Gwydion visited Medusa as soon as possible, mostly to tell of the success of the potion, but also because he needed someone to talk to about what the newly renamed Letholdus had told him. Medusa was in the cave with all the small plants when he arrived, carefully cutting and watering the tiny seedlings.

When she saw him she smiled, "Greeting."
The little hair snakes, which for the most part remained quiet, started their normal greetings, "Lightening!"
"Little One!"
"Did you bring me a mouse?"
"Snakeling!"
"Mudling!"

Gwydion ignored the little snakes like Medusa had told him too, "Hello Medusa."

"Well it was time for some tea anyway, let me finish watering this row."

"Alright." Gwydion liked watching Medusa work. It was soothing, and she had a tendency to sway slightly back and forth on the coil of her tail. "Medusa, how did these plants survive when you were cursed? I mean you said that it was all locked away from you, so they couldn't have been watered or anything."

"Oh, you are clever. Yes, indeed, most of my seedlings died. But the ones in the larger cavern," here she gestured to a door way he had not noticed before, at the back of the green room, "lived on, a little too well in fact. That is why I haven't show you it, its very much overgrown. The magic which replaces the need for sunlight continued on, even in my absences. These little ones are cutting I have managed to salvage from clearing the cavern. You can have a look if you like, but don't venture in."

Gwydion, curious as always, peaked his head through the doorway, to find a space around the door had been cleared, a path emerging between two neat beds, filled with ferns and strange tropical plants, but after only about 40 paces the space resembled a jungle more then anything else. "Oh, I see."

"I'm done here, let me put some tea on."

Gwydion spent some time telling Medusa all about what he had learned from the animals in the forest, and how the chicken were smart. Of course, he also told Medusa about what Letholdus had said.

"Letholdus, thats the black cat at the Keep, said that once he was a wizard too, and Manannan turned him into a cat which stopped him from doing magic."

"It is a better fate then many have face at Manannan's hands. At least he may interact with others."

"But as a cat!"

"Do you see now child how Manannan is not a good person?"

"Thats what Letholdus said too. That just because he wasn't evil to me didn't mean he was good either. But I can't kill him! I told you about the hens, I killed one of them when I didn't know, and they still miss her! She might have been a chicken, but she could think and dream and had hopes and friends, and I went and killed her and ate her! I can't do that again! I can't!" At this stage Gwydion was close to panicking. He kept thinking about Gertrude the hen, and how the others still spoke sometimes of her, clucking in the pen. Gwydion felt like a band was tightening across his chest, his hands shook. He was a monster. He was a killer. "You'll have to kill me too! I'm evil too! I killed Gertrude!"

Medusa was suddenly there, her hands on his shoulders, her voice low but commanding, "Shhh Gwydion, listen to my voice, breath in with me, thats it now out slowly shh shhh."

Gwydion rested his head on her shoulder, calming slowly down.

"You didn't know little one. In almost any other place the hen would be just as silly as all her kind, I doubt the others would have even noticed her missing. Would you do it now you know?"

"No!"

"Even if you were hungry?"

"No! Not even then!"

"Then you are good, better then many men who knowingly strike down those lesser then themselves. You are better then Manannan who has killed those boys before you, who controls the lives of all who inhibit this area, demanding obedience to his whims. You are a pure being with a strong heart! That you grieve for a chicken just shows it even more."

"I don't think I am…"

"Shh, that is not your choice to make. We are our own greatest critics. But perhaps, you might have the answer already."

"What do you mean?"

"Perhaps you can do what Manannan himself did, and turn the wizard into a cat. He would still be alive, but he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone any more."

Gwydion had let the thought sink in. It was true that he would much prefer that to killing someone. He still hadn't been able to kill any more chickens, and was thankful the animals the old crone bought were already dead (even if he had to butcher them himself). He was still eating meat, simply because if he didn't it was a waste of food, and the animal would have died for nothing. But he didn't think he could kill anything, knowing it had hopes and dreams like a normal person. He resolved to go and see if that animals in town were just as smart, or if like the forest animals, they were still animals.

After that Medusa spent some time naming the magical plants she was growing, and together they tackled clearing some of the large cavern. It was hard work because many of the plants were magical, which mean they fought back, twisting away when they tried to cut the branches, or hitting them when the got to close. Medusa did most of the hard work, saying she didn't want Gwydion to get hurt, and when he protested, pointed out that if he got hurt to badly Manannan might realise he was leaving the Keep. So Gwydion spent most of his time collecting the cut branches, snapping them into smaller pieces and piling them to one side. By the afternoon he was tired and sweaty, and so bid Medusa good bye and heading back into town.

It took some time to find a farm with pigs and a few chickens, and once there Gwydion sat on the fence and listen to the animals, trying to figure out if they, like the chickens, were smart.

They were not. The pigs basically only said four words, 'mine', 'what?' 'hey!' and 'yum,' the chicken even worse, with just 'hey!' Sure there where different types of 'hey!' like meaning, 'hey, (thats is mine),' or 'hey (what is this?)' or 'hey, (danger),' but Gwydion was left less then impressed by them. It shouldn't have made him feel better about eating them, but it really did. He still wasn't sure if he could kill one himself, but he was more sure about continuing to eat meat.

Heart a little lighter, he returned to the Keep and washed himself for the second time that day. When the wizard got back he handed over a hunk of cold ham, before going to bed.