Treetop reader

As Willow settled into the village, Kassia spent the following days working hard in the community village alone. There was still lots of preparation to be done, marking out the flower beds and removing any remaining grass or mud from them. Furthermore, although Rowan had done a good job cutting back some of the remaining bushes and shrubs, he hadn’t exactly made a tidy job of it, so the rabbit spent time pruning the bushes in the places that didn’t have new shoots, to make them better fit the space.

Willow, on the other hand, spent most of the days tucked away in The Great Tree Library. There was not much she could help with in the garden yet, and she still had so much she wanted to learn about the village. Whenever she had the chance she would try to talk to the other fairies and ask about their memories of the fairy village and what it was like to grow up there. Kiki, Ruby, Maya and Arietta were all very happy to give up some of their time to talk to the young, green fairy. With each of them being part of a different fairy family, they all had different experiences and stories to tell, which greatly pleased little Willow.

For the rest of the time Willow spent in the library, she found great enjoyment in the history section, reading all about what had happened in the fairy village over the hundreds of years it had been hidden in the Emerald Forest. Occasionally she would be pestered by two young dragons in need of entertainment and she would happily put her book down to play hide and seek or read them a fairytale.

During her time in the library Willow began to slowly understand the struggle it was facing behind the scenes. At a glance, all the guardians were still busy with work, constantly on the move sorting and filing. But Willow began to notice the smaller things; how often Kiki would look out the window, hoping someone would arrive, and how often they would each subtly begin reading a book, bored from the lack of work to do. Although each day a handful of residents visited to choose a book, the library was seriously lacking in visitors. It was very rare for someone new to enter the library, let alone take out a book.

Willow could tell that Kiki longed for people to love the library and all its books. However, there was a very simple problem that was holding the library back. Kiki Lane was still such an unknown place. Yes, creatures within the forest were learning about a wonderful marketplace, but many of them knew little more than that. Willow and Kassia had only known about the village from the elder fairy’s stories. Anyone else they had mentioned it to, had no idea there was a village in the forest, let alone the existence of such an amazing library.

As she heard about this, Kiki realised she needed to make a decision. Should they guard the existence of The Great Tree Library to keep the important books safe and risk getting very few visitors? Or should they publicise and advertise the library’s existence and bring in more people at the risk of the wrong person getting hold of a valuable book? Customers were important, but so was safety. Surely with six guardians, and the majority of them being dragons, they could work out a good system to keep certain books safe. What the library needed was visitors and for that, people needed to know it was there.

On top of this, Kiki had begun to notice the large pile of books in need of repair that was growing larger by the day, the cracks in the wooden staircase and many more things that were beginning to show signs of years of wear. For the entirety of its existence, the library had been free to use. The village would have a fund for its upkeep that everyone helped out with, and books were often collected through donations, or written by residents. That fund, however, over the years after everyone had left had depleted into almost nothing. The village, now growing, needed money but so now did the library and that knowledge was beginning to weigh Kiki down.

Understanding that this was a problem far beyond her reach, Kiki reached out to Hattie. The little dog had turned out to be very good with business. She had easily taken over the accounting books and had thought of several ideas of how to bring in more income when they had more customers. She was the perfect person to go to for help. Kiki knew it would feel wrong to simply make people pay for the use of the library all the time but she needed a solution,

Thankfully, Hattie had already thought of an idea. With still not many visitors to the inn, Hattie often spent her free time brainstorming ideas for the inn, and the village as a whole. She had thought of this idea a few months before and had been simply waiting until the time was right, for when Kiki eventually reached out. The tan dog didn’t know how long the wait would be but she was sure there would be a time when Kiki needed some ideas for the library’s income.

The idea, if planned correctly, would be perfect - a personalised delivery service that was available to everyone in the Emerald Forest. Instead of trying to make everyone come to the library, they would bring the library to the customer. This would allow them to expand their reach whilst keeping the important books safe. The idea was simple; the librarians would pick out a book for each customer after hearing their preferences. Then, someone would deliver the new book and collect the old one. Each patron could decide on the regularity of the delivery and number of books and pay the fee accordingly when they received their delivery.

After Hattie finished her explanation of the plan to the guardian fairy, Kiki grinned, her wings tingling in excitement. This could actually work. As she returned to the library she began to tell the dragons all about the incredible idea. Everyone was very enthusiastic about it, with Kai already volunteering to be the delivery man. Hearing his offer, Kiki wondered why she hadn’t thought of it herself. The large red dragon was always very comfortable carrying large piles of books. He wouldn’t struggle to deliver the books like many of the other residents would. The only hurdle they had now was getting word out and finding their first customer. Overhearing the conversation, Willow began to think carefully. Who would be the perfect first customer?

A couple of days later the community garden was ready for Willow to use her magic. Planting was about to commence. On the first day of planting, the answer finally came to Willow as she ate her breakfast.

Over the last year she had made a few friends in the forest. She would sometimes pop in to see some of them as she checked on some of the more delicate plants nearby but there was always one creature who often baffled the bubbly green fairy.

Moriko was a wonderful Koala who loved reading - that was not the bit that confused her. It was the fact that the grey Koala never wanted to leave her tree which Willow didn’t understand. Moriko, staying in her favourite tree, was stuck reading the same handful of books each week. She never had the opportunity to find more as she was happy staying in her home. Willow had thought the lovely Koala would love The Great Tree Library when she had first entered it but had quickly brushed that thought aside, knowing Moriko would not want to travel or leave her tree. But this made her the perfect first customer of the delivery service.

The only hurdle was working out how to contact the treetop book lover. Willow now had her hands full, with the community garden needing her full attention, so she couldn’t go to talk to her friend. But without any previous experience, it would be hard for anyone else to find the exact tree  Moriko loved so dearly within an entire forest.

Willow quickly informed Kiki and the Dragons in the Library, but with little information left to give them she headed for the door, eager to help Kassia in the garden. “Wait!” cried Fumi as she watched the plant fairy leave. “How do you find her?” she asked as Willow paused by the door. “Her tree has a distinct marker within my magical plant sense.” replied Willow, unsure her response would be of any help.

Although young, Fumi was always very interested in learning and had read several books in the library on plant magic and trees. She had always loved learning more about these topics, perhaps due to her being a nature dragon. “Perhaps your friend lives in a tree which is different from most of the other ones in the Emerald Forest?” suggested Fumi, gazing hopefully at her new friend. Willow’s eyes flashed an almost yellow colour in surprise “The leaves did always look different in that small area of the forest,” she replied before mumbling “Why hadn’t I thought of that?”.

Not wanting to waste any of Willow’s time, the dragons let the plant fairy get to work in the community garden as Fumi rushed to look through the books that might give them some clue as to what type of tree Moriko loved. Pulling out several at a time, Fumi began searching for anything that could help. Noticing the little green dragon’s enthusiasm, Lienna sat down beside her offering to help. “One of the trees mentioned Koalas, I’m sure. I think it began with an E” explained Fumi, her head buried in a book as she flicked through the pages. “It’s in here somewhere” she mumbled to herself.

A few minutes later all heads snapped towards Fumi as she loudly exclaimed “Eucalyptus!”, finally remembering the name of the tree. It didn’t take long for the pair to finally find the right book with the eucalyptus entry. And sure enough, written in the description of the tree, Koalas were mentioned. Too excited to wait, Fumi hurtled out of the library, book in hand.

Reaching the community garden, Fumi was pleased to see Willow was not in the middle of something and rushed over to share what she had found. A little out of breath Fumi held the book up to the plant fairy.  “Eucalyptus. Koala” she panted as Willow looked at the drawing of the tree on the pages in front of her. Willow recognised the tree straight away. Fumi had been right; Moriko did live in a different type of tree and it was definitely a eucalyptus.

Hearing confirmation that this was the right tree, Fumi began to quickly question Willow on how her magic worked. Willow looked over at Kassia who was happily planting a camellia shrub and realised she had an opportunity to show the nature loving dragon a little bit of how it worked. Generally speaking, Willow rarely used her magic to speed up the growing process exponentially, she simply liked to give plants a helping hand but she had an opportunity to teach the young dragon without affecting the plant too much as it would bloom soon anyway.

Walking over to Kassia she patted the beige rabbit on the shoulder. As she finished planting the shrub, Kassia looked up to see Willow looking at her, a small green dragon watching closely behind. There were no words needed between the two old friends, Kassia understood immediately and stepped back, allowing Willow to work her magic.

Fumi watched in awe as magic seemed to radiate from the green fairy. The camellia shrub slowly began to flourish as one by one new flowers bloomed. It was a spectacular sight. As Willow worked her magic she calmly explained to Fumi how she focused on the magic flowing through her and carefully pulled it out onto the plant, allowing it to grow or flourish. It was a simple explanation which the young fairy recited in the way she had been taught only a few years ago.

As Willow finished her demonstration, Fumi worked through the basic instructions and began to try it herself. To both of their surprise, small magical vines sprouted up around a nearby tree, shimmering in the light. Taken aback, they both stared at the tree and then each other in silence. Fumi had her own plant magic!

Trying to understand what had just happened, Willow asked the shocked dragon what she had been thinking about when she had attempted to use magic. “I was thinking about beech trees” replied Fumi, her eyes shimmering with excitement as the vines disappeared. “Beech trees” echoed Willow, looking over at the tree Fumi had wrapped vines around. Realisation dawned on them as they both looked again- it was a beech tree.

Wanting to test the hypothesis running through her head, Willow noticed a cluster of daffodils growing on the far side of the garden. “Try daffodils” she directed. Fumi didn’t need to be told twice and quickly concentrated on her magic again. Sure enough, her magic did what Willow thought it would. The same magical vines stretched out on the floor creating a path to the cluster of unopened daffodils. Excitement rushing through her veins, Fumi slowly followed the path in front of her and as she walked, the vines disappeared behind her.

Realisation set in for them both. Fumi was the answer they were looking for! Her magic could lead her to the plant she was thinking of and she could find the eucalyptus trees. Not wanting to tire out the green dragon, Willow sent her back to the library to rest. Fumi rushed back with a spring in her step, excited to share the news of her magic with her dragon family.

Arriving at the great tree, she pushed open the door with a large smile. Noticing her arrival everyone quickly gathered to meet her and find out what had happened. Fumi shared with great pleasure that they indeed needed to find a eucalyptus tree in the forest and also about her magical revelation. Everyone was very excited for the little dragon and what it meant for their search. In most cases, Fumi’s magic would be of little use but for them it was perfect, a solution they didn’t know they would have.

In the following days, Fumi joined Kassia and Willow in the garden trying to learn and practice with her magic. She was a quick learner but her magical endurance was still quite short and even a small burst would need to be followed with rest and sometimes even a short nap. Back in the library, the rest of the dragons quickly set to work finding out which direction the eucalyptus trees might be. Willow was able to give them a few clues which helped to start their investigation but they needed to find some more solid evidence before they began their search.

Finally, after a week of learning and searching, they had a plan. On a bright, mild morning, Fumi and Kai headed out into the forest. They had a formulated route with them along with some wooden stakes Jasper had made for them with a leaf carved onto each one. Throughout their journey they were to place a stake to remind them of the route they had taken, and to help guide them home. If they were able to find the right tree, Kai would then be able to return another day without the need for Fumi’s magic, but they needed to succeed to make the plan work.

As they got closer to the area  in which they hoped to find eucalyptus trees, Fumi began to use her magic.  Vines began to trail on the forest floor, guiding them both, and Kai tried his best to hold in his surprise. Fumi had always used her magic in the garden and so none of the other dragons had seen her magic at work, they only had Fumi’s description. The shimmering vines amazed Kai, the large red dragon, and he began to wonder if any of the other dragons had untouched magic. That thought was for another day, he reminded himself. They had an important task to finish.

After ten minutes of following the path, Fumi’s magic was running low and she was becoming very exhausted. It wasn’t surprising, but what she had already achieved was impressive after only learning how to use her magic recently. Pushing on, Kai could see the little green dragon’s energy was quickly depleting. This could spell trouble. If they didn’t find the eucalyptus trees soon, their trip would be wasted. As the vines ahead of them began to disappear completely, the pair began to lose hope. How would they find the right place now?

Her eyelids beginning to close, Fumi looked up and suddenly noticed some trees in the distance with different leaves.  Had they actually made it? Exhausted, Fumi tugged on Kai’s hand next to her and sleepily pointed to the trees up ahead and mumbled “Eucalyptus” as her eyes began to close. Kai’s head snapped to where the tired dragon was pointing and realised they had made it.

With a new surge of energy, the red dragon carefully scooped the now sleeping green dragon into his arms, walking toward the trees ahead. Finding himself surrounded by several eucalyptus trees, Kai called out “Moriko?” his deep voice travelling through the area, trying not to wake his sleeping friend.

As he listened closely, a quiet reply travelled towards him “I’m up here”. Realising the creature was nearby, Kai looked up and spotted the grey fur of a Koala nearby - they had found Moriko! The gentle Koala was sitting up in the branches high above him with a book in hand. Nearby, Kai spotted a small bookshelf carved into the tree trunk, just like Willow had described to them.

After a quick introduction, the red dragon calmly began to explain to Moriko  that they were there on behalf of The Great Tree Library. Moriko was very excited to hear about the library as she had always wished she could read more books. Despite this, she was quick to jump in and state that she didn’t want to travel.  Expecting the dragons to now walk away, she was surprised when she realised the red dragon had no intention of leaving yet. He had more to say

Looking down at the sleeping Fumi, Kai gently slipped the letter she was holding out of her hand. “Willow told us that much. We do have a proposition for you though. All the details are written here” explained the red dragon, holding out the paper.

Intrigued, Moriko slowly climbed down towards Kai to read the paper, noticing he had his hands full with an adorable sleeping dragon. It was unlikely that he would bring the paper to her all the way up in the tree.

As she quickly skimmed through the details within the letter, Moriko’s purple eyes began to sparkle with excitement. Realising that they had offered the first delivery to be free of charge, the book-loving koala was very soon on board with the idea. “This sounds wonderful. When can I start?” chirped Moriko looking up from the letter.

Kai was slightly taken aback by the koala’s quick decision but quickly pulled himself together to make a deal. He suggested that they could start looking for books once they had returned and that he would happily deliver a small selection to her within the week. This hugely pleased Moriko, who had expected to wait longer.

After receiving a list of the koala’s book preferences, Kai began the journey back to Kiki Lane, the stakes as his guide, with a sleeping Fumi now gently snoring in his arms. They had their first trial customer!