Markisah flew gracefully towards the crown of the sacred Tri-colored World Tree. The increasing pressure had no effect on her as she had been blessed with a Sacred Mistral Leaf, the pink leaf from the top-most part of the World Tree, bestowed upon her by her friend, Suria. The pink leaf carried a drop of essence of the sacred tree with it. Once imprinted into her using Suria's arcane arts, she could detect a trace connection between her and the tree itself, as if the tree recognized her as one of its own. Due to that, the pressure restriction was automatically lifted from her when she entered the forbidden zone. This was the true function of the Sacred Mistral Leaf. She remembered that Suria once mentioned that there were no more than ten Sacred Mistral Leaves formed in thousands of years.

 

Although Hana might not know it, Suria's gift was considered extremely meaningful, valuable, and rare. It already translated into putting her future into Hana's hand. Once Hana assimilated with the Sacred Mistral Leaf, she could attack the sacred tree as she like while the tree remained defenseless. Markisah marveled at Suria's less-than-ideal actions and confidence (it was a polite way of saying stupid in her humble opinion). She couldn't even hold off the fox and the snake's attacks before. Or was it because she was THAT desperate to impress Hana?

 

Markisah sighed as she was reminded of her majestic bird friend. Suria had been a little more formal with her now after she has been beaten up by the white fox. She didn't treat her as warmly as before, all the jokes and teases were gone, replaced by a slightly warm tone filled with a little cautiousness. It pained her somewhat, but she was resigned to it. She knew she was the culprit who had sparked the tiny misunderstanding between them. How could she know that her jovial friend had the intention of attacking Hana? If she did, she would've advice immediately against it since her friend will be outnumbered from the very beginning. She felt that, in her friend’s heart, since then, her position had been further downgraded. Furthermore, she felt that she was not entirely considered as a part of the ancient World Tree Sanctuary camp anymore, just a friendly neighborhood bird.

As she landed in Suria’s abode, the large four-winged spirit avian enthusiastically asked, "Did you give the Sacred Mistral Leaf to the Mistress?? What was her response?" Eagerness filled Suria's sparkly large eyes as she waited for Markisah's answer. She hoped that her well-intentioned, thoughtful gift could impress the Mistress while giving herself a more favorable, lofty, and grand image. Markisah had introduced Hana as 'Mistress Hana' after the cheap snake had glared to her a moment too long. She also understood that Hana needed to be respected to prevent something like the previous 'misunderstanding' from happening again.

"Err... I need to be truthful with you, Suria. After I passed the leaf to Hana and told her exactly what you said, Shiro, you know, the white mirror fox or something, immediately took it away."

"Hah?! Why?!" Suria was so baffled but tried her best to contain herself from leaping up into the leaves in a fit of rage. How dare that lowly subordinate took away the sacred leaf owned by its master?! The Mistress was indeed a lax creature to be taken advantage of! She regretted not going on her own!

 

Markisah could read her mind like an open book as she sighed at her pitiful friend, "You should be glad you're not there yourself. If you did, you'd be trashed again for the second time. The fox, Shiro, had said he was the one who will do the visiting. Additionally, with a menacing tone like you've offended him big time."

 

"But I didn't say anything! You were the one who talked to him!" This time, Suria felt like crying. She now understood she had somehow offended that group again. 

Markisah shrugged her wings gently, "I just copied what you said, letter-by-letter. You can't blame me. Anyhow, I need to borrow some friends to help out with something for Mistress Hana. I got to go, Suria. An advice from me. Just act servile when they come over in the future. Better yet, you should go yourself to clear off any misunderstanding. Maybe, this time, they could finally feel your sincerity."

She flew towards the gigantic bird and patted her head sympathetically. "Don't worry too much. As long as you didn't act like before and make them felt threatened, I guess you'd be alright. Mistress Hana is very kind towards any spirit beasts, especially if she deemed you cute enough."

Suria cleared her throat a few times as she scrunched her brow intensely, "Markisah... "

Markisah waited, but the next sentence didn't come.

"Yes, Suria. Is there anything else? I really need to get going. Just stopping by to let you know what happen."

"Er.. ehem.. To Mistress Hana, am I cute enough?"

Markisah, "... "

An awkward silence ensued. After a while, Markisah replied cautiously, "Hmm... I am not sure. But the fact that you tried to beat up her precious mirror fox before did tick her off. That Shiro is the embodiment of cuteness to my friend. I've seen how she drooled over his fluffed tail. It was somewhat disturbing."

At the moment, Suria felt extremely depressed. She felt that she had made the wrong move from the very beginning. How could she know that the white fox with the branch on its head was the Mistress favorite? If only she could turn back time.

...

As Markisah flew down to her own hometown at one of the lower branches of the blessed World Tree, thousands of chirpings resounded merrily around her from all directions. It was as if her actions had invoked a wave of fluttering movements en masse. 

"Markisah!"

"It's Markisah!"

"Hey, girl! We miss you, girl!"

"Our beautiful belle is back!"

"Our beautiful Markisah is back!"

"The lucky named girl is back!"

 

"Who?"

 

"The one who was blessed with a name by our Lord Suria!" 

They have heard that this once completely ordinary little passerine yellow bird had been bestowed with a name by the Lord herself. She had recently flown to the top-most crown of the blessed Tri-colored World Tree to meet with the Lord! The story did not just stop there. The kepoh kind¹busybody (had been explained in earlier chapters, but you guys might forget since it was so long ago haha) dug out old stories where Markisah had attracted the attention of their Lord by embellishing her own nest beautifully. This had started a home-beautifying trend at the lower branches of the World Tree. As such, the majestic World Tree became more beautiful with various colorful embellishments hanging from the branches. The biggest gossip was how by gaining favor through being creative and being named by the Lord had changed Markisah's life and turning her into an extraordinary bird.

Everybody wanted to be her. They doted her, cherished her, liked her, and some even envied her.

Hundreds of birds of many shapes and colors flew in excitement towards Markisah like a torrent.

 

The little yellow minivet with black highlighted wings and speckled chest had transformed into something out of the ordinary. Her black highlighted tail had been replaced with a glossy-black long, luxuriant plume as her tail feathers; esthetically pleasing and eye-catching. Her regal orangey crown-like feathers atop her head made her more lovely than her usual features. However, her friendliness did not change. She was as amiable and as sociable as usual to everyone, the epitome of the girl-next-door. This had resulted in her becoming extremely popular amongst the avians present!

"Markisah, did you just return from the Lord's abode?"

"Markisah, what did the Lord looks like?"

"Is she as powerful as the one in the stories?"

"Can you introduce us to the Lord?"

"Can we play together today?"

"Let's all sing and dance together to celebrate Markisah's return!"

A series of excited chirps resounded around Markisah, as she just smiled it off. She answered them perfunctorily and proceeded to her main goal.

"All! I have a favor to ask of you!" Before she could continue to explain, as usual, a series of chirps cut her off and kept on asking. Markisah could only shake her head while she smiled in her heart. She knew that although they were not the brightest, these little ones were full of vigor regardless of day or night, rain or shine. She had to let them blow off their steam and quietened down by themselves before she could proceed patiently.

"What favor?"

"Just let us know. We will help as much as we can!"

"Do we get anything in return?"

"Is this a job by Lord Suria?"

"Can we meet her if we help out?"

"I want to help! I want to help! I want to help!"

After everyone's vigor had toned down, Markisah took a deep breath and dramatically swished her tail and flapped her wings to show that she wanted to start her speech. "This deal is better than helping the Lord. Another Lord from another region wanted help to collect seeds. Any seeds that could be used for eating. If the seeds turned into delicious fruits or herbs loved by the Lord, the lucky chap would get a reward! Do you know who this Lord is? This is another friend of mine. Not a bird, but so much more generous! Even Lord Suria needed help from this Lord! Imagine! If you could receive her graces, what could happen?!"

Markisah read up the speech she had meticulously prepared in her mind to help edify Hana. She needed to make this seed collection event a success to show how much she felt gratitude for the generous friend of hers. She knew, her actions this time would elevate Hana's popularity, which she thought will be a good thing. After all, this kind of help could be gotten easily once these not-so-bright birds knew how valuable it was to be in Hana's good books.

Thousands of birds chirped in synchronization as if a festival had started!

Markisah nodded with satisfaction at the effect of her speech. Although she did bring down her friend, Suria, just a tiny bit, technically she didn't lie. It was the truth that Suria desperately needed Hana's help to overcome her current bottleneck to step into the realm of a true Lord.

 

That afternoon, a bizarre phenomenon occurred in the southeastern sky, tens of kilometers away from Hana's posh sojourn. Thousands of birds hovering over the sacred ancient tri-colored tree dispersed simultaneously in all directions. From afar, it looked like someone had cracked a hornets' nest, and thousands of them came out from their house to defend it together. However, these birds flew further and further away, until none was seen nearby. Only a few spirit beasts noticed the peculiar phenomenon happening atop the gigantic tree.

 

Although it seemed like its residents were vacating their homes with no one left defending it, nobody dared approach the ancient floating tree at all. It was widely known that the spirit tree had a life of its own, and only allowed avians to approach it. Land animals or spirit beasts who approached its base will be attacked by a sudden gust filled with sharp invisible blades, effectively ending their lives. At the same time, their blood nourished the land at the base of the tree. At that moment, when the land turned deep red, it was the most dangerous period to approach the malicious spirit tree. Periodically, a burst of sharp vines will protrude out to suck out the 'fertilizers' from the red earth below until the land returned to its natural color.

Some said, if a sufficiently strong spirit beast died at the base of the floating tree, the holy daughter of the tree itself will fly down from its crown to feast. All these mind-numbing rumors had already made beasts with intelligence to give it a wide berth.

Markisah was still perching atop one of the branches, admiring her own 'handiwork' with satisfaction. Looking at these gullible friends and acquaintances of hers made her heart felt so gratified. She knew she could definitely produce good results upon Hana's return from her visit to Ara's home.

 

After all, her networking prowess was top-notch.

That was the privilege of a popular socialite like her.

...

Authors’ Note:

1) the kepoh kind = busybody (had been explained in earlier chapters, but you guys might forget since it was so long ago haha)