8. Mushroom

Tarot was new to the world, newer than most, but also more experienced in some ways than others. While many of the kitsusagi of Silverlight had been summoned into the world on their own, as fully functional adults, Tarot and their siblings had been summoned together, as three youngsters. They knew they were young, because the older kitsu told them as much. Tarot tried to remember the before - before the Summoning that they found themselves in and before the stretches of their memories could remember. It was no use,  initially, but Tarot was disinclined to put it out of their minds entirely. Still, being a part of three, Tarot knew that they had to prioritize some things over others. They went along with their siblings, playing follow the leader, but eventually they began to strike out on their own, going on their own adventures. Sometimes these adventures involved pranking the adults, other times it meant climbing into the tallest tree Tarot could find and staring defiantly into the sun. Today it manifested in the efforts to find food. 

Tarot suspected that if they had gone to any of the adults in Silverlight, be it the council or any adult, really. Everyone seemed so kind and so generous and so... tedious in Silverlight. Tarot didn't want charity from the adults! At least, they didn't want charity from the adults today, while they were adventuring for food themselves. Once they got properly hungry it might be a different story but for the time being, Tarot was perfectly content to try and find their own sustenance. Besides, they weren't entirely on their own! Sure, they didn't have their siblings with them this time, but they had a jaybird and Iris, the name of the lovely jaybird in question, was an expert at finding curious things. Tarot was hoping that today curious things could be extended into food territory. 

Tarot was poking around at the ground around trees, searching for wild flower seeds which could present a good crunchy snack, or maybe some plant life that could provide some decent filling, but... no they were having no luck. It wasn't until the familiar chittering sound of Iris sounded from above that Tarot looked up with any hope in their eyes. However, any of the hope quickly turned to alarm as they realized Iris was dropping something directly onto their muzzle. Holding up their hands to protect their face too late, they felt a gentle thud as the object fell onto their nose and hung loosely over Tarot's muzzle as their eyesight returned. 

"What in the world..." They said, before crossing their eyes to look at their nose and peer at the object Iris had dropped upon them. Piking up the piece of string off their nose, they looked at it and smiled. Why, it was a mushroom! Mushrooms could be good to eat! 

"Way to go, Iris, you found something!" Tarot exclaimed happily and sniffed experimentally at the mushroom, but wait, this didn't smell like food at all. "Wait a second... Iris, this isn't edible! It's made out of wood, not an actual mushroom!" Looking at the mushroom shaped wood more closely, it looked like one of the mushrooms Tarot vaguely recalled being told NOT to eat. Maybe it was some sort of warning reminder necklace. A sad coo from a branch above Tarot's head caused them to look back up at the tree their jaybird sat perched in. "Aw, don't worry Iris, this is a fine gift, even if I can't eat it." They tried to reassure the jaybird and with a smile, they slung the necklace over their head and held out an arm for the jaybird to land on. Once Iris had settled on their arm and then shortly there after hopped onto Tarot's head, where the jaybird seemed the most comfortable, Tarot started back towards the town of Silverlight. "I'm sure that Kismet and Ishtar must've found something to eat and if not, well, there's always the adults." Tarot said with a small sigh. "We can be independent another day. For now, let's just fill our stomachs however we can. We don't need to adult like big and proper adults just yet." They decided and set off to find their siblings.