Back at Blinky's, Jim set his backpack on the table.
Eli, Stuart, and Krel hung back.
"Do come in. Our home is yours," said Blinky, motioning in the three newcomers.
Nari hugged AAARRRGGHH! and fawned over the youngling, giving him a tap on the nose.
Dictatious grumbled about the noise as he tied off the end of his weaving. "Here." He thrust the finished work at Blinky. "Now, you can keep that blasted little thing out of the way."
Blinky shook out the finished product. "It's a sling." He tied the ends around AAARRRGGHH!'s neck.
AAARRRGGHH! secured the sleeping youngling and stood. "Nice. Not have to hold youngling. AAARRRGGHH!'s arms getting tired."
Jim's backpack jerked as if someone had yanked it with an invisible string.
"You got a stray cat in there?" said Eli.
"Cat? AAARRRGGHH! hungry." AAARRRGGHH! peered at the bag expectantly.
"No cats," said Jim just before the backpack surged toward him. He caught it in time to keep the whole thing from crashing into his lap. When he unzipped it, Kronisphere tumbled into his hands, and green light bust from its eye.
"Kronisphere!" Nari scampered under the table and came out beside Jim. "You behave."
The orb faced her.
"May I?"
Jim let her take it.
Nari gazed into the emerald eye, expression unreadable.
She handed it back and climbed onto a chair. "There is much to do. Kronisphere shows me what you have been doing the past two weeks, and what happened after I fell in battle with Skrael." She laid a hand on Jim's shoulder. "The Trollhunter and his friends are brave, but their hearts are sad because they have lost those they love."
Nari tugged Jim's backpack all the way open and took out The Book of Ga-Huel. "This volume once crossed my path. At the time it was with its first possessor, the Dishonorable Bodus. But this book and I came to an understanding, one the book has honored. She opened to the pages containing the images of Barbara and Strickler.
The hidden message now spanned both pages, and it wasn't faded anymore. The images of Jim's mom and would-be stepfather, along with Jim's friends, were outlined and highlighted in gold and white ink.
Jim used the amulet to translate the entire message. "The sick of heart will find their cure in hope made real."
Nari laid the book aside and walked across the table to where Barbara sat. She kneeled in front of Jim's mother and took her hands. "You are an extraordinary woman. Though once abandoned, and twice left behind, you were first to believe happiness could return, and so you were the one to whom Kronisphere revealed the book's message. Never lose your beautiful soul, Barbara Lake."
In the middle of Blinky's table, Nari sat, legs tucked beneath her, hands folded atop her leaf apron. "Each of you will play a part in what is about to happen. Some already know their role." She smiled at the sleeping youngling. "But most do not." She held out an open hand, and Kronisphere rolled out of Jim's grasp and leaped into her palm. "The sphere will show you." She held it aloft, and images flooded out of Kronisphere. "When you know what to do, go."
Barbara was first to leave, followed by Claire.
The images swirling above were blurred to Jim's eyes. Likely, they would only be clear if they pertained to him.
When only Jim, Blinky, and Dictatious remained with Nari, Kronisphere's light dimmed, and the images faded.
"Blinkous and Dictatious Galadrigal," Nari said, "today, joy will fill your home. Rest a while, then prepare to receive guests—human and troll alike."
Blinky and his brother headed for their respective beds while Dictatious complained that they didn't have a head count for the visitors.
"Trollhunter," Nari's voice softened as she faced him. "Yours are the hardest tasks of all." She handed him Kronisphere. "Look."
As Jim accepted Kronisphere's vision, it seemed as if he stood within it, instead of being an observer like every other time.
He stood on a toppled building overlooking the ruins of Trollmarket's Heartstone. When Bellroc died, her attempt to revive the gigantic Heartstone ended in its crumbling. Pieces of blackened crystal covered two city blocks. The largest portions were tall as a multi-story office complex.
Within the vision, he was alone in the cold street as one of fall's last breezes swept through.
Warmth in his hand.
The amulet.
He raised it to the overcast sky.