Blair looked up suddenly, her eyes widening when she came face to face with a small woman and man. "Hello," she breathed softly, not understanding the strange tongue that they were speaking in. "I apologize if my partner and I disturbed you." She took a half a step back so she could see them better. "Can you understand me?"A tiny woman, dressed in leaves with short-cropped hair, balanced on the branch overhead. "Loma?" she asked. A tiny man scurried after her. They were hand-sized, like Kyle. "Canee italka?"
A creature, black as night, followed him. It was nearly invisible, but the stars were blotted out in its horrible wake. Silent wings beat like owls' wings, and the creature bore down on him from above.
The huge creature grabbed him in impossibly strong arms and subdued him with a brush of golden candelus powder that he held beneath the boy's nose. Within the space of a breath, Kipp was unconscious, without even the chance to fight. The glowing yellow powder blew away in the wind, and the we-sa turned north. Where all the action was. Without a glance at Kipp's companion.