Chapter 9

She was hesitant in the beginning, but as she drew deeper breaths, her voice became looser and freer. At first, the white birch tree didn’t seem any different, but then its branches and leaves began to rustle, brushing against one another, to sing along with Lotte. As she continued, a white mist began gathering around the trunk of the tree. Little by little, the fog grew denser, beginning to form a human shape. At last, a pale, slender woman stepped out from its shadows. Lotte ended her song when she saw her. Was this woman the spirit of the white birch tree? “Amazing! Incredible!” Alan earnestly clapped his paws, though Feoras still looked cross. But even the Cait Sith couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. “Um, hello,” I said, but the woman only looked down somberly. “We’re trying to revive the sacred trees. What should we do?” But she didn’t answer my question, shaking her head slightly instead. …Well, that wasn’t helpful at all. Just then, Alan gasped audibly. “Come to think of it, Sifla said the first tree and the second tree, the rowan tree, were sisters.” “Sisters?” “Yeah, that’s right. The white birch is the lady of the forest, and the rowan is the lady of the mountains. Since their respective months are right next to each other, they’re very close. Isn’t that right, Feoras?” “No idea. It’s news to me.” “What? You’re kidding! I’m positive you’ve heard about it. Sifla always told us the story of the sacred trees before we went to bed. Come on—you remember that one time—” “I don’t know what I don’t know! What’s with you today?!” “Then should I try summoning the spirit of the rowan tree as well?” Lotte made the suggestion voluntarily, which was pretty unusual for her, to be honest. Yeah, if we paid too much attention to those two, there’d be no end to this. Leaving them behind, we went over to the rowan tree. But this time, no woman appeared when Lotte sang her song. Why?! As we were trying to figure it out, Alan shambled over to us. “Hey!” He was gripping Feoras by the scruff of his neck. “Let go! All you do is sleep. I don’t get why you have to be so enthusiastic today!” “Feoras finally remembered!” “The story about the trees?” “No, a song. I’d never heard this one, but it seems useful. Go on, Feoras. Hurry up and sing it!” Yanked by Alan’s paw, Feoras’s neck was cinched tight. His face was turning bright red either from anger or from struggling to breathe. He finally shook Alan off him, and then he began to sing gruffly, mostly because he had no other choice. The forest lady drinks red fruit, her younger sister’s offering. Beneath the droplets from the leaves, the twitt’ring songbirds call the spring. The witch comes bathed in moonlight; a bridge to the fairies’ past she’ll bring. “Come to think of it, a rowan tree’s branches grow full with bright-red berries, don’t they?” mused Lotte. But Amanda dubiously looked at the tree. “This one doesn’t even have leaves.” “Maybe we just need to make it grow.” Sucy took out her wand. “Fas Doluus!” In the next moment, the branches sprang into motion, writhing and curling, and the dull-brown tree became fresher and younger, little by little. Poof! Poof, poof! It was kinda like someone pressed the fast-forward button: Glossy berries suddenly popped up on its branches. The forest lady was drawn in by an invisible force, leaving the base of the white birch tree where she’d been standing absently. She wobbled toward us on unsteady feet. “Yesssss!” I jumped up, waiting in anticipation for the woman to eat the fruit. But even now, all she did was stand there in melancholy, gazing up at the red berries in a longing way. Oh, come on! Why not?! “Wait a sec. Yo, Feoras. A moment ago, you said, ‘The forest lady drinks red fruit,’ right?” “…Yes.” Amanda gave a little grunt. “That doesn’t mean we’re supposed to make her swallow it whole, does it?” She was right: I’d feel really bad if we made her do that. “Oh yeah. Jasminka, I bet you can do it, can’t you?” Amanda shouted with shining eyes. “Meee?” “Yeah, you. Use those berries and make some juice. Right here, right now.” “Juuuice?” “It’s not a bad deal for you, either. I hear rowanberry juice is super-duper tasty. Bet you’ll wanna try it.” “…Can I driiink it?” “Sure, why not? Right, Feoras?!” “Don’t ask me.” “He says it’s fine.” “Okay, I’ll tryyy.” Perched on a nearby stone, Jasminka polished off the rest of her doughnut in one bite and brushed the crumbs off her. Then she rose into the air on her broom as slowly and leisurely as Alan. When she floated up to the tree, she plucked its red berries, dropping them into a flask she’d taken out from…somewhere. But where? She, uh, somehow took out a big bag of powder, too. What was that stuff? Sugar? Scooping it up with a spoon, she began shoveling it into the flask until you couldn’t see the red berries anymore. “Avi Brasta!” And then— —there was an explosion, scattering light, and the flask was filled with a transparent red liquid. Jasminka eagerly took a single sip, then nodded in satisfaction before descending on her broom in the same floaty, laid-back way. “Here. It’s gooood.” When she held the flask out to her, the woman finally smiled and daintily began to drink the juice. Jasminka watched her enviously, but as you’d expect, she somehow managed to control herself from snatching it from her. Before long, the woman drank the last of the juice, and then…the white birch and rowan trees blazed with light. It was honestly so bright, we couldn’t keep our eyes open, and we involuntarily covered our faces with our hands. When we peeked again, both trees seemed livelier and full of light, glistening as if a long, dreary storm had finally ended. I jumped up. “That was fantastic! Way to go, Jasminka!” “That’s my team for ya!” Amanda and I were so worked up, cheering and high-fiving each other. Beside us, I noticed Jasminka was munching away on something… Were those rowan berries? Geez! That was fast! “How’s that, Feoras? We’re not totally worthless, are we?!” “You didn’t do anything, Akko! Besides, I’m the one who remembered the song, so this was all thanks to me!” Feoras fired off another one of his retorts, but he was looking back and forth between the two revived trees in awe. “Amazing.” Alan’s nose twitched just a little. “So we should just do what the song says, right? I bet that’ll revive all of them!” “You say that as if it’s easy, Akko.” Alan laughed. Well, I mean, it was easy. All we had to do was combine our strengths. If we continued reviving them at top speed, we’d have this solved in no time flat! “What was the next thing again? Um…” “‘Beneath the droplets from the leaves, the twitt’ring songbirds call the spring.’ …I wonder if that means we should get a tree wet.” Lotte read aloud from her notebook. What? She’d heard the song only once, but she had it all written down. Nice! “That sounds like your cue, Constanze.” Amanda grinned. “That new project of yours. Show ’em what it can do.” “……” Constanze nodded, pulling out a big cylindrical object. Huh? What’s that? A bazooka? Wasn’t that the one she’d been working on when Professor Finnelan yelled at her?! Wait, now it’s got even more switches! And it’s way bigger than Constanze! Ignoring our surprise, she jumped onto the bazooka. “……” “Yeah, nice. Do it!” Seriously, Amanda, how are you actually holding a conversation with Constanze?! Impassively, she pushed some switches. Wait, that was…a keyboard. Was she inputting a spell instead of chanting it? “I like that. It looks handy.” Um, no, uh-uh, if people started using things like that, we’d all lose the ability to talk to one another. Like, how lazy can you get, Alan?! As I was thinking that… Boomf! …a blast of water hit the third tree—the ash tree—and the whole thing got soaked. “W-wait, you’re gonna break the tree!” “Zip it, Akko. Constanze wouldn’t screw up like that. See? She’s adjusting the water volume.” “I-is this even okay…?” I mean, sure, the tree was completely drenched, but… “Yeah, of course it is. You’re doin’ awesome, Constanze!” Amanda flexed her biceps, and Constanze flashed a thumbs-up in return. Her face was as blank as always, but…she looked…happy? I think. “Okay, it’s my turn next, huh? Lotte, what’s after this?” “‘The twitt’ring songbirds call the spring.’ I think that might be talking about the alder tree.” “The alder tree? That’s the fourth one?” “Uh-huh. It’s the first tree to blossom in spring. I’m not sure what ‘twittering songbirds’ means, though. There aren’t any songbirds here, are there?” “Leave that to me! Anything that flies is a friend of mine.” No sooner had Amanda spoken than she launched herself into the sky on her broom again. Her broom flew around freely but with perfect control, and white smoke sputtered from its tail. “That’s incredible! Broom trails!” Lotte gasped, sounding impressed. Broom trails were a type of cloud that originally got their name because they meant witches had gone by. I’d never seen any before, either. Wow, Amanda’s acrobatics were like something out of the circus! I couldn’t stop staring at her. …Wait. We needed songbirds, not clouds, right? Just when everyone was starting to wonder, Amanda yelled confidently: “Ku Bhagga Lins!” Twit-twit-twit-twit-twit! Chirping sweetly, pure-white songbirds appeared in the night sky. What?! How?! Holy smokes! She transformed those clouds into birds! “Okay, you guys. Come sing by the tree!” Amanda dropped into a steep dive, bringing the songbirds with her. They formed a twittering choir around the alder tree. Pop! Po-po-pop, pop! In rhythm with their song, the hanging alder flowers began to bloom. Life returned to its branches, and both the alder tree and ash tree began to glow. “We did it! We did it! Everybody’s amazing! We’re the best!” “Like I said, Akko, you haven’t done anything,” Feoras pointed out with a snicker. “…Ugh! Well, I will! My big scene’s coming up!” “Oh yeah? Show us what you’ve got, then.” “J-just you watch me. Next! Lotte, what’s next?!” “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Akko, please stop shaking me…” I’d grabbed Lotte’s shoulders and was rocking her back and forth until she was super-dizzy. Um, what was it again? I peeked at her notebook. “The witch comes bathed in moonlight; a bridge to the fairies’ past she’ll bring.” …Hmm. A witch bathed in moonlight… I felt as if I’d heard that somewhere else.