“All too often in this world, people view subjects in extreme positions, either the one end, or the other. In actuality, I find that most things in this world exist on more of a sliding scale, on various points of a line. It is a rarity to find situations that were truly at one extreme or the other.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“It’s quite something to see, is it not?” asked Aideen to the quiet, or rather, awestruck Celia.

They had reached the first “village” in the forest after a few hours of walking from its edge. The so-called village was more of an outpost the elves used to keep an eye on traffic from the east in the past, though in the present day more people lived there and it was instead converted into a place for them to live in, since there was no longer a need to watch out for threats from the east.

Similarly, there was no longer a need to watch out for threats from within the forest itself either. The elves that lived there were not that united, most of the time in their history. Instead, they divided themselves into many tribes, who often only worked together in the presence of a domineering warchief. The last such warchief was Drietven’s brother, whom Aideen killed in Vitalica centuries ago.

At the present day, the elves still kept their old tribal allegiances in memory as part of their names, and many still lived with their own tribes. Amongst the younger people, however, there had been far more mingling than there had been in the past, now that the entire collection of tribes fall under the Lichdom’s authority in effect and name both.

What few diehard conservatives who were against such things had long since died out after a couple centuries of integration, or at least learned to keep themselves quiet. The centuries had given the elves time to get a closer look at the Lichdom, and the power that the Bone Lord possessed was more than enough to convince even the most stubborn of them to keep their peace.

As such, they slowly but surely integrated more and more with the people of the Lichdom, yet kept their old identities alive in their forest at the same time. It was a state of affair both sides found as a good enough compromise.

Much like most other examples of elven architecture that were built within their forests, the elves built their homes above the ground level, their buildings perched atop the branches of larger trees. Some structures were clearly built with the aid of nature mages, given how the branches seemed to have interwoven themselves to provide a solid foundation to buildings. Others were carved into the trunks of larger trees or cleverly balanced and supported over several sturdy branches.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Walkways and bridges were also suspended between the buildings, underneath the forest canopy. Some of the pathways were as simple as three pieces of sturdy rope in a V-shaped assembly, clearly meant for nothing more than personal travel. Larger ones had wooden planks people could step onto, while many of the larger platform-like areas had contraptions that allowed them to bring things up more easily from the forest floor.

If one did not look closely, then it was easy to fail to notice that there were buildings built atop the branches, as elvish architecture tended to meld with nature.

“Come to think of it, we never did get to go into the Great Emerald Forest back then. It’s the largest forest populated by elves between the two continents, so it’ll probably provide an even grander sight,” mentioned Aideen offhandedly. “Not a big deal, though. We got time anyway. One day when they allow visitors, we can always visit there, don’t you think?”

“Huh? Ah. Yes. I’d love to visit there one day,” said Celia in a somewhat flustered tone. She had been marveling at the architecture of the forest. It was not the first time she saw similar architecture, as the elves of the Greentusk clan in the prairie employed similar means, but due to their comparatively small and sparse grove, they mostly build individual houses instead of interconnected complexes like in the Forest of Shadows.

“This here is just a small village,” added Aideen as she pointed out towards where the residents of the village were going through their daily activities, both above and on the ground. The place itself wasn’t that big, all considered, maybe around five hundred people in residence, but it looked far grander due to its unusual nature. “There’s larger towns deeper in that’d make this place look tiny. Look forward to that.”

“How big are those?” asked Celia with some wonderment seeping into her voice.

“Last time I was there, they had around ten thousand living in the central regions,” replied Aideen after some thought. “Given how half-elves are growing more and more common these days, and the increase of long term visitors… I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s at least half again that number living there nowadays, if not more.”

“I always felt a bit ashamed when I saw places like these,” admitted Celia. “As humans, we always lived while molding the environment to match our needs. We cut down the trees in the forest to build homes, then clear the land so we can cultivate our crops on them, or use them to allow our livestock to graze freely. These folks on the other hand live their lives far more… in tune with nature itself.”

“From one point of view, that is true. That said, there are other ways to see it. The lifestyle of the orcish clans we stayed with for decades probably served as a nice middle ground. They mostly survive by the bounties that nature freely provided, yet they weren’t shy to mold the environment to match them as well, where needed. Nobody can say whose way of living is better than the other’s. Everybody has their own way of life.”

“In the end, all that we could so is to strive to do our best with our lives, after all,” Aideen concluded.