As he peered through the lenses towards the waterfall, he could see past the falling water and into the cave behind it.  He wasn't sure but he thought he could just glimpse seeing something purple leaving the tunnel but that was all he could make out before it disappeared.  Following the tunnel in the cave, he noticed something moving!  Off in the higher part of the cave he realized there was a Wysp hovering in the air.  "Your Highness, something has left the cave but there is still a Wysp in the tunnel," Dulbbe told the King as they made their way towards the waterfall.

The King commanded the water to part for him so all of them could enter and at the same time he used his magic to freeze the Wysp in mid-air.  Wysps are quick and think themselves to be quite clever, but the King was in no mood to have to track it down when he knew that the Wysp would disappear. 

As they approached the Wysp, still hanging in the air trying to figure out why it could not fly away, Dulbbe started asking it questions.  "Was there a Borrower in the cave with you?  Who was it?"

​"Lost in this cave am I," screamed the Wysp!  "I would have you know that I outsmarted that stupid Borrower, tricked her into following me, and then left her in the dark at the end of the cave where all the water was.  I even know her name!"

​Ffion, standing behind the King, had never seen a Wysp so upset.  Later she would almost swear that the blue imp had turned bright red - it was that mad!

Hearing the Wysp's answer, immediately the King started towards the end of the cave in a run, leaving behind both a confused Ffion and Dulbbe.  It was at that moment the Wysp realized that it could move and in a puff of blue smoke, vanished.  "Good riddance," muttered Dulbbe.

"Dulbbe, what do you think has gotten into Dad?  I have never seen him this nervous before..."  Dulbbe could only shrug his shoulders before they both turned to start down the tunnel to follow the King.

​"Well, this was a dud," thought Arnie.  As her eyes adjusted to the dark tunnel, she realized that the Wysp who had led her to the falls was no where to be seen.  "At least that's something," sighing with relief.  "I will get even with that little troublemaker when I have more time," she vowed, remembering how it had abandoned her in the dark cave earlier. ​

​"Here is a smoother and even trail the Wysp could have taken me on instead of the winding and rock covered trail it had lead me over!" Arnie whispered to herself  "Grrrr - I will find the time to get even with that Wysp," she growled.

​As Arnie was walking in the tunnel and Hunter, the Shadows' King, who was pacing back and forth while waiting for Dulbbe to show up, asked Ffion, his daughter "Where did you see this stranger?"   

​"It was over by the waterfall.  Actually, it had come out of the waterfall," replied Ffion.

​Hunter, ignoring her reference to it being 'her garden', started walking even faster now towards the waterfall.  "Has someone found it?" he wondered to himself.  "It is one thing to be curious what a Borrower had found, but if it was MY dragon tablet that I have been guarding, then I need to find that Borrower NOW!" the King was shouting in his head.

As Fiddlefaddle started to leave the room, the Baron remembered how exciting it was to head out on an adventure.  He called out to his BAT man with a sparkle in his eyes. "If either of us find out where to locate them, you and I will be heading out on the road once again just like old times!"

​"Not very big," thought the Baron as his mother started to lift her hand to knock on the door.  But before she could knock the door opened and there stood one of the Sisters.  "Awena awaits you in her chambers."

Unsurprised, the Dowager nodded her head in thanks and the both of them followed the Sister through a series of hallways until they arrived at an ornate set of doors.  "The place doesn't look this big from the outside," the Baron muttered, only to receive a look of reproach from the Dowager.  "Do I need to leave you on the doorstep?" she asked him in a frosty voice.  Realizing he had best just keep quiet and listen with his mouth closed he gestured for her to lead the way.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." the Baron said as he bowed.  " I am Belvedere Allowishes Theodore Steffon, but you may call me Baron since I am one," he told the Sister removing his hat, "Or by my nickname BATS."  Smiling, Awena introduced herself and proceeded to give Griselda a brief hug.  "It has been way too long," she told the Sister, "but as usual, sadly my coming here is not just a friendly visit."

As the smile left Awena's face and by the look on Griselda, Awena knew that another big event was on the horizon.  "Come, sit with me and we will get reacquainted and then you can tell me what troubles you," she told both of them.  Trying not to be noticeable, the Baron quickly glanced around for a chair as he did not relish the idea of sitting on the floor for any long period of time.  Ignoring him, Griselda lowered herself gracefully to a pillow and waited for the others to join her.  Groaning silently to himself, "I think I have just gone down a rabbit hole here!" and not as gracefully as his mother, the Baron sat on an adjacent pillow.  "I hope I can get up when this is all over.  My knees aren't what they used to be," he continued thinking to himself.

​As Arnie was heading to the hole by the old oak she had fallen into when she found the Dragon tablet, she was totally unaware that at that moment she was the most popular being in all of the realms.  Everyone (and every thing) was looking for the Borrower with the Dragon tablet.

And across the Realm, two more of the searchers were on a mission of their own. 

"Tell me again why you think the Sleeping Sisters will help us?  I mean, they usually don't get involved in any of the events of the realms.  Why this one?" asked the Baron as he and his mother, the Dowager Griselda, were walking to the Sleeping Sisters house.  "Also, I would like to know how you know where they live.  Hewey, Efem, and the others had to be lead there by a bird."

Stopping in her tracks, the Dowager turned to face her son.  "They don't do that," she growled at him with irritation in her voice.  "The Sleeping Sisters have been guardians of the realms as long as I can remember and they know of many secrets and prophecies which they study and explore to keep all of us safe.  Now, if you would be quiet for a while as I think on how to approach them, it would be appreciated!"  Getting a nod from her son who decided it was best not to say another word for a while, they both started back down the trail.

While on another hillside overlooking the waterfall, something was watching Arnie as she stepped through the water and started exploring around the pool.  "How dare someone come into my garden," it thought.  "Something must be done about this..."

For little did it know or care that at that moment it was the only one who knew where the Borrower was ~ even though it didn't know it was a Borrower.  It just knew someone was in it's garden!

It was soon apparent to Arnie that the Wysp had seen her as it started to fly towards her.  Arnie put on a brave smile and hoped that it would go away quickly.  "This is all I needed," Arnie thought to herself.

"Hi, whatcha doing?" asked the Wysp.

"Oh, nothing.  Just passing by," Arnie answered.  "Got to go, see you around."

​​"That's too bad," answered the Wysp.  "I was just going into a cave I found and was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

​"That's great!  I can even light up the trail for us.  See you there."  Arnie barely heard the last part of the Wysp's comment as it quickly sped away towards the tunnel entrance.

Soon Arnie was down the hole and standing in the tunnel.  "I have already seen what is in the tunnel going down but as Squirrel said, let's see what is at the other end," she thought to herself when the Wysp asked which way she wanted to go.   "Let's explore up," she told the Wysp.  Deciding that the blue light the Wysp gave off was good enough to see, Arnie didn't bother to look for a torch or pull out a candle from one of her pockets.  "No sense wasting them if I don't have to," she figured as she followed the Wysp.

Soon she was scratched, wet, smelly, and the snarls in her tail which would take hours to get out...  "What a dumb idea Squirrel had," she thought as she kept following the Wysp.   ​

Little did Arnie realize, that a few feet from where the Wysp was leading her was a perfectly level path with nothing blocking the way.  "Oh wait until I tell the others about what I did today to a Borrower," the Wysp giggled as it continued to lead Arnie up the tunnel.

As Arnie was beginning to think that they should turn around and go back, she started hearing a roaring sound.  "I wonder what that is," she thought.  Again, her curiosity grabbed ahold of her and she knew she needed to keep going.  As the Wysp lead Arnie around yet another bend in the tunnel, the roar turned even louder.  "This is far as I go," she barely heard the Wysp say before it turned and flashed back down the tunnel. 

​Arnie was now standing alone in front of a wall of rushing water that was falling over the tunnel.  "That's just great!" growled Arnie.  "I should have known better."  As Arnie started feeling into one of her pockets for a light, it became apparent to her that the cave was not as dark as she thought it should be.  "Light must be coming in from the other side of all that water falling down from the wall," she realized.  Excited, she was now determined to see what was on the other side of the falling water.  Picking up a stick from the cave floor, she slowly pushed it through the falling water.  Nothing stopped it and soon her arm was pushing through the water.  "There must be an opening on the other side!"  Not wanting to go back through the tunnel and with the curiosity of a Borrower, Arnie decided to take a chance and stepped into the wall of water.

It only took a few seconds, but Arnie realized once she was through that a waterfall was hiding the entrance to the cave she had been in.  "That's why nobody has found it before," she realized, "but I wonder where I am?"

A look of confusion crossed Arnie's face.  "Squirrel, what are you talking about?  Quit trying to crack that nut and help me figure out what to do..." ​

"It is the first thing I truly have found that was not somebody else's first.  The Dragons are all gone and there are none to claim the tablet as their own so it truly is mine," she continued.  "I have never really had anything that was mine and now I find that I don't want to lose it.  Does that sound silly?" 

Squirrel had never heard his friend talk like this before and he was not sure what to tell her.  His life was easy in comparison to Arnie's.  All he needed to do was gather and store nuts while climbing up and down trees, but being Arnie's closest friend he knew he had to say something.  "You told me that when you fell down the hole that it really was a tunnel going up and down.  Did you explore the other direction?"

"Nope, I still don't have my winter stores stocked up and if all of the nuts I find are like this one, I'll starve before I get them cracked open."

​Arnie just laughed as she jumped up and started off towards the old oak tree.  "Good luck" whispered Squirrel as he bit down once more on the nut.

​As she contemplated her problem, humming the words to her song, (Blue on Blue, I Can't Get...) she wandered through the woods totally unaware of her surroundings until a small nut hit her on top of her head.  "Who threw that?" she demanded, stomping one of her feet on the acorn while searching around her for the culprit.  It did not take her long to see an old friend watching her from a tree branch nearby.

"Hi Arnie" said the Squirrel. 

"Good Morning, " Arnie replied. "You must have dropped one of your nuts because I can't imagine that you would throw one at me," grinned Arnie.  The squirrel only smiled back.  It was sort of a game they played with the squirrel never admitting to anything.  "You should have been a 'borrower' Squirrel.  Nobody would ever get you to confess," laughed Arnie.  Soon the two were chatting away over little things they had discovered lately when Arnie decided to tell her friend Her Big Secret. 

"You may think I am nuts," smiled Arnie at her own little joke, "but I found something the other day when we were playing around that big old oak tree that is driving me crazy and I don't know what to do."  Squirrel just lifted one eyebrow and waited for Arnie to continue.

Thinking back to that day, Arnie no longer even saw her friend as she continued to tell about her adventure.  All she could see in her mind was how dark the hole had been that she had fallen in.  Having a big bushy tail at times is a hinderance, especially when it knocks over things accidently, but this time it came in handy as it helped cushion her fall.  She continued to tell Squirrel the story, unaware that she was rubbing her tail as if it was still sore from landing on it.  She also remembered how strong the curiosity had burned inside of her too.  All Borrowers have it as they just can't leave things well enough alone, but only the great ones are not consumed by it (or they never live to become great ones...").  They always have to see what is on the other side and then figure out what to do about it.

​They were shiny and I did consider looking them over but before I could, something else caught my eye.  In the center of the cavern was a stone alter and laying on it was a tablet!"

Not realizing that Squirrel was only partially listening to Arnie as he was busy trying to break open an unusually difficult nut, Arnie continued...

"I had heard the old timers talk about Dragon hordes but never realized what that meant  before!  The thrill of something new to find pulled me to the alter.  At first I thought maybe it was something the Dragon might have picked up to add to his treasure.  You know, like a wizard's spell book or something magical, but that didn't 'feel' right if you know what I mean.  It was placed on the podium like it was sitting in a place of honor."  Arnie did not know how to better describe it, but if she hadn't been a 'Borrower' she might not have touched it because it would have felt wrong to disturb it as it was so beautiful to see.

"I'm was only going to look at it," she remember as she told Squirrel, "but I didn't. I reached out and touched it.  It was at that moment the ground began to shake and the long stalactites started to fall from the ceiling of the cavern.  Instinctively I grabbed the tablet to protect it.  When the first stone hit the podium where the tablet sat, I RAN - keeping the tablet to my chest as I sprinted out of the cave opening I had just come from."

Taking a deep breath as she finished with her story, she looked again at her friend and after a minute of silence asked Squirrel the question that had been nagging at her when she had been walking down the trail.  "So what do you think I should do with it?" 

The Squirrel looked at her and with a slight squirrely smile said "Yep, that is a tough nut to crack isn't it?" 

Arnie is going to have blue accents as she is neither pyksee nor eemp but maybe a little bit of both (but don't tell the pykees or eemps that as they would feel insulted to be considered in any part a 'borrower').  As I am painting her nails, the song 'Blue on Blue' by Bobby Vinton popped into my head and yes, I had to look it up (*lol).  The only the words that kept flying around in my head was the one line - "blue on blue, I  can't get over losing you". 

As I thought of my little "borrower" I wondered what could be worse than "borrowing" something, feeling the excitement of gaining it running through one's veins, and then to have to lose it when having to either swap it or return it?  Remember, the Borrowers never steal for gain but 'borrow' things for knowledge and the bling (*lol).  Now Arnie has her theme song!

​At least the King sent one of his Nytemares to pull my coach."  As horses are few in the Realms, when a Nytemare is willing to take you somewhere - it is only because they wanted to or the Shadows' Realm King commands them to.  Griselda was being given an extra treat, being able to ride in one of the King's coaches.  "It is nice not to have to walk," she thought.  "But he still is going to get an earful about this!"

As the Dowager traveled and was going over in her mind what she was going to say to the Shadows' King, little did she realize that the coach was being watched.  Actually, all approaches to the King's castle were being watched!  But by whom (or what) is the real question.  

But with all of these minions on the lose, no one thought to check with Meen to see the invited guest list.  Of all the guests she had delivered an invitation to, one was skipped over...  No, it was not Hungry (as he had already arrived the day before the party so he could visit with Meen and see the Nytemares).  It wasn't Snoop who already was sitting next to the entrance doors to the ballroom so he could keep a list of all of the attendees for the morning edition of the Bellwether. ​

Nor was it the Baron who was presenting the Dowager to the Shadows' King while trying to hide his grin since he knew how mad she was that her little private tea party plan had become a huge event.  It seemed everyone who was someone was there except... the Borrowers!  ​

Now, why Meen had not added them to the invitation list would probably be based on the Borrower's history.  Anytime a Borrower showed up anywhere, they had the habit of 'borrowing' something.  It was worse at parties!  So much bling and things to see, that they just could not keep their hands in their own pockets.  Forks, knives, spoons, small furry animals, even shoes were known to have disappeared when the Borrowers appeared.  (Most instances the items were returned eventually and in some cases even something better had been left behind as in the one instance when a glass of milk had disappeared but in its place was left a milk cow - even if the cow was someone else's, the fact that something better had been left cannot be overlooked.)

It didn't take long before everyone realized (as nothing had gone missing still) that one of the main reasons they had decided to show up for the party wasn't there!  No Borrowers which meant no Dragon tablet.  Yes, there was a real Dragon, and usually that would have been something of a spectacle, but this group wanted to see what all the hullabaloo was about regarding this newest find... or at least what the latest gossip was about.  Since it wasn't here soon the guests started to make excuses as to why they needed to leave (but not until after filling their pockets with food from the buffet tables).

"What tablet?" Hungry asked, but before Hunter could answer the Baron said, "This tablet that might have untold power."  As he continued, Hunter only nodded his head affirming the Barons chilling words.  "Hungry, some rulers are benevolent and just, while some are looking to expand their treasury or reputation.  There are some who quest for more knowledge or power and some want to change things to be the way they want them to be.  Several here tonight attended so they could see the Dragon tablet and had hoped to learn something that the others did not know.  Since the tablet wasn't here, each is now heading to their realm to start the race to see who can find the Borrower with the tablet and get it for themself." 

"A race you say? asked Hungry looking at the Shadows' King.  "Are we in it?"