Glowing Preparations

The humming of the caldera vibrated through Amaranthe’s fins. Despite the coming harvest, the air still felt the same as the day before, the one before that, and the days before even that. Things were to be different yet everything was the same.

Or maybe it was just her perception that everything was the same. It was hard to tell.

Ama was always a recluse and preferred her own company to the company of others. The only companion other than her own mind she tolerated was Cherry, the little jelluxi she had found not long ago. She had only picked up the little thing on an outing because it seemed lost and, since then, it rarely left her side, despite what protest Ama gave.

Wobble wobble wobble.

Ama patted Cherry on the head before standing up again. Break time was over. She made her way back over to her preplanned mushroom rows, picking up a small sack of fertilizer spores she had gathered earlier that week. They glowed ever so slightly as she picked them up and began to sprinkle them over the ground. The spores continued to glow slightly after hitting the ground and didn’t stop until they were covered with new topsoil.

Cherry, being herself, ate a few spores as the fell which only caused her to hiccobble out spores. It was amusing at least. Since Ama had leftover spores, she allowed Cherry to enjoy herself which also distracted her from getting in the way of the final steps.

While Ama did grow her own mushrooms, foraging further into the caldera away from her modest home would yield more in the end. Her last foraging outing had ended with some of her tools being dulled down so sharpening them and fixing any small cracks in the handle work. They were old tools which most would probably have had replaced, but that required going into town and dealing with people. Unfortunately, it would come to that at some point in the future, but today was not that day.

Ama dusted off her hands before streeeeeeeeetching out her back. The day’s work was finally over. As she began to clean up after herself (and after Cherry who had made quite the mess of herself being covered in spores), she made mental notes of the following days chores. She still had much to do before harvesting began and was running out of time.

“Rest time, Cherry,” Ama voiced at last, and the two quietly made their way back into the humble hut called home, small glowing spores following their path.