Submission (#1418) Approved

“It should be around here somewhere…” Symph mumbled to himself, searching low among the sea of pine trees.
“What size is it, again?” Mint inquired, standing not too far behind Symph as she searched.
“This size!” Symph crouched down, holding out his paw at about thigh height.
“Like… This one?” Mint patted through the light snow, and stopped at the base of a tiny pine, whose exposed roots spiraled out above the dirt, uncovered by snow.
“Yes!!” Symph jumped up, tail wagging, and hustled over to Mint, “This little guy was the only one of the saplings that can’t seem to take to the ground here! So, I thought it’d be perfect to give to you as a Christmas tree! We can plant it in your backyard, and see if it’ll take there!” With this, Symph knelt down and began quickly, yet skillfully, removing the dirt from around the sapling as Mint gently knelt down beside him, placing the temporary ceramic pot down. Within minutes, Symph’s harvesting expertise came to fruition, and together Mint and Symph picked up the plant and gingerly moved it into the pot. Mint, with a bit of a struggle, picked the pot back up as she stood again, her deer-like tail flicking away the snow that still stuck to her fur.
“Are you going to be okay with carrying that back? I can do it if you need me too,” Symph said as he stood back up, his fur dusted with snow.
“Oh I think I’ll be alright, thanks,” Mint shifted their grip on the pot, “But can we perhaps pick up the pace? I’m not built for this cold like you are.”
“Of course!” Symph started bounding back the way they had come, snow falling off the snow-leopard-like fur easily, with Mint following at a steady pace behind, but between the size difference between the two, and cautiously holding their new plant, the distance between Mint and Symph started growing.
Symph soon reached the clearing, where the land opened up from thick trees just briefly enough to allow a steady-flowing river pass through, where he swiftly pounced along the two-fallen-trees bridge that spread across it. By the time Symph had made it 3/4ths of the way to the other side, Mint had finally reached the clearing, and carefully made her way down to the bridge. Symph stopped and waited for her to cross, just to make sure they didn’t fall too far behind, when once again he noticed Mint shifting her grip and struggling with the potted pine. Symph started to call out to her, to offer assistance again, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw something sparkle gold from underneath the water. In the split second Symph had turned to look at it, that glowing gold had risen to the surface of the water and jumped, flowing easily over the bridge, and straight by Mint, where it then sank straight back into the water with a splash, its furred form disappearing under the current. Symph darted over immediately to Mint, who was lying on their back against the bridge.
“Mint!! Are you okay??” Symph said, kneeling down and reaching for their face.
“I’m alright, I’m okay,” Mint assured as she shakily rose and stood up, with the help of Symph, “Did you see that thing?”
“It looked like a seagong… I haven’t seen one this far inland before, though…” Symph began pondering about the possibility of seagongs wandering into streams when he heard Mint gasp, and, looking up, he saw her pointing.
“It grabbed the tree!”
Symph whipped his head around in the direction the seagong went, and, sure enough, moving against the down-stream current was the top of the young pine, bobbing and weaving as it was dragged away.
“C’mon! Let’s go!” Symph grabbed Mint’s hand and darted back across the bridge, to the side they had retrieved the tree originally, and began chasing the seagong from along the bank.
“S-Symph! Wait!” Poor Mint cried as she struggled to keep up. Not only was Symph a little under twice Mint’s size, Mint was also not as athletically inclined as Symph, and was basically being dragged by Symph. Seeing this imbalance, Symph turned mid-run and scooped up Mint into his arms bridal style, and continued to chase after the seagong, now with a flustered Mint in his arms.
Between fighting against the current, and dragging a tree along with it, the seagong’s speed tremendously slowed, and Symph and Mint started to gain ground on it. Sensing this, the seagong suddenly banked, and went down a branching stream, where the current was less strong. The duo chased it still, watching the gold shimmer under the water and the tree poke out above it. The water became increasingly still, until it opened up into a considerably small lake, where the seagong looked for a place to go. Symph dropped Mint without a warning and darted off to the edge of the treeline, where he dragged a felled tree out and pushed it into the stream at the mouth of the lake, trapping the seagong.
“There’s nowhere to go, now! Give us back our tree!” Mint demanded, stepping closer to the water. The seagong slowly lifted its furred head out of the water, letting Mint and Symph see it clearly. Its unusually kind eyes looked guilty and hurt, and between its mouth and paws, it gently held the potted pine. At Mint’s demand, the seagong slowly pattled to the edge of the water and gently, and awkwardly, set the tree down for them, before sinking backwards into the lake. Mint dragged it back onto the land and began inspecting it for damage, while Symph walked over to assist.
“Other than being drenched, I see nothing wrong with it, surprisingly,” Mint observed, still crouched down beside it.
“Good! Good,” Symph sighed in relief. Turning his gaze away from Mint and the tree, Symph looked to the water, where the seagong still sat, looking ashamed and hurt from underneath the water.
“Why… Why did you steal our tree?” Symph asked, gingerly stepping towards the water. While this seagong seemed mostly tamed and adjusted to terras, he was still aware of the danger a wild seagong could possess, especially when cornered. The seagong rose its head once again above the water, its ears and whiskers twitching. Half-submerged, it swam gently over to a part of the lake’s bank, where it began digging around the damp sand with its nose. Symph watched silently as it found what it was looking for, the seagong digging into the sand with its mouth, before disappearing back under the chilly water and approaching Symph again. At first, Symph thought he was seeing double, as the golden glowing star on the forehead of the seagong appeared to have doubled, when Symph realized it had doubled, as the seagong rose its head above the water again, presenting a single object in its mouth: A star-shaped tree topper.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Mint cooed as she approached, “Is that why you stole our tree? Because you wanted to celebrate, too?” The seagong tilted its head down, like a punished puppy, averting its eyes. Symph looked back and forth between the sullen seagong to where the soggy tree now rested. Symph gingerly took a few steps towards the seagong, where it perked its head up at the movement.
“How… Would you like to celebrate Christmas… With us?” Symph kneeled down to the seagong, tenderly reaching his hand out.

Within a little over two hours, the tiny pine sapling had been removed from its pot and planted a safe distance, but close, to the shore of the lake and had been decorated with the tiny ornaments, lights, and tinsel that Mint had bought.
“It’s all decorated now! Except for one thing…” Symph turned to the water where the seagong poked its head out, eyes wide, glinting with the soft glow of the Christmas lights. Gingerly, Symph knelt and opened his hand to it, where the seagong, just as gently, placed the star in Symph’s paw. As Symph got up and walked away, Mint approached and knelt down beside the water.
“I’m sorry about all of this, I think we all got off on the wrong foot… Or, fin,” Mint said apologetically, “Here! I wanted to give you this, to give us a good start.” In Mint’s hand she revealed a large, stocking-shaped seagong treat that the seagong gently, but happily took from Mint. As it munched away on its treat, the seagong and Mint both turned and watched Symph tenderly place the star atop the sapling. When it was done, Symph walked over and sat himself beside Mint and the seagong along the shore, and together the trio enjoyed their first Christmas together.