pair that also stayed at the Inn with them - a Nestling called Yuji and his boyfriend, Subaru, a lilac noble elnin. It didn't take long for Subaru to spot the little shadow that was tailing them; and they both welcomed Yiling with open arms and asked if he wanted to join them. Eager to learn more, Yiling had agreed and managed to spend the better half of yesterday with both of them, learning a lot.

As it turned out - Yuji had found an old book, hidden deep in the shelves of the local library, about special plants in Ealei. Especially plants that grew in the water and on the coral reefs had some distinctive health benefits when combined correctly. But also a few mushrooms that grew directly on the eldertree were very potent and mana-heavy.
Basically; Yiling was on his way to gather ingredients for making healing potions and tinctures. He had already gathered quite a bit and was now just collecting the last bits and pieces, before he would return to the in and with the help of Yuji, make special potions he could trade tomorrow.

At the moment, he tried to gather lichen that only bloomed during the evening hours. It grew on the rocks in the ocean, the rich salt water and the sun were great conditions for this particular type of lichen.
Yiling arrived at the end of the pier and stopped for a moment, squinting at the sea. The setting sun turned the surface of the ocean into a glittering spectacle and giant clouds loomed at the horizon. The white kittom looked around and found some flat rocks; he jumped onto those to get to the jagged rocks further out. He was nimble on his feet and had no issues getting to where he needed to be. The tide was in his favor as well, exposing the lichens and granting him easy access. Once he arrived, he took out special tools he borrowed from Yuji and got to work. Yiling had a little bag he wanted to fill. With eager eyes he examined the lichens, looking for the ones that started to bloom in the setting sun, and he carefully scraped them from the rocks.

For the next twenty minutes he was a busy bee; hopping from rock to rock to harvest the lichen, but also never trying to take too much from one spot, since he didn’t want to disrupt the ecosystem too much.
Once he was satisfied with everything, he quickly returned to the village and the Inn. After all, he still needed to finish brewing the herbal medicine, but thankfully Yuji would already start the process.

The Nestling had made a deal with Yiling.

For the help of gathering the ingredients and for the help in making the final product, Yuji would give Yiling 2 potions he could trade. A generous deal in favor of the little kittom.
Yiling was excited when he arrived at the Inn; he beelined it straight to the communal kitchen, where Yuji and Subaru were already in the midst of cooking and brewing. Subaru and his pomu were cutting ingredients while Yuji was mixing everything together and looked up the steps in the book he had propped up against a bowl.

“I’m baaaack~!” Yiling announced while already barging into the kitchen with a wide grin. He swung the bag with the collected lichen blossoms over his head before he went straight to Yuji and placed the bag carefully next to him. His tail wagged from side to side from the excitement and Yuji laughed softly, while Subaru grinned, but didn’t say anything.

“Welcome back! Did everything go well?” Yuji gently grabbed the bag and emptied it into a bowl he grabbed.

“YEAH! The sea was so pretty and calm, it was super easy.”

Of course; Yuji and Subaru knew that already. Not only did they check the weather reports beforehand, Subaru also took a good look at the location to make sure it was safe for a kittom to run around there on its own. They didn’t want him to get hurt after all.

"Excellent! And these look fine as well, a good harvest. Why don’t you get started on sorting these and washing them? And after that I’ll show you how we will add them to the potion.”

Yiling nodded eagerly and got to work instantly. And so, the three of them spent the rest of the evening working together until well into the night. It was dark outside and the candles were lit by the time Yiling had the finished potions in his paws. They were filled into little decorative bottles, shimmering blue and teal like the ocean around Ealei. Yiling had put little ribbons around them and small shells and a tiny piece of dried coral.

Now he was ready for the merchant tomorrow.