• Solo • The Pond-Warming Party, Part 1

[Tristan Venora]

A consequence from Rharnean Jatorrizkoa, Part 1.

Ashan 23, Arc 724

“Ayla, what are you doing?” Tristan wanted to know as he entered his daughter’s room. The young Mortalborn had been suspiciously quiet, so, he’d decided to check on her.

When you suddenly couldn’t hear your child anymore, something was usually up.

Ayla was sitting cross-legged on the carpet in the center of the room. Around her were all kinds of ribbons and buttons and even a few beads and silk flowers as well as various other crafting supplies, and she was holding one of her old hats in her hands. It was bright blue with little white dots, and it looked as if it had had a rough time – very recently.

It looked as if it had been painted on.

“I’m making a hat for Roffle! I want to give them a gift when they move in!” Ayla said and proceeded to grab a bottle with glue – made with cornstarch – and a hot pink ribbon.

Tristan raised an eyebrow slightly before he smiled and remarked, “That’s very nice of you! May I watch?”

When Ayla nodded, he sat down opposite of her.

Ayla looked at him for a moment before she dipped the ribbon into the glue and tried to glue it onto the hat. Most of the glue ended up on her fingers instead. She didn’t seem to mind though, Tristan observed. She just scratched it off with her nails, giggling as she did so.

“This is kind of fun!” she said, referring to removing glue from her fingers, before she grabbed a pale-yellow silk flower and tried to glue it on top of the ribbon.

After a few moments, the silk flower just fell off again, and Ayla looked at her father questioningly.

“I have a little tool that might help”, he said. “Wait a moment?”

When Ayla nodded, he quickly went into his studio and returned with a small wooden spatula.

“Just dip the spatula into the glue and smear it across the back of your item”, he told Ayla and showed what he meant to her by reattaching the silk flower before he handed the spatula to her.

For the next half a break they worked side by side. Tristan didn’t tell Ayla what to do. It was her gift for her new friend, and it was thus up to her how she wanted to decorate the hat.

He let her experiment and figure things out on her own and only gave her a few gentle pointers when she seemed to struggle.

As the hat started to look more and more colourful, it began to rain, first a few small drops, and then more and more. Tristan turned his head towards the window and smiled.

It seemed as if Roffle would get another gift. The pond would finally fill up properly.

[Tristan Venora]

“We could have a pond-warming party once we’ve filled the pond with plants”, Tristan told Ayla as they headed over to the greenhouse a couple of breaks later. The rain had finally stopped, so he’d decided that it was time to finally put the pond plants he had bought a couple of trials earlier in place. “People have house-warming parties all the time, and the pond will be kind of like Roffle’s house. What do you think?” he asked as he opened the door for her.

“I like that!” Ayla replied. She was wearing the very interesting hat she had made for Roffle, in order to check if it was comfortable or if she – or an adult – would have to make adjustments. She had to admit that she liked it and was a little reluctant to part with it! “Will there be cake and hot chocolate and such at the party?”

“Of course”, Tristan replied as he checked the troughs where he stored the pond plants until they were ready to be transferred to the pond proper. They looked good so far. “It wouldn’t be a proper pond-warming party without hot chocolate and cake. We could have garlands as well!”

Ayla grinned when she heard that.

“Can you give me a couple of aquatic baskets, please?” he asked his daughter. “They are in the shelf over there. We are going to put the water lilies into them”, he explained.

Once Ayla had handed him the baskets, he carefully lined them with hessian, filled them with aquatic compost and removed the water lilies from the trough. He checked them all over, trimmed any long roots, cut away dead leaves and inserted them into the baskets, making sure that the crown was at the compost surface.

When he was done, he handed a basket to Ayla.

“Would you like to help me put these into the pond?” he asked her, and the young Mortalborn nodded enthusiastically. She loved helping her father and feeling important!

[Tristan Venora]

There was a small stack of bricks in front of the pond that Ayla eyed in confusion for a moment before she turned to Tristan and asked, “Are we going to build a fence for Roffle?”

That was the only thing that made sense to her. People often had fences around their houses, so why shouldn’t Roffle have a fence around their pond?

Tristan shook his head, smirking, before he replied in a serious tone of voice, “No, I hope that people will respect Roffle’s privacy as is when they use the pond. The bricks are for the water lilies. We’ll make a small platform in the water for them and lower it over the course of the next couple of weeks. Where did you think we should put the water lilies?” he asked because he wanted Ayla to be involved in decorating the pond.

The young Mortalborn immediately pointed at the left side of the pond, and Tristan bowed, as if he were her servant and quite happy to oblige before he built his brick platform.

It turned out to not be completely straight, but all in all, it didn't look as if it would collapse right away.

So, without further ado, he carefully lowered the first water lily into the pond and gestured for Ayla to do the same. His daughter worked more slowly and was especially careful. She wanted to do it correctly!

Tristan inspected her work when she was done and adjusted her water lily a bit before he nodded approvingly and told her, “Well done, Ayla. I’m really glad that I have such a great helper. Now we’ll plant the water violets and dwarf cattails, and then we are done. Do you want to help me with that as well or see if grandmother has a few sweets for you?”

Ayla thought about it for a moment before she shook her head and told him that she wanted to stay. The pond was for her friend, after all!

Fortunately, planting the rest of the plants didn’t take too long. It was pretty similar to planting water lilies and involved …

… more baskets!

[Tristan Venora]

Ayla was quite excited when the pond was finally finished and admired it thoroughly. She also seemed to be a little tired though, Tristan observed. She could barely suppress a yawn, so, he took her hand, and walked back into the house with her. He gave her something to drink, and then he suggested that she rest in her room for a while. She gladly accepted the offer. All the exciting things they had done together that trial had made her tired!

Once she had snuggled up in her bed with her stuffed animals, Tristan said goodbye to her, quietly closed the door and headed downstairs to spend some time with his parents and relax a bit as well. When they had left, he called for his diri, Chester.

Chester was one of his best friends, so he wanted to spend time with him as well, and besides, he needed to inform him of the fact that something was going to change in Mistral Castle (That was what Ayla had named their house.).

“Chester, my friend”, he told the diri that took the form of a cat ensconced with an aurora as he heard him purr. “Someone new will move here soon. You may have already seen a frog person help me build the pond. That’s Roffle. They are an excellent cook, and they are looking for a new home. I’m sure that the two of you …”

“No”, Chester hissed. “Frogs are toxic, and besides, they are ugly and have warts. I refuse to associate with such creatures. Give me a female cat instead, preferably a female cat spirit.”

Tristan was taken a little aback by the vehemence with which Chester refused to associate with Roffle, although he kind of understood why he might feel that way. He doubted that pointing out that he hadn’t even talked to Roffle yet would make him change his mind, so, he opted for a different approach. He had gotten to know Chester very well since they had first met and knew exactly how to make him to something that might seem unappealing at first.

So, without further ado, he smiled and pointed out, “Igelak tend to be very devoted to spirits, marked or those of Immortal blood. What do you think about getting a new follower?”

“Tell me more!” the vain diri demanded, just as a loud scream could be heard from upstairs.

A moment later, Ayla who suddenly seemed to be wide awake again, came running down the stairs and exclaimed, “Daddy, daddy, the pond is full of Igelak! Daddy, daddy, come and look!”

(Ayla could see the garden from her window.)

“Mmm”, Chester purred happily. “An entire army of new followers and admirers?”



The story continues here.

[Tristan Venora]

Rewards Requested

Notes/Warnings: Ayla is a Personal NPC. Chester is Tristan's diri.

Thread: The Pond-Warming Party, Part 1
City/Area: Rharne

Renown: Maybe a little?
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If so - which mark.
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!	Message from: Netzach Embersoul
	Done!

[Netzach Embersoul]

Reviewed!

Tristan Venora

Cute.

My immediate reaction to reading this.

I followed your thread on Rharnean Jatorrizkoa, so when I saw the title of this thread, I knew what was up. And just the title alone made my heart MELT.

I have never been that good at writing cute things, but you my friend make it look easy!
There is something about Ayla making a flower hat for her new friend that is just pure concentrated goodness. If I might wax poetic for a bit, it feels so nice that the young Igelak are being shown the sheer innocence and goodness that people are capable of, juxtaposed to how parts of Rharne might view them as invaders entering their ponds.
It warms my heart to know that the Igelak that find themselves in people's homes due to a lack of understanding about property, aren't all met with hostility.
At least in Tristan's home, one Igelak (Or many, it looks like) has made a friend with one Ayla.

The skills used were all played well within their levels, nothing much to note there. In fact, with the exception of engineering, everything Tristan does here is laughably easy for him.

All in all, excellent thread!

• Renown: 5
• XP: 10
• Knowledges:
  • Teaching: Gently supporting your student
  • Gardening: Preparing water lilies for planting
  • Engineering: Building a low brick platform
  • Gardening: Planting water lilies
  • Caregiving: Putting a tired child to bed
  • Socialization: Persuading someone by appealing to their vanity