If I could have Just One Wish

It was a cold and lonely day in Elpis. Barely before the new year, Ebony was alone. It was both a familiar and a new feeling. Her family had never been overly celebratory, but at least they'd been there. When she was with the mercenaries there had been raucous parties, but she had never been bold enough to join for very long.

This year she was alone, and it was highlighted by all the friends she had been making lately. None of them were anything near close enough for her to request spending the holiday with them. Gloomily she made herself some hot chocolate. Even her Ducklett was nowhere to be found.

It was then she heard the crashing noise. Before she properly registered the sound the shockwave went through her house, rattling the doors. As soon as she got over the initial shock, she was in motion. Striding down to the source of the well, she found where Mr. Kalloss, a solidly built Excadrill had been digging a new well for Mrs. Potts.

Assessing the situation, she realized that while Mrs. Potts' vegetable garden was now more of a hole in the ground everyone seemed to be accounted for and mostly unharmed. Except for Mr. Kalloss who was lying on his back with a dazed look, presumably from escaping. He was being attended by Mrs. Potts, and Ebony assumed the chubby Audino widow would be throwing up more of a fuss if he wasn't actually going to be fine.

She joined the small crowd who was overlooking the hole in the ground about where the well had been planned to be. It was a gaping morass that she shuddered a bit at before taking a step back from the edge. She could faintly hear the sound of running water below.

Bustling through, a short man who seemed unmerged, but had a beard to rival a Walrein's came through. "Ah, Ebony just the young lady I wanted to see!"

Ebony pointed to herself in confusion. She honestly had no idea who this bristley individual was, or what he could want with her. "Me?"

"Yes you!" He eyed her up and down before speaking, a stern tone in his voice. She was questioning the merits of backing towards the pit of doom. "You see, when that sinkhole opened up- terrible business, glad Kalloss got out in time, he's a good lad." …the lad, Ebony thought to herself, was well over 30 but she kept quiet as he continued rambling. She got side-tracked staring at the way his beard flicked and jiggled with his mouth movements. A bug had started making its way towards his mouth. "Anyway, as you can see you are just the person to help!"

Ebony jumped at being directly addressed. "Uh, yeah! I'll do whatever I can to help!" she agreed trying to hide that she hadn't heard a word he said in quite some time.

"Excellent! I knew you'd be up for it!" Mrs. Potts came up and started scolding the old man. "Now, Harold! You can't be expecting as lovely a young girl as our Ebony to do all that work on her own!" Ebony blushed "Uh, really ma'am I don't mind…"

"Nonsense! We can't expect you to find us a new yule tree just because the old one fell in the sinkhole! Evin was careless enough to leave it there before setting it up in the town square, he should at least help you!"

As they looked around, the solid 20 year old who was partnered to a Makuhita was nowhere to be seen. Ebony felt a bit awkward. "I'll just… go on ahead then. Send him up when you find him." Potts eyed her up and down "You won't do too much will you?"

Ebony waved her hands to block the glare. "No, no! I'll wait for him before doing too much! I promise!" As fast as she could manage, Ebony fled the scene. She stopped back at her house long enough to grab a cart she figured she'd be able to shove the tree in before making her way to the forest.

As she made her way around the mountain road a bump jostled the cart, and she heard a familiar quacking. "So, that's where you went." She smiled as her pet Ducklett scolded her. It was nice to have company. "We're looking for a nice Yule tree. So like a big triangular one I guess???"

Eying her from his perch on the edge of the cart, Ducky flew up and disappeared from site. She tried not to feel disappointed. Of course he wouldn't want to stick around in the cold. He was probably going to visit someone who'd feed him fresh bread or something. She wished him luck.

As she wandered around the strangely empty feeling forest, she came across a glade where a Sawsbuck was grazing.  It bound off after noticing her presence, but she heard a faint quack. When she looked up, there was her Ducklett, all fluffed up on one of the lower branches of a beautiful spruce tree. He looked very proud of himself. "Did you find that tree for me?" She asked peering up at him, shading her eyes against the sun bouncing off the snow.

Ducky quacked in affirmation. "But it's so big!" She was delighted at the find, even as the logistics of moving it ticked through her brain. "How will we even get it down?"

"Leave that to me ma'am!" A rather scrawny teenage boy chased by a Makuhita appeared at the edge of glade. She eyed him doubtfully. "Uh, you sure? I can help…"

"No!" He said hurriedly, and in a slightly panicked tone that told her Mrs. Potts had been at him. "It's quite alright! Hang on, stand back…" Taking his own advice he pulled Ebony's cart back. Bemused she followed. "Okay! Now! Hithit! Cross Chop!" Jumping forwards, the Makuhita obliged "Makuuuu…hitaaa!" With two strikes the tree was sent crashing to the ground. Ducky flew out hurriedly, quacking his irritation.

Ebony blinked. "Huh, okay. Now what? We load the tree in the cart, your Makuhita taking what sticks out and running it down to the village?"

Evin, well she hadn't gotten a name but who else could it be really, nodded.  "Yeah! I just made Hithit carry it before, but this one is a lot bigger! Hithit, get it in the cart!" The Makuhita nodded, hefting the tree so it was partially in the cart. Ebony stabilized the base, while the Makuhita held it somewhere closer to the tip. Evin took the cart. "Ducky," she asked her pet, now residing on her shoulder. "Could you fly ahead and tell us if anything is in the road?"

Quacking in affirmation he flew on ahead, and they began the trip down the mountain. It was mostly a smooth trip down the path, with Ducky only needing to warn them once or twice of minor pitfalls, and in one instance a mother Ursaring and her Teddiursa crossing the road. They made it back with only a few hours left in the day.

Mrs. Potts greeted them. "I see you made it back." She looked sternly at Evin. "You didn't make this nice lady do all the work did you?" He shook his head frantically, eyes wide. "No! Honest! She only found it, really!" Ducky quacked sternly, to which Ebony smiled sheepishly "Really, I didn't even do that much. Ducky found the tree." He puffed out his chest feathers in pride.

They spent the next few hours shaping the tree, and then draping it in everything they wanted the new year to bring. Candies and cakes. Garlands made of carefully dried flowers just for this occasion. A few young women had brought carefully carved figurines of babies to show their wishes.

Ebony felt quite at peace, taking part in the festivities. Even Ducky was helping to hang things on the higher branches. Mrs. Potts clapped her hands. "Alright! Now, everyone has their wish in mind, yes? We have tags made up on the table, don't crowd there's plenty of time. I'll show you how to fold the paper stars, and anyone who has trouble with writing can ask for help."

Everyone crowded around the table, except for a few who had already made their stars up. Ebony reflected on the warm feeling she had and thought: "This warmth…if only I could share it with all of those important to me…" With that she knew what her wish was. Careful to keep it legible, she wrote it down, before blowing on the tag a minute to dry it. Then she rather clumsily folded it into a star. In past years her sister had made fun of her, saying how Jirachi would never take a star so ill-made, but here hers looked no worse than a few of the children's, and everyone knew Jirachi wouldn't be so cruel as to deny a child's wish just because they couldn't properly fold a star.

Handing Ducky the star he flew off to hang it on the highest point of the tree, all misgivings she'd held earlier in the day long forgotten.