The Investigation

"I bet they had the time of their lives!" Auntie Blossom stated as Mom and Pathy joined her, walking back down the ramp toward the storage room. They just had a lovely chat about the trouble they got up to in their youth while snacking on grapes in the Head Librarian's quarters.

The door swung open, and all three walked into the storage room with warm smiles on their faces, expecting a kaydee and a keedo lazing about with full bellies.

Pathy screamed so loud the entire tree probably heard it.

The Head Librarian pulled out a whistle from around her neck, then blew it while simultaneously knocking on the wall five times. Blow and knock, blow and knock, blow and knock, blow and knock, blow and knock.

Mom dashed forward, pulling items from her poncho with both hands at the same time, ready to strike. She dashed around the room, checking for danger.

The room was a mess. There was blood everywhere. And their children were nowhere to be seen.

In the center of the room lay the body of a beheaded, enormous black snake. Its head lay off to the side, facing the entrance.

"I've found them!" Mom said, after she climbed over the snake and found the two children snuggling together, absolutely drenched in blood, their faces covered in beetle guts. "They're alive!" She jumped down next to them, pocketed whatever she was holding, and felt them with both hands. "They seem... fine. Super gross, but fine."

Upon hearing the news, Pathy snapped out of her state of shock and scrambled around the snake to reach her keedo. She stopped beside Bloom, and the two of them looked at their children—then at each other—sharing the exact same thought.

Then both children wiggled their noses—like they smelled something familiar—and began to stir. Without even opening their eyes, they slowly detached themselves from each other and began slinking across the snake’s bloody entrails toward their mothers.

Both moms took a step back as the kids crept closer. Then they stepped back again when the kids grew near. This repeated until both moms were backed against the wall.

With sad, pleading eyes, both moms shared a look that said, "Is this really happening?" Then, teeth clenched in a grimace, they closed their eyes and looked away as they accepted their fate. And both absolutely disgusting, foul-smelling keedos climbed up and into their pouches.

--------------------------------------------

"BY THE GODS! What in the name of FRICK happened here‽" a deep voice sounded from the doorway as three large, green tree frogs crawled in from the sides of the walls. The one that spoke stepped down and stood up on two legs in front of Blossom, looking around. He towered over her, about twice her height.

The Head Librarian turned to look at the newcomer, "Thank you for coming, Mister Un." She had a very serious expression, "There's been a breach of tree security, as you can see." She gestured at the body of the giant snake.

Mr. Un responded, in a booming voice, "I'LL SAY!" then turned to his companions, "Look around and see what you can find." The other two frogs nodded and began crawling up the walls.

He then noticed Bloom and Pathy, backs against the wall, as two bloody young kads crawled up and into their pouches. "Oh, it's you, Proscribrarian! MY GOODNESS! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC WORK dispatching this... thing." Apparently, Pathy hadn't even factored into his assessment.

"I am beyond impressed!" he exclaimed, "I knew you folks were tough hoppers but... Wow!" He then walked over and kicked the snake's head. "This thing would've given the whole security force a hard time!" He then turned to the Head Librarian and spoke softly, "We'd still win, though," and clapped his absolutely enormous webbed hands together in front of his face in a solemn gesture.

Bloom did her best to wipe the look of disgust off her face, then walked over to Mr. Un. "Actually, you're not going to believe this, but..." she then pointed with both hands down at her pouch, "I think our children killed it." She gestured at Pathy, still in shock, leaning against the wall.

Mr. Un just smiled broadly. "Come on, you can't expect me to believe that," he said, then gestured with both hands at the corpse of the snake and added, "some keedo isn't going to behead something this big."

"I'm serious, Mr. Un. We left them in this room to have some fun debugging sugar snap beetles, then went off to chat," the Proscribrarian replied. She looked around and continued, "We were only gone for about ten moments, and when we came back, we found the place like this." She gestured toward the corpse. "And both kids were fine! Absolutely covered in blood and bug guts, but fine." Then she gave an exasperated look and spoke softly, "They were sleeping.  Next to the snake!"

Maybe one of them has some sort of potent cutting gift?  Mr. Un considered to himself. Kads have some strange, yet powerful abilities.

"I've found something!" one of the frogs shouted from a far corner of the room. Then another, more feminine voice shouted, "Me too!" and she leapt down from the ceiling, using her extra-large webbed feet to slow her descent. She landed with a loud slap in the pool of blood on the other side of the corpse.

The female frog then climbed over the snake's body with a long, flat, bloody object in her mouth. It had twists and bends in places but appeared quite stiff. She spat it out onto the floor in front of Mr. Un and Bloom.

"Good eyes, Miss Bee." Mr. Un then picked up the object. "Well, that explains how it was beheaded." He explained, "See this bend, right here?" he pointed at a spot about halfway down its length. He then pointed at the severed head. "It matches the cut, here," and pointed out that the cut through the head was slightly V-shaped, matching the bend in the object exactly.

Bloom suddenly recognized the object. "Oh, Maizy! Your ribbon, it's ruined!" She then considered the implications. "Wait, how did she even get it off?" Then realization cut into her mind. "It has hardening magic!" she exclaimed.

She gestured for Mr. Un to give her the ribbon, and he did. Then, using the sharp tip of her index claw, she sliced open the top layer of fabric, revealing a very thin strip of magic wood embedded inside. She tore the cloth away, laying bare a magic symbol that Mr. Un and his colleagues were intimately familiar with—Hardening, the exact same symbol found on the backs of all the tree frogs.

Mr. Un's eyes opened wide as he asked Bloom, "This is a ribbon?"

Bloom replied, "Yes. It's specially made for kaydees... To prevent them from untying it or tearing it off. It was an invention of my mother, who was sick of Blossom and I tearing our ribbons off when we went outside to play."

She continued, "I thought that the only way to get it off was with a null crystal or... my gift." Bloom then turned to Blossom and asked, "Is there another way?"

The Head Librarian shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of. I always used null crystals with my kaydees." She then asked her sister, "Maybe she has the same gift as you? That would make sense; she is your kaydee."

Bloom considered, then a thought struck her. "She probably doesn't have my gift because I think I just figured out how she sliced through the snake." She then walked over to the body and started hacking at it with the ribbon. It only made minor, surface cuts.

She continued, "The ribbon alone wouldn't be enough to cut through the snake." Then she smiled brightly and said, "But if she had her dad's gift," and made a dramatic slice through the air with a "shwoop!" sound.

"Who's the father?" asked Mr. Un.

Bloom grinned proudly and exclaimed, "Patch Cracker!"

"Ah! Hah!  Hah!  That explains everything!" Mr. Un hopped, excited. Then Miss Bee joined in, and the two locked arms and started dancing together.

"Oh, that's such wonderful news," Miss Bee was ecstatic. "The tree will be so much safer—when she grows up, of course!" She stated the last part a little apologetically.

Pathy started walking toward the others, then spoke up, "We don't know for certain that it was Maizy who killed the snake." She then pointed at her pouch, raised her eyebrows, and said, "It could've been Path."

"Sure, sure," Mr. Un placated Pathy—who he knew had already given birth to three kads with the shaper gift—then the third tree frog crawled up over the snake, sat down in front of them, and spat out a small caterpillar.

The Head Librarian recognized it immediately and let out a sharp, furious hiss. "The Insect Queen," she snarled, and everyone else in the room rolled their eyes. "This means war!" She declared, her face twisted in rage.

"Now, now, Head Librarian," Mr. Un said, raising a calming hand. "We don't know that for certain just yet. Besides, she can only open a portal as big as she is—and she is most definitely not this big." He gestured dramatically at the body of the massive snake.

"How dare she send a giant snake monster after my adorable little niece!" Blossom obviously wasn't listening.

Miss Bee leapt into the conversation, waving a long, black limb overhead. "Look at this!"

The Proscribrarian froze, her eyes locking onto the grotesque appendage. Recognition struck like a bolt of lightning. "By the gods..." she whispered. "It's an Armed Serpent."

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Pathy asked.

"Well, yes!" Bloom replied.

"Even I don't know what that is, sis," Blossom said, turning to the tree frogs and gesturing for them to chime in.

"It sounds familiar, but I don't know," Mr. Un admitted.

Then Miss Bee exclaimed, "The Legend of Sand!" She continued, "It's a picture book we read to children when we want to make them too terrified to leave the tree."

"Oh, right! I remember that. Works every time." Mr. Un smiled. "Well, it did on me! I'm still here—ha ha ha!"

The Head Librarian's tail lit up in a greenish-gray hue as she stared off into the distance for a moment, then said, "It's in the children's section, shelf five, third book from the right." She turned to Miss Bee. "You are correct. My gift is telling me that an Armed Serpent is featured on page seven."

The Head Librarian then blew her whistle twice. In no time at all, a kaydee entered the room—then screamed.

"Yes, yes. Terrifying snake monster. It's dead," she said to her apprentice, waving a hand dismissively. "Willow, I need a book—The Legend of Sand.  Be quick, and tell no one about this little... situation."

"Of course, Head Librarian." Willow took a breath, nodded, and sprinted off to retrieve the book.

They all then turned to look at the Proscribrarian, who explained, "There's a bestiary book in the Hopefully Fiction section of the Proscribrary that has details about this creature. I'll retrieve it for you when I get back to the Proscribrary, Mr. Un.  DO NOT let my sister touch it."

"Aww, come on, sis!" Blossom whined. "If it's real, it belongs in my library!"

Bloom decided to placate her sister in the most minimal, unsatisfying way possible. "I'll make a copy of that page for you," she said with a smile.

"It's not fair that you get to check out all of my books, but I don't even get to touch yours!" the Head Librarian huffed, crossing her arms and making a pouty face. Mr. Un thought it was cute. He thought all kads were cute, actually—which is why he believed they needed protecting. All tree frogs shared that same instinct, which made them an excellent choice for tree security.

Just then, Willow returned with the book and handed it to the Head Librarian. The cover read The Legend of Sand and featured an illustration of a kad—Sand—riding on the shoulder of a wizard who wore an enormous hat, wide enough to shelter him completely.

She flipped to page seven. There, an illustration of an Armed Serpent filled the page. It was easily four times larger than the dead one lying in the room. The wizard held his staff high, mid-spell, while Sand perched on his shoulder, his tail glowing a bright blue.

She read the text aloud:

The Legend of Sand, Page 7:

The wizard Sarf easily defeated the Armed Serpent. He knew just what to do, thanks to Sand, who had told him the creature's secret weakness.

Mr. Un then laughed and bellowed, "Its SECRET WEAKNESS is that it's soft, so you can chop its head off! Ah hah hah hah!"

Bloom immediately took note of the color of Sand's tail and turned to ask her sister, "Is there anything in the book describing Sand's gift?"

The Head Librarian's tail glowed greenish-gray again, and she replied, "No. There's nothing specific in my index. Though now that I'm holding it"—her tail glowed brighter for a moment—"I can tell you the text of the book implies that Sand just sort of... knew stuff." She shrugged.

Then the Head Librarian added, "There's more, actually—later in the book." She turned to the relevant page and read aloud:

The Legend of Sand, Page 12:

Sarf uses the power of the serpent's eye to spot the secret dungeon.

"What does that mean?" Pathy asked, her brow furrowed.

The third frog pointed dramatically. "It's missing an eye! Look at its head!"

Everyone turned. Sure enough, one eye socket was empty, with deep scratches clawing down the side of its face.

The Proscribrarian's eyes lit up as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh!" she gasped, then bolted toward the head like a blur of purpose and madness. She plunged her claws into the remaining eye, ripped it free with a wet pop, and swallowed it whole.

Pathy and Blossom froze, mouths agape in disgust.

Mr. Un tilted his head and asked casually, "Was it any good?"

The Proscribrarian's face erupted with a sinister smile, then stated, "It tastes like destiny! Muwahahahaha!"

My sister is so weird, Blossom thought, slowly blinking.  And gross. So, so gross.

Having had enough of today's nonsense, Pathy sighed and asked, "Can I go home? My keedo is gross." She glanced down at herself. "I feel gross. It's been a long day." She grimaced, already imagining the effort it would take to get Path cleaned up. "We can question the children tomorrow."

Miss Bee then offered a great suggestion. "Oh, Pathy, I'll escort you to one of our breeding pools. The tadpoles will clean all that blood off you and your keedo. It's good for them!" She then said something that everyone else in the room would not soon forget: "I have them clean blood off of me all the time."

Bloom thought about asking, "What about me?" but decided against it.  I'll let Pathy have that experience, alone.

"Oh, how lovely," Mr. Un stated. "Bonding time with mother and keedo."