"Are we keeping you awake, Caretaker?"

"I'm sorry, Lark! I haven't been sleeping all that well. Nightmares, you know?" responded Amelia, then yawned again.

"No. What nightmares? When did they start?"

Briar took the retort off the flame as she realized the lesson was, once again, postponed. She enjoyed teaching, but Amelia was a difficult student at best and was easily distracted.

"They're all kinda the same. Armies of awful monsters bowing before me, awaiting my commands. Piles of treasure. People chained up and forced to work. Darkness, but lots of things on fire." She shivered as she described the images she saw.

"I see. And when did you start having these dreams? When you came to the hollow?"

"No. I don't remember for certain, but after we came back from the vault and saved Alder. I think."

"Alder mentioned that the seed speaks to you. Could it be causing these visions?"

"Donald? I dunno. Maybe? Mostly he just whines about energy and 'placement'. I'm still ignoring him."

The bird nodded sagely. "Indeed. Best not to encourage that one."

Briar cleared her throat, then said "Say, you think maybe those spores still affecting you? You were pretty out of it there, for a while. Or maybe just the trauma from that experience?"

"Maybe. That's as good a reason as any, I guess. Hey! Do you know how to make sleeping potions? Maybe that would help?"

Briar nodded. "I have a tea for that. Dreamless sleep. No caffeine of course, or it'd be sleepless dreams, I suppose."

The goblin laughed in her raspy, whistling voice. "I'll go fetch the herbs. Just dry 'em and steep one per mug of water, should have you right as rain!"

She bustled off to her garden to fetch the ingredients.

"Have you heard any more out of Ashlee?" asked Amelia, as she wandered into the living room and plopped down on the hassock. She loved the view out the window, and she'd be able to see when Briar was coming back. Plus it was extra comfy.

Lark alit on the back of the armchair, her usual perch inside. "She found an unused burrow to live in, and has been seen interacting with a few of our other more troublesome inhabitants, but nothing untoward so far. She is watched carefully. By myself and others."

"Yeah. Bert said he'd monitor her as well, but hasn't reported anything. Just thought I'd ask."

"It is good of you to take an interest. The job of the caretaker is more than just groundskeeping, and I will not always be here to keep the song of peace singing in the forest."

"What? What do you mean? Are you going somewhere? Why didn't you say?"

"Peace, Caretaker. I meant only that I am an old bird, and though the span of my days has been greatly lengthened, I will not live forever. Even now some of my duties are beyond me, and not all runs as well as it should. Another will eventually take my place, but no likely successors have been found so far. You, I am afraid, might have to pick up the load."

"Of course, Lark! You should have said something! Anything you need, that's what I'm here for!" Amelia sat up on the hassock, looking with concern at her friend. She had taken for granted that the bird would be around forever and didn't want to think about losing her. "Besides, I don't even really know what you do! You said you sing for the wood, but what does that mean?"

"In the absence of the Great Guardian, someone must keep order and peace in the woods. You had a taste of that with the shepherd the other day. The paths and borders must be maintained, and the crossing points watched. It is well that I can fly, for there is much to see and do for the wood."

"I thought I'd gotten all the paths all cleaned up? Did I miss some?" the girl asked, worriedly. She liked that task, because at the end of a day's work, you had a real feeling of accomplishment. Unlike trying to memorize the shapes and properties of dozens of plants, like with Briar. Or whistling until your jaw felt like it was going to fall off, with Lark.

"Indeed, Caretaker. You have repaired the paths of the mortal realm, and they are well-maintained. But there are also the paths in Megrim, as well as the boundaries and crossing points. Those also have become overgrown and hard to watch. I had thought to wait until you were farther along in your studies, but with what happened in the village I believe that is no longer the correct course of action."

"You mean those guys, and the ravens? You think they'll come here? Should we lock the gate?"

"From how you described the leader, I suspect they would not be stopped by a locked gate. But there are wards along the fence and crossing points that would deter most. I maintain them periodically, though it is draining. When the Great Guardian was here, she had a way to monitor the hollow without them, but alas I have not that power."

"You mean like security stuff? Bert can do that! He already tells me if anybody enters the hollow. And if he had enough energy, he has something called 'active measures' that could probably help, too."

"Truly? Caretaker, that is amazing news! With the coming of the dwarves and goblins, and visitors from the Mortal realm, I had feared we would not be able to keep the hollow protected, but this gives me hope!"

"Yeah! After the tea party we had with Maisie and Monty, he had lots more power. We used it to fix up the cottage so it didn't draw so much energy. Maybe another one will charge him up enough to turn on the security features? Sandy and the hiking club are supposed to come up the day after tomorrow. If we really do up the place, maybe he'll get more energy?"

"Excellent idea, Caretaker! What did you have in mind?" The bird's eyes twinkled. It was obvious to her that Amelia had been thinking about the upcoming visitors far more than her other lessons.

"Signs! A big friendly welcome sign at the gate then signs to mark the different paths and features in the hollow. A big gazebo in the yard, for sun or rain. Some tables and chairs, maybe benches. Tea! Biscuits and cakes! Ooh! And we could put out some of the beer from the cellar. The cottage stuff, not Tuuka's. To start with."

"I see. Yes, that is a good plan." the bird nodded.

"And maybe you could sing for them? While they have refreshments? And a tour of the garden? And the cottage! We could make it a housewarming party!" Amelia bounced off the cushion and paced around the room, too excited to sit still.

"Perhaps not the cottage, Caretaker. That might give the impression that it is a public space. Would you want just anyone wandering through your bedroom?"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Oh, uh, yeah, good point. But Sandy can come in! She's my friend! And maybe Bert has enough energy for a WC outside, for the guests. And a water fountain. Ooh! Maybe a water feature!" Amelia continued her energetic pacing.

"Yes, Caretaker. You have put much thought into this. I shall leave you to your plans, and go do what I can for the wood. I am ill-equipped for painting signs, after all."

"Okay, Lark. I'll go draft Briar! And Fern! I'm sure they'll help!"

Lark quickly escaped via the bird door and headed for quieter corners of the wood.

----------------------------------------

When asked, Bert had told her he had just enough energy for the changes to the yard she wanted. He had tried to give her the specific numbers, but she stopped him. Numbers and statistics were never her thing and she was much happier with "enough", or "not enough", "lots" or "not much" instead. So they had "enough" for a large octagonal gazebo, with a public WC attached along one side, and some wooden tables and benches. She had to be content with the old well for now, since there was "not enough" for a water fountain, much less a water feature. He was able to provide boards and paint for the signs, though, so that was good.

Fern and Briar were tasked to paint the signs. Once they were painted white, Briar did the lettering with her careful hand, while Fern painted stars and flowers on them for decoration. Briar grumbled about the flowers not being realistic, but they were very pretty.

While the signs were being painted, Amelia cleared around the well again, removing all the encroaching brush and grass. Vegetation tended to grow extremely fast in the hollow, and if it wasn't trimmed regularly, things tended to get overgrown quickly. Luckily, they had Pancake to keep the yard at a nice uniform level. The goat could mow through the whole thing daily, provided he got a tot of dwarf brandy as a bribe. Amelia was pretty sure he'd do it anyways since he loved grass, but he complained if he wasn't 'paid'.

Shock helped by foraging branches from the wood to be used as posts for some of the signs. She had a hard time letting go of the sticks she brought back, though, and much time was wasted playing tug-of-war with the puppy. Not that anyone minded.

Amelia had been worried after the 'incident' at the shop that she'd have to figure out how to house-train the dog, but that turned out not to be an issue. The puppy happily did her business in the yard or the woods, and never made a mess in the house. Well, she never relieved herself in the house. She did chew the furniture a bit until Pancake found a short billet of hardened tool steel in the workroom upstairs. The puppy decided that was the best chew toy ever and gnawed on it constantly. They'd have to find something else before too long, though, since the dog had worn most of it away already. Amelia was pretty sure that wasn't normal, but if that was the only oddity with the puppy, she'd take it.

Whisper was given the task of "supervising the oven", which meant sleeping in her usual spot. The little wisp had actually tried to help with the signs, but after she and Fern had managed to cover Briar with paint (twice!), it was decided to keep those two separate. Since the oven was kept in near constant use with the batches of biscuits, cakes, pies, scones, and suchlike that Amelia put through it, it sounded like an important enough job. Donald, however, was the star here, being used in his capacity of kitchen timer. At which he excelled, no matter how much he exhorted Amelia for "retribution", "domination", "ruination", and other things ending in "tion".

Amelia had thought about popping back to town to ask Monty to make a samovar for the tea but decided to wait until after they had secured the hollow, just in case. So she found a dispenser carboy in the brewery to use instead. After first cleaning it very thoroughly.

When Saturday rolled around, it was all she could do to contain herself. The yard was as neat and tidy as she could make it, with all the dog poo removed and buried behind the cottage. Signs listing the features of the hollow and which paths to take were posted at the exits to the yard. More signs were placed at each fork or intersection throughout the woods, with arrows and information. Some were mounted on posts, some were just hung from branches, but all were placed where they were very visible.

The tables and benches under the gazebo were all wiped down, and fresh tablecloths put on, weighted so they wouldn't blow away. The refreshment table groaned with the selection of baked goods, not to mention the tea carboy and stoneware jugs of milk, water, ale, and lemonade.

Shock had been set to guard duty over the refreshments, with Pancake as backup. It took the efforts of both of them to keep Whisper and Fern from gorging themselves sick before the visitors even arrived. Which was good, because burning off the energy of the two newcomers was also a good thing.

Amelia had given everything one final inspection and was just putting on her cloak when she got the announcement from Bert.

[Notice: Visitors detected at entrance gate.]

"Yay! They're here, everybody!" she shouted, settling the material around her shoulders and stepping out onto the porch. It wasn't particularly cold, but the bright blue color of the cloak felt festive to her, and besides, cloaks were cool. So there! She scolded her inner critic.

She was glad Bert had listened to her request about "visitors" instead of "intruders". They had argued a bit about it, but ultimately she won. As long as he didn't detect any danger, he would say "visitors", and not bother to tell her about danger or threat estimates. Since she hoped they'd never have dangerous intruders, that felt like it would be a less stressful announcement method.

There were enough people coming that they heard them well before they came into sight. The sound of laughter and voices was a welcome change to the silence that usually prevailed around the cottage.

Briar stood at the gate to her garden. She'd sworn she wasn't going to "dress up like a performing monkey", but Amelia had never seen her wear that particular boiler suit, which looked fresh and clean. And suspiciously well-pressed. The goblin breathed on the latch to the gate and buffed it with her sleeve when she thought nobody was looking.

"Hello dear! Here we are!" came Sandy's cheerful call from the front of the gaggle of walkers. The rotund lady was a bit out of breath, and her cheeks a bit redder than usual. She had left her usual apron back at the shop and was dressed in stout tweeds and corduroy, with new-looking hiking boots that were probably a bit large for her.

"Oh my! Oh! Oh my!" gawped Sandy as she finally registered the contents of the clearing. She paused for a moment, before having to move ahead to let others into the yard behind her. "You weren't kidding! A tower! Look at thaaaat!"

"Hi everybody! Come in! I'm Amelia, and that's Briar over by the garden. She's ready to give tours if anybody wants. The sprite trying to drag off that slice of cake bigger than she is is Fern. And ... yep, that glowing thing stuck to the table with jam is Whisper. She's a wisp. The dog's name is Shock and the goat's name is Pancake. I don't think they bite, but no promises they won't pee on you."

She stopped to take a breath, then carried on. "We put up signs so you don't get lost. They list the different walking paths and our best guess at the length. We have refreshments all set up, so help yourselves whenever. Oh, and the loo is over on that side of the gazebo, in case nature calls. Welcome!"

Sandy's wasn't the only mouth agape at the sights in the yard. People seemed to have a hard time deciding what to stare at, between the wisp, sprite, goblin, refreshments, and the multi-story house with attached stone tower that dominated the yard. And a hostess in a bright blue cloak. The woods themselves seemed like they might be a bit anticlimactic after that welcome.

Most of the visitors were dressed sensibly, in standard rambling attire. Those were the ones that seemed to shake off their surprise the fastest. They quickly dispersed, some heading for the refreshments, but most just waving then heading off to walk.

Amelia was quite pleased, however, when she saw that several of the ones who remained were dressed in costumes. Cloaks, capes, tunics, staves instead of walking sticks, and even a few with swords at their belts. This group was still stopped at the entrance to the yard, talking amongst themselves while they pointed at all the fantastic elements in the clearing.

"Is that your dwarf friend? The one who made that amazing ale?" Sandy finally managed to get out, pointing towards Briar. The goblin was happily showing off her plants to a few of the visitors in the garden.

"Uh, no. That's Briar. She's a gardener. And a goblin, not a dwarf. See? She has pointy teeth and slightly pointy ears. And you can tell she only has three toes, 'cause she never wears shoes."

"Okay. And dwarves wear shoes, then?"

"Well, the two I know personally do, and all the ones I saw at the dance, and at the Night Market, and I guess at Pola's village. So maybe yes? I know Picker and Briar don't wear shoes, but maybe I shouldn't assume no goblins do, though."

Sandy seemed to be struggling a bit to absorb that information but rallied beautifully when she spotted Shock.

"There's my baby! Who's a good doggy? Who's a good girl? Yes, it's you! Yes it is!" she spoke in a mothering voice as she bent down to get slobbered on by the puppy.

"No no, don't say hi to the goat, that's fine. I'll just mind my own business here, being adorable, no drool, but to each their own. I won't judge." grumped Pancake from near the refreshments table.

"Did? Did? Did he just talk? Like actually talk? Oh, my eye!"

"Can do, can do. Didn't listen when I told you that the last time we met, but hey ho, such is the life of the incurably cute." replied the kid.