Leaf

**Leaf (Slenderwood)** - is a female giant panda. She is the sister of Ghost and Rain, and the speaker of the trees and the sun.

## History

### Early Life

Leaf was born, alongside Rain and Ghost, to Orchid, in Shadowhunter's cave. For their own safety, Leaf and her littermates were separated at birth, as they were destined to succeeded Sunset as the next Dragon Speakers. Leaf wound up in the Northern Forest, under the custody of her maternal aunt. Rain was taken in by Peony Prosperhill, while Ghost was left in a mountain cave, where he was adopted by a snow leopardess. While Plum acknowledged Rain as Leaf's sister, she never told her niece that she had a brother.
### *Creatures of the Flood*

Leaf wakes up and joins the other Slenderwoods for some Sky-Gazing. There, it is revealed that the Slenderwood pandas were originally from many different families, one of which's surname was "Shallowpool." They all changed their surnames to "Slenderwood," following the great flood. Afterwards, Leaf leaves for the territory of Goldleaf to hang out with Dasher, a red panda, who is Leaf's friend. Upon her arrival, Leaf finds Dasher with Chomper and Jumper, two more red pandas. They then race one another to the top of the Grandfather Ginkgo.
Leaf discusses her twin sister with the red pandas as soon as they all reach the top. Leaf discusses how her mother left her with her aunt, while her sister was taken in by the Southern Forest community. Together, Leaf and the Red Pandas wonder how Leaf's sister is doing.
Later, Plum offers to embark on a quest to Dragon Mountain, to speak to the Great Dragon. Leaf asks to join her aunt, but Plum refuses to let her niece come along, because she did not want to risk Leaf's life. Following Plum's departure, Leaf attempts to cross the river, using a log, with the red pandas. However, the bamboo stalk that they had been attempting to use as a bridge breaks, and they are nearly washed away, before two flying squirrels tell them to grab a root that stuck out of the earth.
Later, Leaf and the red pandas play hide-and-seek. Leaf plays the role of seeker and manages to find where her friends were hiding. During the game, Leaf finds Scratcher Climbing Far's corpse, and a mysterious creature with black stripes. Realizing that the striped beast had eaten Scratcher, Leaf and the red pandas return to their homes to warn their kin about the beast. After Leaf recounts her encounter with the other Slenderwoods, she learns that the beast who devoured Scratcher was a tiger. The pandas spend the next few days in the treetops to avoid becoming the tiger's next meal. Eventually, the Slenderwoods grow tired of spending their days in the treetops and decide to leave the Northern Forest to find a new home, but agree to find Plum on during their journey, to avoid abandoning the latter.
During the Journey, Leaf leads the Slenderwoods and the red pandas to a patch of thorny bushes. There, Leaf finds a tuft of fur, and picks up Plum's scent, and realizes that her aunt had been at the field. Leaf announces her discovery to her neighbors. But, before they can continue on their journey, an earthquake occurs, forcing everyone to retreat. Leaf and Dasher hold onto a tree for safety. Once the dust clears, Leaf and Dasher find no trace of their families. After an unsuccessful attempt to locate the red pandas and the Slenderwoods, Leaf and Dasher give up, and move onto the White Spine Mountains.
Leaf and Dasher's trek through the mountains is arduous. When it begins raining, the pair seek shelter in a cave.
However, Dasher senses that something is amiss, upon entering the cave with Leaf. The pair quickly find that the tiger has caught up to them and is blocking their way out. Leaf fears for her life, as well as Dasher's. However, the tiger reveals that he comes in peace. The tiger introduces himself as Shadowhunter and tells the pair that he knows Leaf's mother. Shadowhunter reveals that Leaf does not have one, but two siblings. Leaf and Dasher are shocked by this revelation, as, while they were both vaguely aware of Rain's existence, nobody told Leaf, nor Dasher, that she had another sibling. Dasher is skeptical about the existence of this other sibling. Shadowhunter explains that the reason why Leaf's identity, as well as those of her siblings, were kept a secret from one another, was because the trio were destined to succeed Sunset Deepwood as Dragon Speakers. Their future role as Dragon Speakers would have made the triplets vulnerable to exploitation by creatures with selfish intentions. After the three leave the cave, Leaf and Dasher continue their journey with Shadowhunter.
Meanwhile, Rain struggles against the current, and has a vision of herself with Leaf and Ghost alongside her on top of Dragon Mountain.
When they arrive at the base of Dragon Mountain, they find Plum in poor condition with a wound on her face. Plum explains that she got the scar following and ambush from a white monster who "saw with the eyes of death." The "white monster" was actually Ghost, who clawed Plum because he, himself, thought that she was some sort of monster. Leaf and Dasher are baffled by Plum's story, while Shadowhunter attributes the details of Plum's story to her fever. Shadowhunter tells Leaf to bid her aunt farewell, as he did not think that Plum would survive her fever. Dasher, however, knew about an herb that would cure Plum's condition. Leaf leaves Shadowhunter and Plum to find the herb alongside Dasher. They find the herb by the river, as well as yet another panda. After examining the other bear, Leaf realizes that this bear is her long-lost sister, after discovering that they both have one white grip pad. Following Rain's introduction, Leaf acknowledges the latter as her sister. The sisters and Dasher return to Plum and Shadowhunter with the herb and give it to their aunt. While Plum is recovering from her fever, Rain reveals to Leaf, Shadowhunter, Dasher, and Plum, that Sunset Deepwood is not dead like the pandas had assumed, but is, in fact, still alive. However, Sunset had turned evil, citing his attempt to drown her as one example. Following this revelation, Rain remains skeptical of her future role as Dragon Speaker and the idea that she and Leaf are related, as nobody told the former that she was Leaf's sister. Rain refuses to accept the idea that she one of Orchid's daughters and claims that her "mother" is Peony.
Leaf bids Shadowhunter a farewell before the latter leaves to figure out why Sunset is acting unusual.
### *River of Secrets*

As Leaf is climbing Dragon Mountain, with Rain, Plum and Dasher, she recounts how Plum was attacked and injured by The White Monster, reuniting with Rain, and discovering the existence of her 2nd sibling. Leaf asks her aunt if she is okay, as Plum has not fully recovered from her illness. Plum reassures her niece that she is fine. Leaf tells Rain that if they are going to stop Sunset, they'll have to complete their journey to Dragon Mountain. Rain teases Leaf like a real sister. The party attempt to travel to Dragon Mountain but natural disasters convince them to give up until they find their third sibling. There Leaf and Dasher part ways with Plum and Rain to follow a colony of bats while Plum and Rain return to the Northern Forest. The bats lead Leaf and Dasher to the Slenderwood Pandas (who have renamed themselves "Darkpool") and the Red Pandas. Crabapple reveals that the Darkpool Pandas and Red Pandas have fallen ill. As Leaf and Dasher look for medicinal herbs, they come across the Darkpool where Leaf receives a vision that tells her that the Darkpool is responsible for the illness. Together Leaf and Dasher warn their neighbors not to drink from the Darkpool. When Plum confronts Sunset and Ghost, she reveals that Leaf and Rain are two of the triplets. After The Darkpools and Red Pandas recover from their illness, Leaf and Dasher follow the bats back to the Bamboo Kingdom. Together they meet Pepper who lies and convinces the pair that he's the third Triplet. After Pepper joins the group, Leaf decides to lead their group to the Prosperhill to pick up Rain.
## Personality and Traits

Leaf is a responsible panda. She cares deeply for her family in the Northern Forest and works tirelessly to support them. When her neighbors fell ill, Leaf and Dasher searched for herbs to heal them.
Due to being separated from Rain at a young age, she wonders how her twin is doing and is delighted when they reunite. She also wonders about her mother. Leaf is also a poor fighter and lacks interest in sparring.[*citation needed*] However, she is a great tree climber.[*citation needed*]
Among discovering that she and her littermates are Dragon-Speakers, Leaf seeks to reunite with both her siblings so they can fulfill their destiny. *In Journey to the Dragon Mountain,* Leaf is shown to be naive, as she believed Pepper's lies about him being her brother despite the latter’s suspicions behavior. However, Leaf is shown to be quite forgiving. After Goji reveals that Pepper is her own son, Leaf forgives a repentant Pepper for his deception.
## Appearance

Leaf is a half-grown female black and white panda with one white grip pad. The rest of her paw pads are black.

## Gallery

Leaf on the cover of *Creatures of the Flood*Leaf and Rain on the cover of *Journey to the Dragon Mountain*Leaf on the cover of *The Dark Sun*Leaf in the White Spine MountainsReference by OwlbyxOfficial Art of Leaf on the Italian Edition of *Creatures of the Flood*Portrait of Leaf by Owlbyx.
## Trivia

* Leaf is a poor swimmer but a great climber, which contrasts her sister, Rain, who is a poor climber but a very good swimmer.
	+ Their brother, Ghost, is also an excellent climber, though his swimming skills are unknown.