First Wish
Three of them? Four? Or maybe… countless? Just how many could there be?!
The roof of the newly built shed had no holes at all, a solid surface that was a little stiff, sure, but still surprisingly comfy to lie on. And to make things even cozier, he had dragged up an inflatable mattress, which he pumped up all by himself. Well… not exactly by himself. The pump was automatic, so technically it did all the work.
With the matching pillow tucked under his head, he froze there, unable to look away.
So how many are there?! Could it be as many as the trees in this forest?
Let's see: one trunk, then another tree, then a third. Wow! There are so many of them too. Who would win in a contest—trees or stars? Who's stronger, who's more numerous? Or maybe… why should they fight at all, when both are so beautiful and calm?
Trees are good at so many things: they smell nice, they make that soothing whisper with their crowns, and their leaves fall so beautifully in autumn. They're tall and mesmerizing too! When you look at them from below, it's as if they've stretched their huge legs deep into the earth just so their leafy heads can stay out of reach of all those pesky humans staring at them all the time.
Sometimes they can even be scary… especially at night, when that noisy crowd argues with the air, and the air strikes back, whipping the trees with furious winds. That's when these living logs bend and twist like they're about to rip their roots out and actually do something. Maybe something nice—like having a tea party together. Or maybe even chasing him around in a game of tag.
But no… trees could never do anything bad.
And what about the stars? They're dazzling too, bursting with energy, but unbearably… far away! That's what makes him mad sometimes. You look up there, trying to figure out why they all gathered together, and you can't. Maybe just so they don't have to answer any questions? Fine then! Stay mysterious if you want. I won't bug you for your secrets.
The first one!
There—it streaked across the sky. Erich held his breath, waiting for the meteor shower to come, when the whole sky would turn into one massive firework of sparkling dots! They'd stretch into commas, vanish behind the horizon, and maybe people in faraway countries could catch them.
Too bad it never happened here. Not once. He dreamed of a little—or maybe huge (what size were they, anyway?)—star falling right into his backyard. So he could walk up, pat it on the shoulder and whisper: Don't be scared. You might not be home anymore, but this place can be okay too, especially if you've got friends around.
Somewhere nearby, strange birds shrieked in hysterical voices. That usually meant a storm was on its way. At least, that's what his grandma always said. She also had something about frogs… that they croak loudest when bad weather's coming.
The shimmering sky blurred in front of his eyes, and he forgot all about the possible rain. As if the clouds themselves had decided to join him for tea. Though, honestly, the sky full of storm clouds probably didn't crave a warm glow—its nature was different. Darker, chillier, unfriendly to fire.
And the stars? They shut their curtains, hiding from him. The clouds, on the other hand, grew heavy with power. A rumble rolled somewhere in the distance. The wind snapped, nearly knocking over the little teacup sitting beside Erich. Whoa! That was it. A storm was definitely coming.
But nature, angry as it was, still didn't seem eager to release anything exciting. Not even the simplest gift of all—a good rain. How could anyone not love rain? Those streams of water were probably more fun than the whole forest and the entire universe put together. You couldn't exactly run around in space or in the woods the way you could in the rain—splashing, shouting, and snorting like Pobbi, who sat right next to him now.
Pobbi was usually calm and obedient. He rarely showed any urge to go wild. But a heavy downpour always flipped him upside down—turning him into Erich's full-time partner in leaping, soaking, and racing under a million-million drops.
"Come on, rain, where are you?" Erich whispered aloud, his voice soft and pleading as he gazed upward. The sky stayed silent… or maybe not! Something was falling—something that looked exactly like a single drop. But why was it alone, without its usual army? And why was it floating down so slowly, as if it didn't want to hurry and play with him and Pobbi?
Maybe the little piece of water actually heard him, because suddenly it sped up, hurling itself downward. Two or three heartbeats later—bam! It smacked him right on the forehead and bounced softly aside.
Pobbi whimpered, pressing himself close to his two-legged friend as if to comfort him, but Erich jumped to his feet and shouted proudly:
"See? Didn't hurt at all! Look—no bruise. I can scratch it and it still doesn't sting. So no black eye either."
Strangely enough, the drop had felt almost weightless, like he barely noticed it at all. But where was it now? Had it already melted away into a tiny puddle?
With the sky shut tight, there wasn't enough light. And since his mom had already gone to bed, no glow shone from the house windows either. Erich, of course, found a quick solution: he fished his phone out of his pocket and switched on the flashlight. A beam cut instantly through the dark. Pobbi pushed up against him, and together they stepped toward the fallen guest.
Scanning the rooftop with his eyes, Erich saw nothing.
"Do you get it?" he asked his furry partner in confusion. "How could it just vanish?"
The dog gave a long sound of agreement—and then his paw pressed down on something cold and solid. He buried his nose into it, signaling for Erich to look closer.
Erich shone the beam and froze.
There it was—a huge chunk of ice. It looked like a rectangular icicle, blunt at both ends. If not for the dim glow shining from inside it, it could have passed for an ordinary brick.
"Whoa! We only had hail once around here, and I never got a close look back then. Pobbi, check this out—it's so weird! Smell it, tell me what you think."
After a serious round of sniffing, the shaggy detective came to the conclusion that it had no smell at all. He shared this with a little whine. Erich scratched his head.
"Hmm… okay. But why isn't it melting? Why is it… wait—it's growing?! Oh no, Pobbi, run! It's getting bigger!"
The frightened pair scrambled almost to the very edge of the low roof before stopping—because curiosity was always sneakier than fear. They turned, and what they saw was impossible: the hailstone was swelling, bigger and bigger. First the size of two cobblestones side by side, then as large as a chair, and then…
"A sarcophagus!" Erich gasped, recalling the Egyptian history lessons from school. "A real sarcophagus made of pure ice! Which pharaoh is inside—the one who rules all the Snowmen?"
Pobbi snorted, clearly doubtful, and to prove Erich wrong, he boldly trotted up to the frozen wonder.
Erich's fear made him want to stay back, but he couldn't look like a coward in front of his brave dog. So he tiptoed after him.
Pobbi was already sniffing around the heavenly delivery, scratching at the frost that stuck to his paw. Erich reached out and brushed his hand across the top—the ice wouldn't budge. Nothing could be seen inside.
"How does it open? Oh, if only I could see who's in there!"
The moment he spoke, his words turned into a spell. The whole block of ice melted away in an instant, as if it had never been there. And on the roof now lay… a girl. The most unusual girl he had ever seen. Not in his class, not in his little town—nowhere. He could swear on it.
"What do you think? Are there many like her in big cities? I've been there with Mom, I've seen all kinds of people…"
If Pobbi could've shrugged, he probably would have. Instead, he decided it was his job to take full medical responsibility and wake their guest.
He carefully licked her forehead first, then her cheeks. With great satisfaction, he saw her eyes slowly open. They were deep, striking eyes—violet pupils glowing against skin that had the faintest purplish hue. Only her skin showed just a tint, but her pupils were filled entirely with that color.
The girl yawned, stretched, and stood up very slowly, almost lazily. She looked around without a trace of surprise at where she had landed, then simply fixed her hair. One side of her head was shaved, while the other side was covered with dreadlocks, their ends tied with colorful ribbons that danced in the breeze.
She stared at them insistently and started gesturing. Neither of them understood. Pobbi made a clumsy attempt to mimic her movements with his paws, but failed miserably.
"We don't understand you," Erich said, shaking his head. In a blink, the girl zipped right up to him. She filled her lungs, then exhaled a cloud of greenish particles, like pollen. Erich, caught off guard, inhaled some by accident—well, he had to breathe anyway!
A pleasant taste spread across his mouth, sweet like the best honey. She did the same to Pobbi. Then, with a hoarse, surprisingly rough voice, she asked:
"And who are you?"
Her voice was so low, so guttural, like an angry grown woman speaking through her. Erich snapped to attention like a soldier and stammered out:
"I'm Pobbi, the dog. No—wait… he's me. No, I mean—oh, I messed it up again!"
"You're confusing," the girl remarked with a frown.
"No, no, it's just… we don't usually have girls falling from the sky inside giant ice coffins, so I got a little mixed up. Pobbi's way more confident than I am. If he could talk, he'd explain everything himself. But since he can't, I—"
"I already know," the girl interrupted. She crouched down and laid the back of her hand gently on Pobbi's paw. The dog gazed at her with serious eyes. "Your name is Erich. You live out here on the edge of the woods with your mom and Pobbi. You go to school, and your mom works as an astronomer."
"No way! Buddy, you really told her all that?" Erich exclaimed, scratching Pobbi behind the ears as the dog purred with pride. "Yep, that's us. That's exactly who we are. And you—who are you, if it's not a secret?"
"No secrets between me and Pobbi. I'm still confused by your words and customs, but if I've understood right, this is when I'm supposed to tell you my name. A standard greeting ritual, yes? Then let me be… Nibi. I like the sound of it."
"And I do too," Erich admitted, already thinking what an amazing new friend he'd just found. "But what does it mean?"
"I suppose it means… me." The girl said it with grand importance. Erich and Pobbi burst into laughter. The dog's laugh came out like a coughing fit after devouring ten pounds of ice cream, but he still managed to smile. He knew perfectly well this friendship would've been impossible without him. Nibi, on the other hand, only blinked at them in quiet puzzlement.
At last, when the laughter died down, Erich offered her the cup of tea he hadn't touched yet. The three of them settled on the mattress, with Pobbi sitting in between like the supervisor of their meeting.
"How marvelous!" the guest exclaimed. "So you too consume liquid in order to keep living? And not colorless either, but flavored?"
"You bet!" Erich grinned. "And if you tried my grandma's lemonade, you'd totally lose your mind."
The girl leaned forward curiously.
"And what does that mean—lose your mind?"
"I don't know," Erich shrugged. "But it sounds awesome. How else can you describe lemonade that's the best of the best? Anyway, where do you live?"
She hesitated, flexing her fingers like she was playing an invisible piano. Then she answered with the same strange phrasing:
"How can you describe something you don't have? I'm everywhere and nowhere. I fly here and there—wherever I want."
"There's no way that's possible!" the boy declared firmly. "Everyone has a home. It can be a house, like ours. Or a whole country, or a village, even the entire Earth. That's a home too—home for everyone, and we all know it belongs to us."
Nibi glanced at Pobbi and spoke slowly.
"My home is wherever I am. Even my capsule wasn't really a home."
"You mean the one that melted away?" The curious boy leaned in, eyes wide. "But then… how are you gonna travel again?"
The girl waved her hand—she must've picked up that gesture from him—and answered carelessly.
"No big deal. Once it gets colder, a new capsule will form. And then…"
"You'll leave?" Erich almost asked aloud, but bit the words back. She hadn't even truly arrived yet. And while Nibi was here, there was still so much they could do together! She hadn't even met his mom yet—who had always dreamed of someone falling from the sky into her life. Though, okay… Mom probably wouldn't have wanted it to happen quite so literally, because that would've scared her to death. She didn't have her own brave Pobbi around to protect her.
"But should they even meet?" Erich wondered, studying the faintly glowing Nibi as she tugged on Pobbi's ears and stared into his eyes, like they were having some deep secret conversation. "She's nothing like us. Mom might report her straight to the institute where she works. And then it would spiral out of control—the President himself would come, asking Nibi about faraway worlds. And they'd tear us apart forever… No way! Never!"
He must've said that last bit out loud, because Nibi and Pobbi stopped their silent exchange at once and stared at him. Trying to look commanding, Erich began pacing across the roof, waving an invisible marshal's baton.
"Here's what we're gonna do—we'll go wake up Mom. Yeah! Don't look at me like that, buddy, I know I wasn't supposed to sneak out in the middle of the night. I'll have to admit I wasn't sleeping. But then we'll explain to her that Nibi knocked on our door all the way from a faraway country, and she's got nowhere to stay since there aren't any hotels nearby. So she asked if she could spend the night."
"Lies?" the guest raised her eyebrows. "That's a concept I know. From all that pile of information you breathed into me. Sometimes lies are useful in this world. But… should you really lie to your mother?"
"I'm sure I should," Erich said with importance, then muttered under his breath, no longer so brave, "Otherwise it'll all go really bad."
And so they did. Quietly they slipped into the two-story house, where his mom's bedroom was right upstairs. Playing the part of a hero, her son shook her awake, earning a round of startled gasps. Then, talking a mile a minute, he spilled his made-up story.
At first she protested.
"Why are you letting strangers into our house? Can you really trust the first person you meet? What if she isn't who she says she is?"
"Don't worry." Nibi's voice was steady. "If I'm a bother, I can leave. I didn't mean to bring trouble to your family."
"No, don't say that…" his mother's eyes softened, the last fog of sleep vanishing from her face. "It's just unusual for anyone to show up here. We live so far off the beaten path, cut off from civilization."
"I don't need civilization." The guest shook her head. "I'm interested in you, not skyscrapers."
Mom softened even more. Wrapping herself in her trademark robe—embroidered with threads like little galaxies—she invited everyone into the kitchen to make some tea.
"I really liked that drink of yours. Thank you," Nibi said with a polite nod.
"Oh, don't be so formal! In your country, do you drink something else instead? Maybe sherbet, or kvass?" Mom asked while already fussing at the stove, switching on the right burner.
Erich panicked for a second—what if Nibi said too much? He jumped in quickly.
"Nibi loves traveling so much that she doesn't even know what her favorite drink is. You could say she likes everything at once. But tea? Especially tea."
He glanced over at Pobbi, who sat patiently on the doormat, refusing to come in with his muddy paws. Erich raised a finger to him, asking his buddy to wait just a little longer. He'd wash him soon. For now, he had to fend off Mom's next round of sharp questions.
"And where exactly is Nibi from?"
"I told you, Mom—she travels all over the planet."
"Then what about her parents? Why is she here all by herself?"
That one caught him off guard. Luckily, Nibi came to the rescue with an evasive answer.
"My parents are always with me… even when they're not."
Mom frowned and nearly spilled water from the kettle.
"That sounds… complicated. Oh well. What matters is you don't stay up too late. Eat these muffins, wash up Pobbi—" with a magician's flourish, she produced a whole plate of treats, as only real magical moms could, "—and then straight to bed. You've got school tomorrow. Well, technically, today."
"Mom, can Nibi come with me?" Erich pleaded.
"Of course, of course. But just like Pobbi, this young lady could also use a shower. That tail of hers is all muddy."
Erich nearly choked on his second pastry. He turned wide-eyed toward Nibi, who was swinging her legs. Only now did he notice the neat little tail dangling beside her. It didn't look like the rest of her—it shimmered metallic, with a tuft at the end like a lion's, only made of some strange flexible metal.
"Oh, you mean my lats." Nibi nodded knowingly. "It's my companion for each new turn of my journey. Before every new stage, they attach another lats to me. It grows longer the more places I've traveled."
"Wow! Have you been to a lot of places already?" Erich blurted out, forgetting he was supposed to protect her 'secret identity,' like in spy novels. "And what's it for? Does it help you somehow?"
"So many questions… and I just feel like yawning." She dodged smoothly, and then actually yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. "Maybe we should help Pobbi look presentable?"
"Good thinking, Nibi," Mom agreed warmly. "You can sleep in the living room. I'll set up the couch for you. And you two—finish your chores. And you, big Er, stop stuffing yourself with pastries or you'll have a stomachache in the morning."
With his mouth full of sweetness and eyes full of tears at having it taken away, Erich trudged off to fulfill his sacred duty of washing Pobbi. The dog barked joyfully, tail wagging, betraying her usual calm—she was so eager to come inside at last.
The kids thanked Mom for the tea party and headed toward Pobbi. Just as they left, they caught her muttering under her breath:
"She even added a tail. Huh… the things kids in big cities do to stand out. Still, clever. Looks pretty cool, actually."
Erich spun around at once.
"I heard that! Mom, would you want one too?"
The question flustered her so much she waved her hands, urging him to hurry along. It was, after all, the middle of the night.
When the bathroom was finally theirs and Pobbi splashed happily in warm water, Erich asked the one thing that had been gnawing at him.
"So… who gave it to you? Was it your parents?"
"Who else?" Nibi looked surprised. "The Stars, of course." She dipped her hands into the pleasant steam of the bathwater.