The Forest
- Part 1 (a.k.a. "Asarta") opens with Tilja's mom going out first thing on a winter morning to practice her magic—she sings to the cedar trees (1.2).
- Their pony, Tiddykin, pops home without their mom; the kids freak out (1.17).
- Only ladies can go into the forest (men get sick when they enter it) and Tilja wants to go search for her mama. She gets her snippy grandmother, Meena, to help her search (1.34). Meena asks Tilja if she can feel the magic of the forest, but her granddaughter can't. Meena grumps, "'Let's get along then... no point hanging around, chattering'" (1.61).
- Meena sees some mysterious creatures that Tilja can't spot and calls them, in typical sassy Meena-style, "little wretches." Tilja wonders what the heck is going on (1.72).
- They find Tilja's mother passed out in the snow with a big bruise on her face (1.81), and then bring her home out of the freezing cold.
- Tilja has no clue what's going on, but thinks it's got to do with someone we've never met whose name is Asarta. Cue dramatic music.