Once the bowl was empty, Minerva told Tavia to leave it on the table so that one of the cleaning servants could pick it up and take it to be washed. The trio then rose and Minerva took Tavia on a tour of Sinistira with Tansis providing a running commentary when he felt that Minerva hadn�t done a good enough job of explaining.
The same simple bridges that Tavia had seen between the Main Hall and the Kitchen connected all the houses. They served as the streets for the treetop city and the elves who lived there took advantage of them, forming a sea of green skin and silver hair. Women with baskets of food and other goods under their arms passed men carrying chairs and unlit torches. Children weaved in and out of the crowds of adults, laughing and running in games of tag and apparently unperturbed by the dizzying drop below them. And they weren�t the only living things she saw on her walk. Butterflies and birds flew over her head in a brightly colored dance.
The houses themselves were branches woven to form walls and roofs and with symmetrical holes that were used for windows. None of them seemed to have doors and Tavia supposed that they got inside the same way Tansis had gotten them into and out of the staircase.
At intervals, a building would have a sign hanging in front of it with a picture of the goods that were sold within. There were pictures of coats and jackets for clothing stores and of steaks for where they sold food.
Tavia herself had to be careful about where she walked since she had yet to retract her wings and was afraid of knocking one of the children off the edge of the bridge. The trees may protect them but Tavia didn�t think that trees moved very fast. The children themselves, however, weren�t worried at all. To the contrary, they were fascinated by her wings and horns and Tavia had to bend down at least thirty times to allow a child to tough the leathery scales. Even the adults were amazed and pleased that a fire-mage had come to their city and would shake her hand, welcoming her to Sinistira.
This reaction was not what she had expected at all considering how Orlan had acted when it had been decided that she would come, but he seemed to be the only one who had any problems with the arrangement. That coupled with Salak�s misgivings made Tavia decide that she would keep an extra eye on the strange elf.
Soon enough, but too late for her aching legs, they all came to a huge domed branch-made building. Around its sides were windows of various shapes but unlike the ones in the houses Tavia had passed, these had glass in them, which was rare and expensive. With some pride, the fire-mage decided that these much have come from her ancestors just like the kitchen had. The tree limbs that made this building up weren�t bare, either. Flowers blossomed along their length, making the walls seem to be completely covered in pink, blue, and yellow.
Like the other houses, this had no door, but instead of Tansis opening the hidden section of the branches, Minerva herself did it. �Welcome to my home, Tavia.� She said, motioning the fire-child in with a grand sweep of her arm.
A gasp escaped Tavia�s lips as she walked in and beheld the amazing sight before her. The inside was just a covered in flowers as the outside, even the floor was hidden beneath the carpet of whole, living flora. Butterflies floated among light motes that danced in the beams of sunlight that pierced the canopy of the forest. Brightly colored birds perched among the petals on walls and ceiling, almost blending if not for the contrast between bright and muted colors.
To either side of her were row upon row of chairs that looked to be simply extensions of the floor except devoid of flowers. An aisle led between the two sides of chairs and at the end of it were three steps that ended with a flare backed throne, bedecked in flowers on the seat and arms, apparently to make the person sitting there more comfortable. The throne also appeared to be an extension of the floor and Tavia doubted that anyone could budge any of the seats in this room.
Next to the throne (Tavia assumed that it was Minerva�s) was a flight of steps leading still higher into the treetops. The Lady of the Trees made her way toward these, beckoning to Tavia.
Tansis, however, stayed behind, saying regretfully that he wasn�t allowed to see the royal chambers since he was not an honored guest or a member of the royal family. Tavia replied that she was sorry that he would not get to come with her, but he assured her that he would wait outside until they came back down.
Minerva led the fire-child up the stairs ( More stairs! Thought Tavia) next to the throne. Eventually, they ended at a landing opening up to a hall lined with rooms that had only doorways, but no discernible door to accompany it. Minerva headed toward the last one on their left, looking back once to make sure her guest was behind her.
This room was smaller than all the others she had passed through and had no furnishings save a four poster bed and a small bedside table that rose from the floor like the chairs in the throne room. On it was a grass woven mattress filled with something that gave off a slight fragrance. Pillows made the same way sat at the head of the bed, inviting tired heads to lay themselves down on their softness. In a rush, Tavia felt so tired that she was about to fall over where she stood.
�I know you must be tired so I will leave you to sleep until midnight when we will all go perform the Sacred Planting. I�m sorry I couldn�t get you a bigger room but my two daughters are asleep in the other one and I didn�t want to wake them.� Minerva explained.
�That�s no trouble at all.� Tavia replied, sitting on the edge of the bed before her weakened knees gave out under her. A huge yawn escaped her lips despite her best attempts to stifle behind her hand.
The Lady smiled, �I�ll leave you to your sleep then.� And she began to back out of the room.
�Thank you very much for your hospitality. I don�t know how I�m going to repay you.� Even as the fire-child spoke, her eyes began to drift shut.
�No thanks is needed. We owe your people more than we can ever say.�
But by the time the words had left Minerva�s mouth, the young girl was asleep, her arms pillowing her head and her wings stretched behind her.
* * *
Aaran Corlath waited at the edge of the Shadowed Forest, cloak pulled tightly around him. He didn�t like the forest, it always seemed so menacing, especially since he knew that it contained more than just shadows. The tree folk lived in those trees; the horrible people with the freakish green skin and the power to turn the very woods against him. He shivered and drew the cloak closer.
The man wouldn�t have been here, in the forest only an hour after noon, if not for the fact that his contact among the elves, a Elven man named Orwan or Orlan or something like that, had called him with �information�. He had given the elf a speaking ball, something that the elf could use to summon Aaran if something came up, and only an hour ago the tree lover had used it. The summons had been frantic, his contact only saying that something bad had come up. Something that could create troubles for their planned attack, set for one o�clock that night, during what the elf had called the Sacred Planting.
So now Aaran stood in the trees, only a shout away from the rest of his invasion force, 10 more mages not counting him and a score of soldiers, and shuddering beneath his cloak and the weight of his misgivings.
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