Custodian

The Wish Tree was quiet, all the little Wishes snuggled up safely for rest. Sighing deeply in contentment, Zee sipped his tea and soaked in the peaceful atmosphere of night.

Soon, he would have to get up to finish cleaning the Tree and make some rounds, double-check that nothing was wrong.

Then, he would have to get ready for bed himself.

In the morning, he would awaken before the day's light could be seen. He would check on the Wishes, prepare the equipment for that day's experiments, and make breakfast.

Playing with the Wishes, studying them, and running his experiments would come next. He tried to make them all the same thing when he could.

After a while, his attention would have to turn outward, to the Tree herself. He would need to prune old leaves and clean the bark and a thousand other little things that fell to the Guardian of the Wish Tree.

(To the Guardians, plural, technically. But he was the only one left, young and ignorant a disciple as he was, which meant that he had to deal with all of it himself. That was okay, though. The ancient duty of caring for the Tree had to be kept, after all, and he was good at it. His was a busy life, perhaps, but it was a worthy one and he loved it)

He would have some time to himself, then, though usually one Wish or another would intrude on it. He didn't mind, he loved all his little Wishes deeply. When he wasn't caring for them, he would meditate and contemplate the wonders of the world, perhaps make some tea. On the very quiet days, he read books about places far away — they were fascinating, even if he had no interest in actually seeing them.

His life was a busy one, true. But it was quiet. And it was routine. Simple, calm, repetitive. Exactly as he liked it.

So Zee got up, and he finished his chores, and he went to bed knowing exactly what his life would look like when he woke up. It was comforting, in its own way.

That night, his sleep was interrupted by a girl and her cat stumbling in through his door. A girl who the Wish Tree accepted, who could command the Wishes like none had been capable of in generations.

True quite literally crashed into Zee's peaceful, busy little life and made it a lot less predictable. Now his little Wishes were going out and causing-fixing problems, and his studying actually had a use, and he left the Wish Tree sometimes. His life was loud, and sometimes risky, and there were people counting on his self-taught knowledge of the Wishes. Counting on him.

And now his life was a very, very busy one.

Somehow, he still couldn't bring himself to mind.

Because his life was a worthy one. And a fun one. And maybe he could learn to love chaos like he loved calm.

(Provided he still had time for a nice cuppa, of course)