Submission (#8177) Approved

word count: 797
Elnin 1: https://worldofeyre.com/character/ELN2664
Elnin2: https://worldofeyre.com/character/MYO-ELN601 (briefly)
Kittom: https://worldofeyre.com/character/ELN2797
Region: Ealei

Payout: 6 EC, 1 AP - Ealei

Honeybee’s current situation was a tad embarrassing, she thought. She had come all the way out to Ealei from Faerindell to make drinks for the Starfall Festival, yet she hadn’t brought enough produce to make drinks with. She had completely run out of ingredients in one day. While she could make drinks out of Ealei’s abundant manaberries, she wanted to make drinks that were unique- and everyone in the area knew manaberries were common and a frequent ingredient in Ealei. Honeybee toyed with the idea of purchasing produce that had been imported into Ealei, but after scoping out several stores she saw that the prices for imported fruits were double, some even triple the price that they were in Faerindell. Buying them would have made her profit margin a big goose egg.

After tossing and turning in her bed last night, she had decided to spend the rest of her time in Ealei enjoying the festivities and biding her time until her airship was scheduled to arrive to take her back home. She ran into Arlo in the morning, but he informed her that he would be busy today with moving cargo off and on ships at the docks. Honeybee wished him a wonderful day and bid him farewell before the other elnin turned and headed to the docks. She had come to Ealei alone and had expected to spend her time solo, but now that she had made a friend who couldn’t spend time with her when she was free made her feel a little lonely.

With no destination in mind, Honeybee allowed her feet to carry her to wherever they desired. She found herself climbing several long wooden staircases, rising higher and higher into Ealei. Every so often the staircase she was on would end, greeting her with the site of a tree city built on sturdy wooden platforms in between sky bridges. However, when one staircase ended Honeybee decided to find the nearest staircase going up to continue her aimless wandering.

Eventually she had reached the highest platform. Honeybee blinked, surprised that there was finally an end to the series of staircases. Her surprise was replaced with embarrassment. Of course there had to be an end. Ealei didn’t ascend forever and ever! Now that Honeybee was out of staircases to climb, she decided to make her way across the platform. All around her were wooden houses, bridges, and trees. Even though she was high up, from her current location there was no easy way to see out into the sky or see the ocean below.

As Honeybee approved a bridge, she saw something peculiar. Standing on the middle of the bridge, peering out into the unknown, was a young blue kittom with metallic marks. From where she stood, Honeybee couldn’t figure out what the kittom was looking at. She carefully stepped onto the bridge and made her way towards the kittom, trying not to disturb the little one.

When she reached the center of the bridge and the kittom, she turned her head towards where the kittom was looking. To her surprise, the tree branches parted to give a clear view of the sky and the crystal clear ocean waters below. Not only that- but a fireworks show was starting! She assumed it was only starting as she hadn’t heard any fireworks until now, but she supposed it was possible she simply hadn’t noticed.

The two of them stood still and stared out into the sky as the fireworks went off. The fireworks being set off were different from the ones she saw yesterday. While the ones last night were traditional fireworks, these fireworks made shapes in the sky. She watched as bright lights soared into the sky and exploded into greens, blues, and yellows to create the shape of a manaberry. Another series of lights raced into the sky and turned into a bright assortment of purples and blues to make the shape of a fish.

Honeybee wondered what sort of fireworks would look like in her hometown. She imagined anything in Faerindell would be floral themed. Above the pink trees she imagined fireworks making the shapes of flowers and apples in soft pastel colors. Perhaps they would even make a firework display that showed off the fish that lived in Faerindell, too. Or would that be copying the Ealei fireworks too much?

She turned to see what the kittom thought of the firework show but she saw that she was now alone on the bridge. Honeybee blinked then sighed, turning her attention back to the fireworks. More manaberry lights exploded in the sky.

Ah, well. Even if she had to enjoy the light show alone, it was still fun to watch the fireworks and imagine her own fireworks show in her head.