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Chapter 5

The Great Clawed One

Alice is awoken, to what seems to her, a very short time later because of an irritating light flowing in through her shut eyes. She opens heavy lids to find a ball of blueish white light floating right before her nose. She waves a hand at it, mumbling, "Twinkaleni, cut it out."

The light evades her attempt to bat it away and then floats a little higher before darting off into the forest. Alice groans looking over at her friends but can't make them out through the spots in her vision and the blackness of the night, though she can hear Danahlia's light snoring. Alice sighs and falls back to sleep.

The following morning, the girls eat a breakfast of fairly stale bread from their stores and drink plenty of the little pool's water. The pool isn't anywhere near big enough to sustain them and they must move on.

As they walk, Alice asks Twinkaleni, "Were you using that starlight spell of yours last night?"

The Murin looks surprised, "No, why?"

"I saw a light. It woke me up. Looked just like the one you made. You guys didn't see it?"

They hadn't.

"A dream perhaps," Twinkaleni offers.

"Maybe," Alice replies but feels certain it wasn't.

A few hours into their daily hike, the girls come across a stream several yards wide. They cheer their good fortune and Danahlia drops her baggage, immediately stripping off her worn leather clothes. Alice hesitates for a bit but then decides to join her as the Liguna splashes into the water. Danahlia and Alice splash each other for a time before noticing Twinkaleni still on dry land, gathering their gear into a neat pile from where they dropped it.

Danahlia waves her over, "Come on, Twinkie, you don't have anythin' we haven't seen before!"

Twinkaleni watches and seems to consider for a few seconds before she takes off her robe, revealing her slim gray furred body, and begins walking carefully into the stream. It's not very deep, but if she sits in the middle, Alice finds she can submerge herself in the clear running water. The cool stream is enchanting on her aching muscles and she closes her eyes to enjoy it.

She's jolted from relaxing when Twinkaleni squeaks. Alice looks to see Danahlia splashing her liberally with water, until the little mouse cries, "Pavata!" making a swishing motion with both her arms.

A wave suddenly reaches up several feet from the calm waters in between the two girls and crashes over Danahlia with enough force to send her tumbling downstream. Alice laughs as Twinkaleni rubs her hands together and joins her in the center to bathe.

Danahlia pops up from the water coughing and shouts, "You win this one, Twinkie!"

As Alice watches Danahlia recover from the spell, she spots the same light that came to her in the night among the trees. It's faint in the daylight but unmistakable.

"Look! There it is again," she points. But the moment she does, it darts away.

Twinkaleni follows her finger and scans the forest, "What?"

"The light, the light I saw last night. It was just there."

Danahlia notices her pointing and looks too but it's long gone.

The Liguna splashes up to them and looks back to where Alice was pointing, "What're we lookin' at?"

Alice explains that she saw the light again.

"What exactly did it look like?" Twinkaleni asks, still searching.

Alice gestures with a hand, "It looked just like your starlight spell but every time I try to get a good look at it, it flies off."

"Huh," Danahlia huffs.

"What could it be?" Alice wonders aloud.

Twinkaleni purses her lips, "Hmm, it is possible that it could be some sort of pixie."

"What's that?" Alice asks, looking at the Murin as Danahlia plops into the water beside her, making little waves as she begins washing.

"From my studies, pixies are a diminutive faye people, many of which tend to have wings and flutter about forests. Though I did very little study on the lesser faye, I do recall reading that those who follow the light of pixies often become lost and are never heard from again."

"So they're evil?" Danahlia asks, rubbing down her feet and toe talons.

Twinkaleni settles down to wash up too, "That I can't say, but if you put yourself in the place of these tiny beings and had some lumbering giant following you, you may try to lose them in a forest, too."

Alice had never heard of, much less seen, pixies and continues to look around for the little light as she cleans her fur. While looking around the general area, she does manage to spot several jellies at various points along the stream. She points them out to her companions and Danahlia says she even saw some fish.

"If we can catch 'em, we'll have water, food, and jellies right here," Danahlia announces enthusiastically.

Twinkaleni nods, "This does seem an ideal spot for a camp."

"Wags!" Alice agrees merrily and the girls enjoy a relaxing time in the slow moving stream.

After they bathe, they do what they can to wash their clothes. Then, Danahlia and Twinkaleni scout out a perimeter while Alice stays by the shore to set up her tent beside a large oak tree. As she slowly raises her tiny dwelling, Alice sights the little blue light again, hovering close by. She pretends not to notice in the hope that her friends might come back in time to spot it. Every now and again, as she hammers a stake with a rock or ties off a line, she sees the little light bobbing around in her periphery. After a few minutes of watching her, she notices it settle on a branch and the light goes out. Once her tent is set up, she busies herself by bringing a few stones from the stream and sets them in a circle for a fire pit.

As Alice places the stones, she calls out without looking, "I know you're watchin' me."

She gets the response she was expecting, silence.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," she says loudly, but keeps her eyes on her work.

After she's done, she sits and looks at the center of the pit while keeping the spot where she saw the light go out in the corner of her eye.

"I just wanna know what you want," she says again, to seemingly no one at all.

She waits for a time but is given no reaction. She waits a little longer wondering if the thing had already left and she had simply missed it. Her patience ended, she suddenly turns and stares directly at the spot.

She sees a tiny figure no taller than her open hand. She can't make out details because the moment it sees her looking, the figure becomes a bluish orb of light and darts away.

"Hey, wait!" Alice shouts, swiftly rising to follow the light into the forest.

The light is incredibly agile, zipping through branches and weaving through the trees. Alice chases after it, having difficulty following as looking up to track it's position has her stumbling over rocks, roots, and underbrush. She kicks a stone and hot pain blooms into her toe. It radiates into her leg but she keeps on, determined to know why she's being watched. But as much as she tries, eventually the light disappears into the forest, leaving her winded and with a terribly throbbing foot.

"Ticks!" Alice shouts in frustrations, scanning around for any sign of the light while ignoring her pain as best she can.

Finding nothing, she sits down in the dirt to examine her toe. It isn't bleeding but still hurts enough that walking back to camp just now is unappealing. Catching her breath, she feels around her injury, wincing upon finding a particularly tender area. She manages to wiggle it and in doing so feels confident that it at least isn't broken. She then lies back on the ground and looks up at the thick forest canopy, taking slow deep breaths.

It's then that Alice hears a strange noise, like high pitched cries of urgency. Immediately thinking of her friends, she rises, angling her ears to determine the direction. Once she has it, she runs as fast as she can toward the cries. After a few steps, however, Alice considers that the voice doesn't really sound like either of her companions and also recalls what Twinkaleni had said about becoming lost from following such lights. She already isn't entirely sure where she is but knows the stream can't be far, plus the voice is calling from only a little ways off. Curiosity taking hold, Alice continues to follow the high pitched cries cautiously.

As she creeps along, looking up and around, the cries become somewhat intelligible. Its sounds like a tiny voice crying, "Say! Say!"

Rounding a thick tree's trunk she spots a disturbingly large spider web, spanning between two other tall trees. The tiny figure from before is caught in a low corner and seems to be trying to keep very still while calling out. The spinner of the web is a large, brown, hairy spider whose body is nearly as big as Alice's head, though its long slender legs make it look considerably larger. The moment Alice reveals herself, the tiny pixie goes silent as the large spider finishes wrapping some other unfortunate thing that has managed to get tangled in its impressive trap.

Alice had never been fond of spiders and seeing one so large makes her extremely uncomfortable. Even to the point of considering leaving the pixie to its fate simply so she didn't have to look at the eight-legged horror anymore. She didn't have her sword, as she lent it to Danahlia, which only added to her apprehension. The spider finishes its grizzly work and begins making its way rapidly to the other side of the web toward the pixie. The diminutive figure screams for help and starts to struggle in panic, its light blinking rapidly.

Alice acts, picking up a rock and hurling it at the spider. Her aim is off, but she does manage to put a hole in the web directly in front of the monster, making it halt. It waits as if in anticipation of another attack. Alice searches but can't find anymore rocks and not wanting to get any closer, she begins hurling handfuls of dirt. After enduring several of her ranged assaults, the spider drops down on a thread to the ground and flees. The pixie is left in a cloud of dust, coughing but alive. Alice watches the spider scramble up another tree some distance away before approaching the tiny captive.

"Are you hurt?" she asks, stepping closer.

When she does, the pixie starts to blink and cry out again, "Shae! Shae!"

"Calm down, I'm not gonna to hurt you," Alice assures the panicking little creature as she tries to get a closer look.

The pixie is anthropomorphic with a very slender, pale skinned figure, but she can't get any better details as the pixie's flashing makes Alice's head start to hurt and her vision blurry. As she squints through the haze, another light, this one green, flies into her face, making the Tokala fall back onto her butt. It comes at her again and Alice scoots away, her arms raised in defense. After a few seconds, she tentatively lowers them and sees the green light tear free the blue pixie and together they vanish into the forest.

Alice watches them go, her head beginning to clear. She rises, dusts herself off, and limps back to where she is fairly sure the stream should be. She manages to find it soon enough and looks along the shore hearing Danahlia and Twinkaleni calling for her.

Spotting them, the hurt fox shouts, "Over here!"

Seeing her limp, they rush over.

"What happened to you?" Danahlia exclaims, taking one of Alice's arms over her shoulder to help her walk.

Alice leans a little onto the Liguna, "I kicked a rock."

Danahlia grins, "What'd you do that for?"

"I didn't mean to," Alice insists as Twinkaleni catches up to them.

"Alice, what's wrong?" the Murin huffs.

Danahlia answers for her, "Alice's foot met a rock. It didn't go well."

"Oh, well, come on, let's get you back," Twinkaleni says and leads them to Alice's tent.

Alice is laid in their little camp. Twinkaleni begins poking and prodding at her foot, asking if it hurt. It did and after several kicks to her fingers, the Murin concludes that it probably isn't broken and advises that Alice stay off it for a while. Danahlia gives her toe a little kiss that makes Alice smile.

"Well, I'ma try to catch us some dinner, otherwise it'll be stale bread again tonight," Danahlia announces, taking up her spear. She then thinks for a moment before using Alice's sword to give her stick a proper point.

While she does, Twinkaleni chides, "You really shouldn't wander off like that without at least telling us. What if your injury was more severe?"

Alice sighs, "Yeah, sorry. But the light came back and I chased it. It_was_ a pixie, I think."

Danahlia stops her whittling, "Really? What'd it look like?"

"It looked like a small pale person, but it kept blinking and I couldn't see it very well."

Twinkaleni rises, "Well, that does sound like a pixie, but it's gone now. Best to get some rest."

Alice lies back against a tree, watching Danahlia splash around in the water while tossing her newly sharpened spear about. If the Liguna is trying to fish, she isn't having much success but seems to be enjoying herself. Twinkaleni gathers a few sticks and piles them into the fire pit. She then stands to watch Danahlia and shakes her head. The mouse mage wades out into the stream to say something to the larger girl. Alice is too far away to hear but after a moment's search, Twinkaleni uses her water wave spell to send two fish splashing ashore. Danahlia skewers them both before they can flop back into the stream and waves them excitedly to Alice. Alice gives her a wide smile and waves back.

After some effort, Alice has a fire going with her flint and steel. She then limps around preparing several piles of large green leaves as Danahlia and Twinkaleni bring back a few good sized fish.

"Great job, guys. We could probably use a few more. I'll start cleanin' 'em," says Alice, taking the catch.

Alice knew a little about fish, if not fishing, and uses the ant mandible she retrieved before to descale and even gut the girl's dinner. Twinkaleni and Danahlia watch as she places the cleaned and gutted fish on a pile of leaves, while putting the guts on another. They smile at each other, and then head out to catch some more.

By evening, they have a decent meal cooking over the fire and Alice asks Danahlia to scatter the leftover guts into the stream.

She looks at the pile of entrails in disgust, "Uh, why?"

"They might attract more fish for tomorrow," Alice explains.

The possibility of more food immediately warms her to the idea and Danahlia grabs up the pile as best she can in the leaves. She then hurries down to the stream and tosses them in with a sploosh. It wasn't exactly what Alice had in mind but it would do. Twinkaleni checks on Alice's toe, which is still tender but at least not throbbing as before.

"How does it feel?" the mouse mage asks, gently feeling about it with her warm, little, furless hands.

Alice wiggles the toe, "Better, thanks."

"That is a relief," says Twinkaleni, reaching into her robe to produce three green cores.

"Where'd you get those?" Alice wonders.

Twinkaleni positions them equally apart around the fire, "Danny insisted we take them when we scouted the area. She said we should start collecting for when we need to go out and trade."

Alice smiles and Danahlia comes back after thoroughly washing her hands, "Food ready yet?"

Alice takes in a deep breath through her nose, "Mmm, smells like it."

The trio had worked up quite a hunger over the course of the day and sit around the fire to eat their fill of fish. Though some are burnt and others aren't entirely cooked, they don't mind at all.

By the time they finish the meal, it's getting dark and the fire low. The girls put their gear inside Alice's tent for safe keeping and climb up their tree for the night. Alice's toe aches a little from the climb but she manages and they settle in.

"Tomorrow, we should try to explore the area more and locate other possible food sources," Twinkaleni suggests and the other two agree.

Then Danahlia points, her silhouette only just visible, "Look, there!"

They spot the blue light that Alice had seen along with a green one on the opposite side of the stream, their glows bright in the dark.

"That's them!" Alice exclaims.

Twinkaleni peers at them, "Oh, I wonder what they want?"

"They better not steal our stuff," Danahlia asserts.

The green light seems to run into the blue before they both disappear into the night.

"What else do you know about pixies?" Alice asks Twinkaleni, watching after the two while laying back on her branch.

"Not much I'm afraid, other than they are considered lesser faye," the mouse mage answers from somewhere in the dark.

Alice yawns, "What's faye?"

"Faye or fairies are creatures that supposedly come from Fayelindran, the spirit world." Twinkaleni explains.

Danahlia asks, "Spirit world?"

"Mm-hm. It is believed by some that the spirit world and our mortal world merge at certain points and times, allowing beings to cross over from either side," Twinkaleni yawns but continues, "They even say magic comes from the spirit world and those of us who can wield it are touched by fairies or even have faye blood in them."

Danahlia shifts in the darkness, "You have fairy blood inside you?"

Twinkaleni gives a tired little laugh, "Perhaps. It's as good (yawn) an explanation as any I've heard."

Alice tries to keep awake, very interested in this talk of magical beings from another world. She forces her eyes to stay open, focused on the three glowing cores surrounding the embers of their fire. However, the more she tries, the more they want to close. She lets them, certain she can keep listening, only to quickly fall asleep.

Alice wakes before dawn to Danahlia poking her in the shoulder with the tip of her long tail. The sleepy fox briefly considers grabbing and biting the bothersome appendage, but merely bats it away.

"Alice, look," the Liguna whispers hoarsely.

Alice rolls to her side and finds both Twinkaleni and Danahlia staring intently at something by the stream.

Danahlia asks, keeping her voice low, "What is that?"

Alice rubs her eyes and follows their gazes to what is the largest mud crab she had ever seen. Crabs were a rare delicacy in Toki, so she knew what it was, but this one was unbelievably huge, perhaps even as large as Twinkaleni.

The giant crab is staying in the general area where the girls had tossed the leftovers from their meal the night before. The outer shell of the monster is a speckled brown and it has two imposing claws held loosely halfway in the water while it scuttles around on eight legs, each as thick as Alice's arm. It has too large white globes for eyes sticking up on stalks and seems to be busy feeding with its back to the girls.

"It's a crab," Alice whispers and the others look over to her.

"A what?" Twinkaleni asks.

"A crab. They live near the water, but I've never seen one so big."

Danahlia whispers, "Is it dangerous?"

"Uh, well, you can eat 'em."

That seems to settle things for the Liguna, who starts to scramble down the tree, "Great, let's get it."

"Danny! Do you see those pincer-like appendages?" Twinkaleni squeaks in warning.

"Yeah, definitely want to avoid getting clipped by those," Alice adds, following the lizard girl down.

"Got it, don't let those near me," calls up Danahalia.

"Guys?!" Twinkaleni whines from her perch in the tree.

"Come on, Twinkie, we can take 'im," Danahlia assures as she reaches the ground, "Plus, I never had crab before."

Twinkaleni lets out a frustrated huff and starts down as well.

Alice takes a two handed grip on her sword as Danahlia angles her spear at the monstrous crustacean. They approach cautiously and quietly, a few feet from each other as to hit it from two sides. Danahlia gives her a nod and Alice charges forward to give the creature a massive overhand chop. Her feet splashing in the shallow water gives her away and the crab begins to turn, raising its formidable claws while making angry clicking noises.

Alice hesitates for a fraction of a second as the fierce looking creature turns to her, and her blow deflects off the side of a thickly armored claw. Alice is pushed back to the muddy ground, open pincers reaching for her.

Danahlia shouts, "Alice!" and begins haring the crab with thrusts to its mouth with her spear. The wooden point lacks the power to penetrate the crab's carapace but does distract it enough for Alice to find her feet again.

"I think we made it mad!" Danahlia calls out as she takes steps back, the crab grabbing the haft of her spear while reaching for her legs with its free claw. Alice dashes back into the battle and takes off one of the crabs rear legs with a diagonal slice that splashes into the stream. The crab is undeterred and chases after Danahlia, who lets go of her spear and starts to run away.

"Danny! Lead it over here!" Twinkaleni shouts and Alice sees her lifting a large stone with her magic. Danahlia switches directions, sprinting right for the little mage. The moment the Liguna passes her, Twinkaleni cries, "Telefuss!"

The stone flies forth with incredible speed, smashing into the crab's face with such force that the creature is knocked onto its back. The legs of the creature flail about as its vulnerable, near-white, belly is revealed. Alice takes the opening and leaps onto the crab, shoving her blade downward through the shell and into where she thinks its brain might be. Even so, the legs continue to kick and pincers grab. Alice half slips half jumps away, leaving her sword inside the monster.

Twinkaleni falls to her knees in exhaustion and Danahlia kneels by her side.

Alice watches the crab's flailing slow until it stops and then checks on her friends, "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, just a little winded. Get some water will ya?" Danahlia asks, holding a rapidly breathing Twinkaleni against her chest.

Alice quickly retrieves a few water skins from their supply and gives the girls one each while keeping the last for herself. They all drink and slowly let the adrenaline work its way out of their bodies. The spell the mouse girl used seems to have taxed her greatly and the girls decide to sit a while.

Danahlia looks over at the crab, "Is it dead?"

"I think so. Let's give it another minute," Alice advises and takes another drink.

Once Twinkaleni is back on her feet, they approach the still crustacean. Danahlia retrieves her spear and pokes at it to no effect.

Alice steps closer and Twinkaleni warns, "Mind the claws."

Alice nods and quickly taps the handle of her sword before retreating, but the crab doesn't even twitch. They let out a collective breath and Alice pulls free her sword, strange blueish blood leaking from the wound.

"So, how do we eat this guy?" Danahlia asks, poking at the dead crab with her spear some more.

"We should cook it. Let's get it closer to the fire pit," Alice answers.

Danahlia and Alice take a claw each and drag the heavy creature back to their camp while Twinkaleni retrieves the leg Alice hacked off before it drifts further downstream. Once they have it there, the two larger girls gather firewood and Twinkaleni uses her magic to set it ablaze.

They cook the dismembered leg first, setting it directly on the fire until it changes from brown to orange. Using a rock from the river, Alice smashes open a segment and pulls out the steaming white meat. She hands it around and the others grab some too. Twinkaleni and Danahlia sniff and watch Alice eat hers before trying some themselves. The crab is excellent, fresh, sweet, and soft.

"Wow, this is good," Danahlia comments, and Twinkaleni nods enthusiastically, stuffing her mouth.

"Eat up, we got plenty," Alice grins, and before they've finished off the first leg, she hacks off another to set over the fire.

Twinkaleni looks over to the rest of the crab, "Alice, how long do you think this will keep?"

"Mmm, not long. I think we need to eat as much as we can before it goes bad."

"Great!" Danahlia says happily, breaking open another segment.

The girls eat their fill and only get through four of the legs, leaving the other four, the claws, and the main body still intact. As they all lay back, patting their stomachs in satisfaction, they agree that today will be a nice relaxing one.

"Oh look. That pixie thing's back," Danahlia says, pointing.

Alice rises to her elbows and sees the blue light hovering over the water near their side of the stream. The girls watch it for a moment and this time it doesn't flee. The green one appears from somewhere over it and swoops down, circling the blue.

"Hello?" Alice tries and the two pixies stop, then the green gets behind the blue and they slowly approach.

The girls don't move, afraid any shift might startle the tiny creatures into flying off again. The green one stops, still a few yards away. The blue continues until she is just feet away from Alice.

The girls jump when the green pixie shouts, revealing it to be female, "Go on, Tally!"

The blue one bobs in the air as if fighting the urge to flee but then blurts, "Thank you. Save me from the weaver you did."

They pronounce their words in an unusual way, emphasizing different syllables. The girls learn little else as the little light immediately rejoins the other and they start to fly away.

Alice calls out, "Wait! Please, don't go." But they disappear into the forest.

"That was interesting," Twinkaleni remarks, as both girls look to Alice.

"What was that about?" Danahlia wonders.

"Uh, I guess I saved that one from a spider yesterday. That was when I hurt my foot," Alice explains.

"Very interesting," Twinkaleni says again.

Alice decides to cook the rest of the crab, thinking it will last longer and be ready to eat whenever they get hungry.

Danahlia puts a cylindrical bit of the crabs shell over her forearm and taps it, "I wonder if we can use this for something."

"Yes, I believe this might make a better spear point for you, Danny," says Twinkaleni, handing her the pointed end of one of the crab's legs.

Danahlia takes the pointy bit of carapace and sticks the end of her spear into it, "Hey yeah, now I just need a way to stick it on here. I need a pine tree."

"What for?" asks Alice, turning another of the crabs legs over the fire.

"To get some sap. I know how to make glue from pine sap and charcoal. Can I borrow your sword again?"

Alice gives her weapon to the Liguna and she runs off to a nearby pine tree. Alice and Twinkaleni watch as she cuts a few low branches and then goes to another to do the same.

Twinkaleni takes a stick from the firewood pile and inserts it into one of the hollowed bits of crab leg, saying to herself, "I wonder," and then to Alice she asks, "Do you think this would penetrate a jelly?" offering the jagged broken end of crab leg.

Alice tests it with a finger, finding the edges to be sharp and sturdy, "I think so. What're you plannin' to do with it?"

"Mmm, let's see how Danny's endeavor fares first, but I do believe we can craft some useful items with this creature's remains," the mouse mage says, toying with the two pieces some more.

By evening, Alice has cooked the crab's limbs and places the main body over the fire. Twinkaleni has crushed some of the charred wood into powder at Danahlia's request and the Liguna herself has managed to collect a cup or more of the pine tree's syrupy sap. Danahlia now mixes the sap with the powdered charcoal as Alice and Twinkaleni watch. Doing so makes a black and extremely viscous paste. Danahlia applies it generously to the end of her spear and then shoves on the pointed crab leg end.

As the Liguna rotates the piece over the fire, Alice asks, "How'd you learn to do that?"

"My dad taught me," she grins proudly as the glue mixture softens in the heat. Danahlia then stands her new viciously pointed spear up beside a tree, "Once that cools it should be pretty solid."

"Wags," Alice smiles, "What else can we make?"

"If that sap holds, I have an idea for something that might make extracting cores from jellies easier," Twinkaleni answers, "But I require a long stick like your spear."

"We should be able to find you one," Danahlia nods.

"And I think once we clean out this bit, the shell will make a nice big bowl," Alice adds, prodding the cooking crab's body.

"A bowl would be useful," says Twinkaleni.

The girls settle down around the fire, eating their fill of delicious crab while discussing all the things they could make with what was available around them, some practical, some not so much.

As evening turns to night, the girls climb up into their tree.

"Armor might be a bit beyond us, Danny," admits Twinkaleni.

Danahlia argues, "We could totally make armor. We just need to bend and shape the crab's limbs some to fit over our arms and legs."

As Alice ties herself to her branch she adds, "The edges are pretty sharp, we'd have to wear something under them to keep those from cutting into us."

"Yeah, yeah," Danahlia nods enthusiastically.

"And what would we use for this buffer? We certainly don't have the clothes to spare on such an effort," Twinkaleni points out as she crawls to a spot on her branch to sleep on.

"We could, uhh, hmm..." Danahlia trails off rolling to her back, her tail waving lazily over the side of her branch.

"I believe our most immediate concern should be shelter. What if it rains?" presses the Murin.

Alice agrees, "That's true, my little tent can't hold us all."

"Alright, alright, forget armor for now. We need to build a house," concedes Danahlia.

"Do we know how to do that?" asks Twinkaleni.

"I'm sure we can figure somethin' out," Danahlia answers confidently.

"Yeah, how hard could it be," Alice adds, picturing a little log cabin in the middle of the woods, complete with a door and even a little window.