Taking responsibility - Part 8B

Eventually, Martha left her lamp again. Of course, Amelia and David had returned to their work. Now, the lobby was deserted. Martha's gaze caught a certain, potted plant in the corner of the lobby. Nearly three years ago, this palm was a human woman named Sylvia. Back then, Sylvia had applied for the position of chief receptionist at this hotel. But one of her competitors, a man named Gregory, who was Martha's master at the time, used one of his wishes to transform Sylvia into a palm tree. Since then, Sylvia was standing around in the hotel's lobby and reception. And, while just after the transformation, the palm tree's shape resembled a lot the shape of Sylvia's human body, it had outgrown this shape by now and looked much more like a normal palm tree. Martha was determined to change that, now. But she needed help. She went over to the reception to ask David or Amelia for help.

At the reception, Martha met only a bored Amelia. "Hey Amelia, where`s David?"

"He's busy at the moment. I think he went to the heating room with a repair man. Something with the boilers. Maybe I can help you?" Amelia replied.

"As a matter of fact, you can. If you can spare five minutes or so?"

"Good idea. It has been quiet all day long."

"Perfect." Martha lead Amelia to the lobby and showed her one of the palms. "This palm was once a woman. But Gregory wished her into a palm and I had to grant that wish. I know that I'm not responsible for that wish, but I want to undo what I was forced to do. Can you wish her back into a human?"

"I can do that, but tell me, how long is she a palm now?" Amelia replied.

"She's a palm for nearly three years now." Martha replied. "I know what you are implying here."

"Yeah. After three years, her mind has pretty much adapted." Amelia replied. "Maybe you should check first."

"Good idea." Martha touched the palm with her hands. First, she scanned the palm for its magical signature. Sami had explained to Martha that the magical signature was like a finger print. Also, if she wanted to undo the transformation, she would have to solve the magical signature, first. Martha expected to find her own signature around the palm, but what she found really surprised her. There were remnants of her magic around the palm tree. But, they were small and only fragments. It seemed to Martha that the palm had outgrown its original shape and thus destroyed the magical signature. Martha doubted that she could undo the transformation anymore.
Now Martha wondered how much Sylvia's human mind had adapted to her new form. Sami had told her that the mind would adapt to the new form, once a human was transformed. Amelia was probably the best example: At the beginning, her mind had still a lot of a mouse. But, over the last two years, she had developed the mind of a goodhearted woman.

Sylvia on the other hand was stuck inside the body of a palm for an even longer time. Martha didn't expect much of her human mind to remain. Nevertheless, she reached into the palm to find what mind remained inside of it. To Martha's surprise and horror, she couldn't find any mind at all, only the essence of a plant. Martha went over to a natural plant. She reached out for its essence, too, and she found nearly exactly the same pattern as in the Sylvia plant.

With terror in her eyes, Martha let go of the palm. "There's no human mind left inside. I'm afraid we are too late."

"What a pity!" Amelia replied. When she saw Martha burst into tears, she put her arm around Martha's shoulders. "And if we turn her back into her human form, anyway? I know it's not the same but she would at least live a human life and will surely develop a human mind, soon."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, either. See, Sylvia has already outgrown the shape she was transformed in. And this destroyed the magical signature of the transformation. I'm afraid I'm not able to undo the transformation anymore."

Suddenly, Amelia had an idea. "Maybe there is a way to give Sylvia a human live back." Amelia took Martha's lamp into her hands. "If you can't undo the first transformation, you can still put a second transformation on her, one that makes Sylvia human again."

"Wait Amelia, that won't bring ..." Martha protested, but Amelia was already stating her wish:

"Martha I wish that you transform this palm into a French Maid that is working at this hotel. She shall have all the knowledge necessary as well as access to all of Sylvia's original knowledge that left inside the palm."

"... Sylvia back." Martha finished the sentence. Anyway, she was forced to grant that wish down to the letter.
Martha blinked and the palm began to grow in size again. Soon, it ripped through its bark. Additional branches fell off. When the pressure became too much, the pot broke open, freeing the girl's feet. Eventually, a young woman in the hotel's maid uniform stood amidst the shreds of bark, branches and the shards and soil from the pot. She looked exactly like Sylvia had looked like, except for her hair, which kept the green hue of the palm leaves - Martha simply couldn't remember Sylvia's hair color anymore.

"Bonjour, Madame. 'ow may I 'elp you?" the maid said.

"Why is she French?" Amelia asked.

"Because I was born in ze France." the maid replied.

"Don't complain, Amelia." Martha said. "You wished for her to become a French maid."

"Don't you know what the term "French Maid" means? You genies always have to take wishes literally." Amelia asked, angrily. "Nevermind." She turned to the maid again. "Say, what is your name?"

"My name eez Sylvia," the maid replied.

"At least that worked out." Amelia said.

"Madame, what shall I do now?" Sylvia asked.

"Err, right, you go to the staff area and look which guest rooms haven't been cleaned, yet. Then, you can go there and clean these rooms." Amelia ordered.

When Sylvia had left to fulfill her new duties, Amelia turned to Martha. "Are you happy with the result?"

"I guess it's the best we could do for her. Of course, I would have liked to turn her back the way she was... Alas, she has a human life, at least." Martha replied.

"So, who's next on our list to rescue?"

"The next names will be more difficult: One is a girl I transformed into a painting and the second is a girl I trapped inside a lava lamp. The lava lamp is probably somewhere in America, now. Where the painting is now, I don't know at all." Martha explained.

"I hope you'll find their whereabouts soon."

"I hope that too. So can get finally into peace with myself." Martha said, with a feeling of relief.


Codeword: Maid

THE END

Part 1: [link]
Part 2: [link]
Part 3: [link]
Part 4: [link]
Part 5A (with codeword "Goddess"): [link]
Part 5B (with codeword "Mouse"): [link]
Part 6: [link]
Part 7A: [link]
Part 7B: [link]

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