The journey back is uneventful, but the next step…

Lux stays alert for danger as she leads Gill back through the forest, but as before, things seem quiet. The calm before the storm, perhaps – Lux is sure her luck can’t hold out much longer.

Gill trails along, still half in a daze, needing occasional coaxing to keep going. Lux can’t help but feel sorry for him, his whole world turned upside down for the ambitions of that vile snake. As they walk, she tries to tell him what she knows – about the dryads, the Erlking, the Valley itself – although she’s not sure how much of it he takes in. She carefully steers around describing her experiences in the dark maze; even beginning to describe what happened to her out loud is more than she can bear.

Just as she’s recognising the change in their surroundings, the more lush growth on the trees and in the plants underfoot that tell her they’ll soon reach the glade, she sees a movement ahead – she freezes, weapon in hand, but it’s only Minn, flitting and waving them onward. A little further, and out of nowhere, they’re joined by Willow and Juniper, stepping out of the nearby trees.

Gill stops in his tracks, wary. But a placating gesture from Lux and a bright smile from Willow put him at his ease a little. Juniper, of course, continues to look at him with open distrust.

“Welcome, friend,” Willow says. “Minn told us Lux had found someone – but not your name?”

“This is Gill,” Lux says, when Gill doesn’t speak up. “He agreed to come with me, but I think he’s still…”

Juniper nods. “He’s under the naga’s spell,” she says. “Might seem fine now, but one word from her and he’d obey.”

“Then we’ll just have to change that,” Willow says, extending a hand towards Gill. “Please, come this way.”

There’s a doubtful look on Gill’s face. “I always learned not to follow the fey into the woods…”

“You learned well, then,” Juniper says. “But unfortunately for you, there are worse things than fey in your world.”

“It’ll be all right,” Lux tells him. “They helped me when I was hurt.”

After a moment, Gill slowly nods. “Fine,” he says. “I’ve trusted you this far.”

“Well, we’re not promising anything yet,” Juniper puts in. “Breaking this enchantment won’t be easy.”

“Oh, I have some ideas about that,” Willow says. “Lux, will you come too? I think you can help.”

“Of course,” Lux says, wondering where she would come into this. She and Gill follow as Willow moves to pull aside some branches and vines to reveal a hidden path.

They step through into a clearing. The same clearing she remembers from before, carpeted with flowers, except – did the stream flow that same way before? Now that she looks at it, Lux finds she’s not sure if any exact detail is in the same place. The strange, haunting sense creeps up on her that the whole world around her is a dream; for a moment her stomach drops as if she were falling. But then her eyes settle on Willow, reassuringly solid and proven to be dryad through and through. In this place, appearance will have to be enough.

Gill, too, looks a little disoriented – but he’s looked that way since Lux first met him. Hopefully, whatever Willow has in mind will clear his head a bit. But what could it be that Lux is meant to help with?