Preparations

Mom reached down into her pouch and extracted Maizy from the blanket dimension. She was having a curious dream about a bird that could swim through piles of gold coins.

"It's Kad Post Cup day, sweetgum!" Mom set Maizy down in front of breakfast—which had the usual grubs, a strange orange beetle, and a magic tree fruit with the nut still attached.

Maizy stretched in front of her plate, as if blessing the sacred breakfast of champions. "What's this?" she signed, pointing at the beetle.

Mom grinned. "I used the coin you grew to buy a special breakfast!" She tapped the beetle. "This is a magic tree beetle. They’re known to live in the tree, but they’re extremely hard to find. They're packed with magic energy and taste great too."

Maizy picked up the beetle and tossed it into her mouth. It was very chewy.

Not bad! Tastes like orange... Wait—do colors have flavor?

"Don't chew it too much, sweetgum. Just swallow. It'll work better."

Maizy swallowed, then moved on to the next new thing: the magic tree fruit. It was almost too big for one hand. Her memory tail glowed blue as she remembered seeing a kad eat one on her first day outside.

They didn't eat the seed.

The fruit had a mild taste.  The flavor is familiar somehow.  Maizy's memory tail glowed very brightly.  It's like a fruity combination of cucumbers and red bell peppers.

"Magic tree fruit boosts stamina. Not great, but not bad, right?"

Maizy nodded, then pointed at the seed.

"You can eat them, but the seeds taste awful." Mom made a face of disgust. "They're so gross."

Maizy was curious, so she signed, "Can grow tree?"

Mom sighed, "If only! The university's cryptobotanist has been trying to grow them for over 80 wobbles. And he took over from his predecessor, who was trying for over 100 wobbles!"

Wow! I wonder what they've tried?

Maizy's memory tail glowed bright blue as she tried to recall everything she knew about growing plants. She turned to Mom and signed, "Eat then grow from poop? Birds eat?"

"Oh, they've tried all kinds of fertilizer and animal droppings, yes." Mom was wondering why Maizy had a sudden interest.  Maybe she's interested in plants?

Maizy ate the remaining grubs on her plate, then walked over to Mom's desk to grab some paper and a pencil. Mom didn’t say a word but looked on, curious what ridiculous thing Maizy was about to surprise her with this morning—because apparently that was a thing now.

Maizy drew a crude picture of a seed and a bird, then drew an arrow pointing from the seed to the bird's beak. She then drew a picture of a tree sapling and drew an arrow pointing from the bird's rear to the sapling.

"Bird eat seed." Maizy signed, then, "Bird poop seed." She looked at Mom, then signed, "Tree grow."

That's how peppers worked on Earth.  Maizy was actually proud of herself. She was getting better at remembering things from her past life.

"You think if we feed magic tree seeds to birds the seeds will grow out of their poop?" Mom looked highly skeptical.

Maizy nodded, then suddenly had an idea! She walked over to the plate, picked up the seed, and popped it into her mouth.

BLECH!  Maizy gagged—the seed was almost too big to swallow and nearly as gross as a null crystal. Still, she gritted her teeth and forced it down.

With a grimace she looked at Mom and signed, "Maybe kads work."

Mom looked slightly horrified. "I can't believe you just ate that!" Then she laughed, "Haha, let me know if we need to take you to Doctor Roof because you've got an ass-sprout!"

Maizy laughed, "Khiiaaah! Khiiaaah! Khiiaaah!" Then she stopped in shock.

My voice really is coming in!

Mom smiled brightly. "Your voice is almost here! Ooh I can't wait to hear it! Eee! So exciting!" She spun in circles, chasing her tail a few times.

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After an extended grooming session, Mom whipped out a brand new, surprisingly long and thick pink ribbon. It looked extra fancy.

"This is a dress ribbon—for special occasions, like today," Mom said as she performed the irresistible chin scratch maneuver. The ribbon was so long she had to wrap it around Maizy's neck three times, which Mom handled expertly. In the back, the loops crossed over each other, making a fancy X design. Maizy could feel Mom pushing magic into it, causing it to harden.

What the heck? That was... Complicated.  Maizy wondered what Mom had just put on her. She had her answer right away as Mom picked her up and held her in front of the mirror.

"Oooh, you look so cute!" Mom beamed. "You can't see the back but I did it all fancy-like. I'm sure you'll get lots of comments about it—especially with black fur. Haha!" She laughed. "It actually pairs better with black, I think!"

Maizy was pleased with how it looked but didn't appreciate the reminder about her temporary black fur curse. She practiced a few cute faces and smiles in the mirror before Mom placed her back down on the floor.

"I had the Postmaster add a button to your poncho so you wouldn't have to pull it over your head every time." Mom grabbed it from the coat rack, then placed the hood over Maizy's head. "Ooh! She's such a hardwood, but wow, she does great work with these things! Those ears! Eee!"

Mom's eyes went glassy for a moment while she rocked back and forth.

Haha, apparently the Postmaster isn’t the only one who suffers from cute overload.  Maizy smiled—sinisterly.  I wonder if I can entrance others at will? Hmm.

Tired of waiting, Maizy buttoned the poncho herself and grabbed her ascendals. Instead of one thruster, they now had three smaller ones, each with a force symbol—a change that made them more flexible and comfortable.

The Woodmaster must've dropped off an improved design.  Maizy grinned.

There was a knock at the door.

Aw, did Mom remove the silly doorbell?  She giggled at the memory.

Mom snapped out of her daze. "Coming!" She walked up and opened the door.

"Ready to go?" Branch was standing outside.

"Yes!" Mom was obviously very excited. "Hop on my back, sweetgum. You're too big for pouch travel—when you're not asleep, I mean."

Maizy crawled on up Mom's maroon Proscribrarian poncho and dug her claws right through it into her back.

Why don’t my claws ever leave holes? Do kad ponchos repair themselves? Ooh, I can't WAIT to get my voice!

Branch looked very disappointed—he wanted Maizy on his back. "We'll take the traditional route. The mountain kads are all over the tree." He grinned. "They have no idea what's about to happen."