“Hey you big giant windbag let me out of this,” she began to pound on the side of the glass.

“Be quiet in there. You ravaged my garden for the last time. I’m going to sell you and get the money back.”

“Rude.” She put her hands on her hips. “You shouldn’t have sat on me and I wouldn’t have eaten your garden.”

“YOU INVADED MY HOUSE.”

“Didn’t have your name on it.”

The man shook the jar and there was screaming from the inside. He accidentally let go in his rage and the jar went flying, the forest spirit within screaming, and finally, it landed in tall grass. The jar broke open and while she wanted to vomit she began to make a run for it.

It was overly hot, were they not in the highlands anymore? She tucked and rolled under some strong grass until she found her way into a new garden. It looked well taken care of and there were no other forest spirits here. She checked every nook and cranny for them to kick them out. This was her new home now.

Mielikki would avoid the owner of the house for now since she didn’t want to end up in another jar. So instead she was stealthy and stole a pot. She put it in a place that would be least looked in and opened it up using sharp rocks. From there she sampled everything in the garden and potentially ruined various plants.

Now that she was sated she made her way inside the house using cracks and began to borrow things. Enough to make her new pot house an actually livable home. This would continue for days until some of the plants in the garden were near death from her binge eating.

She even tried to eat the bamboo that was around the house and caused shafts of bamboo to fall in her wake.

Now Mielikki was a beautiful creature. Her skin was dark and she had white freckles that spanned the bridge of her nose and across her cheeks. She had honey-colored eyes and wild blonde hair. Since she was a forest spirit she had the attributes of an animal: in this case, she had the features of a deer. She sported antlers (which were about to fall off), deer ears, and a cute little deer tail. She wore a fashioned shirt from a potato sack and pants made with whatever she could find. After all, she wasn’t a great clothing maker so she had to work with what she had.

Something was terribly wrong. After Life had returned to the earth, Mircea was relieved to see his precious garden revive itself. The bamboo was growing steadily, creeping vines were sporting new growth, and the flowers were finally perking up. The aquatic plants and lotuses in his koi pond were vibrant and well, and nothing made him happier to see everyone living well. The temperatures were always mild and the moisture just perfect for tropical plants. But strange occurrences were taking place following the discovery of large holes in his kudzu vines. Normally bites from insects and other common pests were expected. The rain spirit had not been alarmed initially when he found many of the vines leafless. Kudzu was a fast-growing plant to where daily maintenance was needed to ensure it didn't overtake everything. Then his herbs began to thin, his gourd vines gnawed through, and his bamboo grove was showing signs of an infestation. The strangest part of it all was that his herbal repellents had no effect, along with many of his possessions going missing.

At first he thought it was mice, then gophers–but when a vase and a handful of buttons disappeared, he was sure this wasn't the garden-variety pest. There were no burrows or tracks that he could see, so he had to resort to a more subtle method. His poor garden was dying and something was ravaging it like a horde of grasshoppers. Taking an inkstone and brush which had been spared from the impish thief's raiding, the rain spirit drew upon a scroll with bold, thin strokes. It was a box trap with a springing latch, and with a wave of his hand the ink painting became real. As he did not shade the drawing, it was see-through. It would be hard to spot but act like a solid object just the same. He set the box out with a small plate of bean sprouts inside and waited for his ink-sprite familiars to alert him if it had been sprung.

Mircea wasn't sure what to expect if the trap succeeded. What would he find? A raccoon, a naughty small monkey, or perhaps a greedy squirrel? They were small and agile enough to sneak in and pilfer things unnoticed. He had a few words for them, whoever they were. Trimming a bit here and there was alright but land in his garden would be completely barren by next week. The dark-haired man leaned on a hand to sigh at the bare bank of his pond, the lotus flowers miraculously spared thanks to being too far from the edge. The grasses which created shady hideaways for his koi fish were eaten down to their roots.

This place was nice and she liked it. The only issue was Mielikki hadn’t learned to be a forest spirit. She was just off on her own at an early age which caused her to destroy most gardens she found. The tiny deer looking woman bullied the other spirits out and liked to be by herself. The issues this caused were numerous. There was also the beat downs she did once spring rolled around and the males of her species came sniffing.

The glutton had managed to get through most of his edible plants from her taste testing. Her tail was going wild as she found the plate of bean sprouts. She got down to eat it and the trap sprung! There was a scream as she got up and ran only to hit the side of the box. She pressed herself into the invisible barrier. Her ears were back in a pitiful display as her tail wagged wildly behind her.

Once he stepped foot in front of her she knew she had been caught red-handed. Her ears were alert now and she was bouncing on her toes. “Let me out of here!” She began to bang on the side of the box but it sounded so muffled and so did she from how tiny she was. Her tail was almost spinning in rapid circles and her ears would constantly lay back and stand up straight depending on what he did. Her antlers were also banging against the box tearing off the soft velvet that had been coating them.

A painted robin twittered and he knew the trap had sprung. Following the ink familiar, he saw the box had indeed worked. Picking it up, he held it to the light to see a small sprite like creature trapped inside. Squinting, Mircea was surprised to see it wasn't a mischievous animal. From what he could see, it appeared the mysterious garden destroyer was a deer-like thing. She was so small that it made sense how she had gone undetected until the damage was severe. She was frantic by her jumping and voice, but the rain spirit was not so naive as to open before asking. "Ah, so it was you then? I am willing to share with others, but it pains me to see my beloved garden in such a state after tending it faithfully for so many years.  I don't mind visitors, but who might you be? Why did you strip all the stems and grasses bare before they had fully borne fruit?"

There was a sadness in his pale eyes, though his face was still in a gentle smile. His voice wasn't loud or angry, soft when heard by those of his size. To the small mischief-maker his words would be clear enough, and he awaited the little spirit's answer to what she had done. Several songbirds that looked like they came straight out of a painting perched on the bare branches nearby, chirping. They looked over the leafless camellias their master used for herbal teas and the thorny spindles that used to be tea roses. 

The rain spirit placed the drawn box onto a table where they could converse with each other, still keeping the latch closed. "Might you be the reason for my thimbles and zither picks going missing? My carved carp jade seal mysteriously disappeared before that too." It was a small stamp that was part of a set he used on his ink paintings before they were sold. Traders and collectors held a great appreciation for his traditional style and the red inked stamps had his artist's signature engraved into the rubber. The stamp was two inches high and an inch wide, made from pristine jadeite that was white as snow. From that stone an artisan had carved a white carp entwined with the blooming bud of a lotus, and it was one of his favorites.

Mielikki stopped with her frantic hopping once he was talking to her. His voice was really gentle and she decided to just press herself against the box. “Mielikki, I’m Mielikki. They tasted very good and I forgot what they tasted like so I went back and I taste-tested them… then I forgot again which ones I liked so I had to do it again… and I kept forgetting. Your garden is really tasty.”

Once he set the box on the table she sat down inside with her legs crossed and looked up at him. Taking one of the bean sprouts she started to literally inhale it causing herself to cough and choke on it. She slammed herself around until she could breathe and she took another big bite. Luckily this one went down smoother. “Yes, I borrowed them. The jade seal is pretty. Looks nice on my wall.” Her big honey-colored eyes looked up at him.

“I used your thimbles as cups and the other stuff I decorated my house. My house is in the corner part of your house where you don’t look.” There was an upturned vase that had an opening carved. She had thieved some of his fabrics to make a door curtain and window curtains. When picked up there was a little hay bed with some of his robe fabric nibbled off so she could have a blanket.

“I live with you now!” She was so proud. “I can fix your garden…” She put her ears back. “If you’ll let me stay…”

Taking the box with him he went to see the place where she had made herself a home. When he heard how enthusiastically she described his garden, Mircea found it hard to be angry. It was just her nature, though she may have overdone it. The pot she had used was a celadon glazed one, and fortunately one that wasn't his. While any appraiser would bemoan the terrible fate of such an exquisite piece of pottery, the rain spirit took time to appreciate how this little sprite had used her 'borrowed' things. "It's a beautiful house, I wouldn't have thought of how to decorate it if I were given the same things." He smiled, looking down. "My name is Mircea, and if you would be so kind as to do just that–I see no reason to not allow you to stay." He opened the painted box at last, allowing her to come out. Once she was outside he would retrieve the empty dish he had used for the beansprouts. 

"Unfortunately Miss Mielikki I will need to have that jade seal back. The other things I have no issue with you keeping, but that is a very important thing for my work." As he looked at her carefully, he noticed the potato sack she was wearing. On warm days that would be enough, however she could catch a cold when the chill began setting in. "For restoring my garden and returning my seal, how would you like if I made you a new set of clothes?" In the years he had spent as a caretaker he had acquired many skills to maintain a house. Mending clothes and making them were part of the parcel, and he wanted to try his hand at sewing again. Others might see Mielikki as a common pest, but to him he finally had someone to speak with every day. It gave him something to look forward to, a goal. When one has lived for many centuries, possessing a purpose for one's existence was a very important thing.

He was also considering making a new home for the forest spirit. The pot was cozy, but he wanted her to have a few more comforts. He would need to purchase some fabric and extra handkerchiefs so she would have things her size. Inviting her into his home would be too inconvenient for her size…

Mielikki wagged her tail at him and smiled up at him. “Thank you.” When she came out of the box she climbed up his arm and sat on his shoulder. “Mircea is a nice name.” She stood up on her tippy toes and touched his nose as a greeting.

“You can have the seal back now. I’m going to move into your house now. It’s so nice and warm. I just didn’t want you to see me just yet. I would like my house to be in your house.” Her little deer tail was wagging as she got full of excitement. “You would make me clothes? I haven’t had real clothes since Mama got killed during the party of the harvest ten years ago. She went down as the legend of the dancing floor!”

She scampered down him and retrieved his jade seal. She offered it up to him and her tail was spinning. Soon she was running up and down the garden even retrieving a fork from his home. She was using it as a make shift rake as she hummed and magic began to fill the plants. She scampered back to him and climbed up him until she was holding onto his face. “I did it Mircea. Now we just have to wait. Now… about those clothes…”

She was so small that it was like something brushing against his skin when she touched his nose. From how much energy Mielikki had she seemed quite young, reminding him of how easily he had lost track of the years. He graciously accepted his jade ink seal back as she spoke of how excited she was to have new clothes–and then mentioned the last time she had real clothes was before her mother had died during a party. Mircea's body tensed for a moment at this; as much as he tried he found himself unable to show sadness or unhappiness in his face or voice. "…Oh." His tone was quiet but was still placid, devoid of what he wished to convey. Hearing it like this pained him so, but his lips were sealed. They had been sealed for a very long time…

Mielikki wasted no time in fulfilling her promise, borrowing a fork from Mircea (with permission this time) as she revived the plants. Magic was in the earth and air as they both watched the nearly barren garden slowly return to its lush, verdant self. The grasses by the pond poked out fresh blades and the trees developed new leaves. The vines stretched out new tendrils and entwined about the trellises. For her size she was quite powerful, though it made sense seeing the great vitality she possessed. "Hmm…for the clothes I will need to know what sort of things you like. There are many types of patterns and colors for the same material, and the best clothes are ones made to fit their wearer best. I have some left over pieces you can look at. If I don't have enough I can always make a trip to Sularia to buy more." 

It was about time for him to make his monthly visit. Every now and then Mircea would bring his paintings and personally mixed incense to sell. Sularia was a great center of trade so he was able to purchase many items from his native homeland at a price. It was how he was able to procure the bamboo seedlings that became a great grove, all of his beloved carp, and many other plants normally not found in this land. The Ataiyan maples and camellias were among his favorites in the garden.  

She didn’t catch his voice but it was okay because dying during parties was honorable for them.

Her tail was spinning in circles as she saw Mircea getting happier. She was starting to hone into how he felt and noticed that when things made him sad that he couldn’t act it. It was weird to her because she could cry but Mircea seemed incapable. She didn’t bring it up though because she was certain there was a reason but she was curious.

“There are different patterns? Mama only used what she could find… Can I pick it out? Can I go?” Her ears were excited and while her voice sounded calm her ears gave away how excited she was. “I’ve never been to a city before.”

Once they made their way into town she slipped off his shoulder once she smelled something good. She found her way to a table filled with fruit and pies. She got into the pie and then started to stuff a strawberry into her mouth. “RODENT. THERE’S A RODENT!” There was panic and screaming as Mielikki looked around for this rodent. She was busy letting her tongue lick at the seeds of the strawberry while covered in the blueberry pie.

Back to more pleasant topics, he replied: "Yes, and colors as well! Since these clothes will be yours, I would be glad to have you choose what catches your eye. There are many different materials for making clothing too, but it'd be best to have you see them than hear me talk." She was attempting to hide her excitement, but her ears and tail gave it away. Without a second thought he agreed to have her come along, and soon they were in the bejeweled market the great capital city of Arri was known for. As his eyes looked for the fabric shop and the store that paid him for his wares, he failed to notice Mielikki had disappeared. Mircea had a foot in the door of the imports shop when he heard a scream from down the street. "RODENT. THERE'S A RODENT!" He realized she was missing and his heart skipped a beat as he ran back to the source of the shouting. 

To his horror, his suspicions were right–the mischievous forest sprite wasn't able to resist sampling the food in the stalls, causing the current state of panic. Plucking her out of the ruined blueberry pie he tried to free the strawberry from her jaws. Surveying the damage she had done he was already running a mental tally of how much he would need to pay the poor stall keeper for her troubles. "I'm terribly sorry! She's not a rodent, I swear. What did she get into? I'll buy the ruined products to compensate." Taking out a handkerchief he began wiping Mielikki off so she looked less like a purple pastry mess. The sprite's hold on the berry was far too strong as her eyes were bigger than her mouth. "Stop, stop you'll choke! Let go!" When the fruit was finally released his first question to her was: "Are your jaws alright?" Then he asked her the more pressing question. "Why didn't you tell me you were still hungry?"

A handful of purchases later, they were sitting on a bench with a full basket of fruit and a few pies. One of them was the blueberry disaster Mielikki had waded through, and she was definitely going to finish off the rest of it. He should have known better, in hindsight her voracious behavior should have given him warning bells on making sure she stayed with him.