Lady Bane shivered, despite being the most feared sorceress around. She knew beyond a doubt that she was being watched from afar by a presence far more evil, far more feared, than she could ever become. She wouldn't touch the mirror but used her magic to flip it face-down on the bureau. The Dark Sorceress silently commanded her puppet gummi out of the room and set about removing or covering every mirror in her entire castle. Never once did she look on her own beautiful reflection while on this treacherous task, and she did it all herself and without speaking, for fear that she who saw out might take over one of her Troggles - or perhaps even her own body.

Gummadoon Sitting Room

All eyes on him, Cubbi gulped. "Uh..."

"Come now, lad. From what I heard from that Gruffi fellow last we spoke, you can spin us a tale or two," Sir Gumlittle prodded, leaning over to poke at the pink-furred cub playfully.

He did. He had a story right now that was horrible and wonderful and terrible and frightening and he couldn't say a word of it yet. Not yet. It wasn't the right time. And... It'd destroy this wonderful evening if he mentioned HER name now. "Well, uh... I mean, I've had a few adventures, I guess. Not like YOURS! Well, except for that big fight with every bad guy I've ever known in my life. That was pretty bad. But you guys know about that..." Cubbi trailed off, seeing a few of his fellows nod. Sometimes a story that fresh was too close to home. Couldn't go on about that one either. "Um, okay, sometimes it got really boring being the only kid at Gummi Glen and Sunni - that's the girl at Gummi Glen - Well, me and her were really bored one day and we got this magic flute out..."

As Cubbi retold the story of the dragon he and Sunni flew on and caused a bad day for Duke Igthorn, he relaxed. It was a great story cuz it didn't have death or near death in it. It was just a good story. At the end, he was surprised by the questions brought up by his peers.

"Sir Plucki says you and the others were the only gummies in the Glen for years. How'd you live all alone like that?" Corvi seemed oddly interested in this.

"Well, we had each other, but the adults really missed having everyone around. They worried about us cubs because sooner or later that would mean we'd be the only ones there. We found another gummi like that. Or, he found us." Cubbi, grinning, told them of Chummi and his airship and how they almost sailed across the sea to their gummi cousins. But if they'd done that, they'd never have been here to see Gummadoon. This story also entranced everybody. Even Sirs Plucki, Gumlittle, and Blastus looked interested, having not heard that one.

"We should probably use our gummi scope to locate where this Chummi has landed. Let him know you have more company than your ears can take now," Sir Plucki commented with a grin.

"That'd be great. He was pretty lonely. Pretty disappointed that we were the only ones at Gummi Glen. South Gumpton was also abandoned. And now that the Barbics have their Barbic Woods back, Ursalia's pretty empty, too." Cubbi added.

"Which reminds me to bring it up with the Council. The Ursalians might want to know the state of things at present, and we might have need of their specialties sometime in the near future," Sir Plucki said as an aside to Sir Blastus and Sir Gumlittle.

His brother knights nodded. A rather solemn nod. Cubbi wondered what that was all about.

The other squires and pages had a few more questions but the youngest were starting to nod off. Plucki decreed it was time to sleep and they were lulled by the occasional knight humming some tune as he poked at the fire.

Tavi's Room

Tavi slept fitfully in her bed. She was plagued by nightmares which should could not tell were sent by Emi or conjured by her own scared mind. Or perhaps it was the medallions. Who knew! Waking in her own cold sweat, Tavi got up and paced, unwilling to lay her head on her pillow any more. She stared out at the courtyard, darkness filling everything. No trace of light yet. She wondered how long until dawn. How long until answers could be gained? How long until some inner rest could be achieved?

She pondered exploring the Great Book some on her own a moment. It was risky though. Her aunt would be in soon to make sure she was up for the day. Once the palace began to awake then, well, then the library would be a hot place, as it usually was. It seemed that it was even more so now. The adults were scurrying about like ants, some grabbing research books, some looking at old maps. She didn't know for sure but she was certain that they were looking for the same reason she and Cubbi and Corvi were.

Kicking off her covers, she sat up. No point in trying to fool herself into sleep. It simply wasn't happening. Still, what more could she do right now? It was still too early for her to be wandering around. If one of the adults saw her that would inevitably lead to questions and she didn't think she could come up with proper responses right now. If she managed to get into the library and to the Great Book…well, all the info on Emi had been written in Old Gummi. Logic told her that any additional information would likely be recorded the same way. She would need Corvi to translate it and he was in the main sitting room with the other squires right now.

Flopping back on her bed, she sighed heavily. This not-being-able-to-do-anything was driving her completely insane! It was bad enough that she was getting a limited amount of sleep. Then, throw in the inability to do anything about it and you had the makings for extreme frustration. Her head was starting to hurt already.

Well, maybe…there was a chance she could start wondering around, trying to find other ways into Merlinni's old chambers. There was the main door yes but Gummadoon was ripe with old forgotten passage ways. She could always try wandering those and see what she stumbled upon, couldn't she? It wasn't an ideal answer to the current issue but at least it was better than lying here on the bed and remaining frustrated! The only problem she saw with it was that Gummadoon was full of so many twists and turns that it would be fairly easy to lose her way. Still, she reasoned she could always find a door leading back out into the main halls. Besides, she was the explorer/adventurer type!

Her mind made up, the girl walked to her closet and pulled on some clothes before venturing out into the hallway and into the nearest hidden doorway, disappearing with nary a sound.