Clever returns. Back to the gravity field of the mill-wheel. Gravity is a shapeshifting force, vast and mild and far from the hub.
The gravitational field keeps vigil — ears in the trees, eyes in the grass. Wood listens.
Meadow looks.
On watch for Clever's restoration.
Birds hover above.
Vixen crouches below, in the root of a dead sycamore.
The Alchymist roosts in its hollow bole, that wily philosopher having taken on the guise of Lord Judas’ bird, a wise and wicked owl. Being averse to daylight, he prefers the dim interior of the tree.
His madness grips the field. Small birds know it and are terrorized.
Clever (never a girl to be silent): I am returned! To save Vixen from YOU — mad-man & angry lover, chymical deviant, surgical demon.
Owl-Chymist (his strategy — create diversions): First, let us address your Questions.