Clay just sat in stunned silence with a bewildered look on his face.

"Wha- how- whe- huh!" Omi's mind was flooded with so many questions, he didn't know where to begin. He finally closed his mouth, tried to relax, and decided to just throw some off the top of his brain.

'It's off the top of you're head, Omi.'

Omi blinked. Where did that come from? As if he didn't have enough on his mind already! To make things simpler, he guessed he just subconsciously remembered that word and had talked to himself without realizing it. Anyway, getting back to their current situation.

"Where's here?"

Kimiko shrugged. "I'm not completely sure." She cocked her head to the side. "You're not kidding about me only disappearing a minute ago, are you? That's really weird."

Clay spoke. "If a day and a half's passed here, then we must've been out for a long while."

"No. I just passed by here a minute ago and neither of you were here. Hmm, maybe it'll make more sense if I tell you everything that happened. You aren't going to believe this! I fou-never mind."

She suddenly looked depressed.

"What?"

"Why don't we get you both cleaned up first and then we can figure this out. There's a great place to wash up nearby."

Although Kimiko had washed some of the mud off their faces with the water from the bucket, they were still coated in mud. Kimiko reluctantly helped them up and motioned for them to follow her.

On the way, they passed large patches of hacked or dead ferns and grass. Clay started to ask Kimiko about this. "Why-"

"It's in the story." Kimiko interrupted.

"Of course it is." Clay muttered. "Kimiko, could you at least tell us how you could get sunburned? Like Omi said, it's shady here."

Kimiko snorted. "You should've seen me when I first got here. I was completely burned. And believe me, it could've been worse. When I reached for that crystal, I got pulled into this huge whirlpool of flames."

Omi and Clay stopped in their tracks. "It was a whirlpool of mud when we got pulled in."

Kimiko looked blankly at them for a moment. Then she smacked her forehead. "That's it! I have the element of fire, so it was fire for me, and since you both went in at the same time, it mixed your elements!"

Soon they came to a waterfall running into a wide shallow pool.

"Pretty cool, huh? Outdoor shower and bath. A little cold, but you get used to it in a while."

Omi jumped in, wincing at the temperature of the water. Then he took a deep breath, dived underwater, and started swimming free-style. With each stroke, more mud wore away from him, fading into the water. The now dirty water flowed down a creek and was replaced with clean water from the waterfall. When Omi was finally clean, he climbed out of the pool only to discover that there was nothing to dry off with.

"Sorry Omi." Kimiko shrugged. "No one here seems to mind the cold very much and with me being burned, I've been enjoying how cool it is."

Omi had to shake himself off like a dog and run around to get warm. Clay waded out into the pool and stood in the waterfall until he was clean, then waded back out and used the same technique Omi used to get warm.

When he was done, Clay turned to Kimiko. "Well, now can you tell us what happened?"

"Sure. Better make yourselves comfortable. Like I said before, it's kind of a long story."

Clay and Omi sat down on two moss covered rocks by the pool. Kimiko stepped into the pool and lay down in it, resting her head on the edge. "So, where should I start?"

"From when you first got here, wherever here is."

"Okay. I was at the same spot you guys were. After I took in what happened, I tried to get up, but my skin hurt too much for me to move. After being still for that long, I eventually fell asleep."

She didn't tell them that she had actually worn herself out from crying. She had expected for Omi and Clay to come after her, and when they didn't, she figured they had abandoned her like Raimundo had. It was one of the worst things in the world to think that the people you cared about the most didn't give a damn about you. Kimiko already got her heart broken over Raimundo, and she hardly had any time to recover from it. When Clay and Omi didn't come for her, she was seriously considering suicide. When she first saw them here, she had to restrain herself from squeezing them until she broke their ribs. Out of anger or happiness, she wasn't sure. But she let only her happiness show on her face and pushed her anger down for later. The anger evaporated when she discovered they really did come in right after her.

"I also woke up the same way you two did, with cold water. Only I was being lowered into this pool."

"By who?" Clay asked.

"Two wood nymphs."

"There are wood nymphs here?" Omi asked.

"Yeah. There's a colony of them over south some ways."

"Shouldn't all the plants here be really healthy then?" Clay asked.

Kimiko sighed. "They were, but there's a pack of goblins in the woods that's killing a lot of them. The wood nymphs are trying to restore everything back to the way it was, but the goblins destroy faster than the wood nymphs can heal."

"What kind of goblins?" Omi asked.

"These ones are creatures that look like midgets, only they have goat horns, sharp teeth and claws, big noses, and pointed ears. Anyway, the wood nymphs took me in to their colony and helped me with my burn. I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I've been trying to help them with their problem with the goblins."

"Why don't the wood nymphs ask the goblins to leave the woods if they are such a dilemma?" Omi asked.

"They've already tried that. And negotiating with them. But the goblins won't leave. Actually the goblin got enough nerve to ambush the wood nymphs in their own homes." Kimiko's eyes abruptly widened. "Reminding me why I went to get clean water in the first place.

Kimiko got up, waded out to the waterfall, and held her pail underneath it, waiting for it to fill up.

"A lot of the wood nymphs were killed or injured in the ambush. It wasn't fair at all. The goblins attacked on wood nymph territory, the wood nymphs didn't have any weapons, and they didn't even know how to fight." Kimiko rolled her eyes. "And even if they did, I'm sure they wouldn't no matter what. Well, I'd better go back."

The pail was filled to the brim. Kimiko started back to the colony. Clay and Omi followed. "I'm guessing that the goblins gave you those scars." Clay said.

"Yeah. That's all they managed to do to me." A satisfied smirk grew on Kimiko's face. "Those goblins are going to thing twice before they lay they filthy claws on me again."

Clay smiled. He was sure she pounded a lesson into the goblins' flesh that they'd never forget. It took a lot to get Kimiko down.

Suddenly Kimiko stopped smirking. "Look, guys, there's something important that happened after the attack that I think you should know. See, I made the goblins cluster so a wood nymph named Agatha could put some sort dust on them that put them to sleep. But when we were going to dump them at the edge of the woods or something, this wolf leaped out of nowhere and took a swipe at the wood nymph closest to the pile of goblins. Everyone started screaming and dragging the injured inside as quickly as possible. Then a huge whirlwind appeared, gathered up all the goblins and the wolf, and just whisked them away."

"Why is this event important? It sounds like the whirlwind saved you all from harm." Omi said.

"Not exactly. The whirlwind and wolf were there to save the goblins, not the wood nymphs."

"What do you mean?"

Kimiko sadly shook her head. "Before a wood nymph pulled me inside, I caught a glimpse of three people crouching in some bushes nearby. One of them was Raimundo."