OatSW: Short Stories

Motherly Tendencies

The skies were a bright blue, a clear sky with minimal to no clouds covering the bright sun that kindled the day, it was a nice day for Niwen as a whole. The air, although a bit cooler from the season nearing its change, was fresh and nice to breathe in. Fall was in its prime, the leaves decorating the green hairs that covered the dirt and trees almost picked clean from its decorative byproduct. Though, some of the trees were still very decorative in pines and artificial decorations that were hung on them.

It seemed like everyone had something going on today. Every once in a while, Gumo and Grom ask a group of moki to help them with their construction efforts. It seemed like most of the moki were up to the task today, seeing as the Glades were pretty quiet. Ku, the young airborne owl she was, wanted to glide around Niwen for a while. As for Vini, he was off at the Spirit Willow today, keen on honing his magical potential with Seir and Seav.

That left the final two members of the family, Naru and Ori, with nothing particular on their agenda today. Seeing as his siblings were busy and most of the moki were helping Gumo and Grom, Ori didn't really have anyone to play with. Naru would have gone to pick some of the fruits and vegetables for meals, but their nest was already packed with a lot of healthy foods for everyone. Plus, picking foods is more fun if you can talk to people who are helping you, and... she didn't have anyone to help her that day. Of course, Ori was available to help her, and it would indeed remind the two of them about their earliest days together in Nibel.

Just the two of them... all alone picking fruit in the forest... remembering their time as just a mother and her son.

Well... A little more food couldn't hurt, right? Naru looked back inside to see Ori's light peeking out of the nest. Strolling inside, she saw her little spirit laying in the nest, his fingers gently tapping on the straw that composed it and his tail laying still on the ground. Naru knows a lot about Ori's habits, and she could tell Ori's emotions based on his subtle movements. He was most certainly bored from having no one to play with today. That just gave Naru another reason to ask Ori to come and help her. So, she reached her head down to stroke the spirit's head.

"Honey?" Naru whispered.

"Mmm?" Ori turned to face his adoptive mother. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Would you like to gather fruits with me today?" Naru smiled.

"S-Sure." Ori smiled back at his mother. With a quick stretch of his arms and legs, Ori got on his feet and held his arms up for Naru to pick him up. Naru, laughing at her adorable son, lifts him onto her shoulders in a piggyback ride and made their way towards the forest to gather more food.

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Crossing a tiny stream, Naru looked up at the towering trees, seeing the lovely fruits above them. Normally, Naru always asked for one or two moki to come with her as they gather fruit because a good portion of the fruits would be so high on the trees that she couldn't reach them. Gumo was a bit more helpful, able to climb up higher than she could, but he could not get all of the fruit. The moki, being the squirrelish creatures they were, could get to the top and bottom of these trees with plenty of fruit in no time. Thankfully, she had Ori with her, who was an expert at climbing and navigation from all of his time adventuring.

"Oooh!" A boyish pip echoed from above her.

"What's wrong, honey?" Naru asked, stopping in worry.

"N-Nothing," Ori giggled quietly. "A butterfly landed on my nose, but it's flying away now."

"Maybe it was just coming to say hi..." Naru proposed. "What were its colors?"

"Mostly blue with white spots." Ori quietly laid his chin down on Naru's head. "Doesn't matter now! Let's keep going."