- there's a tug-tug on her length of twine.  She tug tugs back and says, "I should tell my sister what's going on.  She's on the other side of the passage - of Fool's Hollow.  But can you give me the five-second version?"

"All right.  The king of Casthanaea is the Witch-King Eldest-Giant, who has sat on the Throne of the World for all of living memory and history.  He's cruel and uncaring and considers everyone in Casthanaea his playthings, and when he's not tormenting or enslaving us he leaves us to fend for ourselves.  The only reason he's still on the throne is that he's an eld-giant and Casthanaea needs an eld-giant on the throne."

"All right."  She - first ties her twine around a knot of the tree, just outside the hole, and then says, "I'll go find my sister and we'll - figure this out."

The honeysprite salutes her.

And she starts sidling back through the passageway.

Once she gets to the bend, she calls out, "I'm here!"

"You okay?"

"Yeah I've got loads to tell you - hold on - "

She finishes the trip back, steps out of the armoire and catches her breath.  "Oof."

"Are you okay?  Did you get to the hole in the wall?"

"Yes and yes," she says.  "There's a whole forest on the other side of it.  I met a sprite."

"A sprite?"

"Like a tiny little person, riding an oversized firefly.  She called me an eld-giant.  She said - she said the forest is in a land called Casthanaea, that needs to have an eld-giant ruling it or the world will end.  And the eld-giant on the throne now is nasty, he - he tortures and enslaves everyone."

"...Do you wanna go in there and try to usurp Casthanaea."

She wrings her hands a little.  "I mean - we should get a grownup, but - no one in town would believe us, right?  They'd say we were crazy.  And they'd ship us back to, to Sibyl.  Everyone loves Sybil."

"Sweet old lady whose troublemaking son ran away," Vanessa mutters.

"And - and even if Aunt Sophie believes us - would she believe us enough to come all the way back out here about it."

She sighs.

"But.  But kids can't do stuff like that, right?  Not in real life."

"...If Casthanaea needs an eld-giant on the throne... maybe the only reason they haven't already overthrown him is because he's the only eld-giant," Vanessa says.  "We could go and say - if there's a rebellion or something, we can join up, and stop the world from ending after the old guy is taken out."

It's the rest of our lives, she wants to say, the whole rest of our lives...

But what will the rest of their lives look like if they don't?  Hitching a ride into the city, hoping Aunt Sophie can take them in, hoping Sybil doesn't send anyone after them to track them down... and if Sophie can't take them in, then - then what?  She can't imagine what, her mind goes blank, Sophie taking them in had been their only hope.

So she nods.

It's not a big grin, but it's a grin.

The trip back through the armoire is lengthy and awkward and generally unbefitting of an emotionally weighty resolution to try to save the inhabitants of a magical forest.  But soon enough they're out the other side, and -

"Hello!" the sprite calls, once they've both clambered out of the tree.  "Welcome to Casthanaea!  ...I don't think we ever properly introduced ourselves, did we?"

"I guess not!  My name's Kaylee, and this is my sister Vanessa."

The honeysprite salutes them.  "It's an honor to meet you, Kaylee, Vanessa.  My name is Ambrosia."