Lili was parched and exhausted by the time she had finished her ring, but the barrier worked. The fire was contained within Lili's circle, and the surrounding lands were spared. Lili crumpled to the ground and surveyed her work. The Salamanders were dancing merrily throughout the flames now, all save for three who approached Lili carrying a finely-carved hazel-wood staff.

"Thank you for your work here today Lilith," began one of the Salamanders. "Our kind shall not soon forget the help which you have given us. You must hurry on now, before the sun sets. Head towards the western waters of our realm. You will buy some time by travelling in that direction, for the sun sets in the west in our realm as it does in your own. Take with you this wand which we have forged for you. It shall lead you to the Undines who will be able to speed you onto the final leg of your journey."

Lili thanked the Salamanders for their gift and took off running in the direction which they indicated. As she travelled west, the air became more moist and the vegetation more lush. When the ground underfoot began to soften up, Lili remembered the flowers which she had managed to salvage from the fire, wilting now in her pocket. She pulled them out, fearing that the journey in her cargo pants had exacted the same punishment as that from which she had saved them at the hands of the fire, but Lili was amazed to see that the flowers were still vibrant and strong. They seemed healthier even than they had been when she had first pulled them from the ground.

This must be the Gnomes magick again! Lili thought, for she had carried the flowers in the same pocket as her one remaining acorn. The sun was visibly lower in the sky now than it had been back in the Salamanders' land, but Lili felt confident that the flowers would thrive if she replanted them in the fertile soil here, and she thought that she could do so and still reach the Undines in time to get home.