The first thing Hemlock saw when he opened his eyes was a ceiling of green leaves. As a slow breeze moved by, the leaves danced up and down a bit, letting some stray sunlight hit Hemlock’s face.

“Wha…huh?”

He lazily moved his hand to block out the offending light. As soon as he saw his hand though, he realized where he was.

“Wait, what!?”

Hemlock sat up. Looking around, he found himself propped up on a flattened stone bed of some kind. Various sheets and even a pillow had been placed underneath him. His clothes had also been replaced by a basic tunic and pants. A pole was planted in the ground next to the stone, and a canopy of leaves was suspended from it, hovering over his position. It thoughtfully offered some shade, but the light that did get through reached his sensitive eyes.

“This must be…that sanctuary?”

It wasn’t exactly what he had pictured. Instead of any kind of commune or settlement, a modest two buildings had been erected on either side of a large tree. The tree itself, looking unnaturally thick, while impressive, only served to highlight how there was nothing else in the walled-off clearing but an open field.

Hemlock looked down and checked his own body. The sprawling mass of veins across his skin was gone. Completely gone. Hemlock blinked. He had lost sight after they had reached as far as his chest, and his consciousness had gone a few minutes after that. He knew that the venom must’ve spread very far.

Yet here he was, sitting on a strangely comfortable bed of stone, while completely healed. Hemlock flexed his wrists and knees, expecting some level of pain or discomfort but he found none.

“How strange. Their medicine here must truly be more advanced.”

Of course the priest wasn’t enough of a herbology nerd to know exactly what went into an anti-venom of this caliber, but just from the lethality of the venom itself, he knew it couldn't be cheap. Hemlock squinted his eyes, reassessing the unassuming grove.

“There really are just two buildings besides the tree. How could they have such treatment capabilities? Perhaps this grove is only one of many. A sparse location where they leave outsiders that they don’t trust yet…”

Hemlock nodded while standing up. He figured that this guess was likely closer to the truth. After all, what settlement could survive with this little infrastructure? There needed to be a bare minimum of infrastructure invested in just the resource accumulation that they had displayed by treating him.

“Nah, this really is where we live. You’ve got the wrong idea.”

All of a sudden, a tiny feminine voice broke him from his thoughts. Hemlock spun around.

“Hello~”

A dark-haired elven child popped up from somewhere in the clearing. She waved at him as she walked forward.

There are elves here too? Hemlock thought while internally a little shocked. While many incorrectly believed in the innate connection between elves and nature, that was just a stereotype based on a specific race of elves from hundreds of years ago. In truth, modern elves had about as much connection with their environment as humans. At least that was the case for the majority.

That was why Hemlock was initially surprised to see an elf in such a remote place. Hemlock had survived the venom, so he knew the creature from before hadn’t had to carry him far. They were definitely still within the Trescult Woods. And seeing an elf here would be like a human living as a hermit in a remote location.

In fact Hemlock imagined that if an elf were forced to live in such an environment, the first thing they’d want to do would be to make the dangerous trek north, where more of their people were.

Anyway, all of that had briefly distracted the priest from answering the girl’s greeting, who was looking at him rather intently now.

“Ah, hello. Are you with the ones who treated me?”

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Hopefully the elf girl had some idea of who had treated him as he had been asleep so he could thank them. Either that, or ask for their intentions. Such generosity was hard to find in this world, most people would then ask something of him after saving his life.

The elven child smiled, as if she found his question funny.

“I am, but…what’s it matter to you?”

“Well, I would surely like to thank the good doctor that saved my life. If possible, I’d like to meet them to do as much in person.”

The girl gestured, tapping her finger on her chin as if she was thinking, before nodding.

“Sure. C’mon.”

She waved for him to follow, as they both approached the giant landmark tree at the center of the clearing. As Hemlock got closer to it, his expression turned from interest to disbelief. It had been hard to see from the edge of the clearing, but this tree was nearly as thick as the two structures! And as those were both the sizes of houses, it put the true frame of the tree into perspective.

Hemlock was almost tempted to ask the girl what kind of tree it could possibly be, but seeing her face become slightly more serious as she knocked on the bark of the tree, he refrained.

Suddenly, a depression formed in the bark of the tree where the elf girl had knocked on. An archway big enough to let through a giant formed, pulling the outer shell of the tree backward and behind itself. An elaborate door?

Following the girl inside, it took a few moments for Hemlock’s eyes to adjust to the moody lighting before he could see the interior. Within the hollowed out tree, a chamber with two other people sat in a semicircle, with a statue between them.

The girl sat down next to one of them, another elven child. A boy, with short dark hair and eyes that looked like her sibling, Hemlock figured. He wasn’t as surprised to see the other elf here, as with one elf present it wasn’t surprising that there would be another. Though it was a little odd that they were only children. Who’s taking care of them, then? Hemlock wondered.

The other figure was a mossy clump of vegetation. A gathering of leaves and shrubbery that one seemed to have molded into the shape of a stout humanoid, it sat on the benches of the hollowed tree’s interior just as politely as the elves.

Hemlock realized he was the only one left standing, so he quickly found a seat as all the eyes that had been on him shifted to the center statue. It seemed to be made of wood, was roughly in the shape of a man with no eyes, and impressively tall. Hemlock considered it for a moment before his eyes wandered elsewhere.

Are we waiting for something? This is a meeting right? When is it going to start…?

Hemlock’s eyes widened as he watched the statue’s head turn toward him. As it opened its mouth, the sound of Silver being spoken in a deep tenor rocked Hemlock.

“I hope everyone is doing well. Again, I thank you all for continuing to uphold your duties in maintaining the Grove.”

“Of course!”

“Ah-yes!”

“Mrple! Yes!”

“It seems like today is a special date. For the first time since the walls were formed, we have a guest staying in the Grove with us.”

The other three nodded and glanced at him. Hemlock felt like he should speak up, but the wooden giant continued to speak while looking at him.

“For the man who has joined our Grove for the time being, I hope you can find solace here. We’re a humble family, and we wish only to live in peace within our small section of these woods. If you contribute, I guarantee you’ll be accommodated in equal measure.”

Hemlock nodded. He hadn’t intended to take advantage of their kindness. What he said had sounded fair. But he had questions.

“Um, excuse me. But could I ask to speak to whoever healed me? I’d like to extend my greatest thanks.”

The giant nodded, motioning to the young pair of elves.

“Then take care to thank these two. If not for their knowledge of herbs and their expert application of salves, you could not have been restored. And to Muan here, who was the one who found you in that shallow cave.”

Hemlock’s eyes widened. His regard for the elves rose as he considered how young they must be in proportion to their lifespan. Even with the extended lives of elves, no one had that level of knowledge at such a young age. They had to each be a maximum of 50 years old maybe? Hemlock wondered if even an equivalently aged human doctor would be as skilled.

And Muan, the bush-like being who sat next to the giant, was definitely the one who had carried him back. The voice was the same, and the giant had confirmed as much. So that was what he had looked like. Hemlock confirmed the appearance was definitely that of a plant life.

Hemlock stood up from the bench and bent over. Bowing in two motions to each party responsible for saving him.

“Then I thank all three of you. Were it not for your kindness, I would not be here today. My values will not allow me to leave this place before I repay that generosity.”

He raised his head at the wooden giant.

“What would you ask of me?”