A weeklong storm keeps Emily Wilde’s party confined to St. Liesl. When the weather finally clears, they return to the fae-touched valley but find little beyond a single door to a brownie home in a tree; the ground is so waterlogged and boggy that searching the vast valley proves impossible in a single day. They also see no sign of the fox-like trooping faeries, which Julia Haas calls fuchszwerge.

Emily tells Wendell Bambleby everything Bran Eichorn said during his nighttime visit. Wendell initially argues they can locate the realm-connecting nexus without Danielle de Grey, but he changes his mind after hearing of Eichorn’s decades-long, grief-driven search for de Grey; he declares they must remove both de Grey and Eichorn from Faerie, even though neither’s current location is known. Emily, in a pessimistic mood, notes that following de Grey’s trail into the fuchszwerge valley may lead them to the nexus as well.

The nightly vandalism at their lodging continues despite offerings, including Julia Haas’s fried apples. One morning, Emily finds the door not only scratched but dented, with the lock buckled, raising the stakes of the harassment. Emily suggests to Ariadne that an animal may be stealing the food first, leaving the Folk angered at perceived stinginess; Ariadne seems to hold back a response, highlighting the strain between them after Emily previously shouted at Ariadne for startling Eichorn away.

During the stormy days, they spend long hours in the village café, where Wendell thrives socially while Emily struggles to connect. Wendell casually reveals that most villagers have a small amount of faerie blood, which he claims makes mortals in such places more comfortable in harsh environments and more inclined to defend the Folk even when harmed by them—prompting his warning that the group should be careful around the villagers’ sympathies.

By questioning locals—helped by Wendell’s charm—Emily learns two crucial pieces of folklore. First, sightings of both Eichorn and de Grey are known in and around St. Liesl: Eberhard Fromm once met a green-haired Scottish woman (de Grey) carrying ribbons and an animal horn, and others report de Grey at different apparent ages, implying she is lost in time as well as place. Second, the elusive tree fauns they need are associated with the Grünesauge near the fuchszwerge valley, but villagers fear them and connect them to Krampus as krampuslein or krampushunde, warning that they abduct children and “don’t like to be looked at.”