The unexpected yet welcome arrival was none other than Uh – pronounced like who (exasperation) – the dust devil. His real name was unpronounceable to anyone other than dust devils, and even they had great difficulty placing the accents correctly on the whoop and whistle sounds.

He had spotted the agitated fire-fairy pacing, mumbling, hissing, firing. .w.h.a.t. .i.s.s. .s.h.s.h.e. .u.p. .t.o. he wondered while herding some early autumn leaves over the roots, through the holes, into the crevices of these majestic trees.

Gathering himself into semi-solid form he resolved to approach her. But before he could form a coherent sentence, Ninik greeted him .b.y. .n.a.m.e.. Her action took him by surprise, jumbling his erratic thought patterns even further. It almost sounded like she was expecting him.

He barely had time to form a questioning response when the stone-giant came to rest about 5 meters away enveloping the motley crew with a cloud of dust and sand.

“Finally” said Ninik icily “lets find Shanasha.”