Fenoglio was now out of the tent and looking at Dustfinger with the wolf laying at his feet. Fenoglio looked amazed, staring at his creation that had suddenly come back from the dead.
"You, you, are alive." Fenoglio said looking at him still.
"Of course, do I look like a corpse?" Dustfinger asked making a joke.
"But how?" He asked Dustfinger.
"That's what I've come to ask you." Replied the fire-eater.
After the three, Fenoglio, Dustfinger and Meggie had brought Farid into the tent, and put him under the covers for Resa to treat, they talked.
"So, Fenoglio, any ideas on how I am alive all of a sudden?" He asked.
"I could be as clue-less as a donkey, but I do have one thought." He looked Meggie.
"What did you wish for? When you cut the cake." He looked serious.
Meggie looked down at Farid and then back at the two adults.
"I wished, that Dustfinger would come back. And that Farid would always be safe from harm." She explained.
Fenoglio shook his head and was about to explain.
"Yes of course. You wished for two wishes Meggie. Only one would come true. And clearly, it was for Dustfinger." He explained.
Dustfinger looked as confused as ever.
"So you mean, Meggie wished for her birthday, and that wish came true?" He asked.
"Yes, that is why people in this world are strictly forbidden to wish at all. Only because when I created this world, I made it so people could wish for birthdays and it would come true. Now I see that is a big mistake. I should have never created this world in the first place." He explained.
Meggie was almost in tears when she remembered what she was wanting to ask him.
"Do you know someone named Woodleg?" She asked looking at Dustfinger.
"No, why would I know him." He asked.
"Because he's your father." Finished Fenoglio.
Dustfinger looked at the two in amazement and had nothing much to say.
"So now you've given me a father?" He asked looking at Fenoglio.
"I never gave you a father." He said.
"Oh yeah, then who did?" Dustfinger asked.
"Orpheus." Meggie finished.
Dustfinger looked not amazed, but angry.
"That man!" He said almost yelling.
"I thought you liked him, knowing that he brought you back into this world." Fenoglio said.
"That man gave me a father. That's the worst thing in this whole world that could happen to me! Given a father, not just any father though. A father from paper and pen. He's only made of ink and imagination." He said.
"And so are you." Fenoglio said looking up at him.
"At least I had a life before all of this. This man doesn't know the littlest bit of me. I don't want an imposter as a father." He looked down at Meggie.
"Would you?" Meggie was now looking at him, as Dustfinger asked this.
"No." She replied calmly.
"Thought so!" He said looking at Fenoglio.
"So now where are you going? Leaving again?" Asked Fenoglio.
"Away from here. I got to think for a while." He said.
Fenoglio looked at Meggie. She just looked down at her feet. Dustfinger got outside and saw Mo and Resa looking at him.
"So it's true then!" Mo said looking at him.
"Oh my God!" Resa said giving him a hug.
"Yes, yes, I'm back. But I have to leave."
"Again!" Said Mo.
"I need some time to think, about this whole father thing." He said.
"Suit yourself. So is Meggie and Farid in the tent?" He asked.
"Yes." He replied leaving.
Mo and Resa watched Dustfinger walk away into the Waylass Wood, looking intense, thinking hard.