"Why not?" Lili asked, her voice high and catching in her throat with concern.

The earth creature tossed more runes.

"You are a child of the humans' realm, yes? The one whom they call Lili?" the creature asked through the runes.

"Yes," Lili confirmed.

Continuing to communicate its story to Lili through the runes, the earth creature continued:

"You have been summoned to Raindancer World, a land within the faerie realm. They call children from your realm to them from time to time when they require help which only a human child can give."

"Raindancer World!" Lili exclaimed. "Really?"

Some of Lili's friends claimed that they had been to Raindancer World, a magickal place in which everyone and everything danced in the rain everyday. Her friends told stories of wonderful adventures which they had had there, and Lili pretended that she thought they were making the whole thing up although, secretly, she believed their tales and wished that she could go to Raindancer World too. This place didn't look much like the land of rainbow-coloured beaches and honey-filled lakes which her friends had described, however. This place was damp and dark and, well, it was underground! It couldn't rain there could it? A further toss of the runes explained the source of Lili's confusion:

"Raindancer World has summoned you to be sure, but corruption from your realm has bled over into ours and the faeries' realms and blocked your passage."

"Corruption? I don't understand. Where am I now? How do I get to Raindancer World?" Lili asked.

"You are in our home, the northern lands of the Elemental Realm."

"And you are?" Lili prompted.

"My deepest apologies, human child. I sometimes forget that your knowing is from different sources than our own. We are the Gnomes, the spirits of the Earth, if you will. You are most welcome in our realm, but I feel that you must want to hurry on to your destination."