Huh, that’s weird, I think I just heard the impenetrable bubble that keeps my boat afloat burs- and as the thought goes through my mind, I’m falling again.

Quickly, as I’m sticking the landing onto the boat, I get to my feet and sprint with everything I’ve got. I’m not thinking about technique as much this time - I don’t have time. Instead, I leap off the boat, arms and legs flailing wildly, desperate for the railing, or the dock in general. Really, just anything other than the ground below.

Luckily, I got the timing just right enough that I face plant onto the ramp of the dock. The first noise I hear after my super ungraceful landing is a loud KRARARACH, as the wooden boat breaks on the dirt below. The second thing I hear is Don Tom and Igby running down the ramp.

“Hana! Hana! Are you okay?” Igby’s sharp voice reaches me long before he does.

This time, I can get up all on my own.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I let out as I rise to my feet.

“Oh good,” he breathes a quick, quick, sigh of relief, before launching in, “because that was so cool! Did you know that world tree bubbles can pop like that? I had no idea! Did you know that Don Tom?”

Don Tom, who moves much slower than Igby, arrives on the scene.

“You know,” he starts, “I’ve never seen that happen before. Been doing this work most my life, and that’s never happened before.”

“Hold on,” Igby holds up his hands, “your home world must have a world tree, right?”

I think for a second.

“We have a big tree not too far from my house. She gives off bubbles kinda like the one you made, Don Tom. Except, those bubbles are more of a blue. She’s really nice! She’d make bubbles for my best friend, Pom, and me to play with whenever I asked her to. Pom would bounce them at me to pop them.”

“So what you’re saying,” Igby completely stops moving, which seems like a rare sight, and cocks his head to the side, “is that you regularly spoke with your world’s tree, as in have two-sided conversations with it, who would make bubbles for you to pop, because you can pop them?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“...and you didn’t think to say anything about the bubble produced with world tree sap that is used to make boats float?”

I shrug, and say, “your bubbles are a different color, so I hadn’t connected the dots.”

Stolen story; please report.

Don Tom erupts into a loud, hearty laugh. Igby and I look at him, then at each other, and then back to him.

“This is a conversation we should be having with the world tree,” he finally says, walking past us, “come on, we’ll clean up the boat later!”

~~~

The three of us walk through the city, keeping to the ground level this time, with Don Tom leading the way, and Igby behind me, greeting people by name as they pass by. Seeing the city from this angle now, I can really appreciate how tall the trees are. They’re huge! I can barely see beyond them, through the solid canopy cover. On Ninia, the sky is pretty much clear, so you can even see other worlds from there, including Arbnia. I wonder if people here even know that there are other planets? I’m sure they must, since there’s a dock, but maybe little kids don’t put the pieces together until they’re older?

Before I can go too far down this trail of thought, Don Tom stops in front of me.

“Here we are,” he says, “Hana, come say hi.”

I walk up ahead of him, before a big, dark, thick tree. It kind of looks (and smells!) like Don Tom, if he wasn’t so bipedal. It’s a tree tree, that grows from the ground and has roots, about as thick as I am, and I think if I dug a hole in the body of the tree itself, I could build a comfortable house inside. I don’t think I’d want to do that though. It feels too… sapient. Like I’d be carving up a person.

I say to the tree, “hi, I’m Hana.”

“Hello, Hana,” begins a silky feminine voice that feels like it’s coming from within my head, “are you a friend of Don?”

“Yes!” I say, “he built me a boat, but I broke it.”

I can hear Igby behind me saying something to Don Tom about how, even though I’d mentioned that I can talk to world trees, it’s wild for him to see it in action. I honestly didn’t think it was that big of a deal, so I’m not really paying their conversation much mind.

“How did you break it?” the tree’s voice inquires.

“I popped the bubble, and it fell.”

“You… popped it? Last time I’d heard of that happening, it was…” her voice trails off, and after a second, she says “nevermind. Where did you say you’re from?”

“Ninia!” I say, with a big smile.

“Sure, but where originally?”

“I don’t know,” I say, my smile faded, “Ninia is where I was raised with the other kids who don’t have parents. I was told that a kind stranger found me on a different world, but brought me to Ninia. That’s where I’m from. Nobody told me what world I was found on. I don’t think the stranger told them when he dropped me off.”

“Could you talk to the tree of Ninia as well?”

“Yep.”

“Could anyone else?”

“Nope.”

“Interesting,” she says, “why did you decide to leave home?”

“I don’t know,” I say again, “I just want to see the universe.”

The tree does not respond.

“...Are you okay?” I ask, feeling concerned. She’d been asking all these questions, and suddenly goes silent. Is she upset?

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” she started, “has anyone told you about death worlds?”

I think back to all those stories Chris told us about different places. Some places were vibrant. Some were calm. Some were exciting. And some were dark, and full of starving creatures, who desperately kill and eat anything they come across. The creatures are bigger than you can imagine, smaller than you can see, and anything in between. She must be referring to those.

“Yes, I heard stories about them as a kid,” I tell her.

She says to me, “Those worlds have trees too, just like me, or your tree from your world. They’re starving, and sick, and alone. They’ve been this way for a long, long time. I know it’s dangerous, but if you ever have the resources, would you pay them visits like you did for me today? I’m sure it would mean a lot to them.”

“Of course I will.”

“Thank you,” she says, “I assume you have preparations to make if you want to see the universe, so I’ll let you get to it. Tell Don that I appreciate him coming to take care of me every day, and tell Igby that it’s always a pleasure to see him. It was very nice to meet you, Hana.”