[piosenniel]

Gilli’s skin prickled as Darlariel recounted the group she’d seen. She could almost hear the dark melody they’d been singing. Her eyes darted nervously upward and about the balustrade, wondering if it were just her imagination or were there low echoes of their harsh laughter just disappearing even now into darkness. Gilli shook herself and twitched her shoulders as if to throw off such dark thoughts.

Her mood lightened as she recalled the trick-or-treaters she’d seen when she and Jack had left the alley. ‘The Little Folk are out again this year,’ she said, turning away from the shadows and toward her three companions. ‘You saw them. Remember, Jack? They wore no masks; their features and clothes were guise enough. And unlike the little ones who were being characters from the Rings movies, the Little Folk went bare footed as always.’

She wrinkled her forehead, thinking about that small group Jack had mentioned. ‘I do remember those trick-or-treaters.....the ones with the animal costumes on. Not really costumes, though. And not really circus-y now that I think about them. Their clothes were just ordinary....jeans, shirts, & boots on their feet, I think. It was their masks that were so extraordinary. Wolf, fox, crow, hawk, among others. And I think I saw a bear among them. And him walking next to a deer.’

She plucked at the strings of her fiddle, wondering if she should say what else she thought she saw. ‘You know, I didn’t really get a bad hit off them. They seemed really to belong there.’ She rubbed at the back of her neck. ‘There was one thing. When they had nearly passed out of sight, one of them, the fox-masked one I think, turned back for a quick glance our way. Beneath the mask, or through it, really, I thought I saw a smiling face. And in it deep, brown, old eyes. He nodded once, then turned away, a fox once again.’ Gilli shrugged.

‘Weird, eh?’