Submission (#62) Approved

During one of her explorations, Ubeu stumbled upon a strange clearing with items littered about. There were a few cats around it, some holding items of their own. She spotted a couple placing down what they were carrying, leaving it there, and then picking up something else from the pile to take with them.

Ubeu’s heart began to pound in her chest, a strange little burst of excitement she hadn’t felt in a while. This looked like… an exchange system! Something in Greendoze that was an example of trade so much closer to what she had at home! Something without money involved, something that was a give and take in equal measure. Something that couldn’t be hoarded.

She watched as cats of all ages exchanged what they had. A mother and two children approached an elderly tom and presented him with a pheasant. The old tom seemed terribly grateful, offering a book in return. Another cat scooped up something in eager little paws and scurried off, nearly forgetting to drop something in return but dashing back at the last second with bulging eyes and rambled apologies. She seemed to be in a hurry for something, but Ubeu could tell she had a good heart. There was a frazzled, scruffy teenager that came into the clearing, wearing what looked to be the most ludicrous outfit that Ubeu had ever seen. They ripped it off their body in a huff, then dropped it roughly onto the ground. The teen glared around at some of the watching cats, as if daring them to laugh, before one of the onlookers bustled into the clearing to take the clothes from them and directly hand them a golden watch. The teenager’s eyes lit up, and left looking in much better spirits than how they arrived.

The tortoiseshell approached the center of the clearing and looked about at the items left. There were all sorts of odds and ends, trinkets and food and tools. She found herself relaxing at the sight of it, like she was closer to home than before, even though she was so, so far away.

“Like what you see, traveler?” said a voice, and Ubeu turned to find a mottled brown she-cat smiling at her.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so,” Ubeu said slowly. “This is an exchange system, isn’t it?”

The she-cat nodded. “Greendoze exchange system, here for weary travelers or citizens. You leave somethin’ so you can take somethin’, and if you take more than you leave we don’ like that very much.”

Ubeu nodded, sitting down and curling her tail around her paws. “My homeland was like that.” She fixed the stranger with her big eyes, but the molly didn’t seem perturbed. “Not always, most of the time we all worked together. If something needed to be done, we did it. The reward was simply caring for one another. But sometimes we wanted to trade between ourselves, or needed to trade with outsiders when we didn’t have the materials we needed. We’d do something like this. One item exchanged for another, no hoarding of material or wealth. A balanced system.”

The she-cat gave a little chuckle, sitting beside her and smiling out at the clearing. “Sounds mighty nice. Where are you from?”
“The Lake of Plenty,” Ubeu said. “You probably haven’t heard about it.”

“Nah, I haven’t. Where’s it at?”

“South of Mt. Starfree, northeast of Sweetwater Lake,” Ubeu recited. “In the forests, around a little lake that provides almost everything we need.”

“Sounds lovely,” said the stranger, licking a paw and swiping it over her ear.

“Yeah, it is. Well, was. It was overrun by Boundless and so much of it got destroyed.” Ubeu’s voice was neutral, slightly strained. “So I had to leave. Now I’m in the Wayseekers Guild and I’m trying to get cats to stop using magic, because that’s why the Boundless have come.”

“Is that so?” said the molly, pausing in her grooming to raise one eyebrow at her.

Uh oh. Not again.

“That is so,” Ubeu said, head held high.

The stranger’s eyes crinkled in a little smile, and she returned to her grooming. “Not a bad theory, at least.”

“It’s not a theory, it’s a fact. The Boundless didn’t appear until magic was being used by cats in ways it shouldn’t have been. They’re connected, it’s obvious.”

The stranger hummed softly and closed her eyes for a moment. Ubeu wondered if she had lost her, if she was about to just get up and walk away. But then she reached down and pawed an item towards Ubeu.

“Why don’t you have this? Leave somethin’ here, and I’ll give it to ya.”

Ubeu flicked her tail and eyed the item. This felt like a deliberate subject change, but maybe it was just a test of good will.

“What do you want for it?”

“Anything, really. I’m not picky. Although it’s not for me, it’s for whoever else comes by.”

Ubeu nodded stiffly, and then went to retrieve something for the clearing. When she returned, the stranger was gone, but the item remained untouched. Ubeu gingerly left her own gift, took what was given to her, and left the clearing behind.