“The gnomes have no issues with the recusal of these races from the quorum or the matter,” she said. “Wander indicates that the gnomes have a lot of work to do. Unless there is any further developments, this is something that requires Flora Rose and her companions.”

Companions? As in more than one? I didn’t have any companions except for Faelix maybe. And my mental jury was still out on Faelix. He definitely had his own agenda, which was fine. But what that agenda had to do with me was a different question.

“The quorum agrees,” Borrowind said. “We will send notification of any changes we detect in the forest under the guidance of the gnomes.”

With that the faeries flew out of the clearing, though there were still faeries positioned around the perimeter. They didn’t leave with Moment and her retinue, instead maintaining their positions as guards and guardians.

The elves spoke to one another for a moment, Bal was clearly hesitant to leave and was gesticulating at Gad about what she wanted to do.

“Bal would stay,” Gad said.

“Gad would leave,” Bal said.

“The elves respectfully request that Bal remain with Flora Rose and her companions,” Gad said.

“The elves request that Gad return to the elven court to assist in the internal matters,” Bal said.

Borrowind looked at Wander and then Olga, there were others in the quorum, though most seemed to be deferring to Borrowind. This was definitely an interesting relationship and I really needed to figure out why or how Borrowind had so much power and authority within this group, but realized that wasn’t going to be a priority until the magic was restored and the barrier removed.

“I have no issues with Bal remaining,” I said. “If that matters in the least.”

“It has been spoken,” Borrowind said. “Bal shall be a companion to Flora Rose.”

“Great,” I said and didn’t know whether or not this was a good or bad thing. I wasn’t particularly convinced one way or the other. In the very short time I’d known Bal, she was all right. Not someone I’d necessarily choose to spend my time with, but also not someone I wouldn’t use my powers on while sitting at a bar getting blind faced drunk.

“We need you to return to the camp and explore the structure more,” Olga said. “Wander and the gnomes are convinced that there’s something inside causing the barrier and if that’s the case, we need you to figure out what.”

“That sounds like …,” I trailed off instead of finishing my thought. They were right. There may be something inside that structure that was causing the problem and Ethan’s sudden and unexpected disassembly might have something to do with it. I was, honestly, glad that he wasn’t being referred to as the monster by every other person speaking. Though, that was probably one of those things that was temporary.

I wanted to ask why I needed to come to the clearing to have this conversation, but I didn’t raise my hand to get attention or speak up to ask any questions. I did notice that the sun was descending on the horizon, which was the trigger for Ethan to return to camp and disappear into his tent, which had me wondering if dusk was important to whatever was happening inside the tent or structure or whatever it was supposed to be.

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“I believe it’s time for me to head back to the camp,” I said.

“We have much to speak about,” Borrowind said.

“And you should talk about all of the things,” I said. “But Ethan …”

“… the monster,” Bal said.

“… wanted to be inside his tent before the sun went down and I’m wondering if that isn’t something important I need to check out.”

I wasn’t asking a question and I now knew Bal would be accompanying me, she’d stayed behind to be one of my companions, not that I needed a companion. Bal was nodding her head and I got the impression she wasn’t going to argue with me and she wouldn’t necessarily support me either.

“Go,” Borrowind said, but held up a paw when Olga cleared her throat.

“Olga?”

“Wander has asked that we send one other to accompany Flora Rose,” she said.

“Who?”

I wanted to ask who but didn’t because I wasn’t really interested in who was going to accompany me. They were nuisances and definitely a drag on my style, but otherwise immaterial.

Except, maybe, Faelix and I still had no idea what his story was or how he was able to get onto my dimensional space and that was a much higher priority question than anything else, beyond the block on my powers and the magic.

How do mundane people live without magic?

That was a question for a different time when I could go back and work through the nature of being mundane and without magic and see if there were any answers to be gotten.

Instead, I said goodbye to Borrowind and nodded at Olga and Wander and then looked down at a new groundhog who looked up at me expectantly and then at Olga as though there was something formal that needed to happen before we or the groundhog could leave.

“What?” I asked.

“You have to agree to his companionship,” Borrowind said. “The groundhogs and gnomes are sending young Clipping with you.”

“Fine. I accept,” I said and the number of companions I had with me was now complete.

I didn’t wait for any more motions or requests, anyone else to volunteer to go places with me, I just turned and left, adjusting my satchel and hoping (just a little) that Faelix was out of my dimensional space and getting tossed about.

We made it back to the campsite before the sun was down and there were still faeries and gnomes and squirrels, skunks, and chipmunks all over the place. The ground had been cleared of dead leaves and underbrush and was now a large dirt patch inside the trees. Several faeries were on guard near the door to Ethan’s structure, it wasn’t a tent anymore, and looked pretty serious about keeping people away.

I was going to ask what happened to Ethan’s body, but remembered the gnomes had it. Which also made me wonder just how intelligent and skilled gnomes were. Before I’d been trapped, I’d considered the vast majority of the ones I’d met (as in all of the gnomes I’d ever met ever) to be dumb and not very smart. Except, that was clearly not true and if that was the case now, it was probably also the case before.

“I’m going back in,” I said to the faerie hovering closest to the handle.

“As you will,” the faerie said and moved away. I took the door handle and felt a slight shock, nothing serious, and then pushed the door and watched it open. Turning to my small group I asked, “Who’s coming with?”

“I’m staying out here,” Clipping said. “Mama said never go nowhere you don’t know how to get back out of.”

“Okay,” I said. “You can suit yourselves,” and stepped inside.

The door dropped closed behind me and as soon as I was inside Faelix wiggled out of my bag and shook his head.

“Decision by committee is the worst,” he said.

I didn’t respond as I listened to the inner workings of the space. The sounds were now different, less intense almost like they were waiting for something to happen.

Faelix flew around the room before I could step in any farther and then back to me. “It seems fine,” he said.

“What happened earlier?” I asked.

“No idea,” he said. “But I do agree with the gnomes. The answers are somewhere I here and we need to figure out where.”

I agreed with him and stepped toward the klatch of machines that all seemed to be waiting for something to happen. I sat down in front of one of the computers, screen and keyboard, and looked at the flashing cursor on the screen.