When Amanda reached the end of the line, she crashed through the trees and landed with a loud "Thwack!" on the forest floor. Her head was spinning and she was still seeing stars when the Tree Troll alighted nimbly beside her and helped her to her feet.

"You might have warned me about the landing!" declared Amanda as she brushed the dirt off of her backside and combed the leaves out of her tangled hair.

"Sorra," offered the Tree Troll.

"You should be!" Amanda grunted. The realization that her ability to hear the full range of Tree Troll speak had indeed worn off came as an afterthought. So did the realization that she was being watched, not only by the Tree Troll and its companions (who Amanda now knew to be lurking behind nearby trees) but also by the Blue Faeries, who huddled in their protective ring not ten paces from Amanda and the Tree Troll. The faeries stared, aghast, as if they had seen something much worse than a ghost. They would have been shaking in their boots if they had been wearing any.

"It's alright," Amanda said. "The Tree Trolls are friendly.

"Then why was Winsome wantonly waylaid in the warren without warrant?" asked the Blue Faerie Queen.

"Her magick is damaging to the Tanglewood," explained Amanda. "The Trolls could not allow her to use enchantment to leave Twilight Tanglewood, for fear that her spell would cause great harm here, but this one here has come to show us another way out through the Portal Cave."

"Horrors!" cried the BFQ. "I hope you hastened to herald our heavy-hearted harrow to your hairy helper here. Our house is not in the habit of harming habitats."

"I o," said the Tree Troll.

"The Troll says that he knows," translated Amanda. "I explained that you did not mean to do the Tree Trolls any harm and neither did the Winsome Witch. You had no way of knowing that your magick would be in conflict with the enchantment which sustains Twilight Tanglewood."

"Now we're no longer naive we'll never navigate negligently near your native niche, neighbours," proclaimed the BFQ.

"An-oo," nodded the Tree Troll, in acceptance of the Blue Faeries' promise.

"Well then," said Amanda, "where's the Winsome Witch?"

Before her guide Tree Troll could answer, their conversation was interupted by the chanting of the other Tree Trolls as they marched through the Tanglewood tunnel towards Amanda and the Blue Faeries.

"Laffoo-raffoo!" chanted the Trolls. "Laffoo-raffoo! Laffoo-raffoo!"

Presently, a large group of Tree Trolls appeared at the mouth of the tunnel, carrying the Winsome Witch on their shoulders.

"See aslee," explained one of the Trolls.

The Faeries did not understand the Troll-speak. "What's wrong?" they asked. "What's wrong?!" they demanded to know. "What's wrong?!?!?!" they screeched in agitation.

"See aslee," the Trolls replied in unison. "See aslee! See aslee!"