Revive, Sacred Trees

There were thirteen sacred trees and thirteen months in a fairy year. Alan explained that each tree represented a month in the fairy calendar.

“You copied that down in your homework, too, remember?” Lotte asked me.

I whistled, tuning her out.

To start, we all trotted down the hill and stood in front of the first tree: a white birch. It was pretty impressive, with lots of long, slim branches curving upward from its thick, weighty trunk.

Okay, but what did “reviving them” actually mean?

Because they didn’t look dead to me.

“They used to steep the leaves of all the sacred trees and drink it as a panacea in the past,” declared Feoras.

“Is that the nasty stuff we drank?”

Blech. Gross. In spite of myself, I stuck my tongue out. The mere memory of it was enough to make the inside of my mouth sting and prickle.

“They say it was the source of the fairy king’s power. Sifla was lamenting that the sacred trees and their powers have weakened in the present.”

“Meaning if we revive them, the fairy king’s power will return as well… Right?” Lotte fell to thinking.

Sucy indifferently shrugged. “Either way, we need to do something about the trees first. Did the two of you receive any hints?”

“Good question. Feoras, did you?”

“Even if I had, I wouldn’t tell you people.”

“Except you just told us about the cure-all.”

“Th-that was charity! Because you seemed so terribly helpless!” Flushing bright red, he turned away in a huff.

As he continued to pout, Sucy put a hand on the trunk of the tree and looked up into its branches. “Wouldn’t it be faster just to ask it directly?”

“Directly? What do you mean?” I asked.

“Have Lotte summon the spirit of this tree.” She pointed directly at her.

“Wh-what?” Lotte stammered, suddenly at the center of our conversation.

“I feel like an old tree should have a spirit living in it, just the way old tools do. Especially if it’s a sacred tree, right? I’d say that makes this a job for you, Lotte.”

“Yeah! Sucy, you’re a genius!”

“U-u-u-uh, but…”

If you didn’t know, Lotte’s family runs a secondhand shop, where they have this mysterious song that’s been handed down for generations. It’s a special song to summon the spirits in old tools.

“Go on, Lotte—try it. Think about how much it’ll help all of us!” I encouraged.

“Uh, umm…”

“Unless we do something about the sacred trees, we’ll never get back to where we came from.”

“Uhhhhh…”

“I’m asking you, too, Lotte. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you sing, and I’d like to hear it again,” Sucy prodded.

“Um…” Yes! Lotte was finally starting to waver.

Amanda reassured her with a nod. “Don’t worry. Even if you screw up, we won’t laugh or anything. Although we might if it was Akko.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“…All right. I’ll try it.” Lotte drew a big breath.

La-la-la, lu-la-la, lu-li-la-la-la.

She began to sing a gentle, tranquil melody, softly enveloping all of us.

Li-lu-lu-lu, lu-la-la, la-la-la-la-la.

I thought Lotte and her singing voice had a lot in common. They both somehow dissolved all my worries.

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.

I looked down at my hand.

Oh yeah. That’s right! This thing. The willow amulet Sifla gave me. She said when it absorbed light from the moon, it made your magic stronger.

I was inexplicably drawn toward the fifth tree, where I set both hands on the willow’s thick trunk. Once again, the amulet shone faintly silver.

Shimmer, glimmer, gleam.

Whoa, the willow branches began getting brighter, too.

“Akko? What’s the matter?” I heard Lotte calling out to me, but I couldn’t answer her. Not now.

The silver glow grew bigger and bigger, enveloping me from head to toe.

And the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by light.

Sifla was standing in front of me.

“Why are you here?!”

“That’s my line, Akko. What are you doing in my room?”

“Your room? Wait, no, what are you saying? This is the Country of…”

She and I both looked at our amulets simultaneously. So these guys were to blame, huh?

“Did you find Feoras and Alan?”

“We did, but…um.”

I briefly explained what had happened up until now: I told her that Feoras and Alan were the kings of the Cait Sith and Cu Sith, respectively. That they were both undergoing a trial to become the fairy king. That to make that happen, we were trying to revive the sacred trees. That Feoras’s song had given us a hint.

I watched as she lowered her eyebrows and pursed her lips, sad and gloomy.

“So Feoras is trying to become the fairy king to make the fairies acknowledge me as their guardian?”

“Uh, well, I don’t think that’s the only reason, but yeah.”

“In that case, if I said I didn’t need to be recognized as one…would he quit the trial and come back home?”

“No, you can’t do that!” I yelled reflexively.

She widened her eyes. “Akko…?”

“You absolutely can’t. If you do that, everything they’ve done so far will be for nothing. Would you be okay with that, Sifla?”

“But…there’s nothing else I can do…”

Ugh. I was getting more and more irritated with her whining.

Like, if you think there’s nothing you can do, then find something else to do! Start with what you can do and go from there!

“Listen, Sifla. A little while ago, I dreamed about a girl who looked just like you.”

Sifla’s eyes got even bigger with surprise.

“She was hugging a cat and dog who’d been fighting and said, if they were going to be with each other anyway, it was better to smile together than hurt each other… You know what? If you’re not gonna do it, I will. I’ll figure out a way to let them laugh together. But, Sifla, listen to me: They’re your precious friends, right? In that case, let’s do something about it together!”

I wasn’t sure how she responded.

That was because I came to in the next moment.

I was back with everybody else… Huh?

“What’s wrong, Akko? You touched the willow and then kind of just spaced out.” Worried, Lotte peered into my face.

“…I don’t know. But…” I looked down at the willow amulet, which wasn’t glowing anymore. “…I think I’m the witch ‘bathed in moonlight.’”

“Huh? Oh, get over yourself, Akko,” Amanda snarked.

But I didn’t back down. “I know I’m right… Well, technically, it’s probably Sifla. But she’s not here, so I’ve gotta do it in her place.”

“Huh… I wonder what ‘bridging the past’ means.”

Beside Lotte’s contemplative face, I spotted an ominous smirk. Oh, yikes! I scooted back—fast.

…Seriously, Sucy, what’s your problem? What’s that sweet smile of yours for?

“Lucky you, Akko. It’s finally your turn.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Drink.”

“Huh?”

“I said drink this.” Sucy thrust a flask of questionable liquid at me. “It’s a potion with powdered hawthorn in it.”

“Why me?! I don’t wanna! I mean, I obviously don’t wanna! Who would?!”

“You promised.”

“What?”

“You promised you’d be my guinea pig.”

“Uhhhhhhhh, well, yeah, I did, but—now?!”

“Now.” Sucy wouldn’t budge.

When did she make this stuff anyway?!

“You said you wouldn’t complain.”

“I did. I did, but… But!”

Honestly, if she’d given me hawthorn juice, I would have drunk it—gladly! But the liquid in the flask was purple and bubbling in a gloppy, gross way.

I couldn’t possibly just gulp down something like that!

“How in the world did you make something that looks this dangerous?!”

“I may have added a few things from my collection.”

“That means it’s poisonous, doesn’t it?!”

“Not necessarily. As I keep telling you, poison and medicine are two sides of the same coin.”

“You can’t really expect me to put something that scary into my mouth!” I lit into her. “First of all! Why do I have to be the one to drink this anyway?!”

“Well, the one after the willow tree is the hawthorn tree.”

I complained and persisted, but Sucy was dead set on her decision.

“You know, they say fairies live in the hawthorn tree, and memories of the past flow through the heart of its trunk. This potion has hawthorn in it, so if you drink it, you may be able to bridge the fairies’ past or whatever.” Sucy’s indifferent explanation was weirdly persuasive.

I-if what she was saying was true, then drinking it would be worth a try, but—!

“Is there any guarantee I’ll be all right?”

“At the very least, nothing in there will kill you.”

“That’s not what I’m asking…!”

“Akko. Are you trying to break a promise?” Sucy leaned in, looming over me. “Do you think it’s all right for witches to break their contracts?”

“Contracts? It wasn’t that big—”

“You also said you’re the one going next. You’re gonna be useful, aren’t you?”

“Guh, guh-guh-guh-guh-guh.”

Ugh. I knew I shouldn’t have made that promise!

I snatched that flask from Sucy!

“I just have to drink it, right?! Fine! A woman never goes back on her word!”

“That’s it. That’s the spirit.”

As Sucy cheered apathetically, I glared at the flask. Wow… The longer I looked at this stuff, the sketchier it seemed… Hey, wait a second. Just now, just for a second, did I see bubbles in the shape of a skull?!

It was no good. The more I looked at it, the more I wanted to run away.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched my nose. Then I opened my mouth wide and poured the contents of the flask into it, all at once. Now that I was drinking it, it actually tasted pretty go—

“Ugh-ga-gi-go-ge-gi-gah!”

Yuck, that was really nasty! It was way more awful than that earlier stuff! And it was so bitter, too!

With an unearthly scream, I fell over backward for the second time.

“A-Akko?!”

With Lotte’s panicked voice echoing in my ears, my consciousness dimmed.

Ahhh… What a short life…

When I came to my senses again, I was standing in darkness once more.

I knew it. This dream again.

On impulse, I looked for her…and there she was.

The girl, the cat, and the dog: The three of them were cuddled together, happy and contented.

You see, magic exists to make everyone smile.

Her silver hair was so transparent, it practically melted into the light of a full moon, and her large eyes shone the same silver.

Wow. She really did look like Sifla.

Did you know? They say falling stars make wishes come true. But I wouldn’t be strong enough to call down a falling star for each wish of every fairy on the hill—not on my own.

The cat meowed, calling out to her.

The dog woofed softly, begging for attention.

The three of us will rule the hill together in harmony.

She smiled, hugging the two animals closer to her, one on each side.

The cats will bring freedom, the dogs loyalty, and the witches the power to protect. As long as the three of us combine our strength, we’ll preserve peace on this hill.

They both snorted in agreement.

Together, the three of us are one fairy king. It won’t work if even one of us is missing… All right? It’s a promise.

Gradually, the three silhouettes faded in front of me.

No! I impulsively stretched out my hand. “Wait! Are you…?!”

I couldn’t reach them—not with my voice or with my outstretched hand.

Quietly and slowly, I drifted away from the darkness.

I opened my eyes.

I’d been crying.

“What’s the matter, Akko? What happened?!”

“Ungh…” I sat up, rubbing my eyes. My back was in a whole lotta pain from falling over so many times.

The girl in my dream was Sifla.

I didn’t have any proof, but I instinctively knew. There was no doubt about it.

“Listen, I had a dream. About Sifla.”

Alan twitched at the sound of her name and raised his heavy eyelids, waking up from his nap. I kinda had a feeling he was faking it, though. Feoras also tossed a dubious look in my direction.

“It wasn’t the current Sifla, though. She was probably…the first Sifla. I bet the cat and dog were your ancestors, too.”

I told them everything about my dreams, starting with the first one, with as many details as I could remember.

As Feoras and Alan listened, their expressions clouded over.

“Hey, are you sure the fairy king is just one person? Weren’t you actually supposed to work together right from the start?” I asked.

“…It really is odd, isn’t it?” said Alan as he sat up. “It was a spur-of-the-moment idea to have you all help, but everything so far would’ve been impossible for the Sith to do by ourselves. It’s almost as if borrowing the power of a witch is required.” He gave an uncharacteristically thoughtful frown. “We’ve always been told the point of this trial was to determine whether the Cait Sith or Cu Sith was best suited to rule the hill…but maybe it isn’t. What do you say, Feoras?”

He didn’t respond.

Oh no. I had a sinking feeling that maybe Sifla should’ve been here with them. Right from the very beginning, she was the one supposed to help them, not us.

Softly, I laid a hand over the amulet on my wrist.

“Akko. Look…” Lotte tugged at my sleeve, and I turned around.

The willow and hawthorn trees were enveloped in a warm glow.

At long last, six of the trees had revived.