Rolan was by no means the worst traveling companion I'd ever had, but he was certainly the most serious. He was, formal, like everything had to be exactly the right way all the time. Knowledgeable too, being able to show us to paths we'd never have found on our own that arced through the trees rather than the ground. If he could just relax a bit we'd all have gotten along a lot better though.

“It sure seems like a lot of effort to build and maintain all these,” I said as we crossed another bridge between two giants.

“Less than you'd think. The paths are alive, so just a bit of work here and there keeps them as they should be. If they were dead wood and fiber like your people use it would be, but we prefer it this way.”

There was a good point to that. The bridges were fairly nice too, and while I didn't really love that they were something that I couldn't work with I'm sure those like mother who could have would probably appreciate it. The vines stretching between trees with an almost wicker weave for a floor. I wondered just how far you could take this, though I also felt I was likely to find out.

“So you just grow them? Is it really that easy?” Isha asked, and since she could work magic I couldn't she might well know better than I.

“Easy? No, but worth the time,” Rolan answered. “Do you mind if I ask one in return?”

“Go ahead,” I offered.

“I'd like to hear about the battle, about the glorious war between the two Ancients. I've never truly seen one fight and it must have been amazing.”

For a few moments you could almost hear the crickets. Nobody spoke, but those of my camp looked at me, watching, waiting to see what I would say. That was good, for I truly did have my own opinions on the matter, and neither Isha nor Chien had been present for the deaths of the Ancients.

“It was not glorious, it was not wonderful. Perhaps there are battles like that, battles where someone is right and they do well and there is honor, but there was none in that fight. Cino killed Atal with his magic, and died shortly after. In the end there was poison on the ground, smoke in the air, and more dead younglings than I cared to ever see,” I told him.

“I... youths?” he seemed confused.

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

“Yes, our enemy used them as soldiers, poisoning them and sending them to die. By the end of it all far too many lay dead.”

That made him be quiet for a time. Rolan didn't seem the worst sort, and probably held to most of the same kind of traditions we did, but there was much he didn't know. So we passed much of that day in silence, trudging along the roads grown into the sky.

Night came eventually, and in one of the trees there was a sizable hollow. It looked like something from an old nature film, like the inside of a giant bird's nest, sans most of the nesting materials. The entrance was small, and covered by a wicker door, presumably to keep wildlife out, but soon enough we'd settled inside and set up our watch.

The sun set slowly, sinking unseen until the forest was deep in darkness, and then a new life began to awaken among the underbrush. There were fireflies here and there, pulsing like a wave near the forest floor, signaling to one another. Among them, in the excess light they gave off and the slivers of moonlight that slipped through the branches roamed animals, mostly small critters looking for food. Even birds sang in the night, something that didn't happen much where I came from, species that lived in this area telling others of their kind about their territory.

“It is beautiful isn't it?” Rolan asked as he settled near me.

“Yes, almost peaceful,” I agreed.

“Anything but,” he chuckled. “I used to think it was peaceful, but down there they war. Each of those creatures seeks mates, or food, or to fight others of their own or different kinds. It is beautiful, but only because we watch it from so far away.”

“An interesting take,” I said thoughtfully.

“I offended you earlier, I apologize. Watching from afar I thought the war you were in must have been glorious, but much like this,” he pointed below. “It would have been much different from your perspective.”

“I made weapons,” I told him.

“Oh? And I took you for a soldier.”

“Not normal ones, special ones, ones just for that war. I made weapons so horrid that when it was over, they asked me to take on this task. The people of the city fear me I think, fear me for what I did.”

“Ah, that... makes sense. New things can be fearful indeed, but do you regret it? Would you have held those back had you known what would happen?” he asked.

“No. I have regrets, failures of my own, but knowing what I knew, and what I know, I do not regret my actions.”

I saw Rolan smile across at me from the little opening we sat beside. “Then put it from your mind, for we must all do things we hate doing. It's sometimes better than doing naught at all though, and knowing which is which is the most important.”

“Atal was... well I won't say I trusted him, or thought him a particularly kind person, but he did some good didn't he? His rule was at least peaceful and fair to an extent. I wonder how the city will fare without him,” I mused.

“Did you know him?” Rolan asked.

“Hmm? Oh, a bit. Like I said, I made weapons, and I made some for him.” I laughed. “It was almost funny, he was so excited when I got him the first prototypes and they functioned for him at all. I get the feeling he missed the way a spear felt in his hand, or a club. Most emotion I ever saw out of him if I'm to tell you the truth.”

Rolan lay back a bit. “Yes, it seems that the older one of us gets the more we become bored by things. Elders get it bad sometimes, where they become almost like trees, hardly moving unless they must, hardly reacting. I hope I never become like that.”

“Nor I, but you know, there seems to be so much in the world we don't know that I doubt I'll ever run out of topics to look into.” I looked up. “Who knows, maybe one day we'll walk among the stars, having learned more secrets than we could have ever imagined.”

“That my friend is a dream, one you should pursue. If you aim so high I'm sure that you'll find great and wonderful things. Take care though, sometimes we end up doing more damage than we could imagine if we should fall.”