"So you think Quiet has Onni?" asked Amelia.

"If Quiet is that goblin we smelled, then yes. We found goblin blood at a crossing point, and the scent of the dwarf baby, but we kept that blasted pointy ear from getting through. Chased his sorry behind until he crossed into elf lands and had to leave off, more's the pity. But he didn't have the child with him, of that we're certain." The hedgehog replied.

"Huh. Do you know where that crossing point goes?"

"No telling. Could be just about anywhere, really. Sorry 'bout that." Digby shrugged helplessly. He turned and looked at the tour group, still raving and ranting about how wonderful everything they saw was. "So this lot is with you? Poor buggers!"

"Yeah, it was supposed to be a quick hike and picnic, perfectly safe. I feel so terrible! Then poor Onni taken!" Amelia responded. "And Quiet may be hurt! How am I going to tell Tyni? He'll never forgive me! Or Picker!"

The tourists were enjoying themselves for now, but they couldn't leave them that way forever. "Hopefully one of my friends can help. I just need to get 'em back to the hollow, I guess. Then figure out how to find Onni and Quiet, somehow." And Fern, she thought to herself.

"I'll send a few of my people to, erm, help herd these folks along, if you'd like. Not much we can do about the others, though. If we knew where they went, we could try to track them, but who knows what realm they ended up in."

"Any help at all is appreciated. Really!" Amelia gave a little bow in the hedgehog's direction. She was pretty sure she could get everybody home on her own, but having a few extra eyes for when somebody got distracted and wandered off would be a huge help.

"Least I could do for teaching my people magic. Incredible! Never seen anything like it! That fire spell will be invaluable to us! Maybe we'll learn to cook properly even!" Digby straightened the drooping crown with a paw, then leaned closer. "That is if the King after me isn't a complete schmuck. We've got some ... let's say, less savvy customers in our populace."

"King after you?" Amelia asked, confused.

"Yep. For fairness, we rotate. One week each, then it goes to someone else. Same with the clothes and things." He gestured at the tunic and baldric he was wearing. "Everybody can be king, but only us smaller animals get the clothes. We only have so many sizes to go around, you know."

"Huh. I was wondering. Where did you get them, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Not at all! To cut a long story short, we were slaves of the elves, once." He turned his head and spat as he said 'elves', as did several around him. One mouse called out, "Never again!", and there was a pause as everybody responded in kind.

"Anyways, some clever clogs made enchanted outfits for dolls that let 'em move and such, but when you put 'em on one of us, we could manipulate stuff. Just as if we had those wiggly bits on the paws like you got." He pointed at Amelia's hand adroitly with the scepter. "Not everybody got 'em, of course, and many've worn out or gotten lost over the years. So we share what's left, everybody gets a turn." He spun the scepter again, enjoying the control he had over it. "Really blows when you have to go back to pinching with your paws or using your mouth for everything, I can assure you."

Amelia nodded in understanding, remembering how much difficulty the animals had had moving everything around earlier.

"Is that why you guys don't have any cups and plates and things your size? Because they just treated you as servants?"

"You got it! Furry slaves. Toys, really, us. Wearing doll castoffs, of all the indignities. Nothing more than that." He curled his lip in a sneer, then calmed himself. "Bygone days, though. We finally had enough, banded together, and ran the blighters off. This is our pitch now, and we hunt them. Run 'em back to their master, that despicable Erlking of theirs. Never again!"

"Never again!" echoed throughout the hall.

"Don't you have any crafters, people to make stuff for you? If you can do stuff with the magic clothes, you should be able to, I dunno, make clay mugs or something."

"You ever try to make pottery? Not as easy as it looks. 'Specially when you're our size. With only a week to practice before it's some other bloke's turn." The King shook his head, looking out over his subjects as they went about their various tasks. "Nope, we make do with what we got, living as we always have. Shame. Hard to break the habit of thinking we're slaves, so beat into us ..." He shook his head in sorrow, gazing at the scepter he twirled. "It's better, now, but who knows how long we can keep it up."

Amelia frowned, then smiled as she watched her travel kettle being used by a skunk and a vole to boil water. "Actually, your Majesty, we could help you guys with that. We have classes on all kinds of stuff over at the hollow. Pottery, tinking, gardening, cooking, all sorts of things. You guys could come learn how to make things for yourselves! Ooh! I could commission Maisie and Montie to make cookware and bits! They made a bunch of smaller-sized stuff for the goblins, and really really tiny ones for Fern and her friends. They could do the same for you guys! That'd tide you over until you could make your own!" She started bouncing up and down as she got excited.

The king watched her enthusiastic gesticulating but frowned. "What exactly would you want in return? I think you know how we feel towards servitude, and we don't have any shiny metal to trade. How could we repay such largesse?"

"Nothing! We're already doing the classes, so extra students aren't an issue. Plus most of you hardly take up any room at all! I can pay Maisie and Monty for their work since they like to trade for stuff we make anyways like food and booze. Besides, we're practically neighbors! How could we not help you out?"

"Neighbors? Where do you live?"

Amelia turned to point, then realized she had no idea. She'd gotten rather turned around in the events of the last few hours and wasn't entirely certain which way home was.

"Um, not far, the other side of a stream and road. Big metal fence, teeny path leading to it. I'd say it's the patch of woods, but that isn't very helpful here in Megrim. In the mortal realm, it's the only trees for miles around, so you couldn't miss it."

The hedgehog's eyes bugged out a bit. "Hag's Hollow? You live in Hag's Hollow?"

"Uh, yeah, I've heard it called that. And we do have some, well several, I guess you'd call 'em hags, but they're really nice once you get to know them. Miss Annie teaches a shop class, Miss Jenny teaches swimming, when they aren't playing cards in the pub, that is. Miss Ashlee runs the pub, by the way. I think I mentioned that already."

Digby rubbed an ear with his free paw, blinking at the girl in disbelief. "That explains some things, I guess. That place is a bastion for the Dark, but it's protected by a light realm controller, birth something-or-other. Very strange place."

"Birth ... Oh! Beorthmund? I just call him Bert. I'm his caretaker. Well, the caretaker for the hollow, but they're kind of the same thing, I think."

The hedgehog just stared at her.

"What? It's not a big deal. My Gran asked me, so I came and lived there. Cleaned the place up a bit, made some friends. It's nice! You'd like it!"

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"So you're the caretaker for one of the Light's realm controllers, yet you're friends with more Dark whotsits than most've ever heard of, much less met. You've got artifacts straight out of myth, decked out like some sort of legendary hero. You freely teach spells the like of which we've never seen, and offer to teach more! Who exactly are you, girl?"

"I'm just me! Amelia! I don't know anything about this 'Light' and 'Dark' you keep going on about, really! Bert's my friend, and so're the rest. All there is to it, far as I'm concerned. This stuff," she gestured at the pin and her bracelet, "Stuff my friends made, 'cause they're nice and like to make things. People make all kinds of cool stuff there. You should taste Tyni's cooking or Tuuka's booze!"

"Right. Right. And you're willing to teach us skills and share your, uh, 'stuff', with us? For free. No strings attached?" he asked, incredulously.

"Yup. That's how we do things. I mean, you guys are welcome to help out around the place if it would make you feel better. But as friends and guests, not as servants! Not while I have anything to say about it!"

The King stared at her for a minute, then turned his head to watch the activity going on around them. The water wars had resumed, with the animals Amelia had originally trained teaching others. There were gouts of light here and there as the candle flame spell was practiced. Whatever other duties the creatures had had clearly been disrupted.

"I can't see how I could refuse such an offer. But I'll have to think on it, if you don't mind. I'll send a few to help you get your friends home with you, and they can report back on what they see."

"That works! No rush, we aren't going anywhere. Come visit whenever! We can put you up as long as you want. Plenty of room in the woods, or I can make rooms for you downstairs in the warren. As much space as we need, there."

"Really? You'd make rooms for us? Like, in a house?" said the boar steed.

"Of course! Why not? Everybody should have a place to call their own! Besides, Bert needs occupied rooms to store more energy, so it helps us out, too!"

There were murmurs around them, as the animals had been listening in on the conversation. The King looked around at the excited animals, listening to what they were saying.

"Hmmm, well, yes. We'll discuss it after our people return, but maybe we will take you up on a visit!" He said, finally.

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

The original 'shepherds' that had brought the tour group to the hall were delegated to escort them back to the hollow. Amelia had already met Hugh and Ronan and recognized Ottilie and Fia as the mouse and hare she'd seen while she was hiding earlier. Wilfred, a mouse, and Liam, a skunk, rounded out the party.

In the tourist's highly suggestible state, it was easy to get them to gear back up and follow after Amelia and Shock. The puppy had been tasked with finding their way home, the dog able to lead them directly there without even having to find their original scent trail. It was further away than Amelia had thought they'd been, but it was still less than an hour walk before they were passing through the gate at the front of the hollow.

As soon as they had entered the boundaries of Bert, Amelia had gotten a sequence of notices from the core.

[Notice! Hostile spell detected. Removing.]

This repeated for each of the tour group, and as soon as Bert made the announcement, the respective person was freed from the glamour that had controlled them.

"Thanks, Bert! I was worried we'd have to brew up a potion or get Pancake and Lark to do something. You're the best!" said Amelia, happy her friends were better.

"That was amazing! I can't wait to go again!" said Bill, unaware of the entirety of what had happened. "Everything was just awesome! Beyond awesome! Amazingly stupendously awesome!"

"Yeah, about that. So you guys got spelled. Elisabet, calm down, no, he's okay, let me explain. He's with Quiet, and maybe Fern. I'm sure they'll take good care of him ..." Amelia said hurriedly as the dwarf started to panic, looking with horror at the empty baby sling.

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

"This is the wood and metal shop. Toy shop too, I guess. Hi Scorper! Hi Olavi! These are some friends we met on our hike! Ottilie, Fia, Wilfred, Liam, Hugh, and Ronan." She said, pointing to each in turn.

The goblin nodded in acknowledgment from his place at the lathe, both hands occupied with his work. The dwarf pushed his jeweler's loupe up as he looked over from where he was seated at a workbench. He looked mildly surprised, but recovered quickly, standing to give a small bow to the visitors, who bowed in turn.

"Hey! I just thought of something! Olavi -- King Digby was telling me about magic doll clothes. They let the animals do stuff like they had hands. You know anything about those kinds of things, being a toy maker and all?"

He scratched his chin, dislodging some crumbs from lunch from his beard. "I can't say that I do." He continued scratching as his eyes lost focus, gazing through the animals as he thought deeply. "But I suppose it wouldn't be that hard. I suppose a variant of ... no ..., maybe ..., hmm, not that. How about ..." He started mumbling, his right hand reaching for some cloth scraps almost on autopilot.

"Oops. I think I broke him. Darn. You know how it is with these artist types, right?" She joked, looking over at her guests.

They were enthralled by the workshop, especially the racks of tools closer to their size. Still too big, but smaller than anything they'd ever seen before. Ronan glared down at his paws, angry at seeing such wondrous things that he was born unable to use. The rest looked equally upset, but followed Amelia around as she pointed out the the various machines, then watched Scorper at work turning a bowl. After a few minutes, she led them towards the stairway to continue the tour.

"Wait! My Lady! Just a moment!" called Olavi suddenly, waving a strip of cloth he'd stitched together hastily.

"My Lady? I thought we got past that, Olavi!"

"Right, sorry, sorry! Excited! Here, one of you try this!" He offered the sash towards the group.

Hugh shrugged, then took the item, staring at it. It was nothing more than a ragged offcut of material, a few quick stitches holding it together. The squirrel sniffed it skeptically, then looped it over one shoulder, looking expectantly at the dwarf.

"Here!" Olavi said, tossing the squirrel a small screwdriver. He caught it reflexively by slapping his paws together, pinching it carefully.

"Can you hold it with one, uh, paw? Did it work?" The dwarf asked anxiously.

Hugh pulled his paws apart hopefully, but the tool dropped onto Ronan's back.

"Oh. Oh! Wait! Let me just ..."

The dwarf made a small adjustment to the garment, the animals watching him with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation.

"There! Forgot the activation loop, forget my own head next! Now try picking it up, if you would. One-handed, please!" He said, adding the last as the squirrel reached down with both paws.

There was an intake of breath from them all when Hugh lifted the tiny item in his paw then twirled it around dexterously. His pudgy cheeks crinkled into a grin.

"Hah! Child's play! Compared to the work Bellows and I did on that bracelet, easy as pie! Let me whip up a few more for the rest of you ..." He turned back to his workbench, grabbing more scraps of cloth.

"You ... you ... you can do this?" Ottilie gaped, looking back and forth between the dwarf and the squirrel, who was tossing the screwdriver from paw to paw with glee.

"I'll just crank out a few quick. Ugly prototypes, but they should do the job. Give me a few hours and I can make better stuff if you want. No problem!" He said, speaking carefully as he held a threaded needle in his lips while snipping out strips of cloth. The dwarf eyeballed the animals as he worked, sizing things appropriately.

"We have to tell King Digby! Right away! This is amazing!" shouted Liam, the skunk hopping about so much that Wilfred actually fell off, sprawling on the floor.

"Oy!" yelled the mouse, ramming his excited former mount with his head in retribution.

"Sorry Willy, sorry!"

"There! Done! For you, and you, and you ... Sorry for the colour, red was what I had lying around. Try 'em out, go on!"

The animals all donned the sashes, then immediately started playing with the gears, screws, and other bits and bobs in the workshop.

The dwarf watched with glee, proud of his impromptu handiwork.

"Good job, Olavi! Wow! Can you make more? And larger? There are a lot of the Fur Folk, and I bet they'd all like one!"

"Sure! It'd be my pleasure! I haven't had a good excuse to make many toys, we only have so many kids around here. Good chance to knock the rust off, keep my hand in!" He answered, thrilled at the prospect.

"Awesome. Why don't we go upstairs, and I'll show you guys the art studios. More stuff to play with, up there! We can leave Olavi to work his miracles!"

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

The six animals left eventually, loaded down with a variety of sashes in different sizes. Olavi had churned out a huge selection, working until they couldn't possibly carry anymore. He promised he could make more fitting garments when they returned, fashionable and more functional.

They also had several mugs and minuscule utensils that she had liberated from the kitchen. Fern didn't need them all, and they were easy to replace, so Amelia sent them with the Fur Folk as a further gesture of goodwill, along with packets of crisps and other goodies she grabbed from the café storeroom.

"Come back soon! We can play dress up! And eat all the things! Thanks for your help with my friends!" She called after them as they exited back into Megrim, so burdened with gifts they could only nod back at her, replies muffled in all the cloth and parcels.

She watched them disappear around the first bend in the path, then headed to the kitchen. She could hear the sobbing from Elisabet, the woman inconsolable and crying in her husband's arms. She had taken her straight to Tyni once they'd arrived but had to leave the pair briefly while she gave the whirlwind tour to their visitors.

"I'm so sorry, Elisabet, Tyni! We'll get him back! I promise! Quiet and Fern won't let anything happen to him, wherever they are ..."