Why does the author begin the story with the
conversation between Abaeze and Winnifred?
to create mystery about Abaeze and Winnifred's
relationship
to foreshadow the difficulties Abaeze is about to
face
to reveal a surprise about Abaeze's visit to the city
to introduce tension between Abaeze and Winnifred

gothic and dark natured

being surrounded by crimes, poverty, and failing schools as well as his own lack of confidence in his abilities.

  this riddles' answer is library.

  the "leaves" are a reference to the books' pages that the library contains; the branches are a network of libraries that connect multiple libraries' collections, resources, and items in a system of a common database, integrating them; the branches' organization are a useful management tool for coordinating the multiple collections many libraries have.