Submission (#8703) Approved

Far away in the distant Azha an elder tree was in bloom and under a much darker starlit sky a small colorful kittom let out a squeak of complaint as their friend helped apply snaring paint around their closed eyes. "Careful!" Raniya said, feeling the much quieter Naoli's paw slip a bit in the application. The largely brown kittom squinted a little bit in the low lighting letting out what was likely a barely audible curse of some kind about the lighting. It wasn't that Naoli necessarily knew the meaning of the word that slipped out, except that Rize often would utter it when something went wrong without realizing one of the kittoms had overheard. This lighting was really a problem though, especially in Silveil where the sky was an endless span of stars and night.

"Come closer to the window. I think the lighting's better because of the lamps outside." Naoli suggested, plodding across the room while sliding the tray of various colors of snaring paint. The floor was a mess but right now that didn't seem to matter much to either of the kittoms. There wasn't the time to fuss over such things when they had a weaver's bite to find! Raniya's paint on her paws and arms had dried a bit after she helped Naoli apply some to their face earlier as well. Closer to the lamps keeping the city alight outside Naoli finished the final touches on her friend's eye paint, blending the colors around and between them in swirls. As the paint flowed into Raniya's normal starry colorful face markings Naoli felt quite satisfied with the job she'd done. "We're all set." Naoli's soft spoken voice came out and she could see Raniya's little welkin tail wiggle a bit in excitement.

"Rize said we could look in the city and just at the edge of the forest nearby as long as we didn't go in too deep." Raniya spoke, seeming a touch disappointed. The pair of now painted kittoms pondered destinations they could check. If Rize hadn't been so firm in the warnings surely they would have gotten carried away in the search but, despite being rather lax about some things, staying close to town unless accompanied by a safe adult was a firm directive from Naoli's parents. It was almost as if they knew these two kittoms had particularly pushed boundaries a little in the past when they got together. Naoli was known for being quiet but pretty comfortable going along with some wild ideas, and wild ideas seemed to run in Raniya's family at times so she could be quite a bit of trouble.

"Hmmm…I don't think we should check the beach or lake. It's rather hard to see anything in the water there." Raniya commented, remembering the bioluminescent creatures that flourished in the waters like stars.They would have more luck searching in the city or on land. With a quiet nod of agreement and paint still just barely dry on Naoli's paws the two decided to start their wanderweave hunt in the city. With some quiet goodbyes in passing to Rize, promising to follow the rules laid out under Rize's scrutinizing gaze as they left, the two kittoms wandered onto the streets themselves. They stayed in the well lit areas of Silveil, weaving between the crowded streets and investigating the small niche gardens and pots they could find around shops and buildings along the way.

The two searched for what felt like hours before settling down with a sigh. "Naoli, I don't think this is working." Raniya sighed, melting onto the bench they had scrambled up onto with some difficulty. "Maybe we should check the forest's edge then? It's a bit greener there?" Naoli suggested. Both of the kittoms had their pomus sitting on their heads at this point, but maybe due to a lack of paint the familiars didn't seem to be much help on this hunt, except for offering the kittoms an occasional snack stashed in their shadows.Still having their pomus with them always helped build an extra bit of confidence, but whether it was due to the companionship or audience from their little shadowy familiars was hard to say. After a short break the two kittoms set off to the town's edge.The light of the city had faded quite a bit, but they were far out enough that they had begun to see other glowing plant life surface along the forest's edge. Small glowing mushrooms were littered between the trees alongside other luminous leaves and flowers.

Naoli squinted a touch though as her pomu wandered past a plant in the darker shadows of a tree. "Rani, I found it." Naoli announced softly, her expression glimmering with excitement. What her pomu hadn't quite spotted she locked onto, her little paws reached out to pluck the weaver's bite and Raniya wasn't more than a few steps behind her letting out a cry of protest as Naoli looked like she might bite into the fruit herself. "Wait!" Raniya screeched in alarm, causing Naoli to close her mouth abruptly and look back for a moment. "I heard they taste spicy." Raniya said with suspicion. "And we're supposed to save it as an offering at the shrine." She pointed out.

"Aren't you curious how it tastes though?" Naoli asked, but the look Raniya gave her seemed to ask if she was really going to bite it to find out if it was spicy. "A little. If we eat it though, then we have to find another. We can try the next one." Raniya said. With a final slow glance at the fruit and then a quiet nod the two reached an agreement. The next one they would try to eat themselves and if it was bad, they'd offer the rest to Rize as a gift. After retrieving the elusive fruit, the two of them worked their way to the local shrine to gently set the fruit in a glass bowl filled with sand and with that task done they skipped off to find more. It was fun to take part in the tradition but the kittoms always seemed to move on pretty quickly, eager to experiment and seek out new things to see and try too.