“The human means us no harm, should we give him no reason to,” Elder Natu declared in judgment to the chieftain, which did not reach the ears of Shael. Channeling through a seer was not a one sided exchange, for both bearers of the Sight saw through each other’s eyes. Shael witnessed the day before Hector’s arrival, of her kind fighting for their lives, and losing them at the faceless one’s hands. Flashbacks of their deaths, of being a faraway spectator, not even being able to close their still open eyes.

Fenrith; brave, beautiful Fenrith, had dared to cut off the head of the serpent. Now he was gone; just a memory in her mind preserving his valor, his ever present mirthful light in the darkest of times, and his love for her, true and undemanding. She had known that there was no fate other than death for them, yet she still felt the sharp pang of loss knowing they had fallen.

Your death will not be in vain, dreaith vinn. None of yours, Shael swore silently. She remembered the cruelty of his senseless death and snatched her spear with futile anger. She would not weep, not now in front of the human.

“Shael,” chieftain Naal called out to her in their language. “My words were not just for the youngling. The path of vengeance is a prison. I do not ask you to forget, but do seek the blood of another. For death is all that awaits at its end.”

Shael nodded, if only to calm the chieftain’s mind.

“Furthermore, you shall not return to the scouting party.”

“They cannot do this by themselves-”

“They can and they will,” Naal said firmly. “You will escort the youngling to the Odigwe tribe. To him. An Odigwa has already been summoned. You shall leave in the morning.”

“I am your Spearhand. This is my duty!”

“You are doing your duty, by abiding with my wishes. As my Spearhand you shall represent the Elkin Tribe. This youngling is more than just a fugitive from his people. He is the key to saving our race from extinction. That is where we are heading. Do you think the Elder Forest will outlast the rate of destruction man is wreaking? It may take years, it may take decades. But when we face them on open ground, it shall be near the end.”

“You are a coward,” Shael spat out with venom, to which her chieftain merely sighed.

“You may think of me what you will, but you are honorbound to follow the path I choose for our Tribe. Your own path shall not be the one you are set upon that is darkened by anger and hatred. You shall give him hospitality as if I were in his stead.”

Naal turned to the boy and spoke in his guttural and twisted tongue.

“You must be weary after this experience. The suns shine low, and there is much to ponder. Shael shall guide you to her hollow for rest and respite.”

The human nodded hesitantly, as if she were to lead him astray to danger. Shael flitted down the spiral steps and waited outside the entrance of Naal’s hollow, seething with frustration at her current path set by her chieftain. Naal was right. She had sworn the vows of Spearhand, to be his shield, and be his voice in matters of the Tribe. That was long ago, many decades past. The chieftain had been a different vanni then, one with ideals of a path that shifted as time wore down all things.

The boy King at last came out. This human would help save their race? Shael pressed her hand onto the tree to locate her home amidst all the other hollows in the vast arboreal. Several auras shined bright in the tree, her sister’s among them. Shael sighed tiredly. No doubt her sister would be curious to see a human for the first time, as many were.

She suddenly broke into a steady brisk pace, the boy lurching to his feet to follow. Her hollow was not far away from the chieftain’s. The branchworks thankfully lay empty, for everyone was inside eating the second meal.

“Wait here,” Shael said tersely to the human before entering her home. She descended down to the second lowest floor, where fellow members ate communally in each arbor. Several sylven were sitting round a circled table, eating from smoothed wood bowls with wooden utensils. Her sister, Lanni, stood up and said earnestly, “We’ve all heard Shael. Is it true, you’ve brought a human back with you?”

Shael answered, “I need two bowls of the elkith salad. Sleep with Aayn for this night only, Lanni.”

“So it is true!” Lanni beat her fork against the table in triumph.

“I’ll bring you both your meals soon. I’m not taking no for an answer, Shael. I’m seeing the human whether you like it or not.”

Shael looked upon her fellow arbor members meaningfully, “Lanni will bring our meals, and Lanni alone.”

She exited the hollow and motioned to the human, “Come. My sister will make us our second meal.”

“Second?” The boy asked stupidly. “You don’t have a third meal?”

Shael sat down on a curved chair across another circled table smaller than the one below and beckoned him to join her. She looked upon him and said, “Yes, only a second meal. A third is greedy and wasted. Two meals is enough, one at noon and one just before dusk. Serendrial’s children with their light provide more than enough sustenance for all.”

The human nodded, though his eyes wavered with uncertainty. Lanni ducked through the mossed doorway, holding two bowls, each as wide as a face and half as deep as a head. She paused to stare at Hector, her mouth open before Shael coughed to break her inquisitive trance.

Her sister placed the bowls on the table and spoke, “Hello, my name is Lanni.”

“Humans don’t speak Draiell, Lanni,” Shael explained the boy’s puzzled expression.

“No!” Lanni argued. “He can speak Draiell just fine.”

“Not all humans are like him. He is the only one.” The only one not set on ending our race, Shael thought darkly. Even then…

“He is so pale.” Her sister wondered, “How do the suns not burn him?”

Shael waved a hand to dismiss her, “You’ve seen the human already, now leave us in peace. And tell the others as well.”

Lanni huffed her displeasure but nonetheless followed her sister’s wish.

“I’ll be at Aayn’s hollow if you need anything.”

Shael took the wooden fork that resided in her bowl and speared bits of smoked ruddy elkith meat with vibrant green softleaves. They finished their food in moments, neither willing to interrupt their appetite that had grown with their journey.

“I’d like to thank you,” the human began. “For showing me the truth. I know what I must do.”

“And what is that?”

The boy met her gaze, peerless blue eyes that shone with a determination Shael knew all too well.

“I will avenge my father, and take back my rightful claim to the Empire. I will finish what he began, a treaty between our peoples and peace.”

For a moment he looked the part of a leader, not the hesitant boy fearful of heights. Perhaps what Naal saw in him was true, if not a glimpse.

“What will you do?” Shael asked acidly. “You are but one human, in a war millennia old. Do you think because you lost kindred you have a righteous cause? Your kind have slaughtered my people before even your forebear’s ancestors. Do you dare to think that you can change this war?”

Doubt started to darken his eyes to a stormy sky blue.

“My Kingdom, Hearth will rally to my cause once they know I am alive.”

“I saw the plot your eyes could not see. This Crown Steward, Roth, would make sure you are branded a traitor to your kind. How will you reach your Kingdom? By foot?”

“Do your people have ships?”

The boy was not addled in mind at least. Shael shook her head.

“We are a people of this land. The only vessels we have are small fishing boats. And we would never cut down our woods.”

“How have you made this table then?” He motioned to the furniture before them. “This chair?”

Shael frowned.

“Serendrial granted us her Gifts, just as your gods gave yours.”

“I saw what you did the night before. You can grow and shape plantlife at your command. Does this only work with vegetation?” The human tapped on the table with a finger, fixated in thought.

“Do not think that my people will follow you in your war,” Shael warned him. “There is still much you do not know.”

“Please then. Show me what I do not yet know.”

“You will find the knowledge you do not even know yet to search for. In time.”

“My father’s death may be one of countless others in this bloodshed,” his head fell down, then rose to give her a stony stare. “But he was my father, and I shall give him justice. He sought to bring peace to our peoples, and died for it. If you want an end to this war, I will need your help just as you need mine, for only I can unite the Empire.”

“It is not my place in whether my people will aid you. Or fight for your cause. We will journey once more in the morn to the Odigwe Tribe. There, you shall have the answers you seek.”

Shael motioned to the bed of moss that lay to the side. “The chieftain has spoken that you are my honored guest. Rest here.”

“Am I truly a guest, or a prisoner here? I wish to explore your village.”

He was no fool. Bold in tongue too, but words were different from actions. It seemed the human’s fear of heights was overwhelmed by his curiosity.

“I would not advise traveling outside this hollow. You would soon be lost in the arboreal.”

“Not if you could guide me, if you are willing. I am curious about the ways of your people. How did they come to make this… arboreal?”

“It means to live atop the trees.”

The human nodded, “An apt name. Please, since we are leaving so soon, I would wish to see the arboreal before we depart.”

“We must go back after dusk. It is forbidden to wander after dark.”

“Why so?”

“We are not the only ones who live in this forest. It would be wise to not forget that.”