Aspire and Confident’s Quest to the Cotton Candy Clouds

Aspire the Unicorn and Confident the King Fox were not unfamiliar with adventure. In fact, that is how they met and became who they are today. They had grown so accustomed to adventure that it was an everyday habit. They were always looking to try a new thing, go to a new place, meet a new friend, and would often have a group of friends join them.

Sometimes they would even make it a competition to see who was the most adventurous that day. This day, however, was a little different. Aspire and Confident were packing with the few who dared to tackle the quest of crossing the ocean to reach the Cotton Candy Clouds.

They had little information on how the quest would pan out but they had heard enough stories for their mouth to be watering at the thought of the clouds, which were said to be the most delectable edible substance to charm the taste buds and gratify the stomach leaving the eater in the purest joy.

However, the stories were closer to hearsay because the way to get to the clouds was rather risky. Very few creatures wanted to travel over deep, dark, strong waters. Nevertheless, that didn’t keep Aspire and Confident from finding a boat and even persuading a few other creatures from their tribe to join their quest!

They simply couldn’t live their lives without having a taste of the Cotton Candy Clouds!

So, Aspire and Confident, with a few friends, grabbed their snack packs and ores and rolled their boats one early morning out to Belle Vue Beach. It was dark when they left their homes because they wanted to watch the sunrise for any clues for better success on the journey as requested by the keen Canny and Sharp.

Aspire and Confident had specifically convinced Canny, the dog, who owned the town boat shop, and Sharp, the eagle, who loved the ocean because they knew the sky and water well. Aspire and Confident knew they needed these important creatures.

It happened to be a gorgeous, golden sunrise that morning. It offered just the information they needed, and it was Sharp who first saw a clue. A tighter cluster of soft yellow clouds told her of the direction to aim for and Canny agreed. They also both agreed that the sunrise suggested it was the best day for the quest yet!

They were ready, or so they thought.

Aspire, Confident, Canny, Sharp, and Eager, the spitfire raccoon, pushed their two boats up to the shore. But, their efforts were halted. The waves were giant! All the animals watched as wave after wave crashed to the shore with an intimidating sound.

Then Eager shouted above the noise, “Well, what are we waiting for??”

This pulled all the creatures out of their fear. They started to push their boats out to the water. But, no matter how hard they pushed, pulled, and kicked at the water, they were no match against the heavy waves that shoved them back to shore as if to say, “Nope.”

After a while of trying, again and again, to push past the waves, Aspire and Confident were starting to lose some heart, especially after a mighty wave took Aspire with it, shooting water up his nose and tumbling him back to shore. After a moment of recovery, Aspire felt hope diminish. Confident shared the same feeling as he sat down beside Aspire.

They stared back at the waves and watched as the others started to crawl back up the shore coughing water out of their lungs as they went. No one had anything to say. They all plopped down together in defeat. Nothing was going to plan. After a moment of silence, Canny, who had begun to pace back and forth, burst out with a plan.

“I’ve got it! This whole time we have been trying to get over the waves but we need to go under them to get through!”

This idea filled the group with hope so they grabbed their boats to try again.

Canny stopped. “Wait….let me get some rope!” She ran off and quickly returned with ropes that she tied to the stern of the two boats. “Sharp, you fly the packs over and everyone else, grab the rope, and swim under the waves!”

The creatures followed Canny’s orders and eventually, with some struggle, pushed through and made it out to sea.

Aspire and Confident had renewed vigor as they led the little fleet out to sea with fresh excitement! After a couple of hours of rowing and drying under the warmth of the late morning sun, the creatures began dreaming together about the Cotton Candy Clouds.

“I wonder if the stories are accurate...” Canny mused.

“Oh, I bet they are!” Eager responded with a smile. “I can almost taste them!”

“How can you do that if you’ve never tried them before?” Everyone chimed in.

“Well,” began Eager, “My great great grandfather found the clouds and my family tells the story every year! He tried to make cotton candy just like them but never quite got it. He said he got close and we still have his recipe!”

“Wow, that’s great, Eager! I’m glad that you’re with us!” Confident exclaimed.

All the animals rowed on processing Eager’s story now that the idea of getting to the Cotton Candy Clouds seemed even more real and true!

But suddenly, something made them stop. Aspire couldn’t move his ore! He looked over the situation and saw that seaweed had somehow wrapped itself tightly around the end of his paddle, and it was keeping him from moving it.

“Hold up, guys! There’s seaweed stuck to my ore!”

Everyone stood still as Aspire tried to get the seaweed off. But for some reason, he was having a hard time. No matter how hard he tried to untwist, shake, and maneuver the seaweed off, the seaweed seemed to grip on tighter. Then, before he could blink, he felt his paddle get pulled right out of his grip and saw it disappear into the water.

He sat in shock, and before he could say anything, Eager cried out, “My paddle’s gone!”

Everyone else quickly pulled their paddles out of the water. Confident glanced at his paddle after he pulled it out, and noticed some seaweed. “Oh look, I have some seaweed too.”

He reached out to pluck it off. Somehow in an instant, it wrapped itself around his paw instead and started to slowly pull him into the water with it. Confident tried to break free but no effort of his was working.

“Uh…I think I need some help!” He shouted.

Everyone turned to see his look of terror as his arm was slowly being pulled into the water. Everyone screamed and scrambled for what to do. But they had no way to bring the boats closer. It was all up to Aspire, who was still in a bit of shock after losing his paddle. Sharp flew over and together she and Aspire pulled, scratched, and nibbled at the seaweed. But nothing worked.

Until, Canny shouted, “Oh wait! I heard about this kind of seaweed once. It can’t withstand fire!”

“Oh, great!” Everyone shouted. “We’re surrounded by water!”

“Wait!” Eager paused. “I have a lighter! I always keep it with me because I love fire!” She giggled and dug through her pack. “Found it! Let me see if it still works…yep!”

But before anyone was ready, she pulled her arm back and threw it!

It felt like slow motion as Aspire shouted, “waaaaaait!”

Everyone else watched in horror as it looked like Eager’s throw was coming up short. But in the blink of an eye, Sharp swooped in grabbing the lighter right in time before it touched the water.

There was silence then everyone cheered as Sharp gave Confident the lighter. After a few tries, Confident was able to free himself and relax. Sharp flew above to see how far the seaweed went.

“It’s not too much farther!” She shouted from overhead. “I’ll pull you all out of it!”

Sharp grabbed the ropes. One by one, with the power of her gorgeous wing span, she pulled them out of the seaweed forest. Once they felt they were at a comfortable distance from the seaweed, they all took a deep breath and continued. Their pace was much slower with two fewer ores, but they were grateful nonetheless.

“That was a close one!” Canny stated first. “Yay for pyromaniac Eager!”

Eager shouted, “and yay for the all-knowing Canny and the mighty Sharp!”

Everyone cheered, “Yay, yay!”

They rowed on in continued anticipation of what was to come. Then, Sharp, who was flying overhead, saw a big shadow move beneath them. She flew down to the boats, “Uh, guys, I saw something.”

Everyone looked where she nodded in time to see a pointy fin pop out of the water not too far ahead. Everyone froze. They all had heard about sharks before and how trifling with them was not a good idea. Sharks had capsized many boats and lost many creatures at sea. No one knew what to do. They all sat frozen in fear as more shark fins popped up until their boats were surrounded by not one, not two, not three, but four sharks.

“What do we do?” Aspire whispered to Confident loud enough for all the creatures to hear.

No one said a thing.

They sat for many minutes, maybe even an hour, in anguish waiting to see what would happen until, suddenly, all of the fins lowered and were gone. All the creatures looked at each other with hope, but before they could say anything, there was a splash. Gray fins started shooting out of the water everywhere.

“They’re attacking us!”

Suddenly a head and another and another popped out of the water before the boats. Everyone screamed. But, what they saw after came to their surprise.

“They’re dolphins!” Canny exclaimed.

Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief.

The three dolphins laughed. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to scare you! We saw a group of sharks circling you and thought that we could give you some help!”

“Thank you so much!” Confident gratefully exclaimed with a release of air.

“Yes, thank you!” Aspire agreed and everyone joined in with resounding gratefulness and sighs of relief.

“You’re welcome!” The dolphins happily laughed together. “Where are you off to?”

“The Cotton Candy Clouds!” Everyone shouted.

“Oh yes! We can help you get there!” The dolphins responded.

“Really??” Everyone was quite surprised.

“Yes, really!” The dolphins cheerfully responded. “Give us some of your rope!”

All the creatures looked at each other and quickly let loose some of their rope, and before they knew it, they were off at high speed pulled by the swiftest, kindest of dolphins. It was much faster than they would have gone, especially with two fewer paddles!

It was a ride like none of them had experienced before. Confident and Aspire exchanged glances of pure joy. Then, the dolphins slowed and stopped them in the middle of nowhere.

“Here you are! Just wait a bit and you’ll see them! Bye-bye!”

Off the dolphins went before anyone could say “thank you” or ask for their names. Canny sat back and relaxed. Confident and Aspire looked at each other and did the same thing. But, what they thought would be at most 30 minutes turned into an hour and then another until they began to wonder.

Eager said what everyone was thinking, “Um, did the dolphins take us to the right place?”

“Yes, they should have…I think…” Sharp didn’t seem so sure.

Now the sun was setting, but there was nothing in sight except for a few plain old white clouds. Until, a little cloud appeared.

Sharp shouted, “I see it!”

Everyone turned to see a vibrant pink cloud.

“I see another!” Eager shouted.

“Me too!” Aspire exclaimed.

Suddenly the sky was filled with row upon row of delightful pink, sparkly cotton candy clouds!

“I got this!” Sharp shouted as she flew into the sky and through the clouds grabbing tuft after tuft of fluffy pink goodness with her beak.

By the time she finished, the boats were jam-packed. Everyone was able to eat more than enough.

The cotton candy had the most awe-inspiring taste with a flavor no one could even imagine existed. It had a lingering sugary sweetness with bursts of fruity notes and a soft vanilla touch. The texture was soft and melty but never sticky. It was the most delightful experience they ever tasted!

Soon, the dolphins appeared again! Everyone cheered for them and made sure to share with them all the cotton candy that they wanted as well. Together they spent time eating, laughing, and sharing adventure stories until the bright moon hung overhead. With bellies and hearts full, all the creatures felt joy when the dolphins offered to help them get back, especially since it would be a different way.

“You saved us!” Aspire cheered. “We could never have done this without you!”

Everyone cheered, “Yes, thank you!”

“We don’t often get to do this, nor do we often get a taste of the clouds either!” One dolphin responded.

“We figured we’ll help you, and maybe, you’ll help us!” Another shouted.

“By the way, what are your names?” Confident asked.

“I’m Helpful!”

“I’m Favor!”

“And I’m Hope!”

Eventually, the dolphins lead them back to shore. Before they swam off, Confident stopped them.

“Before you go, we want to thank you. You are our friends! Let’s meet at the same time next week!”

“Yes, let’s!” The dolphins agreed, “See you again soon!”

Then they shot away swimming back to their part of the ocean.

Everyone lugged their boats home and slept well with smiles on their faces. Especially Aspire and Confident, who both knew the most valuable treasure they found that day was the new friendships they had made with Helpful, Favor, and Hope. Never once did they let those friendships go.