After talking to Meta Knight in the training room, Kirby Dee had returned to the secret library. Right before she entered the passage leading to it, Kirby and Bandana Dee had appeared. "Sorry, poyo," Kirby had giggled apologetically.

Bandana Dee had touched his forehead to hers and added, "Yeah. If we could've gotten you out of there without sticking around too long ourselves, we would've. We'll do better on that count next time."

"Yeah, sure," she had replied tersely. "It's okay." Then she had walked into the passage and sort-of slammed the door behind her.

Now she sat on her shelf in the library. She had no idea how late it was, she had sat up reading (or learning to, anyway,) until she was so tired she couldn't concentrate anymore. She was sitting in complete darkness, except for a tiny bit of starlight that came through the windows. The sky was beautiful and clear that night, but she didn't notice. She couldn't sleep, she felt too bad about disappointing Meta Knight. Well, and she was quite a bit concerned about her 'punishment.' He'll probably tell me what it's going to be in the morning, she decided. I should quit worrying about it. She turned so she was facing a pile of books instead of the side of the shelf and closed her eyes, but she couldn't relax. Soon the wheels in her head were churning again.

I didn't even do anything that bad, she thought, a little bit irritated. I guess he does have some sort of code of honor. And he's sworn loyalty to the king and stuff, and probably I should too, but still. She sighed and snuggled closer to the wall. It had a tendency to be cold in here, even though summer was almost upon them. She wished she had a blanket.

She forced herself to find something to be thankful for, something she had been doing for years. Or so she thought... She, like all other Waddle Dee, had previously had only a few-year long memory span. She finally thought of something good: there hadn't been anymore storms since the day she had received her powers, although there had been some soft spring showers. The weather had for the most part, rather, been perfect and lovely. There hadn't been a single sign that a giant storm monster was coming who-knows-when. She had been wanting to go out and play outside, something she had never been able to do before. But lately, she had always either been training, or when she wasn't doing that, she always was too tired to do much of anything else.

In yet another attempt to settle down, she sang softly to herself. This was a song she had sung in her head as a Waddle Dee many times before, but never aloud. I wonder if that sounded any good, she pondered. Maybe I'll sing it to Kirby sometime.

The night seemed to drag on forever. She thought day would never come, but Meta Knight finally showed up after what felt like an eternity, seemingly not noticing the tired circles beneath her eyes. She looked at him in a sort of dreading expectancy, but he didn't say a thing about the night before. He just gave her a nod and a "Come. Let us go," before swishing around and leading her out of the room. She hopped down and followed him. At least she had been getting more graceful at getting out of her 'bed.'

They started with a short sparring session, during which she expected him to drive her into the moat or something as her punishment. Then, he led her to the training room, where he began to teach her the art of origami. "What does this have to do with being a hero?" she had asked, looking around nervously, expecting Blade or Sword to come out and challenge her to a paper duel or something. She imagined them throwing origami stars at her like ninja stars, and her having to duck their attacks crazily. Sheesh, you're starting to get paranoid. He's probably... just... forgotten the whole thing. Yeah. That's gotta be it, she thought.

He looked up from his sheet of paper, now a crane, minutes later and finally answered her question. "Every warrior needs to learn not just the art of battle, but also the gentler arts. It is part of the code of honor."

She frowned. "How does knowing how to turn paper into a frog help keep me alive in a fight?" she questioned, disbelievingly.

He shook his head. "It is not the paper that is important, although clearing the head with calm activities is good. Practicing origami helps you learn how to take a situation and 'fold' it, turn it into something else, and use that ability to your advantage." She half-nodded, still not convinced. "Trust me, it will serve you well someday. You just have to be careful not to let your mind get away from you, make yourself believe something bad is happening, when it is not." He gave her a knowing look and chuckled. Oh, shoot. I don't think he's forgotten. What if he has me... dust his library all by myself? she worried.

After he gave up on trying to get her to concentrate on getting her folds right, he decided to teach her how to meditate. Sitting on the training room's section of tatami floor, he told her, "This is another good way to clear your head. Thinking of scenarios where you have to fight, and planning out how you would win them, is a good practice that will help you think quickly later on."

Or, you can just use it as an excuse to take a nap, she thought soon after, when she really thought she heard him snoring. Normally she would have laughed at him, but she was too busy using the quiet time to mentally come up with more and more ridiculous ideas of punishments. What if he has the Waddle Dee turn me into Kirby Dee soup? No, probably not... What if I'm banished?!? On and on it went.

After he woke up and acted like he hadn't ever been asleep, he took down a book of poetry and looked at her. "I would ask you to study it, but..."

"I know, I can't read," she mumbled. She would show her progress to him sometime soon, but not yet. Sometime soon when she wasn't quite as frazzled.

"Yes, exactly," he agreed. "So, I will read some to you."

Rather than listening to him, she continued being ridiculous. He could make me fight a boss myself? Let Kirby inhale me to see what sort of Copy Ability I would turn into? She shuddered. That was about the worst fate a Waddle Dee could come to.

"What do you think, little one?" she suddenly heard.

"Wait, what?" she asked, snapping her attention (somewhat) back to the present.

"I said, what do you think of those poems? Anything you want to add?" he reiterated.

"Um, no. How... can you add to perfection?" she suggested, and gave a nervous laugh.

He looked at her strangely. "You have not had much of an attention span today. Are you turning back into a regular Waddle Dee?" he teased.

She didn't take it as teasing. I bet that's what he's done. He's put some sort of a spell on me to turn me back into what I used to be. I didn't even know he could do magic, she fretted.

Just then, the door swung open. She gave a little scream and grabbed a chair, the nearest mode of defense. In came a Waddle Dee, who gave her a strange look and gave Meta Knight a pot of hot green tea. "Thank you, little friend," he told it, gesturing for it to leave.

It looked at her again in something resembling fascination, then left again.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm p-perfectly fine," she stammered, shaking a bit. "A bit of a nervous wreck, but otherwise fine."

He laughed. Not just a chuckle, a laugh. "I have decided what your punishment is to be," he then announced.

She gulped, hid under the chair, and peeped out. "What?" she asked nervously.

He laughed again. "Well, you needn't worry, it's already been administered."

"Wh-what do you mean?" she squeaked.

"What I mean is, you have quite sufficiently punished yourself. I just helped by giving you plenty of time to fret. I guessed that, giving your personality, you would be the type to overthink things. And it appears I was right, which is typical." He gave her his hand and helped her up. "Now, little one. Tell me, what was the most outrageous idea you came up with?"

She blushed. "I thought you might have me turned into soup," she muttered almost too quietly for him to hear.

He chuckled softly. "You have quite an imagination. It can serve you well, or it can be your greatest enemy. Beware of that."

"Yes, sir," she agreed, embarrassed.

"Now, there is something I want to give you," he said, beckoning her to follow him. He led her to a chest of drawers on the other side of the room, where he took out a pair of gloves and handed them to her.

She gave him a strange look. "I don't have fingers, Sir Knight."

He gestured to them. "Just try them on."

She shrugged and held one over her hand, where it seemed to lock into place. She gasped, and opened and closed the mitten-like glove like it was her own hand. "How?..." she muttered.

"Put the other one on, and I will explain," he told her.

She did so, then laughed with joy. "I have fingers!" she squealed. "Now I can hold a sword easier!"

"Exactly," he nodded. "That is what my hands are actually, too. I am just like you and Kirby, in that in reality I just have little round hands. These magic gloves make everything much easier."

"I can believe it," she giggled from the other side of the room, where she was carefully picking up and putting down random objects, such as a sword, a nunchuk, a small statue of Dedede. (Which looked extremely out-of-place in that room.) She looked up suddenly, and asked anxiously, "Can I ever take them back off?"

"Yes, but you will hardly ever need to. I almost never take mine off. They are just like normal hands, all you need to do is wash them occasionally."

"I see," she murmured in fascination, now carefully studying them, turning them back and forth and wiggling the two fingers she now had.

"Anyway," he brought her attention back to him. "You may take the rest of the day off. Just avoid getting yourself into trouble again, my pupil."

She nodded and left the room, still giggling happily at her new hands.

"She will grow into something special yet," he murmured to himself, and thoughtfully blew the steam off his tea.