When a leaf leaves the tree and falls from it, it becomes one with the river in which it lands. It does not become separate from the tree. The tree appreciates the duty the leaf devoted to the tree. When their season has come to an end, the leaf is relieved from its duty, and it flows to where it can nurture the water or soil for future generations of new saplings to grow. The bond between the tree and the leaf is an everlasting union. The water spirit now carries the leaf to its new call of duty. It’s the same water that nurtured its life and that which the tree drank from, so it could feed and breathe life into the leaf.