The Journey for Paper (Cleansing the Earth)

[Jams Bolero]

"Gasp!  Spontaneous questions?!" Jams thought in false surprise, although he actually didn't expect to be conversed with as soon as he was.  He put away his recorder to... wherever he had it originally, and turned to the lady to answer her question in a polite yet casual manner.  "Heey, mah name's Jams, but you can call me Jams.  I second what Eric said."  He stared at her with a goofy face that made a smile crawl slightly across her face.  She replied with a kind-spoken tone, "Well, it is nice to meet you both, Eric and Jams.  You both look quite lost, do you know where you are, exactly?"
"Why yes, we are in a forest."  Both Eric and the lady look at him with a glare that just says 'Oh really?'.  He looks skyward in thought with a puzzled look on his face.  "Er, we WERE in a forest, anyway."
"No, not exactly.  Is there a name for this forest?"
"Yes, these are the Tangled Greens, the most heavily forested verse in the Omniverse, including this area.  At least, before a few buffoons from the Blight Brigade came by and ruined it all."
"Verse?"
"Blight?"  They both seemed perplexed by the lady's terminology.
"Hmm, it seems I have some explaining to do."

---

Over the course of a few minutes, she informed Jams and Eric about the Tangled Greens, including the specific areas, the various populace in it and how certain parts of the forest were denser than the rest.  She also told them about the blight, a disease which had a corrupting effect on creatures and caused trees to wither away.

---

"DANG IT!  I was wrong about the 'who'!"  Jams held his right fist in front of his right shoulder, shaking with determination.

"Well, do you figure the blight has something to do with the grove?"

"Of course, in fact I actually theorized that trace amounts of blight in the soil are preventing trees from growing.  I have a few methods that I want to test out to remove the blight, and that is why I am here to begin with."  

"How well is that going?"

"How well do you THINK it's going, lad?"  Melody holds both of her arms out to her left, displaying all of the ash and corpses around them.

"Oh..."  Jams slouched slightly, likely just minimally upset from being yelled at.

"What are you waiting for?  Are you not able to perform these methods now?"

"Normally, I would, but I'm missing some of the items I need to continue with my attempts to restore the grove."

"Hey, we can help with that!  Right Eric?"  Jams bumped the magician's arm with his elbow.

"We certainly can!  After all, we were only exploring.  This could help us get used to the area a bit better as well as commit to a noble cause.  What can we get for you, mam?"

"Oh, I nearly forgot to mention my name!  I am the enchantress Melody, it was a pleasure to meat you.  I thank you for helping me, let me go get a slip of paper to write down the items I need."

Melody took out a slip of paper, borrowed one of Jams' fifty bazillion pencils and walked over to a short tree to write down her notes.  In the meantime, Jams and Eric began to converce about the different areas, though Jams had trouble remembering but a few of them.

"...Ya know, I literally just noticed that giant tree over there," Jams acknowledged, "I guess that's the so called 'World Tree' she was talking about?"

"Seems likely, I don't see any other large trees standing out from the top of the forest.  It certainly is immense, though."

"I could buy that people live in it.  How about that Ambrosia place?  That sounds kinda tasty."

"The way Melody described it makes it sound par for the course here.  This place is strange enough as is, and Ambrosia seems like a condensed area of oddity."

"hhh-HOO boy, I hope we go there!  Sounds like good ol' time over dere!"

The elderly woman returned to the travellers and handed Eric a slip of paper with fancy handwriting on it.  The slip has several items on it as well as locations as to where to find them.  "I would prefer that you only get one item for now," she said calmly. "You gentlemen have much to learn about the Omniverse, and I do not want to hold you up longer than I must!"

"Thanks, Ms. Melody!  We will be back soon enough with one of these doomaflaches!"

"Have a nice day, enchantress Melody!"

As the two walk away from the enchantress and eventually the Scorched Grove, Jams asks "I don't want to do acorns because they seem too... simple, perhaps we could get some parchment?"

"We can get that at Mokugakure, the ninja village-" Eric replied, getting cut off by an excited Jams whose face was simply beaming.

"NINJA VILLAGE?  WHAT THE FLIM FLAM ARE WE WAITING FOR?!"  The boy in red runs off through the forest, with his new friend in the green hoodie chasing to catch up.