Tree of Wishes

We're Still Here: A Cypress Perspective

When you've lived as long as I have, you'll have plenty of opportunities to meet a variety of people of all shapes and sizes. With so many people, it can be impossible to recall them all, but often a small nudge is enough to jog my memory. For example, when I saw a tall, dark gentleman with angelic wings walking hand-in-hand with another man, the name Ramiel immediately popped into my mind. He had been in quite the accident, but it seemed he had made a full recovery. That was good to know.

Speaking of full recoveries, Dexter had also recovered from what tortures 'Lilith' had put him through and managed to publish his own book. It was sitting nicely in bookstores on a shelf labeled 'New Fiction', much to his dismay.

"This was the best I could do to get the truth out there!" he told me when the news came out. "I doubt anyone will take me seriously, but if it at least makes people more skeptical, then I've done my part."

I made sure to purchase a copy to support his cause. Since Lenore was a fan of literature, I thought it would be amusing to discuss the book's contents with her. Aside from assisting the police, she had been doing well working as a psychic who gave meaningful advice in the guise of fortunes. Recently, she's been profiting from her services via online transactions with those who held strong superstitious beliefs. She does her best to assist them, yet she's skeptical about how effective her services truly are through such a medium. I personally see no real harm if her assistance eases their worries and allows them to overcome their struggles. I'm confident she'll figure out what's ideal for her and her clients.

As we sat down with a pot of black tea, she flipped through the book as she said, "Hm... fascinating. I also thought the method was magical in nature, yet it seems these tiny creatures are far more complex. Not that they're very powerful..."

"They do enough," I said. "If most people consider having powers to be normal, then everyone around them will also accept this as fact. It prevents people from asking questions or casting doubt."

"Dulling the minds and suppressing the people?"

"Arguably. Not that the tree understands that. It's focused solely on its survival, and it was effective for a time. On top of that, it was excellent at isolating knowledge of the tree until the internet was invented."

"Ah, yes. The quaint, little thing is certainly ruining that plan."

I shrugged before taking a sip of my tea. "As hard as the government is working to suppress that secret, it can't be contained forever. Other countries are already expressing interest in knowing more. Then again, we've arranged an alliance with America to protect us from any foreign threats, so we won't be alone in this struggle. In addition, the one other country that attempted to compete with us had its project shutdown due to a civil uprising, which means we have no immediate competitors in the future."

"That's a relief at least," Lenore said, and I could imagine her smiling from the thought. "That reminds me. How did the presentation go?"

I nearly grimaced at being reminded about that. "Passable. I did manage to keep the children's interests, but judging from how they would discuss the topic afterwards, the presentation was redundant. Turns out someone already compiled a list of all of the tree's rules and guidelines online, and it's been circling the web ten times over."

"Really?" she replied with a curious head tilt. "I didn't think that was possible."

"They figured it out based on testimonials. I was impressed by how accurate it was. It even covered the clause where if two people attempt to offer the same item, it goes to the one with the strongest bond. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to think about that one."