Eudicots; plural. Single; Eudicot. "You-Dee-Kett". Huh. Sometimes I look in the dictionary and find words by coincidence that gets stuck to my brain, although they make no sense. Does that ever happen to you guys?

The Magikoopa sat with Bowser Jr. for hours trying to comfort him, but nothing he had said so far seemed to help. The child buried his face in Kamek's knees and cried inconsolably.

"It's OK, dear; it was an ugly painting anyway."

Junior just cried harder at this and started shaking. His tears were scalding; like hot coffee.

"He was right! I'm stupid and fat and ugly, and not a Koopa! Koopas are strong, and, and," he sobbed, "They don't cry!"

Kamek remembered something from his own childhood that had been a good rope for him, even now.

"Young sir, you're never strong or powerful when you're upset. I can't use my magic if I'm sad or upset. What kind of Koopa can you be if you let a trifle like this get to you? Troubled minds are weak minds."

That actually made the child stopped crying. Kamek stroke him over his thick red lock of hair. "See? Everything's gonna be alright."

There was a knock on the door. The little Koopa was startled by the sound and hid behind the wizard, who said: "It's open!"

It was Lemmy. It was strange how he was over ten years older than Junior and was still half his size.

"I just wanted to say goodnight."

Bowser Jr. peeked out from behind Kamek's arm. Lemmy smiled. "Hi. I have something for you."

"I'll leave you two alone." Kamek waved his wand and teleported out, leaving the youngest son alone on the bed.

"It's OK," Lemmy said as his brother tried to hide behind a throw pillow. "I'm not gonna hurt you." He leapt up on the mattress and sat on his knees. He reached inside his shell. "This is Mr. Muffin," he said and took out an ancient, shabby rag doll. "I've had him all my life. But now you can have him for a while, to help you sleep."

That was Lemmy's "thing" when he was a kid; whenever one of his siblings had a rough time he offered them Mr. Muffin. Even his father seemed to think it helped the time he had a bad dream. You see, there was a very special kind of magic in its seams. Can you guess which one?

Junior accepted the doll, but didn't take his eyes of Lemmy, who just smiled. "Sorry about the bite marks. Iggy said Mr. Muffin called him a Norwegian dog poo."

Junior giggled.

"Well, good night. You look tired." Lemmy doused the torches.

"Lemmy?"

"Yeah?"

"Leave the door opened a crack. But don't tell anyone."

"Don't worry. Roy's afraid of the dark, too."

Junior's eyes widened. "He is?"

"Yeah. He once thought his punching bag was the Bogeyman. But it was just Morton."

Bowser had watched the scene through Kamek's crystal ball. The wizard did not approve; it was an invasion of privacy.

"That's cute. I wanna see it again!" The Koopa King shook the ball, prompting Kamek to confiscate it.

"It's a crystal ball, Your Meddlesomeness, not a TiVo – box!" The sorcerer's eyes darted across the room, trying to think of a new place to hide the divination device. However, he soon found his thoughts wandering once again, and like the other times, he had no plans of keeping his feet on the ground.

It took four Lumas to carry out the giant birthday cake. The left side of it was full of peaches and whipped cream, the right side was chocolate. It was the birthday of Rosalina's children, and all the Lumas, as well as some Toad and Beanish kids were invited to the party under a rain of quiet fireworks, balloons and shooting stars at the Observatory.

After the birthday song was sung, (the Beanish kids threw in some obscenities as well) the tiny twins climbed up on the table to blow out the six candles.

"Make a wish!" Rosalina projected the scene onto a piece of paper with her wand.

All the guests had heard about Eudicot's healing powers and dubbed her "the special one". Kamek hadn't shown any signs of supernatural powers. It bothered him, yet he never let it show. But nothing escaped Rosalina's eyes, or heart.

Everybody wanted a demonstration, and lined up by Eudicot's side of the chair, where they presented paper cuts, small scratches and bruises they mysteriously had suffered right before the party. It was nothing the little girl couldn't heal, but her powers were also her weakness.

Eudicots had a gift of empathy which was too big for her little body. Someone with a thumb tack in their heel may just as well rub a deep flesh wound in her face. Her mother knew this; this was why she couldn't let Eudicot's power be exploited like a lounge act.

"People! This is not a doctor's office; it's a party. Please eat some more cake, and afterwards we'll open presents!"

Nobody ever flouted Rosalina, that's why everybody took their seats, and soon, the laughing and chattering resumed.

But little Kamek was contemplative. He decided to get it over with.

"Mommy? Can my sister and I be excused, please?"

Rosalina raised her one visible eyebrow. "I don't know, sweetheart. It's your party, and you can't just leave your guests."

"We're gonna bring back a surprise, I promise." Kamek grabbed Eudicot and ran off, still with his mother's eyes on him.

"What was that for? I didn't even get to finish my Yoshi Cookies!" His sister said in an accusatory tone.

"Sssshh!" Kamek looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "I have to tell you something. Nobody will hear us if you fly us to the roof of the Garden."

It took some time carrying her brother all the way up there in her tiny arms. When they finally landed, her breath was short. "Kamek, you're so heavy!" She panted. "You eat too much."

"I do not!" Kamek tightened his fists and stomped his foot defiantly.

She sighed. "What is so important we're missing our party?"

Kamek reached inside the pocket of his robe. "I want you to see this." He held up a red gem.

"A ruby?" Eudicot examined it. "It's nice."

"Look. It's a magical ruby." Kamek pointed the jewel into the air, and conjured a swarm of glittery, colorful butterflies. They landed first on Eudicot's cap, and then took off into the air, before dissolving into a beautiful rain of sparkles.

"That was awesome!" Eudicot gave her brother a round of happy applause. "Let me try it!"

She held the gem, but no matter how much she shook it, nothing happened. She frowned. "How did you do it?"

Kamek took the stone again, and this time it sent out waves of magnificent, emerald Northern lights.

His sister gasped. "Kamek; the stone isn't magical! You're magical! You have special powers too!"

The siblings did their adorable happy dance by joining hands and jumping up and down.

"We better get back to the party before Mommy starts looking for us." Once again thinking that he could fly, he leapt off the roof. He couldn't fly, apart from some pointless floating; needless to say, he fell to the ground like a rock.

"Kamek, that's a bad idea!" Eudicot took off after her brother, grabbed him just in the nick of time, and safely landed on the stone courtyard. "You are so stupid sometimes!" she yelled; not because she was angry, but scared. "You can't fly! Magical or not, you can't fly!"

"Why not? It's so unfair that my perfect sister can fly and I can't!" Kamek blushed, that's how upset he was.

"You shouldn't care what the people at the party think. They don't know anything. If you can't fly on your own, you could use the magic and make something to fly with."

Her eyes swept over the courtyard. "Like this thing." She picked up a discarded broom from the floor.

Kamek pointed the ruby at the bamboo broom, and it glowed for a second, and then hovered on its own.

"This rules," he said happily and mounted the thing. "Now I can fly back to the party!"

Eudicot nodded. "Would you… give me a ride?"