Prelude: Leaf's Morning Soar

When she gets up early, Leaf likes to take an early fly to the nearby lake. Unlike some of her friends, Leaf is not a fairy. She is a plant girl. She doesn’t have wings and can’t fly by herself. But that doesn’t stop Leaf!

“Can I get a leaf?” Leaf asked the trees.

A nearby tree bent down, grabbed a huge nearby leaf and handed it to her.

“Can you hold me high in the air?” Leaf asked again.

The tree put it’s branch on the ground and Leaf walked onto it. Then the tree slowly raised it’s branch high into the air. Leaf wished for a gust of wind and held her leaf up high. The air heard her wish and blew her up into the air.

“Thank you!” Leaf yelled to the trees and the wind as she flew through the air.

Leaf held on tight. She blew across the forest floor and into a meadow. Then an updraft pulled her up above the trees! She flew over streams and over hills. She flew into fields covered with flowers. The smell of wild flowers filled the air around her. Leaf flew around trees, and back up into the sky.

“This is the easiest way to solve a maze,” Leaf thought to herself as she looked over the maze like paths through the forest below her. “Although sometimes it is fun to wander through the paths, especially if the trees feel like moving that day.”

She glided over until she saw the lake. The sand was white and the water was blue. As she floated to the ground, the sun peaked above the trees. The sunrise painted the horizon in vibrant colors. The sunrise reflected in the lake, showing the same colors in the water.

“Beautiful,” Leaf said to herself as she floated gently onto the shore. This was how Leaf liked to start her mornings in the stem forest. When she woke up early enough that is!

She felt drawn to the lake side, almost as if she heard someone singing. The mermaids did sing near here on misty mornings.

Chapter 1: Opening a Jar of Mist

“Olp,” Leaf thought she heard something. Her flower ears listened, but she only heard the wind. What a beautiful morning! I’ll let my roots suck up some water, Leaf thought. She took off her shoes and put her roots in the lake and sat down. The sun felt nice on her vine hair.

“Help.” This time it was definitely a voice asking for help. Leaf stood up and looked around the shore. Just honeyberry bushes, paw paw trees and calamondin trees blooming. She looked in the air, only some dragonflies and distant birds. She looked in the water. Just some sleeping mermaids and minnows. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Maybe it was just the wind after all? Leaf thought. She sat back down. “Help” Leaf heard from below. Maybe a gnome or dragon got stuck underground? Leaf worried.

Leaf started digging. “Help.” She heard again. “Help.” Her hole was filling with water, but Leaf kept digging. “HELP”, it was loud now. Then she found it. A clay jar was yelling “HELP.”

Leaf opened the jar, and a blue mist poured out. But instead of dispersing it collected on the ground as a blue goo. That’s strange, Leaf thought. Is this some kind of animal, or some kind of gadget? I haven’t seen anything like this before. The goo started to wiggle.

“Thank you,” the goo said. The goo grew arms, then legs, then a head. Soon the blue goo was a little blue woman.

Leaf asked the blue woman, “Who are you? What are you?”

“I am Ijiriji the genie. Oops, I shouldn’t have said that. I haven’t talked to anyone for a while. I was in that jar for more than a week.”

Ijiriji looked around nervously. She asked Leaf, “Who are you? What are you?”

Leaf replied, “My name is Leaf, I’m a plant girl. I’ve read about genies. Don’t I get three wishes?”

Ijiriji jumped back and popped like a water balloon. She reformed and asked as she was catching her breath, “Is that, huff, what Solomon promised you?”

“How long have you been stuck in there? Solomon has been gone for thousands of years.”

“Really? I have definitely been in that jar for more than a week.”

Leaf looked at her curiously. How did wishes work, what are the rules, how does genie magic work? What should I wish for? A puzzle, a new friend, a book, even a whole new library?! But before I decide…

“So, do you grant wishes?”

Ijiriji grew in size and her voice boomed, “I am Ijiriji, the great and powerful genie! And you dare ask me for a wish?!”

Leafs eyes darted around. Where’s that jar? What should I do?

Ijiriji coughed and shrunk back down.

“I’m kidding, I was so bored being locked up. Let’s play a game. I’ll give you a wish if you can beat me in a game of ‘Rock, Plant, Bug’. But if I win, you have to do anything I say.”

“Is this rock, paper, scissors, but with rocks, plants, and bugs instead?” Leaf asked.

“Probably. That must be a new game, I have been in that jar for a while. Be warned: no one can outsmart me. Here are the rules. We each get a box and put in a rock, plant, or bug. Then we open the boxes and give a point to the side whose item beats the other. Plant beats rock, bug beats plant, and rock beats bug. If we choose the same one, neither of us gets a point. First to 7 points wins. If I win, you have to do anything I say. If you win, I will grant you a wish.”

Leaf thought about the offer as she watched the waves on the shore. What if she is right and I can’t outsmart her? I can’t risk that, but she seems confident, too confident. “How about if I get one point before you get seven, I win, and if you get seven points first, you win?”

Ijiriji laughed, “I like you! But I don’t know you well enough yet to beat you seven to zero with high probability. How about this: if I get seven points before you get four, I win. But if you pass four points before I get seven points, you win?”

“Sure.” Now the game's in my favor.

Ijiriji walked into the nearby woods, and came back out with two shells. “We’ll use these shells as boxes. I already filled mine, go fill yours.”

Leaf went into the woods and put a small beetle in the shell, then she came back to the shore.

They opened their shells. Ijiriji played plant, Leaf played bug. Leaf won. She was excited. Only three more points and I win.

Ijiriji asked, “Why did you choose bug?”

Leaf answered, “Based on ‘rock, paper, scissors’, rock and plant are the probably most popular moves. The best move against these two is plant since it beats rock and doesn’t lose to plant. I guessed you knew this, so I chose bug.”

Ijiriji laughed, “Now I know how you think. I’ll win from now on. Afterall, I am smarter than you.”