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A flurry of dark feathers glistened down, spinning, into the succulent patch at their feet.

Crow peeked out from behind the trunk of his tree, where he'd been hiding since the surprise arrival of a many-legged monster from the sky. His eyes had narrowed to bright slits; his talons emerged and tapped a nervous rhythm on the bark.

At Ozzy's crash site, several flowering and bulbous succulents had cracked and broken, their tiny barbs caught with bits of fuzz and yarn; their brilliant purple sap oozed and dripped and stained Ozzy's dropped knittings. Gobbledygook would be horrified, thought Crow.

He did not notice that a few of the crushed succulents -- those which grew directly in front of the frozen Gobbledygook -- had not at all been touched by Ozzy or his fall. Their sap had already dried and crusted, the broken edges browned and the flowers wilted. There was a little hole dug among them, as round as a silver dollar, that led down into a snaking little tunnel through the soil and roots. But surely not a one of them would notice something as inconspicuous as this. Crow himself did not notice it at all, for he was far too busy gnashing at Ozzy for his carelessness.

Crow opened his toothy mouth with the intention of spitting some insult or another at the many-legged atrocity -- but he changed his mind at the fashionable basket-hat, which suited Gobbledygook very well if he had to admit. Perhaps he might withhold his judgment for now.

ECG might feel something within the rock begin to hum in reaction to the hat. It was a small emotion of sadness and hope -- but no true communication could be possible. It was, at least, a very definite reaction within the stone to something that had happened outside it.

A fangy grin spread on Crow's dark face. Feathers spun to the ground.

[color=peru]"The heart of Gobbledygook has been stolen,"[/color] he reiterated the notice on the flyers that had been stuck in every doorjamb and mail slot in the Tangle. [color=peru]"The mystery is completely unsolved. I'll tell you, then,"[/color] he turned to Leaza and gave her a deep bow, [color=peru]"Your Magnificence, I'll tell you what I've deduced so far -- I who know this forest best."[/color] He cleared his throat and clambered a few paces along the branch; the leaves rustled and shook.

[color=peru]"The guards are always buzzing high and low -- they guard the Cobwebs as well as the ground and everything between. [i]Nothing[/i] gets past their watch, and this is the only entrance. But if you look closely at their statues, none of them seem alarmed. None of them had drawn their weapons. Isn't this curious, if people began turning to stone [i]after[/i] the heart was stolen?"[/color]

He perched again on a branch that was a bit more precarious, and he scanned their faces as if he expected one of them to look away guiltily. [color=peru]"Gobbledygook is known to sleep soundly throughout the night -- but she was certainly awake at the time of the theft. You can see plainly that she was looking [i]up[/i] ... at what, or whom? If nothing amiss can get through the entrance without alarming the guards, and the whole of the Tangle was asleep, what could she have been looking at? Why didn't she run or fight? She is far more powerful than even the ancients."[/color] He offered another bow to Leaza, which caused the branch to waver. He caught his balance quickly.

[color=peru]"Of all the people -- besides myself and the King -- who are permitted to enter the forest at night, only two have not turned to stone: they are the Blue Hare and Jackdaw the custodian. But surely they could have nothing to do with this fiendish act."[/color]

The grin remained.