((Darn! I can't believe you beat me by remembering more about David the Gnome than me! I'd forgotten that he was a doctor.))

Nell put the extra effort into breaking free of her bindings. She was still pulling the broken vines off of her when she heard heated voices coming from nearby. Nell looked to the doorway uncertainly. Should she crawl over to it and open it. This tiny room was making her slightly claustrophobia and given that she'd been brought her against her will and bound she wasn't sure she wanted to stay here much longer. Still, she'd never heard about gnomes being viscous, not that all fairy creature weren't known for being temperamental but she had thought that gnomes were supposed to be some of the nicer ones. And really, she wasn't completely faultless either. She remembered how frightened the gnome in the cave had been. His friend was probably just taking to help him.

Still, why ever had they brought her here if they'd thought she was dangerous?! She shook her heard and started to crawl towards the door. At the very least she wanted to know what was being said outside the room. She pressed against the wood and listens intending.

((I feel like I'm playing D&D again. *rolls a d20 for a listening check.* 7! Blast!! Let's not count that roll...))

(About all I remember from that show and his companion Swift the fox, I hardly watched it unless nothing else happened to be on at the time.)

The door cracked opened a little as she moved over towards the door, the voices growing marginally louder as they approached the door. The two voices were speaking in a strange dialect that sound more like the chittering of a squirrel or some other animal rather than a true language.

Whoever had rested their hand on the door knob paused to say something to the other before opening the door fully. Now Aegir had changed the illusion a little in that he was one of the gnomes now while the steed he had been masked as was a project of his, right now the horse did not exist since it was not present.

The door swung open, two beings in similar garb stood before them, their features nearly identical though one, the one that had hit her with the dart, seemed older than the other who stood a few feet behind the first.

Both seemed shocked as their eyes fell upon Nell in surprised shock. While the older one stood paralyzed in the door way the younger of the pair cringed in apparent fear as he took a few steps back, eyes never leaving Nell ...

Nell blinked, slightly alarmed herself by the gnomes' suddenly appearance. She backed away from the door a little to give the small creatures room. It was clear that she had frightened them away which had been the last thing she had intended to do. She sat up as much as the low ceiling would allow and held up her hands in the universal gesture for "I'm not dangerous."

She opened her mouth to reiterate this, speaking softly so as not to offend their tiny ears. "I'm sorry. I'm not harm you. I just wanted to see where I was." It wasn't exactly the truth but it wasn't exactly a lie either. "Why did you bring me here?"

A pause, the younger one still backed up until his back had been against the wall. He seemed petried though the elder one drew a tiny knife from his belt and held it firmly in his grasp. He was frightened too but seemed braver than the other as he held his ground.

The younger chirped out something, the elder said something in return, gave Nell a rather strange look then glanced at her attire, said something else to the other and then slowly lowered his knife so that it's point was down at the floor.

He said something to her that she had not understood, then slowly reached into the front pocket of his colorful clothes and brought out a handful of nuts that he chomped down.

"We thought you were dangerous," he said after that display. "You are unknown to me and I thought you meant my brother harm, especially when I heard him say 'Don't Eat ME' in your dialect, about the only words that he learned.

"To sate your curiousity you are on an island called Shokushu by the inhabitants here ..."

"Oh well, yes. I sort of figured I was still on the island..." She said thoughtfully. "I was sort of wondering where I was on the island specifically. I was sort of lost you see and... Oh Shoot!" Nell suddenly remembered something and quickly attempted to stand up. She had unfortunately forgotten about the low ceiling and banged her head against it causing her to drop back down to her knees. "Ouch!!"

Nell glared up at the ceiling and rubbed the bump on her head. "I forgot, there's an injured man in the forest... Ummm... I'm not sure where exactly... The horse knows but..." She looked around uncertainly at the tiny room. "Ummm... Where exactly is the horse now?"

"Sirocco? Oh, he's back at the entrance. We thought you may have enslaved him like the one before you had," the gnome whince when she bumped her head then reflected a little on her words. "I assumed such, though the jury's still out on you as the expression you tall folk use so I'm not going to tell you where you are if you don't know. But I am sorry to hear about your companion's injury. My brother will go with Siroccco to assist her."

Of course the little guy had been making a few assumptions here. He seemed to be under the impression that she had not been alone and that given the fact that there was an all girl's school on the island that she had been out with another student.

"It's not a girl. It's a man and he's not my companion." Nell quickly corrected the gnome with an expression of disgust. "He is a vile, drunken pervert who the horse... err... I mean, Sirocco, rescued me from after he attacked me." she frowned gravely and crossed her arms over her chest, her sweater was still a little damp and muddy from earlier. "I dare say he deserves what he got but I still can't leave him to die out there."

"But wait, what did you mean by 'the jury is still out' on me?" She looked around the tiny room with the two little men blocking the only apparent exit. "Am I in some sort of trouble? I really didn't mean any harm earlier... I wanted to find help for the man and Sirocco brought me to your cave for some reason..."

"Yes, yes," the older gnome said as she explained her story to him. He had been rubbing his bearded chin and when she questioned him he said something intelligable to his brother who nodded in response then took off.

"What I mean is that I don't know you, and of course my brother doesn't and this could be a trick ... I haven't yet decided on your integrity just yet seeing how we've just met so my brother is going to have a chat with Sirocco to see if your story checks out, if it does then he will go to this man with medicines though why you'd be concerned about this pervert is beyond me ... though I suppose one could curse him with oh, balls the size of grape fruits for awhile and see how he likes that.

"You could be the witch, she lives close to these parts and could have enchanted Sirocco to bring her here. This could be a rouse in getting us to drop our guard though we have to be vigilant against that, hmm? The witch has eaten her fill of gnomes in the past."

Nell watched as the younger gnome ran off, presumably to speak with the horse. She then turned her attention back to the gnome that had been speaking to her. She didn't respond to the comment about cursing the perverted professor's genital. She honestly didn't care what happened to him as long as he survived. She listened intently to the story about the witch and at the end of it she had a much better understanding of the gnome's fear of her. "Oh, that's terrible! I can't blame you for being cautious though I assure you I am not a witch. I have no magical ability at all, in fact. But, I suppose you can't just take my word on that... Are you going to let me go if my story checks out with Sirocco or is there some other way I can prove to you that I am not this witch you fear so much?"

"Hmm ..." the gnome thought. "There are ways though few that we have on hand. Like a vampire the witch casts no reflection but there are no mirrors here and the only water supply are those potions and tonics there," he pointed, "and our brandy."

He thought for a moment then as an after thought added, "oh yes, if everything checks out and I'm certain you're not the witch disguised as one of the students here then you'd be free to go ... of course if you were the witch I suppose I couldn't hold you here ... Ah! Salt, the witch cannot eat salt. It burns her like acid."

He considered something for a moment, "when Flanwicket gets back I'll have him fetch some salts from our stores before he departs. He's got to come here anyway to grab his potions, you know, elixirs to make you stronger, others to resist the elements, others still to heal."

"Of course, I'd hate to leave you thinking I might be a dangerous witch so I'll eat salt if it'll reassure you. It's no problem." She smiled sweetly. "Flanwicket? That's your brother, right? I just realized I haven't introduced myself. I'm Nell. It's nice to meet you."

(Sorry for the short post. Kinda been busy with school work.)

(Quiet alright, no need to apologize)

"Ah, yes, yes, Flanwicket is my younger brother. I am called Panhandle though fellahs just call me Zoot. Nell, we I'd say the customary thing here, pleased to meet you and what not but under the circumstances I won't do so seeing how you could be a witch and all."

A minute or two later Flanwicket returned saying something in their jittery language. Zoot responded in kind and his brother rushed off again after a quick glance at Nell.

"Seems that Sorocco backs up your story but since I don't know whether or not he's been placed under enchantments ..." his tiny voice trailed off as there was no need to really finish that statement.

A moment later Flanwicket was back with a tiny little bag that he turned over to his brother who unfastened the drawstrings on it and dumped a handful of salt into the palm of his left hand. The salt was tan in coloration since it had not been processed but rather shifted through by hand, still it was pretty good as far as the gnomes were concerned.

Zoot glanced down at the salt in his hand while his brother watched Nell nervously. Then it happened with blinding speed. Zoot tossed the sack at her sprinkling salt out of the bag so that a cloud of the stuff erupted around her.

The salt fluttered to the floor harmlessly of course.

"Er ... sorry about that. So your not Gertrude. If you were your skin would surely have blister with the salt and all. Couldn't take the chance that you would use some guile and pretend to eat the salt or if you'd even eat it if the witch.

"So, Nell ... good to meet you."

The sudden cloud of salt the gnome had thrown on her had surprised her but she managed to close her eyes in time to avoid tiny bits of it from getting in her eyes. She'd passed the test by not burning under its touch which seemed to put the gnomes at ease. She was relieved to have their trust now. She shook the salt out of her bangs and smiled at the gnomes again. "It's nice to meet you too, Zoot. And your brother Flanwick as well." She nodded to the other gnome, still smiling. She then addressed Zoot again. "You surprised me a bit with the salt but if it help satisfy you that I'm not a witch then that's good to hear... Umm... Did you ask Sirocco if he would lead you back to the injured man? I wasn't sure how willing he's be seeing as he was the one who injured him but I'd really hate to think I'd left a man to bleed to death without doing anything to help him... No matter how much I may dislike him... But, of course, Sirocco may feel differently about the matter. If he refuses to help then I really should get back to school and report what happened. They may have ways of helping him that I don't know about."

"It was meant too catch you off guard," Zoot responded with a small smile. He turned to his brother, translated and they had a little bit of an enchanged before Flanwicket smiled at her then nodded before moving across the room as he began packing the satchel he had.

"Flanwicket informs me that Sirocco will bring him to the sight where the incident occurred. Our tonics will fix him up, something Sirocco had counted on perhaps or the fact that we were close by and could communicate with the both of you, or at least him in a worst case scenario."

"Flanwicket will go to him presently."

"Thank you both very much." She smiled warmly. "I am truly appreciative. That goes the same for Sirocco as well if your brother wouldn't mind delivering the message for me." She paused for a moment and looked thoughtfully down at her lap. Then she looked back to Zoot. "You've been very helpful to me. If there is anyway I can repay you please let me know."