[Gift] Clouds and Candy

“So whaddya think, Skye?” 

Cree was kneeling near a small patch of wildflowers, watching the pollinators flutter here and there. The Lamba beside him nodded, its star-shaped horns gleaming in the sunlight. Cree had been feeling restless this morning, unmotivated to make candy yet wanting to do something creative. So here he was, on a mid-afternoon inspiration hunt. 

He took a small notebook and a pencil from the front pocket of his overalls and began sketching the flower, making small notes of the colours for future reference. Cree frowned slightly as Skye made a soft noise, pawing at his leg as it focused on something behind him. 

Cree glanced over his shoulder and noticed a cossetling with long, pale blue hair. She was holding an open book and staring up at the sky. Not at all watching where she was walking, she stumbled as her hooves hit a stray stick, and as soon as she regained her balance her eyes were on the sky again. 

“Huh…. I wonder what she's doin’?” 

Before he knew it, Cree was on his hooves and trotting towards this mystery cossetling, Skye hot on his heels. What was she looking at? Where was she going? This could be interesting ~ 

“Hiya!” Cree called out as he approached. The blue cossetling jolted, as if she didn’t hear him coming up at all, and looked at him with wide purple eyes. 

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you…” She had blue and gold Cumulus floating around her, drifting at the same speed as the clouds above. 

“It’s okay!” Cree looked up, tilting his head in confusion when he didn’t see anything interesting. “What are you looking at, anyways?” 

“The clouds!” The blue cossetling’s voice perked up, and she showed Cree the cover of the book she was carrying. He recognized the author's name - Malcolm; in fact, it looked a lot like the story he'd read to his Lamba before it had taken its current form. “I love studying them.” 

“Studying? How much is there to know about clouds?” 

“How much is there to know???” She seemed truly surprised by Cree's ignorance, and finally took her eyes off the sky to flip rapidly through her book. “Cirrus clouds, cumulonimbus, altostratus; they all have different names, and shapes, and weather that they appear in, and-” Her voice was light and airy, like the clouds she was rambling about. 

Cree did his best to listen, but to the unlearned eye, they really did all look the same… Skye seemed to think so too, the Lamba staring at her blankly. 

The blue cossetling blinked and shook her head, interrupting herself. “Oh my Watcher, here I am trying to give you a whole lesson and I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Aeris.”

“I'm Cree, and this is Skye.” Cree smiled at Aeris to show he wasn't upset. “How’s this… You teach me about what clouds are in the sky right now, and I get to talk about candy-making for a bit!! Equivalent exchange.” He ended his proposal with an enthusiastic nod.

“Oh - yes! That sounds fun! Okay, so the clouds in the sky right - what are you doing?” 

Cree got himself comfortable laying on his back on the grass and looked up at Aeris. “I’m short; staring up at the sky like that for so long is going to hurt my neck.” 

Aeris laughed softly, settling beside him and petting Skye as the Lamba plopped its head onto her stomach. “Okay, so the clouds in the sky right now,” she started again, pointing up at them. “These are called cumulus clouds, and they form on days with nice weather. Do you see how the bottoms of them look a little bit darker? This is because -” 

Inspiration hit Cree all at once. It’s been awhile since I made cotton candy… Part of him itched to run home immediately and start working, but he stopped himself. For a cossetling who loved clouds as much as Aeris did, it would be a great gift for her, to have a sweet-tasting cloud she could hold in her hands… 

Aeris was flipping through her book at this point, coming to the section on cumulus clouds. She pointed to the pictures on the page, then gestured to the Cumulus surrounding her. “The clouds that come from the Trait don’t always resemble actual cumulus clouds despite their name. I’ve seen so many different kinds, like -” 

This is nice. Just… Listening.