She sat for a few minutes in the dimly lit forest. All at once, her good fortune swept over her mind, swinging her hands in the air, she let out a childish laugh of glee. She was free!

No more working on a farm. No more getting picked on by other children. No stone hearted Auntie or unsympathetic Uncle. As long as she sang once a day, she was free to do whatever she wanted on the mountain. All for the price of a song.

She lowered her arms and stopped laughing suddenly. An important question had emerged in her mind: how exactly does a person live on a mountain? Her parents hadn’t lived in town, but they’d live near it, and depended on it for certain things. She had only a knife, change of clothes, and some food scraps. That wouldn’t last.

It’s not like she could go back to get anything either. Her deal with the Fairy Emperor would be broken if she left the mountain. Faries didn’t believe in second chances when it came to deals. If you broke an agreement, that’s it. It was broken.

“Wow! Wasn’t that amazing?”

The voice came out of, seemingly, nowhere. Her skin prickled in fearful surprise.

Trembling, she whispered, “W-who said that?”

“You can see the Emperor but you can’t see me? Now that’s just backwards, ah!”

She glanced around desperately. It sounded like they were right next to her, but there was no one there.

“Are you a fairy?”

“Oh, nicely guessed. But if you can’t see me, well….”

This time it was in front of her. She focused where she thought the voice ought to be, but all she saw was thousands of old leaves. She blinked and looked again. Right there, it was very green. It was shaped like a leaf but--

“Ho ho ho! Do you see me now?” What she had mistaken as a leaf, bent at the waist in a flourishing bow.

She had to almost lay down to get a good look at the fairy. It was small, perhaps only a bit bigger than her hand. What she’d thought was a leaf was, in fact, it’s hair. It’d body was of a similar greenish color as it’s hair, and so from a distance was impossible to tell apart. It had a chubby little body, with stubby little arms and legs. It had small pointed ears but over large eyes.

“Oh my, if you stare at me that much I’m going to blush!” It waved it’s little hand at her in a jokingly bashful manner.

She sat up straight, embarrassed by her behavior. “I-I’m sorry! I hope I haven’t offended you.” She gulped. The last thing she wanted was to upset the second fairy she met today. Even little fairies could be problematic if you made an enemy of them.

It gave a hearty laugh, and jumped up on her knee. Why, despite its stubby legs, it could leap just as well as a flee!

“Not to worry, not to worry!” It patted her knee enthusiastically. “It’s been ages since a human has been able to see me, much less talk to me! I’m far too excited to get offended!”

“I-is that so?” She was relieved to see it seemed to be a cheerful, friendly type of fairy. This was a good opportunity to make friends with a native of the mountain. “My name is Mei Hua, as in beautiful flower, what’s yours?”

It clapped its hands together excitedly. “Oh, that’s a nice name if I’ve ever heard one!” It calmed down and gave her another dramatic bow. “I’m Ye, as in leaf! Pleasure to meet you!”

That wasn’t a very original name, she thought to herself. Still, they were both named after a plant (even if she wasn’t named after one for her appearance). It made her feel like she had a connection to Ye somehow, having similar names.

“It’s very nice to meet you too Ye.” She glanced around. “Are there any other fairies here that I’m not seeing?”

Annoyed, Ye said in a loud accusing tone. “Oh there are, but they’re too scared to come out and properly greet you.”

“Scared? But why?” Surely they couldn’t be afraid of her.

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “They don’t want to upset the Emperor.”

“Would talking to me make the Emperor angry with you?”

Rubbing his little hands together, he chuckled maliciously. “If it does, I certainly won’t care.”

“But I don’t want to get you in trouble!” Mei Hua gave him a horrified look. How could he treat the Fairy Emperor’s anger so lightly?

“Eh..” He shook his leaf-ish head at her dismissively. “If he’d wanted us to ignore you, he’d have commanded it. He didn’t, so he doesn’t care.” He looked around pointedly, “Unlike some people, I don’t cower at the mere possibility of upsetting him.”

“That’s very brave of you. I think I’d be afraid of upsetting the Emperor.” He was big and scary and felt very other-worldly to her. Upsetting him seemed like a quick way to end one’s life.

“Why?” Leaf looked at her with surprise in his large eyes. “The Emperor made a deal with you, he won’t harm you or help you, as long as you sing for him. Of everyone on the mountain, you’re the last person who needs to be afraid of him.”

Mei Hua’s mouth formed a large “O” of surprise. She hadn’t really thought about that aspect of the deal. Other than singing and staying on the mountain, he hadn’t imposed any kind of laws on her.

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right! You don’t need to worry about him, just sing every day and you’ll be fine!” He tilted his head. “I suppose ‘fine’ might be optimistic. The Emperor is the most dangerous thing on the mountain, but not the only dangerous thing.”

He hopped off her knee and into the pile of her belongings still spilled on the forest floor. “I see you don’t have much in the way of… well, anything really. How do you plan to survive on this mountain with only a knife?”

Her shoulders slumped at this. She’d almost forgotten about that. “I don’t know. I was just thinking about what I should do. What do you think I should do?”

“Hm…………….” Leaf looked thoughtful and then sly. “I suppose you could ask me for help. I’ve been on this mountain for ages, I know almost everything about it. I’d be very useful to you.”

“You’re willing to help me?” She bunched her fist up excitedly.

“Sure… for a price.”

“Oh.” She loosened her fisted hands, disappointed. The Emperor had requested a price too. “What do you want in exchange for helping me?”

“Ah, well…” He looked bashful, taking fist fulls of hair and covering his face with it. “It’s been so long you know-- I suppose it’ll seem silly but--” He peeked out from his hair. “If you’d agree to be my friend, I’d definitely help you.”

She reached down and lifted him to her face, feeling a mixture of humor and relief. “Of course I’ll be your friend! You don’t need to make a deal for that!”