The Jabberwock holds very still while Everless works, occasionally making little pained noises when something catches wrong, but otherwise remaining quiet.

After several agonising minutes, the last twig breaks and is removed by the raccoon's steady paws.

"There," she says quietly. "Audrey, I hope you are right."

"Well, let's see." 

She looks at the Jabberwock. 

"Jabberwock - do you mind if I call you Jabberwock?"

The Jabberwock folds its injured wing back against its side, moving with exaggerated caution. 

At Audrey's question, it swings its head round to stare at her, head waving from side to side so that it can study her from different angles. 

It produces some more creaky-door noises, managing to give them the intonation of a question.

That's probably a "why"...?

"Everyone should have a name they like, not just what people call them. It's rude to ignore people's opinions, even and especially if they have problems saying things." 

More confused noises, and then something that sounds like it might be intended as laughter. 

It tilts its head to one side, clearly having decided to give the question some serious consideration. Making up its mind, the Jabberwock nods and makes an almost recognisable attempt at reproducing the syllables of its name, although it seems to be having trouble with consonants.

Shaking itself like a dog, it growls under its breath at its own inability to speak intelligibly. 

Audrey looks at Everless, then back at the Jabberwock. 

"... Everless, do you think a blackberry might help the Jabberwock with its body's problems talking? Jabberwock, if Everless thinks it might help, would you like to try changing your body with a blackberry?"

"Speaking of blackberries, I would like to return to my usual form now that I no longer require this one," Everless says. 

The Jabberwock holds out the blackberries so she can reach them, and she takes one. 

"Much better," she proclaims, fluffing up her feathers in satisfaction and flapping back out of the tree to perch on Audrey's shoulder again.

"As for the Jabberwock...I am unsure what the results would be, were it to eat a blackberry. However, it seems a relatively safe experiment to make, since the effect will be trivially reversible if it proves unsatisfactory."

The Jabberwock nods slowly, looking down at the branch it is still holding.

"You really don't have to, Jabberwock! If you want to stay in your current body that's okay too, we'll just have to figure out a different way to talk."

That seems to decide it. 

Taking a deep breath, the Jabberwock plucks a single blackberry from the stalk with its teeth, and eats it. 

The massive beast begins shrinking rapidly, sprouting brown, black, and white feathers at the same time, until it almost seems to disappear.

After a moment, a small bird is visible, sitting on the path where the Jabberwock was standing. 

It chirps experimentally, and almost falls over in surprise at the sound, letting out a high-pitched squeak of astonishment. 

Audrey grins. 

"Do you like your new body?"

It hops forward, turning its head from side to side so as to look at her out of each eye in turn.

"--ike?" it mimics experimentally. "Like?" 

It blinks, and lets out a trill of excitement. "Like like like!" it sings.

Audrey nods. "Good! I don't want you to be sad with your new body." 

She tilts her head. "Everless says you've hurt a lot of people. Is that true or not? Don't worry, even if the answer is 'yes' I'm not going to hurt you. Hurting people for hurting people just breaks the world more."

"...ess," it says quietly, hopping from side to side and fluttering its new wings a little. 

"Yes, ess."

With a running start, it manages to take off and circle round to land on the branch of a tree, around Audrey's head height.

"... I'm sorry. Do you want to make it right?"

It bobs its head in a little nod.

"Yes," it says. "Make...right."

It gives a pleased trill when it notices it got the new words right on the first try.

Audrey smiles. "Good. Care to take my other shoulder?"

It watches her for a while, cocking its head first to one side and then the other.

Eventually, fluffing up its feathers to make itself look bigger for a moment, it takes a deep breath and flutters down onto Audrey's free shoulder.

It's considerably lighter than Everless, and doesn't do much to balance out her weight. As well, it is much more nervous and fluttery, seeming unable to settle down and sit still.

Audrey hums. 

"Oh, Jabberwock. Were you trying to tell me something before all this? I'm sorry, making sure you were okay was more important."

"Trying," it agrees. "Impooor'ant."

It doesn't seem to have entirely mastered speech yet, but it's doing impressively well if it only learned to talk a few minutes ago.

It starts to say something else - 

- and a black-clad figure steps out of the trees, an arrow aimed in their general direction.

"Trespasser! Declare yourself and state your intentions," she commands, looking at Audrey.

"I'm Audrey Ingram, and I'm no trespasser! I'm from right here in Wonderland. I'm sorry, am I somewhere I oughtn't to be?"

"You are on the borders of Wonderland, and it was not clear from which direction you came," she clarifies. "Since I do not recognise you, and I would expect to, I assumed that you were an outsider."

She frowns. "How do I know that you are telling the truth? Neither your face nor your name are familiar to me."

She shrugs. "Don't ask me, we're all mad here."