Dorothea lighted on the branch that Sam was sitting on, and she paced urgently. "Come on, there's no time to be afraid -- you'll have plenty of time to worry once you've reached the ground." Her logic wasn't exactly flawless, but she wasn't sure what else to do. "That thing could be back any minute, and all you need to do is to get down, come on now, you can do it." Her tail swished uneasily. This was like babysitting her little cousins -- and Dorothea was never very good with children. She glanced out at the way the Jockal had gone, imagining that its toothy maw would reappear any second. She very suddenly had no desire to waste time coddling.

She stood rigid on the branch, glaring meaningfully up at Sam. "Keep your eyes open," she snapped. "Shift your weight completely onto the branch, grab it with your arms, and swing your legs down to the next one. Think of nothing but balance -- all you need to do is balance, and they're rather thick branches, you should have no trouble. Children do this several times a day without so much as a scrape, and I'm sure you can get out of a tree by yourself. Now Get. Down. Now! Or I will leave you behind to be eaten!"

With a little hiss she sat down and watched Sam menacingly, sometimes glancing away to check whether the beast was coming back.