Lee, Neia, and Ruven moved closer and closer toward the open entrance in the tree. The entrance, situated between two root offshoots, looked naturally made. It was around thirty meters in height and twenty meters wide, and the border of the entrance had been carved upon. The carving was very geometric, with interlocking and continuously repeating shapes seamlessly continuing without any noticeable break in their patterns.

Outside of the entrance, many Dark Elves were coming and going in multiple forms of dress. Some of the Elves are wearing what Lee assumed to be casual clothes. A male Elf was one such example; the clothes he wore were simple and functional. Dark purple pants with crisscrossing black seams going down his outer leg from hip to foot. They looked fairly tight fitting, but Lee assumed that with their lean and tall frames, most clothes would. The Elven man's shirt was a basic white short-sleeved tee, which was made from a coarser fiber, and he also wore a lighter purple sleeveless vest over the top and basic leather boots with his pants tucked into them finished off his look.

The female Elves wore things that were similar, but there were some dressed more freely. One such Elf sported a simple but beautiful sundress. It was a dark orange shade, making it greatly contrast with her dark gray skin and white hair. The dress had a few white buttons on the front near her cleavage, and she also wore what looked like ballerina flats, the same color as her dress.

Taking in all the new sights, he was finally truly happy. Going from knowing you were about to die, to not actually dying, and being thrown into a world unlike your own. With so many things you didn’t yet understand, to have to fight off monsters and survive with nothing but the gown on your back. This was the first time he felt safe in what felt like months. Finally healed and having been given a new lease on life to do something good, and getting to experience the magic now accessible to him, Lee was ready to see where this path would take him. This was truly the first step.

Now that they were close enough that some of the other elves had noticed them, the others casually glanced over and away, only to whip their head back around and do a double take as soon as they spotted Lee. Lee, having expected this, casually waved at them while a smile tugged at his lips. The Elves that had noticed him gawked and began to speak quietly among themselves.

Ruven walked up to an elf wearing leathers similar to his own, standing towards the side of the entrance. Neia followed him, so Lee did the same.

“Please send someone to notify Elder Sono that a Human has arrived in Neldam, and to expect his appearance later in the day.” Ruven said while waving his hand toward Lee.

The Elf looked at Lee; his bright blue eyes opened wide in surprise as he replied. “We will send word, go about your business.” The Elf stepped inside the entrance and made his way directly to the left around the entrance, disappearing around the corner.

Lee was willing to just tag along for the ride for now, waiting for Ruven or Neia to head inside to lead the way. Neia saw him smiling slightly and said. “First thing we do is get you some clothes and a bath. Let’s head inside.”

She wore a wry smile as she entered the cavernous entrance. The light from the outside made seeing into the dark hole in the tree's side difficult. After passing the threshold and letting his eyesight adjust to the reduced light, he continued forward into the tree. He was absolutely floored by what he saw at the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel continued for roughly thirty meters before ending in a concave overhang with railings delicately carved out of wood. Off to the left and right were stairs, one set going up and the other going down. These stairs, carved out of the very wood of the tree they resided in, still seemed healthy. They were fifteen meters wide, making them able to support a lot of traffic.

From outside, Lee thought that maybe the entrance was the beginning of a burrow that would lead underground. He was completely wrong. The tree itself was hollow; stairs and pathways led up and around all over the inside of the tree, and rooms and buildings were cut into the tree itself. Roped bridges crossed one side of the tree to the other, hundreds of them acting as streets to cut across the tree, with purple, orange, and red lantern lights hanging below them. The mana, absorbed by the large Garbola tree, sent streams of blue light everywhere on the surface of the wood, giving a neon-like luminescent light to everything he saw.

He walked to the balcony and looked down, spotting the same thing throughout the entirety of the cavernous hollowed-out Garbola. The bottom of Neldam was what he imagined a normal city to look like, with proper streets and built-up buildings. But, the streets continued onwards into several pathways leading into the walls, off into a multitude of caves. The buildings at the bottom were made out of stone, probably dug from the caves surrounding the city, giving the buildings a fantastical, yet medieval feel. The buildings, mainly squares and rectangles, had multi-colored roofs, just like the view from the forest floor. Each shingle had a different color of purple, orange, red, or blue. The blue shingles contrasted with the blue neon-like mana veins flowing through the tree.

Lee turned around, only to find at Neia and Ruven staring at him with silly, yet proud smiles. “This is fucking insane, what the actual fuck." He rubbed his eyes, still not quite believing what he was seeing.

Neia laughed openly along with Ruven. “Turns out people can do great things when they live for such long times.”

After a moment of laughing at Lee, they motioned for him to follow them. He sent one last look over the balcony and then joined them at their side. On the way down, Lee numbly gazed around the city. “This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I can’t even find words to describe your home.”

Ruven perked up, goofily smiling as he looked toward Lee. After a moment of gazing at him, Ruven's face began to morph from his goofy smile to honest appreciation. “You honestly believe that. In that case thank you, it means a lot.”

They traveled downwards on the stairs and passed several other people going about their day. Every single one of them did a double-take when they spotted Lee, and every single time, Lee tried his best to look friendly and wave back. Hopefully, once he got some real clothes, people wouldn't stare so much. A few of them pretended they never saw him and continued onwards normally, and a few of them hesitantly waved back.

Before they reached the bottom of the stairs, Neia led him into one of the rooms carved into the side. It seemed to be a business, and with the amount of traffic the stairs received, it was probably prime real estate. Heading inside, it appeared to be a clothing store. Lee followed Neia up to the front desk, where she rang a bell atop a counter. Soon after, coming out from behind a draped doorway, a female elf stode in with a smile. “Hello, what can we do for…” She paused and spotted Lee in rags.

She slowly turned her gaze to Neia. “Neia… what can I do for you?”

With a tight smile, she replied. “We would like some clothes, Sarum. Something able to fit this Human.”

The Elf, named Sarum, looked Lee up and down and replied uncertainly. “We might have some clothes for younger elves around, but if he wants something for himself it will take awhile.”

Neia leaned on the countertop. “How much for both?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Sarum immediately responded, her green eyes flashing on the hint of a sale. “Fifteen silver.”

Just as fast as Sarum's reply, Neia turned around and headed towards the exit. Hurriedly, Sarum vaulted the countertop while desperately yelling. “Ten! I’ll do it for Ten!”

Neia stopped, smiled, and then returned to the counter, dropping ten silver coins onto the table.

Sarum headed to the back section of the store behind the counter while letting loose a long, tired sigh. Neia turned to Lee and whispered conspiratorly. “She’s a greedy one.”

She barely managed to finish the whisper before Sarum returned, carrying an above-average-looking set of clothing. A nice teal, blue jean-colored pair of pants, which were most definitely too long by a few inches for Lee to fit comfortably, and a basic white long-sleeve shirt with matching teal wooden buttons on the sleeves and neck. Lee blissfully looked at the clothes and noticed her slide some underwear in as well. Lee is about to run over and kiss this wonderful Elf when Neia scooped up the clothes and led Lee outside by the arm.

Lee was almost about to plead his case for the clothes when Neia cut him off with a wave of the hand. “Bath is at the bottom, you’ve gone days without a bath you can last a few more minutes without clothes.”

After a few minutes of traversing the stairs, they began to wind their way through the fairly busy streets of the city. While walking, Neia gazed around the city with a slight smile as she made small talk. “Usually when we return from hunts, we aren’t allowed into the nicer baths given how disgusting Ruven always is.”

Ruven immediately shot her a heavily exaggerated, offended, and wounded expression. Neia smiled and continued on. “So we usually go to the public baths. You most definitely won't be allowed in the nicer ones.”

Accepting the fact that he was too rank even to be allowed in the nicer baths, he examined the surrounding people.

This is kinda unfair… Lee thought.

All the elves he passed were just as beautiful as Ruven and Neia. Lee, before cancer, wasn’t the most attractive of the lot, but he was above average. His blue eyes and sharp jawline did most of the heavy lifting, but he couldn’t compare to any of these Elves. Weirdly enough, Lee felt zero lust. They were just purely and objectively beautiful.

They finally reached the baths, and Lee discovered that it was a mixed bath. Being an American, Lee never experienced any public or mixed baths so he was a tad nervous, as well as massively self-conscious when comparing himself to any of these Elves.

How am I supposed to compete with these people?

He shook his head ruefully as he stepped inside the doorway. The bath appeared to be free of charge as they each went their separate ways in the changing room. Not having much to change out of, Lee was done first and waited near the entryway with a nice orange towel that was provided on entry.

A few moments later, Ruven walked up with his red towel, protecting his modesty. Neia arrived shortly after, sporting a large yellow towel. She also carried a smaller blue towel, presumably for some modesty. They all head in together.

After walking inside, Lee saw that the bathing situation was similar to what he had seen in some of the anime he had watched when he was younger. All three were eager to finally be clean after days, or possibly weeks, in the case of Ruven and Neia. They each went to go about their business.

Thirty minutes later, finished with the baths, all three emerged from the entrance. Neia and Ruven were both wearing their leathers, which had been cleaned and dried by someone who worked at the bathhouse while they bathed. Lee told them to throw his gown away when given the same option. Finally, in some clothes and clean from the forest muck, Lee felt like the day couldn’t get any better.

Neia appraised him as they walked through the city. “Much better, we should find you a mirror later so you can see for yourself.”

She swapped her focus from Lee to Ruven. “Let's head on down to Sigurds and get ourselves something to eat. Then we can take Lee to Elder Sono.”

Ruven sighed and looked forlorn. “We always go to Sigurds, let's go somewhere else.”

Neia completely ignored Ruven as she continued to lead the way.

Lee, unable to hold back his curiosity, decided to ask. “Is Sigurds a place or is it a person who owns a place?”

Ruven dejectedly sighed and answered lazily. “It’s a place, the person who owns it is actually called Thalin, no clue why he named it Sigurds but that's what it’s named.”

Lee then asked an important question. “Is this Sigurds place better than that bland and frankly bad Jackalope?”

Ruven barked out a short laugh. “Way better. I just get tired of getting it so often. You’d get tired of a place too if you went there for over a hundred years.”

Touché. Lee thought.

Eventually, they arrived at Sigurds. A large stone building with wide glass windows on either side of large wooden double doors. Some plants were hung outside on planter boxes attached to the base of the windows, and the large sign hung above the door was simple but well done.

They all headed inside, and Lee discovered that it was extremely busy. It had a tavern-like atmosphere, with jovial laughs and conversations spouting out from around the interior. Neia led them to an empty booth, and as soon as they were fully seated, a male Elf appeared at their table to take their order. “Hello Neia. Hello Ruven. The usual?”

After a few seconds of squinting his eyes, he noticed Lee. His eyes widened, and then he turned to Neia.“And what about him? What would he like?”

Lee responded instead of her, “I’ll have what he’s having.” He pointed to Ruven.

The Elf's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. “I’m terribly sorry, I just assumed you did not speak our language.”

In a good mood for being able to eat, Lee waved his apology away. “It’s fine.”

Lee, Neia, and Ruven only had to wait ten minutes for their food to arrive, much to the surprise of Lee after seeing how busy the place was. The elven waiter swiftly placed the food on the table as he spoke. “Here you are. Yell if you need me.”

The elven waiter then moved to another table to take another order. Looking at the food, Lee’s mouth began to water. Neia’s usual meal appeared to be a platter of kebabs with meat, peppers, and pineapple chunks. It also came with a side of nice and warm buttered bread.

Ruven and Lee both got a hearty pot pie filled with meat, carrots, and peas. When he broke open his pot pie, steam rose into the air. He took a bite and almost teared up. It was perfectly seasoned with a delicate yet flakey crust. Lee wholeheartedly approved of Ruven's 'usual.'

When they were all filled to the brim after their meals, they headed out to meet with Elder Sono.

Lee followed Ruven through the streets this time as they made their way through the bustling midday streets. Hoping to get some kind of heads up, Lee asked Neia a question. “So what exactly am I meeting with Elder Sono for?”

Neia responded slowly, having to take a moment to think about what to say. “He is one of our Elders, being an Elder means he was there when we built this place, he is the Elder who is in charge of diplomatic relations. I don’t know what you will talk about specifically.”

Understanding that this was probably some sort of political protocol, Lee understood why he needed to meet with Elder Sono. It was probably to prove he was not a threat or something along those lines.

About half an hour later, they arrived at a large, multiple-storied carved building with a large staircase leading up to the doors. The building itself was built into the wall on the bottom floor. It had large stone double doors carved with similar carvings to the flora and fauna on Neia’s sickles.

Entering the building, Lee noticed that it was almost empty. The interior was reminiscent of a bank's lobby, with chairs for sitting and waiting up along the wall and small booths with forms and papers tucked within. The three of them strode up to a receptionist, who was reading from a book.

“We are here to see Elder Sono. He should have been notified of our coming.” Ruven said in a friendly manner.

The receptionist tore her eyes away from her book with a jolt, obviously not knowing they were there---Probably too engrossed in her story if Lee had to venture a guess.

The receptionist pushed up her pair of glasses as she spoke. “Ah, yes. He is in meeting room number two. Right down the hall and to the left.” She pointed to a doorway at the other end of the room.

Lee moved toward the indicated door but paused and turned around. He saw Neia and Ruven waving him towards the door and then walking over to some of the chairs by the entryway. Suddenly aware that he would meet this Elder alone, his palms began to get a little sweaty.

Well, it’s just a meeting. I’m sure everything will be fine.