When we finally reached the top of the tree we were greeted by a several guards. They looked us over as if waiting, waiting for what we had to say.

“I am a messenger from the lands of Atal, here to deliver news to your Ancient,” I declared.

After a few more moments of staring one sighed. “Come in please.”

Even at the top of this absolute monster of a plant there was a ton of room. It was also clear that the inside here was almost completely hollow. That didn't make a lot of sense with what I knew about plants, but who knew what sort of nonsense a powerful magus could come up with if they had centuries to think it over, so there wasn't really a point in worry too much. It did make me wonder how this tree grew though, questions I could ask if it came up.

There were rooms, and we were shown to one, not carved or cut, but simply a part of the tree, grown fully from the wood. It even had a few places to sit, with woven branches for softer spots and a small risen table to wait at.

And wait we did, an hour passed while our group sat there, doing nothing. Perhaps the local Ancient was busy, or sleeping, or just didn't want to see us. It rankled though, being made to wait like this, even if there was nothing for it.

“Mind if I go talk to the guards?” Rolan suggested. “Maybe see what's going on?”

“Go for it,” I encouraged. I may not have known the proper procedure, but perhaps he knew some way to speed things up.

He did, and after some moments of whispering that I didn't bother trying to listen in on gave me a smile.

“I'll be back a little later,” he told me.

“Look Rolan, be careful. I knew Atal fairly well and he wasn't one to suffer fools. If the Ancient doesn't want to deal with you, or tells you to go away, do it.”

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He patted my shoulder and thanked me for the advice before leaving with one of the guards. Shortly afterwards we were told that we wouldn't be seen tonight, but that we could sleep in this room. That was a bit bothersome, but having a roof over my head was at least something nice. Would have been better if they'd provided a proper area to sleep though, or some privacy.

“Is he coming back?” Chien asked as Isha pulled in close to me and began to curl up.

“It's fine,” she assured him. “If they wanted us hurt, they wouldn't need to wait.”

That wasn't reassuring, but what did help was our guide returning in the middle of the night. I'd just woken up to relieve Chien of the guard rotation, something we were keeping regardless, and he quietly strode in, smile on his face and a small basket of fruit under one arm.

“Everything well?” I quietly inquired.

“No problems. Just needed to explain some things, we even got some snacks.” He passed me one of the fruit, a small almost citrus-like thing.

“Thanks, it's been good traveling with you.” The snack was sour, quite so, but I didn't much mind that.

“You too Justin.”

“After we deliver the message, well, we're off to the West. Going to try and go around Cino's lands and get to the plateaus up there. From my understanding that's the next Ancient.”

“I've heard of her, she's... well, she probably won't hurt you without cause, but those folks are supposed to be pretty rough.”

“Want to come? If you don't have anything else going on we'd love to have you.”

He chuckled. “I appreciate the offer, but sadly I can't run off to circle the world with you.”

“Well enough, though I think you'd have enjoyed it. If you change your mind.”

“I'll let you know.”

From there we did our normal nightly ritual lightly chatting until it was his turn for the watch. It was nice, and even if it was coming to an end it wasn't like there was no chance of us meeting again. We lived long, long lives, and so friendships could come and go. It wasn't even like there was a rush to it.

The next morning a guard came to get us, she seemed pleasant, if formal, and didn't seem bothered that we weren't really in the best of conditions. It would've been nice if we'd been given something more than the fruit from the night before for breakfast, but I didn't anticipate that the Ancient was pleased to hear his friend was dead, assuming word had made it before we did.

We went back outside, circling around the tree a couple more times before finally coming to another little entry. Inside was decorated with glowing plants, vines, and fruit trees, all melded into the wood of The Great Tree. In the center was of course a throne, it seemed Ancients liked thrones, and it fit them, almost king-like in their ways, rulers of our kind. Briefly I wondered if criminals were brought here like they were before Atal.

One thing was different though, the throne was empty, its owner missing. There were guards, servants, and aides, but the ruler himself was gone, missing. I looked around, but they all just stood there, waiting, watching.

“What's going on?” Chien whispered.

By way of answering Rolan stepped forward, one hand coming up to run through his hair. As he did so it changed, the color fading, stripping away. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, watching his locks go to pure white as he turned, taking his seat.

“My apologies for the deception,” the Ancient said, smiling slightly. “You see, I needed to get home anyway, and learning what I could on the say seemed entertaining. Now, let us talk about what happened in Atal, and who exactly killed whom, and how.”