Ascent

Nothing provided her with enough of a challenge, Berry Blue put one paw over the other as she climbed the hanging vines of wisteria towards … something, she’d hoped.

Something new, something different, something special.  There were plenty of ingredients she could easily procure for this illustrious soup, if she were to be so mundane.  Except she would rather perish by the claws of one of the cats than to be mundane.

No, Berry Blue winced at the very notion of being mundane.  It was perhaps the lowest of insults one could have cast upon them.  She refused it vehemently.  She was not dull, nor mundane, nor ordinary.

The thoughts slipped away as her paws did, and she scrambled for a hold on the vines.  Focus.  Scolding herself severely as she took a look below.  She would be nothing but a flat blue speck upon an otherwise pristine floor should she fall from this height.

Perhaps she would go diving after this, she’d certainly practiced holding her breath a number of times on the way up.

She passed the last length of her perilous climb counting her paces, and banishing worries of empty cabinet tops void of anything precious enough to be the ingredient the handsome & glorious Berry Blue would add to the soup.

One final leap, a few mouse-lengths wide, sliding across the wooden cabinet.  She stood tall, or as tall as she could, shaking off the glittering dust.  Her whiskers twitched, lifting her nose to smell the air.

Dismay would be a lesser Minikin’s response to the barren land she assumed she was first to discover.  Who else would waste their time here, amongst dust and cobwebs?  Her paws left tiny imprints where she trailed along, trying to catch sight or scent of anything.

It would help, she thought, if someone were to actually draw out maps of this place.  She would pay a great big sack of farthings for a map that detailed even the smallest of areas in this vast land.  Her tiny claw traced the carvings made in the wood at the edge of the landing.

If only she were more resourceful, more clever, maybe taller….more good-looking…

Perish the thought! She dashed off, racing along to scout the area.  She was an adventurer first and a gatherer second! Or even third or fourth or fifth! She’d find something worthy of her, whether it was amidst the dust and cobwebs or secreted away behind a hidden door like in the stories she’d heard from the books.

Adventure, destiny, excitement, treasure ! It was sure to meet her as long as she chased it. It could run, it could hide, but she would find it.  She would find it and she would find the perfect ingredient for this soup and she would earn her place amongst knights and bards and princesses.

Besides, if nothing else, she could add the shiny rock she’d found earlier to the soup.  Surely, that would add something to the flavour to the cosmic blend.