Don't Tell Mom

Maizy jolted awake.  THAT SMELL!

Pathy smiled, and put away her antidote to the sleeping crystal gas.

Maizy looked around and saw Pathy, Nook, Mr. Un, and a tree frog she didn't know. They were all standing in the Proscribrary, which looked super clean and tidy.

Oh no! Is this an intervention? Maizy thought.  Wait—what's an intervention?

"Where's Mom?" she signed.

"Mom has been kidnapped," the Woodmaster was the first to respond.

WHAT!?

None of the adults present were sure what to do with Maizy—or how much to tell her. When they discussed it, they had all agreed to keep it "as simple as possible." Apparently, the Woodmaster’s concept of simple was actually the brutal truth.

They all looked at him in horror.

"Some cuttlekin broke into the Proscribrary while you were asleep. The only thing they seem to have taken was our mother. We found two of their dead bodies—killed by Mom's traps."

Maizy looked horrified.  Who lets their kid run around in a place full of deadly traps—alone!?

"What's CUDDLE KIN?" Maizy signed.

"Not cuddlekin—cuttle kin," Pathy explained. "They're creatures that live in the great freshwater sea in the center of the Thrust Mountains. At least, that's what the legends say. Until I saw a dead one just now, I didn't think they were real."

Maizy signed, "INVISIBLE?"

The Woodmaster replied, "Is that what they looked like when they were alive? The bodies were just... grey."

Maizy nodded. "Hard to see," she signed. "Very."

She glared and signed, "Their fault Mom mad at me!" She pointed to where the cookies used to be. "They ruined the cookies! All of them! Ruined!" She stomped her feet and hissed.

A huge wooden sword shot out of the door—right into the Woodmaster’s hand. Then another shot into his other hand. He swung them experimentally a few times, then somehow fastened them to the back of his poncho.

"They're going to die."

He turned to Maizy. "What do you say we go rescue Mom?"

She grinned and nodded, then signed, "Need NULL VAPOR."

"Why?" The Woodmaster was genuinely curious.

"Turn off INVISIBLE," she signed in reply.

Pathy's eyes lit up in recognition. "That makes sense! Their camouflage is magic, after all."

Mr. Vo chimed in. "Where are you going to get null vapor, though? Don't you need special equipment to use it?"

Maizy knew precisely where they could get some. She signed, "Post Office."

Which nobody thought was a strange thing for a six-days-emerged kaydee to say.

The Woodmaster looked at Pathy. "You probably need to stay here, right?"

He glanced at the door. "Because the door is broken?"

Pathy nodded. "Yes. The books must not be left unprotected. I have a sacred duty."

"OK, then I guess it's just me and Maizy." He started walking toward his makeshift door.

"Come on, sweetgum. Hop on my back."

Maizy climbed up his golden poncho and grabbed on tight.

They walked out the door. Nook summoned a little platform that lifted him up beside where Path was sleeping. A square hole opened in the side of the tree, and he stepped inside.

The hole closed, and light filled interior of the closet-like space. It felt like they were moving upward.

Whoah! It's like a secret elevator.

Nook could tell Maizy was curious. "When someone with a shaper tail reaches tier 3, magic wood obeys their command so quickly it behaves like a supersolid."

He paused, realizing she probably didn’t know that word. "Kind of like a stubborn liquid that refuses to spill."

Tails have tiers!?

"Way cooler than an uppee, if you ask me." Maizy could tell he was smiling. "I'll bring us up just outside the Post Office. The Postmaster gets mad when I suddenly pop out of the floor or a wall inside the building."

My brother is actually really cool! I wonder how old he is? Actually, how old is EVERYONE? Nobody LOOKS that old. Even Grandma doesn’t look 250. Hmm.

In no time at all, the ceiling of their little room opened, and the Woodmaster stood in the courtyard outside the Post Office. Nobody else was around.

"It's a bit early, but the Postmaster should be emerging from her Room of Ridiculousness any moment. We'll wait for her inside—she's the only one we can speak with about this."

Room of Ridiculousness?

Nook made his way up one of the ramps and into the main entry of the building. Maizy noticed the carving on the wall had been updated: at the top, she was depicted before the sun, wearing her ascendals. Dozens of kads clung to her in long chains, as if she were carrying them into the heavens. In the corner, Mom was shown killing WHAT.

The Woodmaster paused to admire it. "That keedo may not be the most polished burl, but he does fantastic hand work. Especially for his age—wow. I must remember to praise Grove later."

GROVE MADE THAT!?  Maizy thought it was an adult—or maybe Branch. She suddenly thought much more highly of that shy little keedo.

Somewhere in the tree, Grove sneezed inside his mom's pouch. Elsewhere, Path woke suddenly—like he just had a nightmare.

While the Woodmaster studied the carving, Maizy hopped down, pointed at the flying snake-lizard thing, and signed the question she’d wanted to ask since her first step inside the Post Office: "What is that?"

"That? It's a Delkin." The Woodmaster pondered for a moment, then added, "An ancient enemy. They eat kads."

He paused, reconsidered. "They’re extinct now—wizards killed them all. Plenty of stories about them in the library."

"They were super dangerous—their scales absorbed magic, and they had some sort of powerful self-healing ability. They were called delkin because they delete your kin—get it? So glad we don’t have to deal with them anymore."

He smiled, seizing the chance to share a cool fact. "Our 'grandfather plus plus'—Grandma’s grandfather, Sand—helped kill the last of them. They were hiding in a wizard’s labyrinth under a volcano. Supposedly, it was impossible to find without a special ocular power only Sand had."

That's the serpent's eye thing that Mom has! I need to figure out how to use it!

Since they were sharing cool facts, Maizy decided to share her own. "Mom has eye gift too," she signed.

"What? Really?" The Woodmaster was surprised, but not skeptical. "When did she get that?"

Maizy nodded, then signed, "Day I killed arm snake. She ate eye. I did too."

She looked disappointed. "I can’t use eye gift." Then she grimaced and added, "Yet."

The Woodmaster perked up—convinced he knew exactly what was stopping Maizy from unlocking the serpent’s eye: the tragic lack of time spent with her amazing big brother, who’d obsessed over Sand as a kid.

Nook leaned close to his little sister with a sinister grin and spoke the sacred prayer of siblings: "Don't tell Mom I told you this..."

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

The Postmaster emerged from a door on the opposite side of the conference room wearing nothing but a yellow ribbon, Branch clinging to her back.

"Branch, you're too big to still be clinging to my back like this." She gave a little hop to readjust his weight.

Hehe. He’s so big and strong, but still just a kid.  Maizy thought it was cute how Branch wanted to stay on his mom's back.

"Five more moments, Mom," Branch mumbled. "I was up late doing the Woodmaster’s super tedious assignment."

"My what assignment?" The Woodmaster took pride in his ability to simultaneously surprise, terrorize, and motivate his many apprentices with simple statements.

Branch knew that voice.  Am I dreaming I'm in the Woodworkery?

He slid off his mom’s back, rubbed his eyes... and then saw him.  Pure terror.

"GODS! Woodmaster, yes... your devious assignment!" Branch snapped awake and bowed low.

"So clever—making me test and measure every possible cylinder diameter, thickness, and length to determine the ideal thrust configuration. This could be my life’s most important work."

The Woodmaster considered. That was actually a clever word swap—close enough he might have misheard.  Not bad, Branch.

He smiled.  Probably picked that trick up listening to me talk my way past MY master, haha.

Then a thought struck him—his master was due in a few days. He shuddered.

"What brings you here so early, Woodmaster?" the Postmaster asked.

The Woodmaster bowed his head in respect, then asked directly, "Two things: first, I need to know precisely where my mother is at this moment."

The Postmaster nodded, thinking it was a stupidly easy request—so why not just get it over with? Her tail blinked a bright greenish-grey for only a moment, then she looked baffled.

"How in the name of Frick did she end up on an island in the middle of the freshwater sea!?  She was here yesterday!"

How did she do that? Does the library tail let you track people? Ooh, maybe she’s a higher tier than Auntie Blossom? Or maybe that tail doesn’t do what I think it does. Hmm.

The Woodmaster sighed. "They must’ve used a portal." Then, thinking out loud, "But how could they have enough magic for that? It’s too far."

A portal!?  Whoah! Is that like the gate?

"Which island, if you please, Postmaster?" the Woodmaster asked.

The Postmaster considered, then replied, "The one shaped like a tadpole near the south shore. I can show you on the map in the main hall, if you like."

"That won’t be necessary. I know the one," he said.

The Postmaster gave him a strange look, so he elaborated: "It’s where we used to trade with the chessafolk for good ink—before the way became impassable."

He then turned to Branch. "Before I ask for the second thing—Branch, go retrieve your assignment notes and bring them here."

Branch bowed deeply and ran off.

"Now, Postmaster, the second thing I need is a special request." He looked at her very seriously. "We need a way to disperse null vapor over a wide area. Got anything like that in the lab?"

"What? No! Of course not!" The Postmaster looked offended.

"I mean the other lab."

There's more than one lab?

The Postmaster blinked, then understood. "Oh. Right." She considered a moment. "Let’s assume the Post Office does have something like that... in storage." She met his eyes. "Why would I just let you walk off with it?"

The Woodmaster grinned. "Oh, I won't be walking."