The morning after our meeting with Ancient Rolan we were brought to packs and a selection of supplies. Here came our first surprise, for among the gear brought to us were several garments that looked almost like large coats, sewn from the hides of a long haired animal. There were also blankets of a similar make.

“Those are going to be heavy,” griped Chien.

“If Rolan sent these to us he must think we'll need them,” I said.

“He probably knows something about where we're going,” agreed Isha. “They are going to be heavy though, and the packs as well.

The packs she indicated were large blankets sewn from some similar material, though without hair, clearly meant to be folded up into sacks. They weren't loaded yet, and rather we'd been brought a selection of dried foods and some basic tools, things that might help us. Overall there was too much for us to carry everything, but some of it at least would be easy to bring. After thinking for awhile I turned to one of the attendants.

“Excuse me, would it be possible to get some wood, straight pieces about this long? Also a bit of twine?” I indicated a few lengths with my hands, and she nodded. After all, I'd not asked for anything complex.

Over the next hour I built frames, getting some small strips of materials to make into belts and straps. Basic sacks were easy to make, but proper framed backpacks, even improvised ones, would be a lot better for us to take a larger amount of supplies. This was something I'd not bothered with before, but with the extra size and clothing simpler bags wouldn't do, and I got the feeling if we left those coats behind we'd sorely regret it.

“Congratulations, you made them heavier,” Chien sassed.

“And distributed that weight so you're not carrying all of it in one place. Trust me on this, it'll work better.”

“Oh I do, but I'm still going to joke about it.”

The attendant who'd brought me the supplies watched intently as we tried them on and loaded them up, blinking at the way I didn't struggle with the much heavier load than expected. She shortly ran off, looking like she was looking for someone.

“You're doing it again,” Isha quipped, poking me in the arm.

“The words you're looking for are 'Thank you' my love,” I returned, no respect today, none at all.

“For attracting more attention to us.”

Shortly thereafter the attendant and a man I recognized from Rolan's throne room reappeared. The latter came up to us.

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“That's an interesting design, may I?” he asked.

When I nodded he picked up my pack, weighing it, than put it on, moving for a few moments.

“Thoughts?” I asked.

“I see why our master likes you Justin. I hope you don't mind if I make more of these.”

“Go ahead.”

“I'm Lein by the way, one of those responsible for bringing new things to pass around here. As a thanks would you mind if I showed you one of my own creations? I think it will make the beginning of your journey easier at least.”

There were enthusiastic nods from our group. I myself was excited to meet another inventor, another man who I could discuss things with.

“When you're ready to leave then,” he said, seeming happy to wait off to the side.

It didn't take us long and soon we were escorted just outside. A short walk away was Lien's invention, hidden away up under a branch with a little platform leading out to it. I looked up, seeing the spool and the person working it and understood immediately.

“With this we can speed our way back to the bottom. It doesn't to all the way, but there are several more on the way, and with them we can bypass most of the walking. Though a lot of people don't like them.”

It was a lift, more like a basic crane than anything else.

“I can't believe we had to walk all that way,” Chien sighed.

“Most people don't like them,” Lien said with a shake of his head.

“Because it's incredibly dangerous,” I mumbled, using this for people was insane.

“Would you like to try it out? You'll get back to the more traveled branches in no time at all.”

“Yes,” Isha answered for us, stepping on.

“Wait,” I tried.

“I do not want to walk that far, if something happens can you fix it?” she asked.

I did some quick calculations based on how much magic I had left and if things did go south I could at least keep us below bone-breaking velocities and guide us to somewhere safe to land.

“Yes...”

“Then get on Elian, taking hours of marching off our journey is a gift.”

Hesitantly I did, looking down as I white-knuckled one of the ropes holding this thing together. Lien, who I'd thought I might like seemed totally at peace with riding the death-trap down. There weren't even handrails for goodness sake, just an open platform with a rope lowering it. For cargo that might be fine, but it was stressing me out.

“You good?” Chien inquired, seeing how tense I was.

“One day Chien I'm going to make a proper elevator, with magnetic locks, and safety cables, and a frame, and a box, and inspections, so many inspections,” I said through gritted teeth.

“What do you mean?” the 'inventor' asked.

“Don't ask that, you'll just get nonsense answers,” Isha said, patting him on the shoulder. “Well, nonsense until he builds it and shows you what he means.”

“I'd still like to know,” he said turning to me.

“There are so many problems with this.”

I went on to ask him questions about what would happen if the line broke, or we were blown off course by wind, or knocked off because there was nothing keeping us on this thing. He didn't seem too concerned about them until I went into detail about how that rope would fatigue over time, how it would break, not if, when, how people would die, without question. He looked concerned by the time we made it to the first landing and led us to the next 'lift' of his.

That ride down I went on in detail about how there should be safety measures, not one, not two, but plans on plans for failure. How we should remain safe so long as the world kept working as it did almost regardless of what happened. There was so much that for the next two or three lifts I berated him about potential dangers and how these should only be used for cargo.

“But you're still riding it?” he asked.

“I have enough power to catch us all if something fails. If I can't Chien should be able to at least keep us from dying from the fall.” My companions at least seemed relieved by that.

“Ah, I see. Well, that was the last anyway.” We got off several landings, and many hours of walking, down. The fact that we didn't have to basically circle the tree over and over really had shortened the journey down, even if it had stressed me.

“Thank you,” we bid him, and began our walk away.

“Going back up Lien?” one of the operators asked as we turned to leave.

“I uh, I think I'll walk actually,” he said quietly, it gratified me that at least he was learning.

Isha briefly pinched my ear. “Poor guy, you ruined his dream.”

“Kept him from killing himself,” I retorted poking her. Poking her was fun any time, even if she slapped my hand away.

“Well, it was fun at least,” Chien said as we walked towards the path that would lead us out of the city. With our memories even seeing it once was enough for us to know the way.

It was sad that we'd lost Rolan from this trip, but he'd be here when we got back. Maybe I would come to see him some time, come and show him some of the things I made, and how he could as well to improve his people's lives. He was a good enough guy that I didn't think he'd abuse it too badly.