"Hey, little one of the Simon family."
"Hello, Granny!"
Arrietty greeted a few familiar faces first, forcing Mr. Pod and Homily to exchange polite words as well.
Spiller kept his bow ready, never taking his eyes off Sen Getsusa.
Sen Getsusa didn't move.
She had curled up on a tiny sofa, lazing like a cat.
After the pleasantries, Arrietty gave the clan a concise briefing.
Predictably, most voices from the leaves were protests.
"I have to say, Arrietty, you've always been a wild Child, and now you want us to follow… some mage and abandon our homeland?"
"How do we know we'll be safe?"
Another voice: "Your mother and I have been friends twenty years. What trick is this? magic? I don't believe it!"
An old man snapped: "Don't try to fool me, Pod! Are you in league with the human to wipe us out?"
A chorus of anger and curses left Arrietty baffled and downcast; she glanced back at Sen Getsusa and found her queen watching with mischievous amusement.
"No matter—they're your people and your subjects."
Sen Getsusa winked. "Oh, I forgot to mention: starting today, Arrietty, you are the Queen of the Tontatta Tribe."
Since you're the one leading them, anyone who follows must do so of their own free will.
Arrietty's gloom didn't lift with the surprise; she murmured, "I just… just want them to have a better life."
The knight's muttering only made the folk inside the leaves hurl louder insults.
"Better life? Isn't our life good enough? Goodness, I can give my Child a scrap of meat every week—can your so-called Planeswalker top that?"
"Arrietty! Are you lying to us?"
"Proof—we want proof!"
"Hand over a sausage first!"
The leaves erupted with shouts.
Seeing her daughter besieged, Homily spat, rolled up her sleeves, and stepped to the center of the leaf-screen, shielding Arrietty behind her.
"You old fogeys! If you won't come, stay in your matchbox and wait for death—stop blaming my daughter!"
Pod pressed a hand to his head; he understood his wife, yet wondered how many would leave with them in the end.
Yes—by now he had quietly accepted they would follow Sen Getsusa.
Their daughter was set on it.
He and Homily could never let her go alone.
They were a family.
The quarrel raged on, but Sen Getsusa had run out of patience.
The chattering was unbearable.
She walked up to the leaf-screen.
At the sight of her, the crowd inside fell silent.
"I am Sen Getsua, a Planeswalker."
The girl sat, cupped Arrietty and Homily in her palm, and set them gently beside Pod. "A Planeswalker can travel between planes."
"I don't believe a word—what magic—"
Sen Getsua frowned and raised her hand. "May I finish, sir of the Tontatta Tribe?"
Silence.
"I have chosen Arrietty as my partner to leave with me—and her parents too; I have ample space to house them properly."
"What I offer: open, human-free expanses;
rich soil, lakes, fine surroundings.
I can even provide three meals a day for those of you too frail to farm."
"In return, some of your young will fight for me."
With that she leaned back. "That's all. Discuss among yourselves—you can see one another, can't you?"
Arrietty darted over, rearranging the leaves into a circle so they could talk face-to-face.
The responses were exactly what Sen Getsusa expected.
"She's tricking us."
"Right—this isn't magic, just some human gimmick. Aren't they always bragging about their 'technology'?"
"Will she kill us?"
"Why not… ask her for food first?"
A shrewd voice proposed: "Let her place non-perishable food at spots we choose—how about that?"
"Agreed!"
"I'll send my son to fetch it!"
The chattering was driving her mad.
Sen Getsua suddenly thought it might be a blessing if no Tontatta came with her.
About ten minutes later, as she stifled a third yawn, that shrewd voice called her.
Ten minutes and they've already picked a spokesman?
She straightened, rubbed her tired neck, and angled the leaves toward herself. "I'm getting sleepy—what did you decide?"
"We have two conditions."
The shrewd voice spoke craftily, confirming she was listening before stating the first: "We'll give you several locations; place the food and supplies we request at each."
Sen Getsusa neither agreed nor refused; she gave a non-committal hum and waited.
"Second: we'll come with you, but every day you must provide sufficient food and rooms built to our specifications. And you will not send our children into danger!"
She nodded. "Anything else?"
The voice pondered. "We'll add more later, depending. Do you accept, human?"
Sen Getsusa clamped a hand over the furious Arrietty, shook her head with a faint smile, and replied, "Actually, your demands couldn't be simpler for me."
She stood and opened the tall cupboard behind her.
Inside: piles of candy, cured meat, bread; glass jars of sugar, salt, pepper.
The sight sent the leaf-crowd into a frenzy.
"Two candies—just two!"
"I want bread!"
"Hey—remember what we agreed!"
The shrewd voice grew frantic. "Stop! Everyone, listen to me!"
He shouted at Sen Getsusa, "Human, get your pen ready and write down every place I'm about to name."
Remember, at each spot you must leave a pile as tall as your own body."
Sen Getsusa glanced at the leaf in puzzlement, then turned back to shut the cupboard.
"I bought these—why should I hand them over?" The girl settled into her chair again.
"You promised! Two conditions—you agreed—"
Sen Getsusa narrowed her eyes and offered Arrietty a strawberry candy. "I just wanted to see how greedy and foolish you could be."
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