The Mothers made camp in the glade and during the second watch Guthranka first heard and then saw a number of gnomes approaching. She woke Levi and Gaspode and they conversed using the Helm of Comprehending Languages. When asked about Jito, they could not help, but they brought the Mothers back to their village and shared their beer, conversation and song. The Mothers were enlightened on the matter of the various stages of existence on the Great Ring, including the gnomes own stage of petitioner. Jito not being present, Levi determined to make himself a font so that he could try scrying again. The local gnome craftsmen were amenable to all of his suggestions, but not Gaspode and the others, so he had to settle for a silver font. As it took a few weeks for the gnomes to craft the wooden base and the silver bowl the Mothers learnt something of the gnomish petitioner life. They had to hunt for their own food as the gnomes did not eat, though they liked to drink and smoke pipes. Nevertheless, the Mothers were glad when the day came for Levi to perform his rituals and make holy water in the font that he could then use as a scrying device. They found that Jito was also on a hunt, but as they were observing him he seemed to notice their gaze from wherever he was and he ran back towards a settlement in an attempt to hide. The gnomes with them got just enough of a view of the settlement to name it Glitterhome, a town about four weeks travel away from their current location. Soon the Mothers were off again, with directions and landmarks given by the gnomes and phantom steeds conjured by Fonesca. She herself travelled mostly in the form of a bird. In ten days they had reached Glitterhome but the gnomes there said that Jito had moved on, finding the place uninteresting. The Mothers must have made a good impression on the gnomes for soon after they were settled in the mead hall, after a strangely circuitous route through the town, Jito himself appeared and hugged his companions forcefully, confessing to spying on them as they approached because he had felt magical observation a couple of weeks previously and was nervous. The Mothers had some catching up to do as some were unconscious, dead or on other planes at differing parts of the story, but eventually they started discussing what they should do next.