Nasha and Kenta have made it down the path along the cliffs and are heading towards the forest. Nasha is the first to enter and moves quickly through the brush. But she stops when she hears Kenta yelling something at her. Nasha looks back and sees Kenta is having a hard time moving through the brush and can’t find even ground to walk on. Nasha starts looking for a trail that they can use.

After a few minutes of Nasha trying to find a trail she hears Kenta says “Blast this cursed forest!”

Nasha turns back to Kenta saying “Look, I know you’re having a hard time moving through here. I'm looking for a trail right now for you.”

They both stop and look at each other. They then turn away from each other and in opposite directions yell “JOHN!!!!”

John is starting to want to fall asleep in Ava’s arms when he thinks he hears his name being called. John says to Ava “Ava stop!” and sits up to listen.

Ava says “What?”

John says “I think I heard my name.” He then hears it again and jumps down yelling “NASHA! KENTA!” He turns back to Ava saying “Thank you for your help Ava. Come Papi” and runs towards the sound of his name still yelling for Nasha and Kenta. Ava helps Papi down and Papi chases after John.

John meets back up with Nasha and Kenta in a small clearing. John hugs Nasha first then hugs Kenta. Kenta hugs Papi when she enters the area. John says to them “I’m glad to see you two.”

Nasha says “So are we! We feared the worst when you fell.”

Kenta says “How did you survive? Was it the magic or some power you have?”

John says “No. Papi grab me and caught enough air under her wings to give her the lift need for her to fly. She just couldn’t hold me and fly. So I let go and I think the branches broke my fall on the way down.” John sense movement behind him and Nasha and Kenta back away from him. John turns around and sees Ava entering the clearing. He turns back to Nasha and Kenta saying “Oh, and this is Ava. She lives here and helped me recover from the fall. You could say this is Ava’s forest.”

Kenta mouths some words then draws her sword to ready an attack saying “John get away from the monster! This forest is called ‘Avaus Forest’. The stories were about how the very trees were attacking.” Nasha quickly draws her daggers.

John quickly gets between them saying to Kenta “Wait a second Kenta” he turns to Ava saying “is that true?”

Ava says “Yes! When folk come in and attack my trees. I attack back.”

Kenta says “It admits it!”

John quickly looks back at Kenta and says “Stand down!” he then says to Ava “Why did you help me?”

Ava says “The ooze asked me to help you because you were kind to it. You fell into my forest and you didn’t really hurt my tree.”

John asks Ava “Do you kill anyone?”

Ava says “Yes, I take a life when they take the life of one of my trees.”

Kenta says “See John that thing is a monster!”

John says to Kenta “Stand Down!” But Kenta keeps herself ready to attack.

John asks Ava “How many do you kill?”

Ava “One for each of my trees they kill.”

John asks Ava “What do you do with the bodies…the dead bodies?”

Ava says “What would I do with dead bodies? I do not need them. I just leave them.”

Kenta says “John, she kills them just for cutting down trees.” Ava slaps her roots on the ground and starts getting into a defensive stance.

John says “Kenta! Stand…DOWN!” He then says to Ava “So it’s a life for a life?”

Ava says with a hint of anger in her voice “Yes!”

John then says “Okay what would you do if they planted a sapling in the forest before or after they cut down one of your trees?” Ava gets a confused look on her face. John adds “In a sense, they give life back to your forest. You can’t give a life back can you?”

Ava pulls her head back and looks as she has never thought of that before. She wraps her hands around her head to concentrate as if trying to figure out the answer. She starts looking around as if the trees would give her an answer. John looks back at Kenta and Nasha to see them lowering their weapons. Ava starts to spin in place, turning her back to them. John can now see Ava is really struggling to find an answer to his question.

John watches for a moment until finally saying “Ava, would you spare a life?”

Ava looks at John and says with a smile “Yes…I would spare a life.”

John hears Kenta sheathing her sword. John says to Ava “Do you know of anyone ‘Attacking’ your woods right now?”

Ava says “Yes there is a group of them across the river.” She points away from the center of her woods.

John says “Will you permit me to speak on your behalf? I will explain to them that you are only attacking because they take away from your woods without giving back to it.”

Ava says “Yes!”

John says “Then we will be leaving now.” John and the others turn and head for the edge of the forest.

Soon John and the others have exited the forest and are walking along the path again. There are a few trees on the opposite side of Ava’s forest but nothing as big as the trees on Ava’s side. Nasha says to John “I guess we will have to start looking for a new walking stick for you.”

John smiles and says “No need” He takes out Ava’s stick and taps it on a nearby tree. The stick grows and soon John has a walking stick. He says “Ava gave it to me for just talking to her and being friendly to her.”

They soon come to a bridge over a shallow river. Across the bridge looks to be a logging camp. They have cleared the trees on the opposite side of the river and look to have tried cutting down a tree or two on Ava’s side of the forest. John stops everyone before they go over the bridge. He says to them “We need to find something first before we head over to them.”

Kenta says “And what might that be?”

John says “A sapling of course. I’m not just going to tell them. I want to show them.” Nasha and Kenta start looking for a small sapling along with John on the other side of the path. They find one that comes up to John's knee. He looks it over then says to the others “I need a bag.”

Nasha says “Why?”

John says “We need something to carry it in along with some soil to keep it alive.” Soon John and Nasha are digging around the sapling and even Kenta helps by using her sword as a makeshift shovel. They put the sapling in the bag along with the soil then start heading towards the camp.